Q&A: KAORU of

DIR EN GREY

Interview: Bryan Reesman

METAL EDGE recently spoke with Dir En Grey guitarist Kaoru for a feature in our Jan/Feb ‘09 issue about the band and their new album Uroboros (in stores today, November 11, on The End Records). You can pick up a copy of that issue starting the last week in December, but to tide you over until then, check out the full transcript of our conversation with Kaoru right here.

Singing in Japanese does not seem to be a detriment in selling Dir En Grey to an international audience. Was it ever your plan to go global?

If you listen to the new album, there are two songs with English lyrics, “Glass Skin” and “Dozing Green.” Of course, most of our songs have Japanese lyrics, but it depends on the song. Some of the old songs have English lyrics. It’s not about wanting to write Japanese songs or wanting to write English songs, it depends on the song’s melody and what we want to convey via the songs. We don’t have a preset in mind. We don’t have to make an English song to be able to sell records outside of Japan. It just kind of happens.

 
Why do you think Dir En Grey became popular in Germany after getting big in Japan? What was it about the musical culture there that made you attract a large following?

I feel that in Germany it didn’t start with the Japanese music. It probably began with the introduction of Japanese animation or games into the country, and from there people got to know Japanese culture and became interested in the music as well. It probably started with an interest in Japanese culture itself, pop culture or entertainment culture, instead of Dir En Grey being the cause of the popularity of Japanese bands over there.

How has your audience changed since you first went over there?

We’ve only been to Germany three times, but in comparing our first performance there to the last one, which was at the end of last year, I saw the change in the fan base or the crowds. In the beginning there were many Goths or young kids who liked to dress up coming to the shows, and while that has not changed 100 percent, lately more regular music fans are coming to the shows in their T-shirts and jeans.
 

Your mixture of different musical styles seems reflective of other popular music in Japan, particularly the pop/rock sounds of Gackt and the anime soundtrack work of Yoko Kanno, Kenji Kawai, and Yuki Kajiura. Why is there a tendency towards this all-encompassing compositional approach in your homeland?

I don’t know if you are aware that there’s not much history to the Japanese music scene. It’s not very new, and I don’t think there’s much [new] in the Japanese music scene itself because it all started from people coming out into the scene wanting to be like an American artist or a European artist. But at the same time Japan is a country where so much information is coming in from all over the world, so perhaps that is why people in the music scene end up making music which implements all sorts of elements into their compositions. I don’t think that’s [indicative] of the Japanese music culture. It’s just the way that it ended up.

Do you mean that there’s not much that’s new in the scene?

I feel that the Japanese music scene is only blossoming or will start to really grow from now, just looking at all the bands and artists that are popping up every day. I don’t think there were many impressive artists before, but maybe soon [there will be] in the future.
 

Your music is defined by extreme sonic contrasts, whether it’s the delicate and brutal elements meshing in a song like “Stuck Man,” or the obvious difference between an aggressive track like “Reiketsu Nariseba” and a delicate track like “Ware, Yami Tote…” Why do such extremes attract you?

It is very important that each song correlates with the next. The implementation of all of these different types of elements – when it comes to tempo, not just the melody – was always present from before, but when you listen to the first album you can realize how different it was from our later works or this album. But it was always the way I’ve been writing, and I was always interested in creating a song that has not been done before while also keeping to my way. At the same time, this new album has included all these different elements from the band before, from the present and something that they would like to go to in the future, so it is a mixture of all sorts of things, which might explain the difference between all the different songs on this album.
 

Your debut album Gauze seems a little bit less aggressive and more melodic than your newer work.

Two albums before we wanted to do something different, so we made a point to do something that was a changing point for the band. We worked on it with that in mind, implementing new sounds for the band, but here we didn’t have that in mind. We wanted to experiment with how far we could go in terms of what we could do.

What is your favorite song on the new album and why?

