[Translated] Narumi/Hazuki - Interview Metallion #67

[billm99uk]

Right. Time for a bit more stuff translated from Metallion #58. This week we have an interview with Narumi and Hazuki, late of Disqualia, on their exciting (hopefully!) new project. Enjoy!

A pair of beautiful guitarists, who play an active part in a number of fields, form a new band with their ideal singer!




by JUN KAWAI
pix.Issei Ambo 

Narumi <g> and Hazuki <g>, who were active in the girl’s metal band Disqualia, have launched their long-awaited new band. At the time of this interview, the singer has only just been decided on, there was no band name yet, and there were only a few demo songs, but on listening to the demo, I have no doubts that their musicianship will create a sophisticated atmosphere. Narumi and Hazuki talked about the band’s music.

—— Your new band came from a proposal by the Village Again Association (VAA) to form a band in March 2018. Even after Disqualia’s suspension in July 2017, you still felt like cooperating?

N: That's right. VAA handed the distribution of Disqualia's mini album "right NOW" (2016) with us.

——The two of you participated in a Li-sa-X show on July 30, 2017 and RAMI's tour from February to March 2018, so even after Disqualia stopped working in July 2017, you have been working as a combination.

H: The genres we like are different, but we fit together well ...

N: We can do some things well just because we are so different.

—— After Disqualia became inactive, you were talking about if you could do something new together … but there was nothing specific at that time?

N: We were talking about what we should do, but the real problem was that there are many things that couldn’t be done by two people alone, so rather than trying to do something in a hurry, we thought about it carefully, I thought we should do it when we were able.

——After that, what has happened since the VAA proposal was made?

H: We talked about what direction we were going to go in and worked on the song writing.

——Regarding musicianship and similar, was their anything specific you were thinking of?

N: I wanted to match the singer’s style but, since we hadn’t found one yet, it felt like “What do we do?”. Many singers were introduced to us, many of them were good, but I couldn’t imagine I could write songs for those people, so I was always worried.

——Even so, you were writing songs…

N: We didn’t have a demo as a springboard, as whose voice could we have put on it… It was just the two of us doing heavy sounding music that was the basic theme. But I felt that I was writing without anything concrete being in place. So we finally able to record one with the singer who was recently introduced to us as I asked them to do a temporary vocal for the demo, so our image has finally solidified, and I’m thinking about how to further develop from here.

——Was she singing in some other band?

N: No, she doesn't seem to have any particular band history. She hasn’t even decided what her name will be doing this yet.

——I see. So you’re at that stage.

N: Currently, I’m re-doing the demo again to match her singing style.

——I’ve listened to the demo and got a Gothic feel from the song

H: That’s right.

N: I like dark things. That kind of oozes out. That's common to us both, right?

H: I agree. Weird scales...

N: It’s doesn’t feel bright.

——So the natural feel of the pair of you comes out?

H: That's right. It has a grave sound, with melodic elements, and the vocals are sung high and strongly.

——What do you keep in mind when writing songs?

N: The basic idea is to show off the styles of each of us. I grew up listening to J-POP and J-ROCK, so I like catchy things, but I've been thinking for years that this isn’t an era when catchy things sell particularly well, so I want to to reflect the characters of every member and give it an artistic feeling.

——You seem to be writing the songs alone, but don’t you finish them off together?

H: We haven't done that yet. I want to do that in the future, but for now we’re writing alone.

——Even if both of you write separately, do you write songs with a similar atmosphere?

N: Before we knew it, we were writing just the same (laughs)

H: Maybe we were just aiming for the same thing (laughs).

——Production and arrangement is being done by Issei Ambo (Translator’s note: his credits include work for Light Bringer, Unlucky Morpheus and Rami), but what kind of input do you have?

H: From a guitarist's point of view, you say "Isn't this kind of phrase good?" and he comes back with something that makes use of your individuality.

——The vocals are sung in English and you almost never hear any Japanese.

N: I'm not particularly fussy about English or Japanese lyrics, I just wanted them to sing what they wanted to sing in. She told me she couldn't understand Japanese writing, so that colored my thinking about her lyrics.

——The hook has a catchy Japanese feel, but the rest of it gave the impression of almost being Western.

N: I’d agree. Words have great power.

——Now the singing voice has been added, it seems that the intent is your song writing will also change, in what way?

H: I want to think about the vocals and write some demo songs.

——Your dreams are expanding?

N: Yes, I’m really looking forward to it all now. The moment I heard her voice, I thought, "Please join us!" (laughs)

H: Me too. "This is the right gal!” I thought.

——It's just my personal opinion, but if you added a hip-hop rhythm, it would give it a stylish impression that might be suitable.

N: I want to do a little hip-hop. I’ve been listening to PERIPHERY a lot recently and thought that their all-genre feel was wonderful, so I would like to incorporate that. On the other hand, I don't really understand Nordic metal and that kind of thing. (Laughs).

H: I like death metal and similar, but because the new band is melodic, I wanted the vocalist to sing melodically even at the extremes.

——What kind of music do you like in terms of vocals?

N: I like B'z and MR.BIG. After that, I’d say I’ve been listened to jazz and country of late. It has a very bright character, so I've been very chatty. (Laughs)

H: That was good, because we’re both very shy (laughs).

N: I think it was a good thing.

——Doing this kind of music as a woman, did you have any special ideas?

N: No, not yet anyway.

——The band’s name and such, is that still in the future?

N: Yes. We’re going to release a single in December of this year or January of next, and then start work on an album and take it from there.

——There’s also the matter of what to do about other members, right?

N: There’s also that matter, yes. Though as we’re writing songs successfully with just the three of us right now, unless there is a musician where we can definitely say "This is right", I don’t think there is a need to force someone else into the line-up.

