Akira

Interviewer, writer: NickBlaze
Questions Answered by: Akira



Musical prodigy, Akira, from the bands Prophesia and Azrael recently got in touch with JMI. JMI had the opportunity to ask Akira about his recent musical ambitions and inspirations.



What inspired you to pursue singing?

First, I was only listening to music as it was fun and didn’t play any instruments, even though my brother, who is one-year older than me, was playing guitar and doing vocals. I guess the inspiration from him was quite big and the first start was when I was asked to play bass in a friends’ band in high school. I joined as the bass player in the band but there I was told to sing while I was doing some back vocals in the band...

What projects were you in before Azrael and Prophesia? Are you currently involved in any other projects now?

Long time ago, I released a LP with 4 songs in a project called JESSMEIYER, though only a few people bought it...haha. Also I released a full length CD in a band called REBELLION. The sounds of both releases are hard rock like RAINBOW.

Now I’m doing vocals in a Japanese-singing pops band called KEN-SHOW with my brother. Concerning guest appearances to other bands, I took some back vocals in MASTERMIND "The Way I Go," POWERSQUAD "The Gladiator," XANADU "Forever Ties" which PROPHESIA’s guitarist Michael was in.

Which bands would you say inspired your music the most?

Because I love the 80’s metal bands, I am so much influenced by various metal bands in the 80’s.
Of course I’m very much interested in the 90’s and the present metal scenes, and I also listen to many bands from Eastern Europe and Russia whose information is not easy to get in Japan. So I think the influence on me is so wide-ranging. But the most inpression on me should be HELLOWEEN’s Keeper Of The Seven Keys I & II era, STRYPER at their height of prosperity, YNGWIE J MALMSTEEN, TNT and so on as I really loved them!!!

Why did you decide to sing for metal and hard rock?

The biggest reason can be said that I love hard rock and heavy metal. I think heavy metal scene has little seamy side so we can get good reaction to some degree if we make good releases. (just like now answering an interview from overseas.) I think this is very healthy scene.

Every member of Azrael and Prophesia has been very talented. Are there any musicians you’ve worked with that you’d love to work with again?

The main thing is if he is a "good guy" or not to play with even though there are, of course, a lot of talented musicians in Japan. Because YUHKI, who is the guest keyboard player in PROPHESIA, is a great guy, I would naturally like to play with him again, and it would be great if I will be able to play with Shigeru(Gu) and Kentaro(Ba), ex.AZRAEL members.

What’s the story behind the name "prophesia?"

While I was thinking of the name of this band, the word "prophecy" came up to my mind but "THE PROPHECY" sounds so common. I found it "La PROPHECIA" in Spanish, and then I coinaged a word "PROPHESIA" to be more English-looking.

Eye of the Storm was released recently. What’s Prophesia’s next step?

We played a gig in Osaka in February and will play a gig in Tokyo in 2nd June. Actually we have been asked some more gigs but it is hard to meet the conditions and moreover guest keyboard player YUHKI is so busy... We would love to play as many gigs as possible and of course hopefully new album would be released in the next year.

Are there any updates you’d like to share about Azrael?

AZRAEL has lots of songs for the upcoming 4th album. We will start a rehearsal of the new songs very soon and I hope to start recording as soon as possible. Even though one of the main songwriters Shigeru left the band, DON’T WORRY! Our 4th album will be full of AZRAEL sounds!

Are there any future tours planned for international audiences?

I have to say ’no’ at the moment. We all have our full-time works and no foreign labels have offered us any contracts. It is a hard long road!!! If we can play gigs for international audiences in the future, it would be fantastic!

Thank you very much for the interview. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Thank you very much for the great opportunity! If you are interested in PROPHESIA and AZRAEL, get our CD’s and listen to our music! You can get our CD’s in Disk Heaven in Japan and many other internet webshops. Hope to see you on tour some day!! Until then.... Keep rockin’!!!!

Additional Information

Official Site For Prophesia
Check out Prophesia’s Official Site for more information on their history, lyrics, discography, and more!


Official Site For Azrael
Check out Azrael’s Official Site for more information on their history, lyrics, discography, and more!


Azrael @ J-Music Ignited
Click here to see J-Music Ignited’s page for Azrael!


Prophesia @ J-Music Ignited
Click here to see J-Music Ignited’s page for Prophesia!

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