Be With! Vol. 101 (March 2014)

Be With! » Be With! Vol. 101 (March 2014)

Message from Tak and Koshi

Be With! Vol. 101 is a fresh start.
We got together and made an effort to bring you a new issue to your liking.
This year we started out doing our own solo projects, but of course, we will also start doing work as B'z again.
Please look forward to it.
Tak

How have you been?
Have you been sneezing? [talking about pollen]
I am taking a new approach to music with a new feeling.
Please feel free to experience my new music with your eyes and ears.
Thank you very much.
Inaba Koshi

Tak Matsumoto Interview

Interviewer:		After having celebrated B'z 25th anniversary, 2014 started with the announcement of your respective solo projects. This does not mean that B'z will be on break, but it is very often that you embark on your solo projects/releases at the same time. What are your thoughts on this?
Tak:		What about it, I wonder? Inaba-kun has also been working on his solo projects in his free time for a while now, right? But comparatively speaking, it was the same for me this time. I was working on it in my free time, and, if I recall correctly, I started the year before last. Then, last year, our 25th anniversary came up and I had to put things on break temporarily. It wasn't until December that I could put things into shape. It only took me a short amount of time to put everything together, but I've been working on my compositions for nearly two years.
Interviewer:		B'z, of course, as well as you and Inaba-san have a high potential respectively. Do you think that your individual solo projects have an influence on your works as B'z?
Tak:		I think that for our works as such, our tastes and interests have an influence on them, so whether it's solo or with the band, the good parts will definitely take over. I don't really give it much thought when switching between going solo and working as B'z since I'm doing instrumental music. We also talked about starting work as B'z once we finished our solo activities, but that's only natural for us.
Interviewer:		Now I would like to move on and talk about your solo project. We thought that it has been 12 years since the last time you released an album fully composed of new songs solely by you, namely 「DRAGON FROM THE WEST」(2002) and「Hana」(2002).
Tak:		Yes, because my last release contained only re-recorded versions of previous songs. I guess it's true, now that you mention it.
Interviewer:		We got the feeling that you wanted to close off a previous chapter with the release of 「Strings Of My Soul」.
Tak:		That may be true. Now that you mention it, one might actually think like that. As I said, this time it took me nearly two years and during this long period I was toying with a lot of ideas, but for quite a while I was unsure what kind of music to create. Be it self-composed songs, or cover songs... I tried out a lot of ideas, but they were lacking my personal sense of direction. Where I wanted to go with it. I was really pondering over it for quite a while until our 25th anniversary came up, but I thought I could think it over in a hotel room while on the road. When our 25th anniversary tour ended and I was completely free, I still couldn't decide which direction to take. So after November's show at the EX THEATER ROPPONGI I went back into the studio and thought I'd give up on it for now if I couldn't come up with something. I wondered what I should do, so I'd try to put the songs I had prepared into shape and if I couldn't bring everything together, I said to myself that I would give up on this project.
Interviewer:		This is a surprise. Have you been in a situation like this before?
Tak:		I don't really remember, but when I worked with Larry Carlton, it took me over a year to come up with something we both could work on. I didn't really know what kind of music to compose, what direction to take.
Interviewer:		About being troubled with composition: If it was for example you, wouldn't you think about who to collaborate with, or to release a new album with a completely different concept?
Tak:		No. I didn't think about collaborating with someone at all, nor did I think about things such as performing with a domestic orchestra. Anyway, after the B'z tour ended, I had free time and went on to slowly put songs together. After the EX THEATER ROPPONGI show in November, it was about how much I could put together in two weeks. And I was able to put it everything together in such a way I was content with and wanted to proceed with recording and producing it. In fact, the schedule for the tour was already set, but I thought to myself "If I can't put this together, we'll have to cancel everything...". It was almost like, if I couldn't get everything together in these two weeks in December, I would go to the office and tell them "Maybe no solo project after all". (laughs)
Interviewer:		Could that be because you've always been at the top, or because you feel pressure since winning a Grammy Award? Something along those lines?
Tak:		No, I didn't feel any pressure or something like that, but when you work on something, you want to create something you are satisfied with, right?　I didn't really know if it was going to be something I would be satisfied with, but nonetheless I finished my demos and started recording the guitar parts and the brass section. That's when I realized: I'm glad that I did this. This time, Paul Brown helped me out a lot. The last time [with Strings Of My Soul] I also entrusted him with a lot of songs and this time even with the mixing, but that doesn't mean that I entirely entrusted him with everything. Because I went to Paul's recording studio. I also feel that our relationship has deepened. Most of the musicians--aside from bassist Travis and the drummer John--were introductions made by Paul. The brass section and also the percussions by Lenny Castro were all introductions by Paul, and they're all amazing musicians. After all, Paul is producing a lot of people, plays the guitar, and releases his own works. He is really amazing. I really think that we produced something amazing here.
Interviewer:		Will we see a US version of the album?
