09-14-2017, 02:04 AM
Slightly more in depth interview with four of the ladies of Fate Gear on 'OZ - Rebellion, including support artistes Erika and Haruka for a change. You've heard of 'walking bass', now learn about 'flying bass' 
Original article
Now the fantasy metal band FATE GEAR has released a new album! We listened to the inside story of the amazing concept album and other matters.
6/16(金) 20:02配信
FATE GEAR(左からHaruka、Nico、Mina隊長、Erika）
FATE GEAR was formed around the guitarist Captain Mina (ex-DESTROSE) and vocalist, Nico, who has also expanded her range as a voice actor. They released their 2nd full album 'OZ -Rebellion-' on June . Surprisingly enough, it’s said to be a concept album.
Approximately two years have passed since the first album "A Light in the Black", with Kurumi (Keyboards) being greeted as an official member greeted, while also having strong supporting members such as Erika (Ba) and Haruka (Dr). In this work, the cohesion of the band is stronger than in the 1st album. The musical composition also has come to reflect the members' individual personalities more deeply, so the music demonstrated a much broader range.
The recent womens metal boom seems to have calmed down, but in a way it seems that the scene itself was established as a genre. It’s a time when a band's real ability is questioned, and it’s in such a period they have started to release "OZ-Rebellion-". Mina (Gt), who has been driving the girls metal world since the DESTROSE era, Nico (Vo), Erika and Haruka talk of various things (Kurumi and Yuri were absent on this day).
- It’s a concept album with a theme based on the "Wizard of Oz", isn’t it? Your official Homepage also specifies "Original Story: Watame Factory Theater Company #10 "Oz - 1526" Why did you try to make a concept album?
Nico: I just wanted to create a concept album. So, I asked them to see the stage show of the theater company that’s referred to on the official website, and we wrote the songs by the various themes we were inspired by there.
――So how did the production of the songs themselves take place?
Captain Mina (hereinafter, Mina): I wrote songs that would be the foundation primarily with the story as the axis, and then had them arranged in their respective parts. Nico chan's songs and Kurumi's songs are also similar.
――Did you had any difficulty in writing songs specifically for a concept album?
Mina: It’s my first time creating a concept album. Up until now, I’ve used an orthodox style to build up a song based on the riffs and melodies, so it was necessary to change the way of writing them in the first place. That was a bit of a pain. But in the end it was a lot of fun.
――Nico was in charge of more than half of the lyrics, but was there any difficulty there unique to it being a concept album?
Nico: I tried quite carefully not to ruin the world view with the lyrics. There is a story for each song, there are some characters in it, and we have to express it in a limited number of words. Originally it wasn’t the type of thing that you can easily write lyrics for, so it was hard for some songs, with troubles such as lacking the number of words or, conversely, having too many words.
――In terms of singing, are you conscious of any way a concept album differs so far?
Nico: I really thought about how to sing songs with the outlook the lyrics should convey. Since songs include metal, Celtic and jazz numbers, there is a lot of variety, so I was very careful not to sing them in a way that overwhelmed.
――It seems that Nico recently started voice acting as well. Are there any ways the voice actor influences the vocalist?
Nico: Speaking of this album, there are several songs in which English lines have been inserted in the middle, so those may have been done better because I was a voice actor. Also, conversely, since I'm speaking about voice acting, I think that my singing has a good effect.
――It certainly felt effective as regards the dialogue part of the ending of "Farewell - Flames of Farewell -" , and in that you gave it a more transparent feeling on the sad melody. I'd now like to ask the two supporting players some things as well. I heard that bassist Erika is participating on all song during recording?
Erika:Yes. Although arranging wasn’t really my strong point, I was allowed to do it freely, and I learned how to make an album like this
Actually, recording was really the first time I’d done it. So I was pretty nervous at first.
――It was your first time recording with FATE GEAR? That must have been a lot of pressure. Did Captain Mina and Nico not worry about that as well?
Mina: I wasn’t worried. I was with her at the recording and supervised.