It is very difficult for me to choose my favorite song, but there are certain songs that personally stand out for me. For example, “Toguro” and “Gaika, Chinmoku Ga Nemuru Koro,” because they are something that I’ve never done before, and it feels good to play them live. Then there is “Inconvenient Ideal,” because every time I play that song I feel the need to put my all into it. I can’t explain why. I really want to make sure it is portrayed or expressed fully to the audience or to the listener. It’s a very important song to me.
 

Some music fans embrace the diverse approach of groups like Dir En Grey, while others say they do not hear accessible songs in such a style or understand why the focus is so broad. What do you think of that?

People might not understand what we’re making, but I’ve never gotten negative feedback on the fact that the focus of the music may be too broad. At the same time we’re not one of those bands looking to make an album that will hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts on the first week. We don’t want to sell out just because someone wants us to write our songs a certain way or appeal to the mass market. We’re not too concerned with what mainstream bands are doing right now, and we’d rather stick to our own ways.
 

How connected are you or do you feel with other visual kei bands like Moi Dix Mois, Nightmare, Mucc, and D’Espairs Ray? Does the Japanese media link you all together?

The band has been around for a very long time, and it depends upon the listeners basically because some of the fans who are not interested in our music but are interested in other aspects of the band might perceive us as a visual kei band. There is a lot of influence from the media because back then we were always linked to the other visual kei bands, which means bands who dress up or are a bit flashy in appearance. We’ve been there for so long that the impression is probably already etched in the regular fans, but lately the music has really changed so the people who have been listening or paying attention to how our music has evolved would probably not see us as a visual kei band anymore. It’s a case by case thing depending upon what kind of a fan you are – people who are influenced by media or people who are actually listening to our stuff.
 

Could you imagine a tour with like-minded Japanese bands?

We have never, ever thought about playing with a visual kei band overseas. We’ve been touring abroad with various foreign bands that we like or think are really cool, but in the visual kei scene right now there are no bands that really stand out to us. So at this moment we do not see ourselves touring with any of these bands abroad.
 

How many guitar models has ESP made for you? How many have been for you, and how many for public consumption?

For my own personal use so far, they have a similar shape with alterations to the newer models. So far for my personal use there have been about 15 different guitars that have been made. As far as for sale for the mass market, there are two main patterns. I have no idea how many have been sold.
 

Could you tell us about the “Japanese Zombie Hero” slogan on one of your guitars?

That slogan was picked up about five or six years ago, and I chose that because it represented my feelings. Being in a band, playing live on stage or working on an album, is a big struggle to always go on. You’re always fighting for something. The words on the slogan fit that image of working toward something or struggling toward something. Those words fit my feelings at the time.

Do you use the word “zombie” because it implies a certain amount of fatigue in moving forward in that struggle?

It’s kind of like that because zombies fall but they continue to go on, and they never die. So yeah, pretty close.
 

Which artists inspire your work?

In the beginning, it started with the Japanese rock band X. That was 10 years ago. In the beginning I was always interested in industrial music, making things like Nine Nich Nails, but as I got older I was exposed to and started listening to different types of music. Right now everything that I listen to [influences me], although [I have] no particular band name or artist [to cite].
 

What lyrical themes do you find yourself exploring album after album? I hear that there are many songs about relationships and mass media. Are there other things that keep cropping up?

Most of our songs deal with relationships or love and things like that. As far as our latest album, it also deals with the problems that surround us or things that are closer to heart, not necessarily just about love.

Like which issues?

I don’t write the lyrics, so I can’t exactly say what they’re about. It deals with things like yourself breaking down or the destruction of things by the hand of man. This is a general perspective on what our lyricist intended to express.
 

What do you see in the future for Dir En Grey?

The album will be released in November, and we’ll be going over to the States for a tour. Then we will return to Japan for another show in December at this venue called the Osaka Joe Hall. We played there 10 years ago but got banned from the venue, and we finally got entrance again, so we’re going back there for the one show. The concert got out of hand, and many of the chairs got uprooted. It was too crazy for the venue, so we [were] never allowed to play there again. Hopefully the next show in December will go well. We spent most of this year recording, so next year will be focused on touring in Japan, America, and hopefully Europe.