Tak:		Yes, we have plans for a US version. I personally decided the track list for the Japanese version of the album, but since I do not know the American market, I met up with Paul at his home, and we listened to the songs one by one to discuss which ones are a fit for the American market. The others will be cut. But I'm going to meet up with another producer called Robert to work out the details one more time, so it's not set in stone yet.
Interviewer:		Moving on, we would now like to talk about your new album. We felt that there's a certain beauty to the album which offers creative leeway. We also thought that tone-wise the melodies have become simpler.
Tak:		That's true. There are a lot of songs with the same kind of melody throughout the song.
Interviewer:		Making the melodies simple won't cause so much deception, after all.
Tak:		This is often the case, yes. At this time (the time of the interview), I haven't finished mixing all the tracks yet, but I when I listen to the songs, I get the feeling that I was able to achieve a better thickness in the clean tone compared to before. When I listen to 「TAKE YOUR PICK」 which I produced with Larry Carlton, although it's an album I like very much, the details of the tracks still bother me. A couple of years have passed since then and I feel that my tone has gotten a bit thicker compared to back then. The three years since then were really good. With these results, I feel that I spent my time well.
Interviewer:		Now we would like to talk about the album song by song. Let's start with the titular song "New Horizon". Could you tell us about the meaning behind the title?
Tak:		I believe there are a lot of ways to interpret this, one could say that it's a prospect and that I changed my perspective to try out a lot of new ideas and such... As if I have been reaching a new frontier.　And with that I had the feeling that something new is going to happen, a very positive feeling. To be honest, I just called it like that because it's just that kind of song...well, not really, but because I have a certain image in my mind. (laughs) This just happens to be the first song, which I had to choose from a lot of songs that felt good. The first song might be a different one in the US version, I think.
Interviewer:		And also, you have increased the variety in the composition of songs, right?
Tak:		I guess you could say that. The composition of this album is different than the ones before. I might have done that deliberately. Because I have that freedom with instrumental music as my basis. However, there may be perhaps some parts where I deliberately added Jazzy parts and such. But basically I'm just composing it freely.
Interviewer:		We feel that there's a new sound now that there's not just guitar solos but also solos by other instruments.
Tak:		Yeah. So far I haven't made any wind instruments the main instrument in a composition, so this is fresh for me. All the solos are played as improvisation.
Interviewer:		Are your solos also improvisations?
Tak:		As for my parts... rather than calling them improvisation, I chose to use the good verses that I played while improvising and put them together. It really depends. There are times when my improvisation was really good that I would use it as-is, and then there are times where I would put things together "manually" while keeping in mind that it should be easy to listen to.　As far as the wind instruments are concerned, they're all improvisation and we went with the best takes out of them all. This time I had Greg Vail do the solo and it was really powerful! His technique, of course, is very good, but also his feeling for music. His verses are really cool. I would really like to work with him again. What really surprised me was what happened with the horn section. I originally had one prepared in Japan and we would use it as a base while Paul was directing and changing a lot of things here and there. If it was Japan, it would be really difficult, and they would be against it. But this time everyone was very flexible and agreed to it and started adjusting. In the beginning we used what my arranger Terachi-kun had come up with as a base, and were like "This needs a little bit more of that here" while changing it bit by bit. Everyone was really nice and they would do anything if that meant we'd get a good song out of it. And also, Paul gave us very detailed instructions.
Interviewer:		That sounds wonderful. I personally like outlaw guitarists, but I'm sure all the guitar freaks will love it.
Tak:		I see. (laughs) About that: I'm also thinking about doing the concert that way.
Interviewer:		By the way, this is also a tie-up song for Sagawa Express, right?
Tak:		Yes, I talked about it with Sagawa in person and they showed me the video they were shooting with Ryouko Yonekura in it. I then chose the song with a fitting image among those I had recorded, and edited a version to make it a fit for the commercial.
Interviewer:		When we first heard about the collaboration between you and Sagawa Express, we didn't think that your's and Sagawa's image would align.
Tak:		Well, that's because I usually do songs for doramas, movies and such. That's why it was really interesting for me to do it.
Interviewer:		Next up on the tracklist is the cover of Jazz masterpiece "Take 5".
Tak:		We have been talking about wanting to release this song as a single in the US. Paul and Robert said that we first should release a song that would be played on the radio. I started working on the demo tape about a year ago, when I was still in my trial and error phase. I was like "Let's give "Take 5" a try". Later on, the song changed completely when we inserted a live rhythm and a live flute into the song. The flute was also played by Greg Vail. Whether it's the flute or the sax... he can do anything.
Interviewer:		He's really amazing. Although it's a cover, it's not an actual copy of the original. How did you arrange it to give it the "Matsumoto touch"?
Tak:		I was actually wondering about that for a while since musicians all over the world have covered this song, but Terachi-kun, my arranger, was like "Why don't we add a little bit of bossa nova in here". And that's what we went with. I really think that it turned out very well. Terachi-kun really has a lot of music styles at his disposal.