Nico: Not at all. Rather for, something like "Lunatic-faced" that I composed, the bass line was well above expectations and it became like "Yay!" (Laughs)
――How did Erika come to participate in FATE GEAR in the first place?
Erika: I knew that the Captain was looking for a bassist through mutual acquaintances. I’ve always liked girls bands and I liked the Captain’s old band. So, I thought that I definitely wanted to do it!
―Did you also know anything about FATE GEAR?
Erika: Of course. I had also watched the first PV, because of that, I thought “This is cool!”
――Under What circumstances did drummer Haruka participate?
Haruka: The trigger was that I got invited by the captain on Twitter. I hadn’t done drums for a band in those days. But I was thinking that I wanted to do something.
――Erika has played with a hard music band before, but Haruka seems to have played a different genre for a long time.
Haruka: It was a band with a slightly stylish feel, like the backing band for a piano singer...... pop music and such. So, to be honest, it is only after working on FATE GEAR that I’ve worked with 2 bass drums in full swing.
――When it comes close to pop, the technique used is different from metal, and it would no have been unusual to have struggled at first. Captain Mina chose well.
Mina: I heard that Seikima II like it, so it must be okay, l think (laughs) I am just doing my best really.
Haruka: Twin Bass drums and such are definitely hard work, but hard drums are a lot of fun. The amount of practice I do has increased so that its not even comparable with my previous band. Since I entered FATE GEAR, the opportunity to play in front of a lot of people has increased, and the reaction of the fans feeds back directly into my performance, so I’m very happy. That's why I have a great practice.
――Haruka joined in for this album and what’s your frank opinion?
Haruka: Although I also have experience in recording in the previous band etc., it is my first time to participate in full-fledged recording, including incorporating mix and mastering into details, such as the process of changing the sound of kicks, Oh, wow! "I was impressed.
――What was the most impressive thing left
Haruka: It was the recording of "Good old days". This song was my first recording as FATE GEAR, but the jazz elements were so strong, the song was so difficult, I figured it would be hard work, so I practiced quite a bit and challenged myself. I also fixed my physical condition beforehand.
Mina: “Good old days" is a difficult piece of Kurumi's composition. On the day of recording, Haruka prepared and provided chocolate between breaks so that it we didn’t run out of energy (laughs) That song was truly hard for everyone.
Erika: I also recorded other songs at apace of about 2 songs a day, but that song alone took two weeks!
――Certainly it must be a bit painful asking rock musicians for jazz!
Haruka: But it came out OK. There was something like a solo at the end of the song, and I’ve learnt a lot as a drummer now.
――Nico already mentioned it earlier, but this album is quite rich in variety. "Good old days" has a jazz element, the lead track "Scars in my Life" was finished off in lyrical speed metal, and Nico's "Ray -Over The Rainbow-" has a J-POP like sound, so there is a very broad range of music.
Nico:Although the abundant variety may be related to the point that it is a concept album, we are a metal band singing in a classic girls metal style, but personally I think we don’t want to stay solely within the frame of metal.
However, since each person has a different way of perceiving each song, and a different feeling about each one, I hope this type of metal from FATE GEAR will be received well.
Mina: Speaking of "Scars in my Life", there is an inside story behind the shooting of the PV.
――Oh. What was that? I love gossip.
Mina: During shooting, Erika's bass was wrecked.
Erika: That's right!
――’Wrecked’ isn’t a word normally used for instruments. What kind of situation was it?
※Erika shows an image on her smartphone.
――The neck is broken and the body is split ... isn’t it? It's not broken level either. How on earth did you manage to do this?
Erika: They said at the musical instrument shop that it was impossible to repair ....
I flung the bass around during shooting and it rotated on the strap hooks. Then the strap came off and the bass went flying.......
Nico: Kerrang! It made a noise like I’ve never heard before!
Mina: Yeah (laughs) After that, poor Erika had to sit it out in the corner of the studio.
All: Laughs
Erika: I reinforced it with a gummed tape afterwards and it survived the rest of the shoot, but I was really down.
