Janne da Arc

Translation by Sutematsu
From: Newsmaker February 2005
Interviewer, writer: Kitomo Michiaki

  The first Osaka-jo Hall One Man has been set for 3.27 of next year. On top of that, Gekkou Hana, the new single that will ornament the opening of the show, is on air as the opening theme for Black Jack, the anime show for Osamu Tezuka’s masterpiece. The modern Janne Da Arc is stepping out more than ever into a field of wide activity.

  Also, the magnificent study Gekkou Hana, which fuses the powerful band sound with a study of elegant strings, expresses the appearance of a band that has accumulated its career and expanded the scale of its music. However, the singer, yasu’s, tone did not have this kind of good atmosphere at all: we ourselves aim at universality, and want to continue forward little by little. This kind of desire toward steady growth can be felt in Janne Da Arc’s words.


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If you stick with the song, you can go anywhere

- In terms of the features of sound, what kind of image did you have planned out?
Melody with a really soft feeling, while the orchestra has a lot more power. Because of this it is okay to do power chords on the guitar, and the bass rolls along, and the drum opens with high hat and moves into beat. At this point the melody and strings meet with a gentle melody, and I want to try and give it a strong impression despite that it is a ballad.

- Although the tempo is medium, the performance is very aggressive. Melodically it is a ballad, there are times where it does not seem like one. Do not the words add power to the feeling that comes up in that strong performance?
Ah, no. Loneliness is the strongest feeling in that song�EWhat is it? Basically, it is gentle, ephemeral. I want the vocal to be completely opposite.�E

- I see. So the quick feeling of your previous single, “Love is Here,�Eis completely different from this ephemeral atmosphere. So although there’s the impression that Janne De Arc is a band displaying a wide compositional taste, you guys are really conscious of these types of things?
Ahh�Ehat is probably�E think I got the influence for the breath of my work from DEAD END. Before, when I had the chance to take it in, that’s what I would say.

- Ah, yeah, yeah. When you spoke about the vocalists that have influenced you, you brought up MORRIE.
The base of DEAD END’s style moved from hard rock to more of a pop feeling, but I really like it. Because we have influence from that kind of thing, I do not really think that we have a breadth of style. Basically, if you make stick with the melody of the song, the position of your band can go anywhere.

- No matter what song, you make the melody the axis of it, basically. If you stick to what makes you up at the core, even if you try various styles, it will never seem out of place. Is that what you are saying?
Yeah. I think that is a point you should stick to. Even now.


***


I absolutely do not want to be an en vogue person

- When you wrote the lyrics this time, was the theme clear?
Yeah. When I write lyrics, I make something kind of like a heavy plot inside my mind. For example�Ehere is me, there is my lover. What kind of person is my lover? What do I think about that person? What is the result of this? I write out a plot like this. So this time�Eor example, there is me and my lover, I do not know if she just can not meet me or she is dead, but her not being here is terrible. While I am looking at the moonlight, it is so painful that I just want to die�EBut then I see a flower. The flower’s life is very short.

- That’s beautiful, “life is short”…You use a lot of symbols for this “ethereality�Eyou just spoke of.
Yeah. And I understand that the flower will wither, but right now it is blooming with all its strength. I think of this, and realize that I should be living with all my strength too. This time was Black Jack, and I wanted to add lyrics about ‘living.�E

- There are plenty of people who feel for painful love songs, and I think there are a lot of people who feel something even larger than that.
Basically, it is like the ‘meaning of life.�EEveryone understands that people die, they should living life to the fullest�Ehat is a pretty ordinary theme.

- In other words, it is a universal theme. I think it is something you can get across to people somehow or other.
Ahhh�EIn that case I am glad. Um�Everyone thinks that ‘universal�Ething. What do you call it? ... I absolutely do not want to be an ‘en vogue�Eperson, and this is something I am always thinking. Although a lot of people would listen to me if I was “en vogue,�Ecan you really call the love we feel for en vogue people ‘love�E

- Hmm�Es it the destiny of what you call “en vogue people�Eto have a lot of people fly to them but also separate from them quickly?
Yeah. But of course, not that. The love accumulates one piece at a time, and I think we are always making pieces like that. Not things that have a price�E want to make things that, when people get a hold of them, they never want to let them go. For example, when I was in middle and high school I bought DEAD END CDs, and even though they are falling apart now I still keep them.

- And that is just one memory. No matter how your interests change, there is always something like that you can not forget.
Yeah, really! That is, well�Eince there are things that are connected to their memories, they will say, ‘It was this thing!�EEven though I think this is kind of ‘vogue,�Ethose things really are connected to them.

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