Interviewer:		Your 1st solo album 「Thousand Wave」also contains a cover of this song, but it looks like you didn't retain any of it. (laughs)
Tak:		I guess not. (laughs) Although it's included in this release, I haven't listened to my original cover, but it's obvious that it'll change 26 years later. (laughs)
Interviewer:		I'm sure that the history of your works will be discovered (laughs)　By the way, you have a really broad interest in music, but do you deliberately listen to something sometimes?
Tak:		I don't force myself to listen to something. I listen to it because I like it. But right now, when I get in the car, I solely listen to Jazz stations (laughs)
Interviewer:		And with the next song, "Feel like a woman tonite", the whole atmosphere changes abruptly.
Tak:		Actually, this time we didn't meet up to record the vocals. Paul recorded the vocals before I went to LA and asked me if I wanted a male or female vocalist. I said it should definitely be a woman this time. I think I talked about this before, but when we were recording "Live Life", I also said that a female voice would better suit the song. However, Paul couldn't imagine a woman singing this song and suggested it should be a male vocalist. Since Paul is my producer, I entrusted him with that decision. But Sam was really good, too. And this time, that's why I didn't meet Wendy. But I really like her songs. She seems to be famous and also release works in Japan.
Interviewer:		Did she also write the lyrics for the song?
Tak:		Dax wrote them, like the last time. Although he is a man, the lyrics for this song have gotten even easier to understand compared to the last time.
Interviewer:		By the way, this is actually your second time working with Paul. Do you like working with him again?
Tak:		Especially with regard to the melody, I handed over completely arranged versions for the chorus, but he changed them completely. Last time, it was the same. While working with the rhythm, I think he added a brass section and also wind instruments, but also this time, he did it even more at ease with my demos. For the recording, Paul came to the LA studio, would sit next to me and direct everything...it's been a while since I played the guitar while someone else was directing (laughs) You see, usually I direct myself (laughs) Since Paul is also a guitarist, he gave me very detailed directions such as "Don't do so much guitar choking here, let's go with slides" (laughs)
Interviewer:		(laughs) Speaking of which, did you have the intention of adding songs with vocals?
Tak:		Originally, when working on Strings of my Soul, 335 Records demanded that I definitely put one or two songs with vocals on my album, so this time I thought they would ask me to do that again, and in anticipation of that, I already prepared a song. I really like the song. It became really good. In the US, a lot of musicians who do instrumental music decide to add one or two songs with vocals, and there may be some musicians who add even more than that. Paul also added two or three songs to his own albums, I believe? Since it's easy to do promotion with them.
Interviewer:		And the fourth track on the album is "Rodeo Blues".
Tak:		This is actually going to be the "M-1", when I started recording the year before last, this is the first song that I toyed around with, but I couldn't get but one chorus done. I couldn't do the rest. But I kept thinking that it will turn out to be a good song. And then in December last year when I started recording in Tokyo, I worked on this song at the end. I was able to put it into shape and thought "Ah, this is good.". In between, I put it on hold and left it undone. And then in the end, I went back to the start and arranged it. This music style was actually one of the styles I wanted to try out this time.
Interviewer:		I see. Your guitar sounds and tone really give off a warm feeling.
Tak:		As far as the tone is concerned, I do it the same way when I record music as B'z: I play the same melody over and over with different guitars and choose a fitting guitar for the song. I'm not actually sure, but there are people out there who spend hours or even days trying to find the right tone. I'm usually like "This is it" right away and go with it. In fact, in the end I decide it with my left and right hand. But I might still get some inspirations. Of course I listen to my own songs and I only want to create music that I would listen to myself, so I pay a lot of attention to the rhythm and the nuances when it comes to the guitar. And the touch would also change completely.
Interviewer:		"Island of peace" is different from the outlook presented by the first four songs, and starts with the sound of waves on a lively beach, followed by the guitar sound slowly fading in. We think, this one takes a different approach than the other songs before.
Tak:		That's right, because I wrote that song on Hawaii and "Island of peace" is also about Hawaii. Concerning the guitar work, there are some parts played with a guitar pick, but there are also some parts where I played with just my fingers. And this is not just limited to this song. Sometimes I would just start playing with my fingers.
Interviewer:		This song was written on Hawaii, but do you tend to write different songs depending on where you are?
Tak:		I suppose so. For example, if it's a certain country, or depending on the area, there's Hawaiian music or traditional Japanese songs, right? I think there's definitely music born under the influence from the local surroundings.
Interviewer:		And also, we believe that you simply cannot leave out wind instruments in your works. Is the root cause for this the influence by your parents?
Tak:		I love and I'm sure they had an influence on me. I've been listening to that since my childhood, after all. But I didn't really listen to it because I liked it back then, but because my parents put on the music. It's not like I listen to classical music every day, but I like adding some orchestra and strings elements to my music. It gives me a good feeling when I listen to it.