――But, you wouldn’t understand it just from the picture at all. Nobody would think that the you could do such an amazing amount of damage to a bass. It’s truly wrecked (laughs)
Erika: Yes……. I finished after taking the picture though, so I managed somehow.
―I saw some live footage of Erika, and your performance seems more intense than anyone else. With the head banging and such, it seemed reminiscent of the Jason Newstead of old. Your head is going around like a propeller.
Erika: Yes! Because I know my role at FATE GEAR. Performance gets all my energy.
――Thank you for the inside story. Returning to the album, this time Captain Mina was the main songwriter - which songs were you most attached to within this album?
Mina: If I say all of them it’s true, but if I dare to mention one, it’s "Farewell - a flame of farewell?" Both in the melody and the guitar solo its one song that feels pretty good for me. Also, the guitar has not made much of an appearance before "Good old days" so the pressure went up a few times, but I think that I’m usually able to make a different aspect stand out in my solo.
――Recently it seems that the women’s metal boom has calmed down for a while, but as the one who has lead the women’s metal world before the words "women’s metal" even existed, is there anything you think Captain Mina has?
Mina: In the past few years I get the impression that the words "women’s metal" have been generalised quite a lot.
――Do you dislike FATE GEAR being tied to the words "women’s metal"?
Mina: That's not true at all. Metal has various sub-genres, but I think that any expression is good as long as the viewer is clear.
If it’s women’s metal, it’s women’s metal, and I think that it is good if that’s the impetus to have interest in various other kinds of music too. I hope you like our songs and performances and I hope you will become interested in other metal bands. That’s what is important.
So not just women’s metal band and girls bands, but also male-only bands, and bands with only a female vocalist and such. I’d like it if your interests steadily broadened.
――So, in conclusion, Captain Mina and Nico, if I could have a message for the fans?
Mina: It’s an album that took so much more time and effort than I initially expected. Satisfaction with the album is 120%. But since the tour starts soon, don’t just listen to the CD but also come and see our live performances.
Nico: I am thinking about every one of the fans we kept waiting for the completion of the album. I myself will do my best to make our songs reach many as many people as possible.
（Words/Composition=Leoneko）
Original article
Now the fantasy metal band FATE GEAR has released a new album! We listened to the inside story of the amazing concept album and other matters.
6/16(金) 20:02配信
FATE GEAR(左からHaruka、Nico、Mina隊長、Erika）
FATE GEAR was formed around the guitarist Captain Mina (ex-DESTROSE) and vocalist, Nico, who has also expanded her range as a voice actor. They released their 2nd full album 'OZ -Rebellion-' on June . Surprisingly enough, it’s said to be a concept album.
Approximately two years have passed since the first album "A Light in the Black", with Kurumi (Keyboards) being greeted as an official member greeted, while also having strong supporting members such as Erika (Ba) and Haruka (Dr). In this work, the cohesion of the band is stronger than in the 1st album. The musical composition also has come to reflect the members' individual personalities more deeply, so the music demonstrated a much broader range.
The recent womens metal boom seems to have calmed down, but in a way it seems that the scene itself was established as a genre. It’s a time when a band's real ability is questioned, and it’s in such a period they have started to release "OZ-Rebellion-". Mina (Gt), who has been driving the girls metal world since the DESTROSE era, Nico (Vo), Erika and Haruka talk of various things (Kurumi and Yuri were absent on this day).
- It’s a concept album with a theme based on the "Wizard of Oz", isn’t it? Your official Homepage also specifies "Original Story: Watame Factory Theater Company #10 "Oz - 1526" Why did you try to make a concept album?
Nico: I just wanted to create a concept album. So, I asked them to see the stage show of the theater company that’s referred to on the official website, and we wrote the songs by the various themes we were inspired by there.
――So how did the production of the songs themselves take place?
Captain Mina (hereinafter, Mina): I wrote songs that would be the foundation primarily with the story as the axis, and then had them arranged in their respective parts. Nico chan's songs and Kurumi's songs are also similar.
――Did you had any difficulty in writing songs specifically for a concept album?