——Concerning your approach to the guitar, how do you go about it?

N: Well, the twin lead approach does not make for a simple feeling, does it?

H: It seems like a PERIPHERY-like style…

N: True.

——Which of you use a 7-string guitar…

N: Actually, both of us use a 7-string now.

——When it comes to complex guitar riffs, the drummer is also key.

N: That’s true. The rhythm section also becomes very important to the riffs.

——Isn’t it a point of using the 7-string to get a deeper sound?

N: I’d say so. I had a feeling that I wanted to use a more modern scale. When the fashion changes, I think you want to be there, but its always steadily changing of course.

——Did you feel there was a specific image you wanted to work towards here?

N: Because we have a singer who can sing in English, I’d like to make full use of the internet, so that people from all over the world can listen to us.

H: I want to use all kinds of methods of distribution.

——From listening to the demo songs, it seems that you are doing a variety things without getting stuck in any particular mold.

N: I don't think this music will disappoint if you enjoy crossing genres. I think it's fine to include elements of Black music ...

——You (Narumi) broke such new ground with your solo EP "The SEED" released in February 2018, do you think that EP showed your growth in terms of song writing as well?

N: I'd say so. Some songs I wrote while studying …I was trying hard to do songs both within my personal capacity and to do new things and both went into that EP. Because although I studied Jazz / Fusion modes and scales at school, I had never really used them. So I wrote them while studying the output method again.

——Did you particularly want to do instrumental songs?

N: I was conscious I hadn’t worked on instrumentals for a long time. Usually as I play guitar, I had to refer back to others, but for a guitar instrumental I had to go back to my early training.
After that, when the band broke up, I wanted to do something that can be done alone, as i thought it wasn’t good that I was reliant on others, and couldn't do anything by myself. I wanted to provide the core myself, so it became an instrumental album.

——How did Hazuki feel about the EP?

H: It was really cool. Actually, I was a fan of Narumi already. I knew her before we were in the band together, so I thought she was cool, and when that ended, we decided to continue to work together. When I listened to the CD, I thought she’d become a new Narumi. Until then, she’d had a very metal image for me, but in the principal part the guitar use had entirely changed and I thought the songs were amazing.

—— Recently, Narumi has been participating as a guest guitarist on ALDIOUS’s tour. How was that? There are quite a lot of performances, from Hokkaido to Okinawa.

N: They really get around. I’ve never had such a tight schedule, so it’s very informative. No matter how much you practice, I think that there are many things that you don’t understand unless you actually do live events, so I’ve been really enjoying it. I can't really put it in words, but the moment you stand on stage, the sound grabs you, you’re able to hear ... With the cheers of the fans, even louder on stage, to play with that feeling - there are so many things that you can't grasp unless you are there.

——I see, this time you will be a substitute for Toki, who had a particularly good live performance in ALDIOUS, did you have any doubts about that?

N: At first I was very worried. Fans had already bought the tickets and hadn’t come to see me. My standing position is on the left side of the stage and Sawa was by my side, but since we were traveling around venues that were not very large, if I stood in front, Sawa couldn't. What should I do…I was really worried. Also, since my body was not accustomed to all the songs yet, sometimes I couldn’t move with them so much, so I thought I might look a bit weird...But if you just want to play、you wouldn’t really chose to do it that way, as it’s difficult to adjust at that stage.

——You had the opportunity to talk on stage, right?

N: It was dumped on me. ALDIOUS is an interesting band to MC, I've always wondered what you would actually talk about in an MC rather than just playing the guitar. (Laughs) When I spoke, the others would come back at me, so it made it easy to talk and I'm grateful for that.

—— In the end, how many songs did you have to learn?

N: Just under 30 songs or so? There were differences from working with Li-sa-X and RAMI. It's wasn’t technically as difficult, but If you don’t play it all very precisely you won’t harmonise, that was the issue.

—— It seems that your solo EP is selling quite well, and that your profile is rising day by day.

N: Thank you very much. Isn't it odd that ALDIOUS now has a former DESTROSE member (Narumi was in DESTROSE in its later period). and a member of CYNTIA (guest singer SAKI)? I think that's interesting for those who have been aware of the girl’s metal scene for a long time. (Laughs)

——That's true. I guess it became kind of a dream band. Do you think this touring experience will be useful for your own band?

N: I think it will be really. It's really hard to do this many live shows in a Girl’s Band, so I've had a valuable experience.

—— And Hazuki performed at the event "WORLD GUITAR GIRLS COLLECTION" in 2018, where many female guitarists appeared, led by SAKI of Mary's Blood.

H: Yes. I covered songs by Orianthi and Michiya Haruhata. Also, recently I've been participating in session-style live shows and have talked about other things, so I think there are more such things that I’ll announce in the future.

——I'll look forward to that. I get the impression that you has grown a lot since you supported Li-sa-X.

H: Is that true? I’m happy. I was really shocked by the technical ability of Li-sa-X and thought it wouldn’t be possible

N: Like my time with RAMI, because it was a very difficult job, I needed to get better. Because the situation was rather forced on both of us, the two of us always found it very stressful.

H: I still practice a lot.

——When doing support work, do you talk a lot with regard to who’ll be playing each part?

N: No its “Rock, paper, scissors”(laughs)

H: If one of us really wants to play a part, it's like "Pretty please!"

N: But because we don’t want to make a fuss, we rarely say "I want to play this part".

H: It’s seems there’s no such thing as “This ain’t for me!”

——That's why you fit together, right? Is there anything in particular you want to say about the launch of the new band?

H: We finally found the vocalist we were searching for, so I think that with this person our dreams can come true. I’d like to create a band that can travel all over the world.

N: I don’t want to let down the fans that wanted this to happen, so I hope you all enjoy it.
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