Interviewer:		And with "That's Cool" you go in a completely different direction. The song starts off with drums and bass, and just like we talked about earlier, this time Larry Carlton's son Travis is also participating in the recording.
Tak:		I went to see Travis last year, when Larry came to Japan. He was playing the bass at the time and I thought he was really good, so I definitely wanted him to be part of it. And the drummer John was touring with us the whole time during my last solo tour with Larry. He's really the best among the drummers I've met in this genre. I would even go so far as to say he's perfect. I love him. (laughs)
Interviewer:		(laughs) By the way, is there anything about Travis that gives away that he's Larry's son?
Tak:		I don't think they're that alike... Well, they're both guitar and bass players. He's really a great bass player and he's also touring with us. In fact, I think he's still in his early 30s, so he's very young. And he's really tall, too. Like "Are you really gonna wear those denim clothes hanging that far?". I'm not sure if he does it on purpose or not. (laughs)
Interviewer:		So Travis and John are going to be joining you for the tour as well. Can you tell us more about the other musicians that will join you for the tour?
Tak:		Onozuka-kun will be on keyboards and Ohga-kun will be on guitar. It's been a while since I stood on the same stage with Onozuka-kun, about 30 years ago, when we were working with Mari Hamada. And Ohga has become an irreplacable member. He's also part of Sensation, right? Which means that he also likes instrumental music, and that he's comfortable playing it.
Interviewer:		And "Shattered Glass", the next song on the list, is a song with beautiful faint minor chords as base.
Tak:		We first decided on a title and a background story and then worked on the song based on that. I was thinking of telling that story in the booklet for the album... but what should the contents be? ... I think it might be better if they just read that. (laughs) It's a story in English, however. Once I have the complete image in mind, it's really hard, but when I heard "Shattered Glass", I thought it was really good. And I was actually the one who came up with the story. (laughs) I then started to compose a song around that. It was really fun to do that because I had a very clear vision. There's no video to it, but it felt like I was producing a soundtrack for that. These things are really fun.
Interviewer:		Now I would like to talk about the solo takes for each part; would you insert your solos after finishing a take? If you were to insert your solos beforehand, wouldn't you be influenced by your solo takes?
Tak:		I added Onozuka-kun's solo takes first. Since it's much easier to work this way. He finished all his takes and we put them together in December last year.
Interviewer:		Time is of the essence, again, right?
Tak:		Time is of the essence everywhere, not just music! If the timing is wrong at work... (laughs) It's true for everything, right? Gotta be careful (laughs)
Interviewer:		I will be careful. (laughs) Next up is your cover of "Tsuki no Akari" by Masahiro Kuwana.
Tak:		This was actually a long time ago, but I have played this song live with Kuwana-san several times during concerts, and... the year before last, was it?...He passed away and I immediately started recording the song. After all, I learned a lot from him and I'm very grateful for that.
Interviewer:		Speaking of Kuwana-san, he's had a very scary image, but was your impression of him any different?
Tak:		(laughs) When I worked with him, I was about 22~23 years old and he was in his 30s, so he was still in his "hot blooded" phase. (laughs) He got angry at me during rehearsal very often. But later on, he really liked me when I started as B'z and we would go for drinks when I was in Osaka. The first time I was working with Kuwana-san was when I was called to work with him on his album called 「ROPPONGI NOISE」. In the end, I probably ended up playing all the guitar parts on it, I guess? That was really really a lot of work. (laughs) Kuwana-san would sit beside me and tell me "one more time" "one more time" (laughs) And I would just say "....OK....". When it was time for the 「ROPPONGI NOISE」tour, I was also called in and we toured together... And I also got to visit him at home. A lot of things happened. It was really fun.
Interviewer:		Are there any special words or moments that made a special impression on you?
Tak:		The "one more time" "one more time" I talked about before has had a very great impression on me. (laughs) And such, well... When I wanted to quit the band... I called Kuwano-san and told him "Please let me quit"... well... don't you think it's hard to say these words? "Please let me quit". It would have been easier if I just got fired. At the time, I wanted to work on something harder, so I called Kuwano-san and when I asked him to let me quit, he just replied "Well, then you do your best, too" in a very friendly manner. I was really thankful for that.
Interviewer:		Thank you for this very insightful story. The next song on the list, "Reason to be...", doesn't have any lyrics, but we get the feeling that the guitar is telling a story on its own.
Tak:		This is an ongoing thought in my head, but first I did "THE WINGS", "Eien no Tsubasa" for the movie "Ore wa Kimi no Tame ni Koso Shini ni Iku" (For Those We Love) and then there's "hotalu" which I recorded when I was working together with Larry. These three songs have been composed with war as the image. Yesterday, too, I went to see "Eien no Zero" in cinema and I really think that since such things happened to us Japanese, that we should know about them. We should not forget about it. "Reason to be..." means "There's definitely a reason that this happened" if it was a normal phrase, but I added the "..." at the end, which makes it more like "Was there a reason why this happened?" or like "Why did this happen? Is there a particular reason for it?". That's the thought I put into the title.