Mina: It’s my first time creating a concept album. Up until now, I’ve used an orthodox style to build up a song based on the riffs and melodies, so it was necessary to change the way of writing them in the first place. That was a bit of a pain. But in the end it was a lot of fun.
――Nico was in charge of more than half of the lyrics, but was there any difficulty there unique to it being a concept album?
Nico: I tried quite carefully not to ruin the world view with the lyrics. There is a story for each song, there are some characters in it, and we have to express it in a limited number of words. Originally it wasn’t the type of thing that you can easily write lyrics for, so it was hard for some songs, with troubles such as lacking the number of words or, conversely, having too many words.
――In terms of singing, are you conscious of any way a concept album differs so far?
Nico: I really thought about how to sing songs with the outlook the lyrics should convey. Since songs include metal, Celtic and jazz numbers, there is a lot of variety, so I was very careful not to sing them in a way that overwhelmed.
――It seems that Nico recently started voice acting as well. Are there any ways the voice actor influences the vocalist?
Nico: Speaking of this album, there are several songs in which English lines have been inserted in the middle, so those may have been done better because I was a voice actor. Also, conversely, since I'm speaking about voice acting, I think that my singing has a good effect.
――It certainly felt effective as regards the dialogue part of the ending of "Farewell - Flames of Farewell -" , and in that you gave it a more transparent feeling on the sad melody. I'd now like to ask the two supporting players some things as well. I heard that bassist Erika is participating on all song during recording?
Erika:Yes. Although arranging wasn’t really my strong point, I was allowed to do it freely, and I learned how to make an album like this
Actually, recording was really the first time I’d done it. So I was pretty nervous at first.
――It was your first time recording with FATE GEAR? That must have been a lot of pressure. Did Captain Mina and Nico not worry about that as well?
Mina: I wasn’t worried. I was with her at the recording and supervised.
Nico: Not at all. Rather for, something like "Lunatic-faced" that I composed, the bass line was well above expectations and it became like "Yay!" (Laughs)
――How did Erika come to participate in FATE GEAR in the first place?
Erika: I knew that the Captain was looking for a bassist through mutual acquaintances. I’ve always liked girls bands and I liked the Captain’s old band. So, I thought that I definitely wanted to do it!
―Did you also know anything about FATE GEAR?
Erika: Of course. I had also watched the first PV, because of that, I thought “This is cool!”
――Under What circumstances did drummer Haruka participate?
Haruka: The trigger was that I got invited by the captain on Twitter. I hadn’t done drums for a band in those days. But I was thinking that I wanted to do something.
――Erika has played with a hard music band before, but Haruka seems to have played a different genre for a long time.
Haruka: It was a band with a slightly stylish feel, like the backing band for a piano singer...... pop music and such. So, to be honest, it is only after working on FATE GEAR that I’ve worked with 2 bass drums in full swing.
――When it comes close to pop, the technique used is different from metal, and it would no have been unusual to have struggled at first. Captain Mina chose well.
Mina: I heard that Seikima II like it, so it must be okay, l think (laughs) I am just doing my best really.
Haruka: Twin Bass drums and such are definitely hard work, but hard drums are a lot of fun. The amount of practice I do has increased so that its not even comparable with my previous band. Since I entered FATE GEAR, the opportunity to play in front of a lot of people has increased, and the reaction of the fans feeds back directly into my performance, so I’m very happy. That's why I have a great practice.
――Haruka joined in for this album and what’s your frank opinion?
Haruka: Although I also have experience in recording in the previous band etc., it is my first time to participate in full-fledged recording, including incorporating mix and mastering into details, such as the process of changing the sound of kicks, Oh, wow! "I was impressed.
――What was the most impressive thing left
Haruka: It was the recording of "Good old days". This song was my first recording as FATE GEAR, but the jazz elements were so strong, the song was so difficult, I figured it would be hard work, so I practiced quite a bit and challenged myself. I also fixed my physical condition beforehand.