Interviewer:		I see. And next up is "BLACK JACK" collected for the first time on an album.
Tak:		This is actually the third version of it. I wrote the first version over 10 years ago for the BLACK JACK soundtrack, which was a rock version at the time. This one hasn't been released to date. But then I recorded an orchestrated version of it on 「House Of Strings」 And then I thought "How am I gonna go about it this time?", and started thinking about a different style. I liked the melody I had in my head, so I went with it. I tried it out and if it didn't work out well, I would be heartbroken, but I did it and when I added Greg's sax the feeling would change completely and the overall song was much better. Actually, I wasn't sure whether to do "Hokuto no Ken" or "BLACK JACK"...I also made "Hokuto no Ken" for a soundtrack and melody-wise, I'm sure I can make it a lot better, but this time I went with "BLACK JACK". "Hokuto no Ken" and "Ultraman" haven't been released either so far. That's why I might include them on an album later.
Interviewer:		We found it very surprising to find a cover of "Gakuseigai no Kissaten" on the album.
Tak:		(laughs) This is also a song from my trial and error phase where I said "Let's do this". (laughs) At the time, this was actually a song that took the world by storm. GARO was a folk group trio, by the way. I chose this song because the melody is mysterious and it would be interesting to see an instrumental version of it. In addition, I was also around at the time and even bought their record. (laughs) I don't have it anymore unfortunately. It was at the time when I was a 5th or 6th grader, and I didn't even understand the lyrics, but I loved the song simply because of the music. I then had my parents buy me the record of it, and I remember listening to it at home a lot of times. If there was to be another cover, I wanted to do Sayuri Ishikawa's "Amagigoe", but when I went to the NAMM Show the other day, Marty Friedman was playing it live. (laughs) If I didn't know that he was going to do it, I'd be really surprised. Marty Friendman also had great works, right? This is Japanese Soul, or Japanese Blues. It's really a great song. If I still was to cover it, it definitely wouldn't cover it the same way as he did, so I didn't really care about who would cover it.
Interviewer:		We were talking about how the melody is mysterious, but wasn't GARO employing a more "progressive" style?
Tak:		This might actually be because TOMMY was playing the guitar, I think? With TOMMY, I mean Hidetaka-san, who passed away, and we've played together before. There was a live bar kind of event in Roppongi and we were all invited to play there. All the three of us, TOMMY, Higuchi-san of LOUDNESS and me, would jam together. (laughs) Unfortunately both of them already passed away.
Interviewer:		I didn't know that there was so much to it. And the last song on your album is "Rain" which was performed during the ENDLESS SUMMER tour. I think it's very suitable for a closing song.
Tak:		I think Paul will cut this song from the US version, but I think that this is really a good way to close the album. Shane and Barry are really at their best here. We've been playing it live for quite a while, so they really came to understand the song and its core points. Their performance is really great. Since that was a live version, I reworked the guitar part for the CD version, though. The organ is played by Onozuka-kun, which also makes for a different atmosphere compared to Masuda-kun's style. I really like it.
Interviewer:		Lastly, we would like to ask you about your guitars. We noticed that you started using new guitars during the EX THEATER show.
Tak:		This one is called a Firebird and we have plans for a new signature model. The one I'm currently using is the first prototype. During recording I used this Firebird and a hollowbody Les Paul. These were my two main guitars. Originally my guitar technician suggested that a Firebird might also suit my playing style, and I thought this might be true. So I asked Gibson to produce a Firebird model for me.
Interviewer:		Have you recently bought any new guitars at an actual guitar shop?
Tak:		Actually, not too long ago, I bought a Stratocaster and an acoustic guitar at a Guitar Center in LA. I was about to start recording the guitar parts and thought I would buy some new ones. I was really glad that I was able two good guitars. I'm also using that Stratocaster in "Feel like a woman tonite".
Interviewer:		This guitar has also been selected for the photoshoot this time. It's really a beautiful guitar. So, if you were to categorize that album into a certain genre, what kind of name would you give the genre?
Tak:		Hmm...I'm not sure. I guess the ones who listen to it should decide. I am originally a Rock guitarist, so I suddenly won't become a Jazz musician. But actually, as a guitar player, and as a musician, I want to make progress and as such I want to do things I am interested in. I really enjoy performing instrumental music. Performing songs (with vocals) also has a certain charme to it, but with instrumental music, I can solely focus on the melody for the whole time. I can't even imagine singing again in one of my solo projects since we've done songs more than enough with B'z. (laughs) As a rock band, I'm really thankful that I get to do the things the way I want. But my solo projects might have more rock elements in the future. That entirely depends on the feeling I get in my head. But right now, this is what I am content with.
Interviewer:		We think that your songs also convey to the listeners that you really enjoyed playing them and that your listeners will enjoy the album. You will soon go on tour with the band. Have you thought about its contents?
Tak:		Umm... this is actually the first time for me to be completely alone on stage! Although I get the feeling that I had done something like this before (laughs) What kind of concert was it... Oh right, a guitar festival, I think. (laughs) It's not like I'm going to talk all the time. (laughs) But for the Blue Note and other live houses, I will probably change the songs a bit. I personally wanted to do this kind of thing at the Blue Note for a long time, but unfortunately you can't find them across Japan. And I haven't decided the set list yet, but I'm really looking forward to performing this album. Of course, I will not play only songs from the current album, but also older songs.
Interviewer:		This may be a trivial thing, but we are interested where you'd position yourself on stage.
Tak:		I checked not too long ago and it looks like that I will be standing in the center of the stage. This might be something fresh from the audience's point of view, but I don't really care much about where I position myself on stage, as long as I stand in front of my amplifiers, it doesn't matter where I am on stage. (laughs)
Interviewer:		We are looking forward to that. To wrap this up, would you like to say something to our fanclub members?
Tak:		It took me a long time to make this album and it was a lot of hard work, but it turned out to be something I am satisfied with, so I would really be glad if you would listen to it. Furthermore, surprisingly this is the first time for me to go on tour under the name of "Tak Matsumoto" and I am really looking forward to it. Please feel free to come to my show.
Interviewer:		Thank you for your time today.
Tak:		Thank you very much.

Koshi Inaba Interview

Interviewer:		This time we would like to ask a lot of questions regarding the solo project you have recently been working on. But first of all, the tour title isn't「en III」, right?
Koshi:		My live shows so far have been part of a「en」series, but this time I'm performing in a hall which fits only 1800 people and, what's more, I'm going to perform only there. I haven't performed 10 shows at a fixed location, and it has a different feeling compared to the「en」series I had going so far. Thus I didn't call it「en III」but gave it a different title, since it's a different line of shows in the「en」series. And when I saw the venue, I decided the title for the tour. It's difficult to explain what exactly is different, but it all started with the atmosphere of the venue. Therefore, I will do「en III」separately.
Interviewer:		There's the confirmation!
Koshi:		But I won't do it this year.
Interviewer:		What is the reasoning behind doing shows in a short amount of time in the same venue, which is completely different from what you've done before?
Koshi:		I was working on some new songs and would have loved to do some concerts if there was the time to do them. And as such, I thought about how I would do the show. I had a lot ideas about venues and the schedule, but the type of the show depended on what venues/schedule we'd settle on. This time we settled on 10 shows, so we'll look at them as a package of 10 shows. This was actually the first time it started with the idea of the venue's atmosphere. I thought I wanted to challenge something different and therefore I thought I'd go with it.
Interviewer:		Is there a high chance that there will be a「en-ball II」the same way there was「en-ball」?
Koshi:		I wonder. (laughs) I won't be able to know that unless I do these shows first. I might have come to hate all this after the last show. (laughs)
Interviewer:		How did you come up with the title「en-ball」?
Koshi:		The venue's name「Stellar Ball」also contains the name "ball", but it is actually the "ball" comes from "ball room". The ball rooms hotels have, or dance halls. When I went to see the venue it was exactly that, so I wondered what to put in conjunction with「en」. You would also think of "Box" and "Room", right? But "Room" sounded a bit too normal for me, so I went with「en-ball」.
Interviewer:		We thought you just took the "ball" from "Stellar Ball".
Koshi:		Since I decided the name after seeing the venue, one might say this is the case.
Interviewer:		What kind of shows have you seen at the Stellar Ball?
Koshi:		In any case, I just went to see the venue. I didn't know what kind of place it was.
Interviewer:		What kind of venue is it?
Koshi:		A place to dance, like a very big hall. There's not much in the venue, so a lot can be done with it setup-wise. You can add seats for a classic music concert, it's also possible to turn it all into a dance floor, like a dance venue. I guess you don't say "dance venue" (laughs) You can also raise or lower the stage, so it's a bit in horizontal format. But, I wonder... I'm not sure. (laughs) Compared to that, if we look at my arena tours, they were split up into「en」and「en II」and we kind of did the same thing, right? That's why I think it's interesting to try something different for a change. If we take advantage of that, the image of a song might change... Still thinking about it!
Interviewer:		Are you also thinking about changing the set list for every show?
Koshi:		Of course I'll want to put some variation into it. Since we play at the same venue for 10 days.　But if it's a play or so, the venue is also fixed, right? I'm pretty sure it's something like that, too. And the people will most likely want to do some variations, right? Since they're always in the same place. Compared to plays and Kabuki performances, who usually run for about a month, 10 days seem like a very short time, but I doubt they have done the same thing over and over in the same venue. And in such a short amount of time! Why do I talk so much... I'm worried...(laughs) I might be a bit strange during the first and last day of the tour! So please come see me on these days! I'm pretty sure I'll be very weird!(laughs)
Interviewer:		Next, we would like to talk about「en-ball」's tour members. Can you tell us about the members that have been chosen so far?