Mina: “Good old days" is a difficult piece of Kurumi's composition. On the day of recording, Haruka prepared and provided chocolate between breaks so that it we didn’t run out of energy (laughs) That song was truly hard for everyone.
Erika: I also recorded other songs at apace of about 2 songs a day, but that song alone took two weeks!
――Certainly it must be a bit painful asking rock musicians for jazz!
Haruka: But it came out OK. There was something like a solo at the end of the song, and I’ve learnt a lot as a drummer now.
――Nico already mentioned it earlier, but this album is quite rich in variety. "Good old days" has a jazz element, the lead track "Scars in my Life" was finished off in lyrical speed metal, and Nico's "Ray -Over The Rainbow-" has a J-POP like sound, so there is a very broad range of music.
Nico:Although the abundant variety may be related to the point that it is a concept album, we are a metal band singing in a classic girls metal style, but personally I think we don’t want to stay solely within the frame of metal.
However, since each person has a different way of perceiving each song, and a different feeling about each one, I hope this type of metal from FATE GEAR will be received well.
Mina: Speaking of "Scars in my Life", there is an inside story behind the shooting of the PV.
――Oh. What was that? I love gossip.
Mina: During shooting, Erika's bass was wrecked.
Erika: That's right!
――’Wrecked’ isn’t a word normally used for instruments. What kind of situation was it?
※Erika shows an image on her smartphone.
――The neck is broken and the body is split ... isn’t it? It's not broken level either. How on earth did you manage to do this?
Erika: They said at the musical instrument shop that it was impossible to repair ....
I flung the bass around during shooting and it rotated on the strap hooks. Then the strap came off and the bass went flying.......
Nico: Kerrang! It made a noise like I’ve never heard before!
Mina: Yeah (laughs) After that, poor Erika had to sit it out in the corner of the studio.
All: Laughs
Erika: I reinforced it with a gummed tape afterwards and it survived the rest of the shoot, but I was really down.
――But, you wouldn’t understand it just from the picture at all. Nobody would think that the you could do such an amazing amount of damage to a bass. It’s truly wrecked (laughs)
Erika: Yes……. I finished after taking the picture though, so I managed somehow.
―I saw some live footage of Erika, and your performance seems more intense than anyone else. With the head banging and such, it seemed reminiscent of the Jason Newstead of old. Your head is going around like a propeller.
Erika: Yes! Because I know my role at FATE GEAR. Performance gets all my energy.
――Thank you for the inside story. Returning to the album, this time Captain Mina was the main songwriter - which songs were you most attached to within this album?
Mina: If I say all of them it’s true, but if I dare to mention one, it’s "Farewell - a flame of farewell?" Both in the melody and the guitar solo its one song that feels pretty good for me. Also, the guitar has not made much of an appearance before "Good old days" so the pressure went up a few times, but I think that I’m usually able to make a different aspect stand out in my solo.
――Recently it seems that the women’s metal boom has calmed down for a while, but as the one who has lead the women’s metal world before the words "women’s metal" even existed, is there anything you think Captain Mina has?
Mina: In the past few years I get the impression that the words "women’s metal" have been generalised quite a lot.
――Do you dislike FATE GEAR being tied to the words "women’s metal"?
Mina: That's not true at all. Metal has various sub-genres, but I think that any expression is good as long as the viewer is clear.
If it’s women’s metal, it’s women’s metal, and I think that it is good if that’s the impetus to have interest in various other kinds of music too. I hope you like our songs and performances and I hope you will become interested in other metal bands. That’s what is important.
So not just women’s metal band and girls bands, but also male-only bands, and bands with only a female vocalist and such. I’d like it if your interests steadily broadened.
――So, in conclusion, Captain Mina and Nico, if I could have a message for the fans?
Mina: It’s an album that took so much more time and effort than I initially expected. Satisfaction with the album is 120%. But since the tour starts soon, don’t just listen to the CD but also come and see our live performances.
Nico: I am thinking about every one of the fans we kept waiting for the completion of the album. I myself will do my best to make our songs reach many as many people as possible.
（Words/Composition=Leoneko）
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