Koshi:		What we have decided so far is that SATOKO from a band called FUZZY CONTROL will be on drums.
Interviewer:		Were you specifically looking to appoint a woman as drummer?
Koshi:		I kind of thought it might be interesting. It's the feeling, the feeling. From the start I thought that it would be interesting to have a woman on drums or on bass. So then I went to look for one on YouTube. Just like a normal person. (laughs)
Interviewer:		So she was the one you were looking for. Was there a reasoning behind leaving the rhythm to a woman?
Koshi:		The drummer's part is to support it with a substantial basic rhythm, so wouldn't you think it has a manly image? That's why I thought it is interesting to see a woman in that area. But it's not like I was desperately looking for a woman and just chose someone as long as it's a woman. SATOKO is a wonderful drummer. I also went to her live shows and checked out her playing and thought "Pretty good!".
Interviewer:		A female drummer is certainly going to attract attention. Why did you choose SATOKO in particular?
Koshi:		Because I think her playing style is cool. I thought it was really good when I saw her play live on stage. She is relatively petite, but works the whole drumset nonetheless.
Interviewer:		She creates a different atmosphere compared to Shane?
Koshi:		Her playing is quite different from Shane's dynamic playing style. ...but then again, SATOKO's playing style is also dynamic. Her appearance changes once she's on stage and really brightens up. And Corey's gonna be on bass. I think we have a really great team for the rhythm department here. Well, without a doubt, they're both musicians, so it's about how well they can work together, right? Corey was part of the recording and was also on stage with me during my last solo tour. He also has a wonderful character, I really like him. But! That doesn't mean that all other members are not wonderful! (laughs) For this tour we'll play in Shinagawa for 10 days, so I thought about putting together a Japanese-only band, but it was really difficult to line up schedules. That's why I asked Corey to join me.
Interviewer:		It's not like you focused on putting a foreigner on the support member team, right?
Koshi:		No, it's not about getting a female band member or a foreign band member. (laughs) I really love Corey's bass. And Ooshima is on keyboards. He toured with us as B'z a long time ago. Right now he seems to be a producer and works on a lot of things. I have no idea what it's going to be like to play with him again since it's been a while. But during recording, we had to work together once, and I think we connected.
Interviewer:		What is it like to have a band member you've known for quite some time among all the new band members?
Koshi:		Well, for me, Ooshima has also become a new person. So I think it's a fresh feeling overall. But there's a certain melancholy to it. I'm pretty sure he's quite different from the time where we played together during the SURVIVE tour. As for Duran, the guitarist, I was introduced to him by management. Actually, I'm going to see him live this week. I want to see him live at least once.
Interviewer:		Since you are also play the guitar, do you think that your point of view will be different regarding the other band members?
Koshi:		Well, simply put, I like guitar players, thus it is my favorite. I wonder where I'll look. Of course since I'll perform with them on stage, I'll take a look at their playing style. When I played with Josh, I looked at a video of him and thought he was pretty good. For en II, sometimes all the band members would be in the U.S., therefore before they met up with me, we gathered them all and held an audition. I gave the GO-sign once I heard that everything would be fine.
Interviewer:		Will you also play the guitar during this tour?
Koshi:		Perhaps. I don't know yet. But it I think it won't be an acoustic show since it's such a small venue.
Interviewer:		After you had put together the supporting band, I'm sure each musician has a different level of experience and music genre. Is there something you would like to have a general understanding of with the band?
Koshi:		I wonder. This time although I talked to them, I didn't get the feeling that we were on the same page. But I feel like someone who follows each new fad with the way I searched for my band members. Since I checked out their playing and such on YouTube. Of course, the sound is very important, but if the playing style doesn't strike me as interesting, it's different. And if you wonder what happens once these musicians play together, that's going to be different every time.
Interviewer:		If we talk about B'z, Ohga doing the chorus comes to mind.
Koshi:		Yeah. And this time we especially have a lot of people who can sing. Aside from Corey, Duran can sing by himself, and also SATOKO is able to sing. I'm thinking about putting a focus on singing more than usual.
Interviewer:		Next up, we would like to talk about your new solo project website「en-zine」. What is the meaning behind it?
Koshi:		I was presented with a lot of ideas and it was very important to me that it would be easy to understand, self-explanatory. I've been using the word「en」before, and I kind of feel at ease when I make「en」part of the title of my solo projects. And it is meant to be like an information hub, so I went with the「zine」out of「magazine」and「fanzine」. And if I have a place like that, I can publish new ideas there quickly from time to time. I don't have the know-how for it, but it seems interesting. If I feel like doing it, I might do it.
Interviewer:		It looks like a lot of contents are going to be published on the website very soon. What kind of plans do you have regarding the website's contents?
Koshi:		At the moment, there will be news, digital releases and movies. Should I meet with someone and talk about something specific, we might also do that on the website.
Interviewer:		By releasing songs digitally, do you mean songs that will be released as a single?
Koshi:		I'm not exactly sure, but the songs that I will post on the site will be digital releases. If you want to call them singles, then that's fine. It doesn't matter to me what they are called. Basically, I want to publish them through the「en-zine」website. I work on my songs early on, but if you want to release it as a single, you have to do a lot of things for promotion, so it takes a lot of time to release it, right? I wanted to release my songs very quickly in digital form, so we started talking about such a website, which you now see in its current form.
Interviewer:		What made you try out digital releases for this solo project?
Koshi:		With digital releases, you can work on the song right before the planned release date and it's easy to release it, right? I came to know the appeal of digital distribution. And I thought it doesn't have to be that I release singles and then an album after having prepared all the songs. It all started with the thought that I didn't want to worry about whether to put a certain song on the album or not, and could publish these songs in a speedy way, such that fans can listen to it. While working, should I come up with ideas, I would be able to publish them without having to think about my responsibilities. If it was Twitter or a Blog, I think I would stop doing it immediately. My staff would tell me "Such an unreasonable thing to do!" and I would stop doing it. (laughs) That's why I would like to work on this in the long run.
Interviewer:		(laughs) Speaking of which, I had the impresison that your website is different from your usual image.
Koshi:		Is that so? Well, I'm not sure since I'm not a designer. I was presented a lot of ideas including a "Garage-style" website, and I chose one out of them. The space'ish design was born during the idea discovery phase when I said that I liked the buildings in Kubrick's movies and the mountain retreats from "Shining". However, people would say the current design more resembles the spaceship from "2001: A Space Odyssey", but I don't think that's true. (laughs) It's not like I said "I want something space'ish!". I might have it changed should I feel like it.
Interviewer:		Moving on, I would like to talk about "Nensho". When I saw the title of the song, I imagined it to be a slow number. I was wondering if you just name your songs as you deem fit.
Koshi:		I had already decided the title "Nensho" as well as the lyrics. And then I would compose the melody for it.
Interviewer:		What is the reasoning behind calling it "Nensho" and not something else?
Koshi:		(laughs) I knew I was going to be asked this when I chose this title. Well, it's good, isn't it? No matter what the title is. (laughs)
Interviewer:		Regarding the word "Nensho"(written pledge), I had the impression that the notion of swearing/pledging was rather strong.
Koshi:		The song already had a title when I was working on the lyrics in my memos on my iPhone. It had the title written in it and I would then compose a melody around that to fit with the feeling of the song. I kind of expected to be asked this kind of question once this song would reach its full form, but I didn't think about that before. Although it became a full blown song, I stayed within the boundaries of its title, so I think "Nensho" stayed "Nensho". What kind of song do you imagine when you think of "Nensho"?
Interviewer:		Since "Nensho"(念書) isn't really a widely used word, I thought it'd contain a bit of bitterness...
Koshi:		(laughs) The letter "nen"(念), right? When we were putting together the cover for the digital single, it used to have 「念書」written in a Mincho typeface font, but I told them to make it not so polled. (laughs) But then it's amazing that the music video turned out to be the way it is! (laughs) I really like it though.
Interviewer:		Such a strong title certainly brings its own image with it.
Koshi:		But the first thing I had in my mind was the title and then I started working on the song based on the title, "Nensho". (laughs) And that's why I think that the song really goes well with the title! It has the "Nensho" image, and it's not like I tried to betray that image, because I really wanted the song to fit the title.
Interviewer:		We received the title and lyrics printed in Mincho typeface from management...
Koshi:		Because you see Nensho as something written on paper, right? In this regard, I did something completely different from the stereotype. (laughs)
Interviewer:		Yes. For a while now, lyrics to your solo songs are more about the negative part of the heart compared to your B'z songs, and convey human feelings, but do you recognize it as that personally?
Koshi:		I don't bring forth any negativities on purpose, but I think it's about the state of mind I'm in before I start writing the lyrics. I usually don't write when I'm on a trip or very busy. It's when all that is over, when I'm relaxed. For example, when taking a stroll I would suddenly stop and start writing.
Interviewer:		People around you would surely be surprised.
Koshi:		I don't know. (laughs) When I walk my dog, I would hold the leash firmly and tell my dog "Wait a sec!" (laughs)
Interviewer:		Did you also come up with "Nensho" in such a moment?
Koshi:		I worked on "Nensho" a long time ago, in a different surrounding. But actually, I must've seen "Nensho" in a word or a thing I've seen (laughs) And that word was really stuck in my mind, so I started writing the song.
Interviewer:		Did you also come up with "Nensho" in such a moment?
Koshi: