aoi & uruha guitar book: -aoi impression- (pt2)
- Did you experience something like a culture shock when you started playing in a Visual Kei band?
Aoi: First we talked about putting on makeup. "I'm fine with it, but who's gonna put it on me?" (laughs) But then I thought "Whatever, I'll do it myself", so I went to a 100-Yen-shop and grabbed myself some cosmetics. Me and that young lady practiced putting on makeup together (laughs). And while at it, her husband would be giggling at me (laughs). The place we did a live for the first time was near hide's museum in Yokosuka. After that we often played in Tsurumi-ward. Which reminds me, that's around the time I finally got accustomed to Visual Kei. When we were playing in Tsurumi, there was a band that would destroy its drumset. I thought "Visual Kei is damn scaryyyy!" (laughs). In other genres there are generally no bands that do such things, right? "Visual Kei is a dangerous world", that's the first thing I thought back then.
- You had a "I'm not exactly into Visual-Kei" kind of stance, I guess?
Aoi: Nope, I didn't. At that time I was trying to become someone who, you could say, belongs to a typical Visual Kei band.
-page 4-
In case of failure, I do nothing but practice,
so I won't repeat the same mistake again.
- What kind of guitar were you using when you were playing in that band?
Aoi: An ESP one from the MA series. I bought it using a tremendous loan (laughs). After a while I also bought ESP's Forest. In the early days of the GazettE I was always using the Forest one.
- The one with the Humbucker Pick-Up, right? Were you also using demo-tapes in your first band?
Aoi: We were. However, these were rather recordings done at home using a MTR (multi-track recorder). The very first time I entered a studio and recorded something was when I was already in theGazettE.
- Speaking of MTRs, you noticed various things about your play when you recorded it yourself, didn't you?
Aoi: I did in the beginning. I was deeply moved when I recorded something for the very first time. I thought "My guitar play has become a part of the musical composition!". However, when this excitement faded after recording several times, I started to think "What the hell is this?! I have to do it more properly..." and so on. But well, I should probably say that my first band was an amateur one. OK, theGazettE was in the beginning like that, too, of course (laughs). The vocalist of my first band ended up not being that good. And then, at the same time I was playing in that band, I met the other theGazettE members.
- So it was after you entered the GazettE that your consciousness changed to feeling that you are a guitarist?
Aoi: That's right. To put it another way, it was after I started the GazettE that I thought I have to improve my skills in every aspect. The first thing I noticed when I entered the GazettE was that I couldn't perform the "cutting"* technique. Like I said before, I really liked speed-riffing, so I would just skip all the "x"s** that were written on the sheet music. (laughs)
*Aoi uses the English word "cutting", but I'm not sure about the actual term in English. Anyways, he means these 'scratched' guitar sounds, kinda like in the beginning of Smells Like Teen Spirit.
**I don't know much about guitar, but according to my research "x" means either to omit the string when strumming or to mute whatever string that "x" is on. Here are the tabs of Smells Like Teen Spirit for example. For a better explanation check out this video (around 06:02).
- The strumming parts, huh? (laughs)
Aoi: Right. Back then I was like "What's that? I don't get the rhythm" (laughs). So I wouldn't do the "cutting". The first demo that Uruha brought was a twin guitar arrangement. When I listened to it I was like "Sorry, can't play that" (laughs). So when I started the GazettE, practicing "cutting" was my very first challenge.
- Is that so? And yet you perform "cutting" all the time nowadays.
Aoi: Well, it was something terrible for me back then. Plus, our first manager was an awfully strict person. He was constantly criticizing me and urging me to improve. Although I was rebellious towards him, I was practicing really hard. That's what it was like.
- So rather than suddenly starting to practice hard because of some big incident, improving your skills was always on your mind, right?
Aoi: Right. It's because I don't get that pessimistic in case of failure, or rather, I don't give up. When I've failed something I just do nothing but practice so I won't repeat the same mistake.
- And till now you've never thought "Maybe I shall quit guitar..."?
Aoi: Well, no, just once. Actually it's not that long ago. Last year when we were playing in Saitama Super Arena I stopped performing during one song. I thought "That's it, I'm giving up".
- What? There's really been an incident like that?
Aoi: Well, ok, although I said I quit, it was more like I just stopped playing. How shall I put it, more like... it had kinda come out of the blue. There are songs were Uruha and I are playing both acoustic guitar. I can't remember very well, but while I was playing I suddenly thought "Argh, I'm making mistakes!". And then I stopped playing, although it wasn't entirely because of the mistakes either. Without even trying to cover them, I just stopped playing. Even thought I was playing like usual till then....
- This must have been a shock even though you stopped at your own will, right?
Aoi: It was terrible shock. To the point that I thought "I'm gonna die.....". I hadn't experienced anything like that till then, not even once. Even if I was nervously making mistakes while playing and thinking "Aaah, I'm messing up", I'd usually keep playing. I thought that there's no way I would ever stop playing. But before making these mistakes, I had already given up. Such a thing has never happened in my whole life, only that one time back then. We stopped playing that song for a while, because I was absolutely traumatized. As one would expect, I was quite bothered by it for some time then.
- It must have been a moment that felt like entering an air-pocket, right? By the way, how do you hold your pick?
Aoi: Like usual, with the index-finger and the form. However, depending on the phrase the positioning changes, but basically I hold it so that the tip is protruding quite a lot. I think it's quite a common form.
- And that hasn't changed since you started playing guitar?
Aoi: No, because I'm a person that places importance on outward appearances when taking up something*. In the beginning I had a guitar-manual which I was using as reference. Because things like "Hold the pick like that, place your hand here..." and so on were written there. But I actually couldn't play well when I was holding the pick the way it was described in the manual, so I put the book aside and I played with the style that felt more natural to me. And I've stuck to that since then.
*He used the expression 形から入る which means something like... Say for example that you want to start playing the guitar. But instead of practicing right away, what you first pay attention to is for example getting the same guitar your guitar-idol has, holding it like he/she does, playing like he/she does and so on... Kinda like focusing on the outward aspects first~
Alıntı: fallensublimity
Aoi: First we talked about putting on makeup. "I'm fine with it, but who's gonna put it on me?" (laughs) But then I thought "Whatever, I'll do it myself", so I went to a 100-Yen-shop and grabbed myself some cosmetics. Me and that young lady practiced putting on makeup together (laughs). And while at it, her husband would be giggling at me (laughs). The place we did a live for the first time was near hide's museum in Yokosuka. After that we often played in Tsurumi-ward. Which reminds me, that's around the time I finally got accustomed to Visual Kei. When we were playing in Tsurumi, there was a band that would destroy its drumset. I thought "Visual Kei is damn scaryyyy!" (laughs). In other genres there are generally no bands that do such things, right? "Visual Kei is a dangerous world", that's the first thing I thought back then.
- You had a "I'm not exactly into Visual-Kei" kind of stance, I guess?
Aoi: Nope, I didn't. At that time I was trying to become someone who, you could say, belongs to a typical Visual Kei band.
-page 4-
In case of failure, I do nothing but practice,
so I won't repeat the same mistake again.
- What kind of guitar were you using when you were playing in that band?
Aoi: An ESP one from the MA series. I bought it using a tremendous loan (laughs). After a while I also bought ESP's Forest. In the early days of the GazettE I was always using the Forest one.
- The one with the Humbucker Pick-Up, right? Were you also using demo-tapes in your first band?
Aoi: We were. However, these were rather recordings done at home using a MTR (multi-track recorder). The very first time I entered a studio and recorded something was when I was already in theGazettE.
- Speaking of MTRs, you noticed various things about your play when you recorded it yourself, didn't you?
Aoi: I did in the beginning. I was deeply moved when I recorded something for the very first time. I thought "My guitar play has become a part of the musical composition!". However, when this excitement faded after recording several times, I started to think "What the hell is this?! I have to do it more properly..." and so on. But well, I should probably say that my first band was an amateur one. OK, theGazettE was in the beginning like that, too, of course (laughs). The vocalist of my first band ended up not being that good. And then, at the same time I was playing in that band, I met the other theGazettE members.
- So it was after you entered the GazettE that your consciousness changed to feeling that you are a guitarist?
Aoi: That's right. To put it another way, it was after I started the GazettE that I thought I have to improve my skills in every aspect. The first thing I noticed when I entered the GazettE was that I couldn't perform the "cutting"* technique. Like I said before, I really liked speed-riffing, so I would just skip all the "x"s** that were written on the sheet music. (laughs)
*Aoi uses the English word "cutting", but I'm not sure about the actual term in English. Anyways, he means these 'scratched' guitar sounds, kinda like in the beginning of Smells Like Teen Spirit.
**I don't know much about guitar, but according to my research "x" means either to omit the string when strumming or to mute whatever string that "x" is on. Here are the tabs of Smells Like Teen Spirit for example. For a better explanation check out this video (around 06:02).
- The strumming parts, huh? (laughs)
Aoi: Right. Back then I was like "What's that? I don't get the rhythm" (laughs). So I wouldn't do the "cutting". The first demo that Uruha brought was a twin guitar arrangement. When I listened to it I was like "Sorry, can't play that" (laughs). So when I started the GazettE, practicing "cutting" was my very first challenge.
- Is that so? And yet you perform "cutting" all the time nowadays.
Aoi: Well, it was something terrible for me back then. Plus, our first manager was an awfully strict person. He was constantly criticizing me and urging me to improve. Although I was rebellious towards him, I was practicing really hard. That's what it was like.
- So rather than suddenly starting to practice hard because of some big incident, improving your skills was always on your mind, right?
Aoi: Right. It's because I don't get that pessimistic in case of failure, or rather, I don't give up. When I've failed something I just do nothing but practice so I won't repeat the same mistake.
- And till now you've never thought "Maybe I shall quit guitar..."?
Aoi: Well, no, just once. Actually it's not that long ago. Last year when we were playing in Saitama Super Arena I stopped performing during one song. I thought "That's it, I'm giving up".
- What? There's really been an incident like that?
Aoi: Well, ok, although I said I quit, it was more like I just stopped playing. How shall I put it, more like... it had kinda come out of the blue. There are songs were Uruha and I are playing both acoustic guitar. I can't remember very well, but while I was playing I suddenly thought "Argh, I'm making mistakes!". And then I stopped playing, although it wasn't entirely because of the mistakes either. Without even trying to cover them, I just stopped playing. Even thought I was playing like usual till then....
- This must have been a shock even though you stopped at your own will, right?
Aoi: It was terrible shock. To the point that I thought "I'm gonna die.....". I hadn't experienced anything like that till then, not even once. Even if I was nervously making mistakes while playing and thinking "Aaah, I'm messing up", I'd usually keep playing. I thought that there's no way I would ever stop playing. But before making these mistakes, I had already given up. Such a thing has never happened in my whole life, only that one time back then. We stopped playing that song for a while, because I was absolutely traumatized. As one would expect, I was quite bothered by it for some time then.
- It must have been a moment that felt like entering an air-pocket, right? By the way, how do you hold your pick?
Aoi: Like usual, with the index-finger and the form. However, depending on the phrase the positioning changes, but basically I hold it so that the tip is protruding quite a lot. I think it's quite a common form.
- And that hasn't changed since you started playing guitar?
Aoi: No, because I'm a person that places importance on outward appearances when taking up something*. In the beginning I had a guitar-manual which I was using as reference. Because things like "Hold the pick like that, place your hand here..." and so on were written there. But I actually couldn't play well when I was holding the pick the way it was described in the manual, so I put the book aside and I played with the style that felt more natural to me. And I've stuck to that since then.
*He used the expression 形から入る which means something like... Say for example that you want to start playing the guitar. But instead of practicing right away, what you first pay attention to is for example getting the same guitar your guitar-idol has, holding it like he/she does, playing like he/she does and so on... Kinda like focusing on the outward aspects first~
Alıntı: fallensublimity
Aoi & Uruha Guitar Book: -Aoi impression- (pt1)
Recently, I really enjoy playing.
I'm thinking, can I finally start playing?
- What kind of boy were you when you were a child?
Aoi: I was an ordinary baseball-boy when I was a child. That's all there is to it, kinda like... nothing to talk about in particular (laughs). It was during the 6th year of elementary school that I became aware of music, rock and so on.
- What triggered it?
Aoi: I have a 6 years older brother who was playing guitar. At the same time when I was in the 6th class my bro was making noise together with his friends and I wanted to enter their circle, too. It looked like lots of fun and gave you an adult-like feeling. And so I kept wondering what shall I do to enter that circle. Then, I simply thought I shall try playing the guitar. Kinda like "What's that? That's cool. Super cool!!" (laughs). My brother had occupied a storage-like place at home and I could hear the music blasting. But honestly, I didn't understand the charm of that music (laughs). However, I thought they were doing something really fun. Isn't it a completely different world from junior baseball? And baseball was difficult anyways (laughs). It was nothing but practice. It was very fascinating that my brother and his friends were having so much fun together.
- You were charmed by a world that's the complete opposite of sports, so to say, right? What kind of music was your brother and his friends playing?
Aoi: Hmm, what was it? They're were rough people, but..... I'm sorry, I can't remember (laughs). But it definitely wasn't Visual Kei (laughs).
- Oh, really? (laughs) Did you start playing the guitar right away?
Aoi: I did. It was around the time I was in the 6th year of the elementary that I touched the guitar. Compared to other people, that's rather early, isn't it? But even so, I was really kind of... useless at it (laughs)
- Oh, come on (laughs). When you started playing the guitar, was there any guitarist you were fascinated by?
Aoi: There wasn't anyone specific. My brother was listening to western as well as Japanese music and there were CDs by X (JAPAN), Seikima-II etc at home, but I didn't know about genres at that time. Western and Japanese artists had all long hair, and to me they all looked the same (laughs). So, I wasn't captivated by any gerne, I listened to anything I thought the guitar was cool.
- Did you borrow your brother's guitar?
Aoi: There was a gut guitar at that time... which I think my brother might have snatched from his high school, and that's what I was playing (laughs). Since it was a gut guitar the neck was really thick, the distance between the strings and the fretboard was extremely big, and I was like "What the hell is this?!" (laughs). If you turned it around, I thought it looked like Obocchama-kun (laughs). I kept playing this guitar desperately till middle school. I could play the intro of "Kurenai"* on it after all! (laughs) I improved quite a lot at it, you know (laughs)
* X-Japan song
- It was a short while later that you became able to play the guitar, right?
Aoi: It was during the autumn of the 1st year in middle school that I started playing the electric guitar. My brother had graduated high-school and decided to leave home to search for a job. Which means, there was no guitar at home. That was bad (laughs). I was like "Will you give me the guitar?" and my brother "Aah, alright". However, although he had promised me he would give it to me, he left and took the guitar with him. I complained to my mom and while crying I said: "Brother broke his promise" (laughs). My mom called my brother then and he sent me the guitar. However, no sound came out of it. (laughs)
- Oh, your brother...
Aoi: He's awful, isn't he! (laughs) I was really looking forward to getting the guitar and so I had already purchased a battery-using mini-amp while waiting. We were in the countryside and there was no music-store nearby, so my parents drove me to one (laughs). And even then, no sound would come out (laughs). My brother got scolded like crazy, though (laughs). Like "Your 1st year middle-school little brother even made pocket money on his own and bought himself an amp! What were you thinking, you ...". Although I had received the guitar, my mother was nuts (laughs). 'Cause I wanted a new guitar, but I didn't have any money anymore. For the time being I had to wait till New Year's to get otoshidama and that's when I started playing the electric guitar.
- How did you practice back then?
Aoi: There's this kind of books that include lyrics and cords of various songs, right? I had some of them and also some that explained how to hold down cords. If I found any song I knew I would try to play it. Then, there was also X's "Kurenai" which I was covering from the beginning... but when I say 'cover' I mean just the intro. I couldn't play like I played when I first entered a band! (laughs) Before entering a band I was practicing arpeggio really hard.
- What was hard to learn when you first started playing the guitar?
Aoi: Everything except for the cords.
- Is that so? Didn't you experience the so called "F-cord frustration"?
Aoi: No, I didn't. Therefore I don't know what "stumbling" over the barre cords is. But me, too, I think I couldn't play them properly in the very beginning. There are things you notice you've been able to do right away, right? That's what it was like.
- I see. With "everything except for the cords" you mean riffs, guitar solos and such?
Aoi: That's right. From the beginning, I often wanted to practice them, but no matter what I did there was no sound. And even if I was playing them on the original sound of the guitar [T/N: playing the guitar without it being connected to the amp] it wasn't cool, right? (laughs). I kept thinking.... the image is totally different (laughs). But after the New Year's when I was in the 1st year of middle school I got my own guitar and was able to practice riffs and solos.
- The guitar you chose first on your own, what kind of model was it?
Aoi: A Stratocaster type, with a Humbucker PU attached to it. A cheap set (laughs). The guitar my brother gave me was a Stratocaster-type, so I had an image like "A guitar should be a Stratocaster I guess" .
(page 2)
At that time, when I watched SEIKIMA-II etc., Luke was using a Strato-type, too. Back then I also thought that deformed models* are wicked and wrong (laughs). But I don't think so anymore now.
*T/N: like this or this and so on.
I really wanted to become a pro.
I thought I can do much more.
- So this means that, after you finally managed to produce sound, you were able to play riffs and guitar solos, too, then?
Aoi: That's right. However, I couldn't play guitar solos at all. Looking back at it now, they were such easy guitar solos to the point that I think "I couldn't play such [an easy piece]?" (laughs). Kinda like.... As expected, it's Yngwie Malmsteen and the like, so it can't be helped (laughs). "What was I thinking?" and so on (laughs). Then, I also played X a lot. I wanted to complete "Kurenai", so I practiced like crazy. Back then everyone around me was doing X's covers. X's songs are cool and being able to play them is really fun. Shall I say that they were my introduction to rock-guitar? They were a difficult introduction, though. But at the same time when I was able to play X's songs I was able to say "I do play guitar", that's what it felt like.
- There are always artists like that in each generation, aren't they? Speaking of the time you started playing the guitar, the length of the strap was important, wasn't it?
Aoi: It was (laughs). When I started I thought it should be hanging as low as possible. If the guitar is hanging high it makes you look like some old chap, doesn't it? (laughs)
- It does (laughs). But thinking about it again, there are barely any guitarists who play at an extremely low height, right?
Aoi: Right. That's why I didn't really get influenced by anyone, I just felt like it's cooler to hold it lowly. But when I started to play I was holding it at a normal height. It was when I came to Tokyo and entered a band professionally that I started holding it lowly. And with this, I suddenly couldn't play (laughs).
❞It felt like Helloween's style was becoming my own blood ❝
- Everyone has problems with that, huh? (laughs) When did you start a band?
Aoi: The first time I formed a band was when I was in the 3rd year of middle school [T/N: When he was 14-15 y.o.]. In my middle school you had to join club activities and therefore, people had no energy left to do something else (laughs). My middle school was one that was exceeding in sports and such, so the guys who were good at sports were seen as the coolest ones. The ones who brought guitars to school, were just me and one-two more people. There were very few people interested in bands. Therefore till my 3rd year in middle school bands weren't popular and so I would return home and just.. play guitar alone whenever I wanted. It wasn't just me, the other guys who were playing guitar thought the same. I wanted to be in a band. But during the summer of my 3rd year there were no club activities, and it had already been decided that I'd go to high-school. I chose a second-rate school, so I would be able to enter without having to study (laughs). And because of that I had lots of free-time. Then, the people around me finally started to become aware of music. They brought music-magazines to school and guys who thought "Bands are cool!" appeared. And I, I was like "Ah, I know this magazine. I've already read it" (laughs). So I told the guys who started getting interested in bands "We have a storage room at home, we can place our instruments in there and start a band!" (laughs). So I gathered my friends and the 5 of us formed a band.
- What kind of songs did you play?
Aoi: LUNA SEA was popular right then. The sheet music for "TRUE BLUE" was printed in one of the music-magazines, so we did this one first. However, it was very difficult. The phrases in between were hard to play. And back then, I thought that speed riffing* is absolutely cool, so I felt restless. That's why we started copying songs from other bands after we completed this one. Like BOOWY, ZIGGY and so on.
*T/N: like the guitars in the beginning of this :D
- Eh? This kind of bands? Isn't the generation different?
Aoi: It is (laughs). But the CDs the guys who said they wanted to be in a band bought were all old. (laughs) And while we were doing songs like these, the people around us were doing Sex Pistols' (laughs). I considered Pistols very stylish, you know.
- Listening to Aoi's guitar one can sense a metal-taste, too, so what about that?
Aoi: I love metal. My brother was like that, too, so I was listening to overseas heavy-metal, hard-rock etc already by the time I was in elementary-school. Metallica was a must. Even the very first foreign album I bought was a METALLICA one, I think. I also liked EXTREME and so on. I absolutely love Nuno Bettencourt [T/N: Extreme's guitarist]. But I can't play like him (laughs). There was also some guy at school who could play guitar quite well and we both loved HELLOWEEN. We'd play Helloween's CDs and we'd play along in harmony. These are the roots of my twin-guitar life, you know. Helloween was great. We even had a twin lead guitar. We were happy together, huh? (laughs) [T/N: LOL xDDD] It feels like Helloween's style has become my own blood.
❞I took the night-bus and went to Tokyo with just a bag and my guitar❝
- One could also say your roots are in metal, right? When did you start playing in a Visual Kei band?
Aoi: It was after I came to Tokyo. I wasn't doing Visual Kei when I was in my home-area, I didn't even plan to. I wasn't interested in it. Or rather, I didn't even know what "visual kei" is in the first place.
- I thought you had moved to Tokyo together with the members of the band you formed in your home-area.
Aoi: No, it's not like that. I quit the band at he same time I graduated from middle-school. I wanted to go to a music school in Tokyo after I graduated high-school, but I was told by my parents that I couldn't. My dream was shattered then and I would just hang around with friends without going to school (laughs). I was playing guitar at that time, but it held me from going to school and having fun with my friends, so in the end I thought "I don't need that guitar anymore....", so I stopped playing for a while. I had worked really hard during middle-school, delivering newspapers and so on, in order to get that guitar, but then I was denying it, not making any effort anymore. However, there was one folk-guitar my brother had left back, so I would sit at home alone and play songs by Yuzu, 19 etc on it and sing along. One day I was watching a late night show were bands appear and I thought "What's with them? They're so lame". The truth is I wanted to become a pro. But that was beyond me that's why I felt sulky. I felt jealous and thought "they appear on TV although their level is so low". I wanted to go to Tokyo then. I thought I could do much more. But at that time I had just become able to work and I didn't even have the money to... go to Tokyo (laughs). Anyways, I decided to go there.
- What? You randomly went to Tokyo all alone?
Aoi: Yes. I'm living in the spur-of-the-moment(laughs). I went to Tokyo without a moment's hesitation. I just took a petty bag and my guitar with me and hopped into a night-bus (laughs). I arrived in Tokyo, but as for a place to stay.... (laughs). I had no acquaintances either. And don't forget, I had arrived early in the morning in Ikebukuro. There were so many crows, I wondered "What's with that city?". There was a boy in the bus who I made friends with and he asked me something like "What are you going to do from now on?", but I was like "No clue" (laughs). I remember drinking some coffee with him for a while and separating ways then.
- You came here without even having decided where to live... Did you rent an apartment soon?
Aoi: I didn't. At that time I only had 50000 yen [T/N: around 500 euros or 650$] with me (laughs). It was enough for the traveling expenses of my round trip and food only. I was wondering what to do. First of all I had to find a job, right? Since I had worked as newspaper-delivery-boy, I thought about doing the same again, but then I decided against, as expected. (page3)
I brought painful memories back, so I quit (laughs). Then there was once a customer at the izakaya I was working in my home-town, who said: "My sister is living in Tokyo, so if you need anything just tell me". I called that person and he told me "Go to my sister's place for the time being". He even told me where the keys were. I really can't believe it when I think about it now, but I just entered a stranger's house and simply fell asleep on the kotatsu (laughs). When I woke up everybody was back (laughs). I thought "What kind of state am I in?" (laughs).
❞When I started playing in the GazettE, learning how to do the "cutting" technique was my first challenge. ❝
- It's almost like a manga (laughs). Under these circumstances you weren't able to start a band, I guess, right?
Aoi: It was half a year later that I started playing in a band. That young lady even introduced me to a job. Then I decided to start a band while working part-time, but I hadn't been to a live-house before. Because there are no live-houses in the country-side! (laughs) Therefore, I didn't know how to gather members. I would only check for member-recruitings in magazines and so on (laughs). I thought that's how everyone finds members (laughs). Then I saw one and the band I decided to give a try was a Visual-Kei one. I was like "I don't know what Visual-Kei is, but is that OK?" (laughs). "I have a guitar and soon I'll be able to play at lives", that's what I thought.
Alıntı: Fallensublimity
I'm thinking, can I finally start playing?
- What kind of boy were you when you were a child?
Aoi: I was an ordinary baseball-boy when I was a child. That's all there is to it, kinda like... nothing to talk about in particular (laughs). It was during the 6th year of elementary school that I became aware of music, rock and so on.
- What triggered it?
Aoi: I have a 6 years older brother who was playing guitar. At the same time when I was in the 6th class my bro was making noise together with his friends and I wanted to enter their circle, too. It looked like lots of fun and gave you an adult-like feeling. And so I kept wondering what shall I do to enter that circle. Then, I simply thought I shall try playing the guitar. Kinda like "What's that? That's cool. Super cool!!" (laughs). My brother had occupied a storage-like place at home and I could hear the music blasting. But honestly, I didn't understand the charm of that music (laughs). However, I thought they were doing something really fun. Isn't it a completely different world from junior baseball? And baseball was difficult anyways (laughs). It was nothing but practice. It was very fascinating that my brother and his friends were having so much fun together.
- You were charmed by a world that's the complete opposite of sports, so to say, right? What kind of music was your brother and his friends playing?
Aoi: Hmm, what was it? They're were rough people, but..... I'm sorry, I can't remember (laughs). But it definitely wasn't Visual Kei (laughs).
- Oh, really? (laughs) Did you start playing the guitar right away?
Aoi: I did. It was around the time I was in the 6th year of the elementary that I touched the guitar. Compared to other people, that's rather early, isn't it? But even so, I was really kind of... useless at it (laughs)
- Oh, come on (laughs). When you started playing the guitar, was there any guitarist you were fascinated by?
Aoi: There wasn't anyone specific. My brother was listening to western as well as Japanese music and there were CDs by X (JAPAN), Seikima-II etc at home, but I didn't know about genres at that time. Western and Japanese artists had all long hair, and to me they all looked the same (laughs). So, I wasn't captivated by any gerne, I listened to anything I thought the guitar was cool.
- Did you borrow your brother's guitar?
Aoi: There was a gut guitar at that time... which I think my brother might have snatched from his high school, and that's what I was playing (laughs). Since it was a gut guitar the neck was really thick, the distance between the strings and the fretboard was extremely big, and I was like "What the hell is this?!" (laughs). If you turned it around, I thought it looked like Obocchama-kun (laughs). I kept playing this guitar desperately till middle school. I could play the intro of "Kurenai"* on it after all! (laughs) I improved quite a lot at it, you know (laughs)
* X-Japan song
- It was a short while later that you became able to play the guitar, right?
Aoi: It was during the autumn of the 1st year in middle school that I started playing the electric guitar. My brother had graduated high-school and decided to leave home to search for a job. Which means, there was no guitar at home. That was bad (laughs). I was like "Will you give me the guitar?" and my brother "Aah, alright". However, although he had promised me he would give it to me, he left and took the guitar with him. I complained to my mom and while crying I said: "Brother broke his promise" (laughs). My mom called my brother then and he sent me the guitar. However, no sound came out of it. (laughs)
- Oh, your brother...
Aoi: He's awful, isn't he! (laughs) I was really looking forward to getting the guitar and so I had already purchased a battery-using mini-amp while waiting. We were in the countryside and there was no music-store nearby, so my parents drove me to one (laughs). And even then, no sound would come out (laughs). My brother got scolded like crazy, though (laughs). Like "Your 1st year middle-school little brother even made pocket money on his own and bought himself an amp! What were you thinking, you ...". Although I had received the guitar, my mother was nuts (laughs). 'Cause I wanted a new guitar, but I didn't have any money anymore. For the time being I had to wait till New Year's to get otoshidama and that's when I started playing the electric guitar.
- How did you practice back then?
Aoi: There's this kind of books that include lyrics and cords of various songs, right? I had some of them and also some that explained how to hold down cords. If I found any song I knew I would try to play it. Then, there was also X's "Kurenai" which I was covering from the beginning... but when I say 'cover' I mean just the intro. I couldn't play like I played when I first entered a band! (laughs) Before entering a band I was practicing arpeggio really hard.
- What was hard to learn when you first started playing the guitar?
Aoi: Everything except for the cords.
- Is that so? Didn't you experience the so called "F-cord frustration"?
Aoi: No, I didn't. Therefore I don't know what "stumbling" over the barre cords is. But me, too, I think I couldn't play them properly in the very beginning. There are things you notice you've been able to do right away, right? That's what it was like.
- I see. With "everything except for the cords" you mean riffs, guitar solos and such?
Aoi: That's right. From the beginning, I often wanted to practice them, but no matter what I did there was no sound. And even if I was playing them on the original sound of the guitar [T/N: playing the guitar without it being connected to the amp] it wasn't cool, right? (laughs). I kept thinking.... the image is totally different (laughs). But after the New Year's when I was in the 1st year of middle school I got my own guitar and was able to practice riffs and solos.
- The guitar you chose first on your own, what kind of model was it?
Aoi: A Stratocaster type, with a Humbucker PU attached to it. A cheap set (laughs). The guitar my brother gave me was a Stratocaster-type, so I had an image like "A guitar should be a Stratocaster I guess" .
(page 2)
At that time, when I watched SEIKIMA-II etc., Luke was using a Strato-type, too. Back then I also thought that deformed models* are wicked and wrong (laughs). But I don't think so anymore now.
*T/N: like this or this and so on.
I really wanted to become a pro.
I thought I can do much more.
- So this means that, after you finally managed to produce sound, you were able to play riffs and guitar solos, too, then?
Aoi: That's right. However, I couldn't play guitar solos at all. Looking back at it now, they were such easy guitar solos to the point that I think "I couldn't play such [an easy piece]?" (laughs). Kinda like.... As expected, it's Yngwie Malmsteen and the like, so it can't be helped (laughs). "What was I thinking?" and so on (laughs). Then, I also played X a lot. I wanted to complete "Kurenai", so I practiced like crazy. Back then everyone around me was doing X's covers. X's songs are cool and being able to play them is really fun. Shall I say that they were my introduction to rock-guitar? They were a difficult introduction, though. But at the same time when I was able to play X's songs I was able to say "I do play guitar", that's what it felt like.
- There are always artists like that in each generation, aren't they? Speaking of the time you started playing the guitar, the length of the strap was important, wasn't it?
Aoi: It was (laughs). When I started I thought it should be hanging as low as possible. If the guitar is hanging high it makes you look like some old chap, doesn't it? (laughs)
- It does (laughs). But thinking about it again, there are barely any guitarists who play at an extremely low height, right?
Aoi: Right. That's why I didn't really get influenced by anyone, I just felt like it's cooler to hold it lowly. But when I started to play I was holding it at a normal height. It was when I came to Tokyo and entered a band professionally that I started holding it lowly. And with this, I suddenly couldn't play (laughs).
❞It felt like Helloween's style was becoming my own blood ❝
- Everyone has problems with that, huh? (laughs) When did you start a band?
Aoi: The first time I formed a band was when I was in the 3rd year of middle school [T/N: When he was 14-15 y.o.]. In my middle school you had to join club activities and therefore, people had no energy left to do something else (laughs). My middle school was one that was exceeding in sports and such, so the guys who were good at sports were seen as the coolest ones. The ones who brought guitars to school, were just me and one-two more people. There were very few people interested in bands. Therefore till my 3rd year in middle school bands weren't popular and so I would return home and just.. play guitar alone whenever I wanted. It wasn't just me, the other guys who were playing guitar thought the same. I wanted to be in a band. But during the summer of my 3rd year there were no club activities, and it had already been decided that I'd go to high-school. I chose a second-rate school, so I would be able to enter without having to study (laughs). And because of that I had lots of free-time. Then, the people around me finally started to become aware of music. They brought music-magazines to school and guys who thought "Bands are cool!" appeared. And I, I was like "Ah, I know this magazine. I've already read it" (laughs). So I told the guys who started getting interested in bands "We have a storage room at home, we can place our instruments in there and start a band!" (laughs). So I gathered my friends and the 5 of us formed a band.
- What kind of songs did you play?
Aoi: LUNA SEA was popular right then. The sheet music for "TRUE BLUE" was printed in one of the music-magazines, so we did this one first. However, it was very difficult. The phrases in between were hard to play. And back then, I thought that speed riffing* is absolutely cool, so I felt restless. That's why we started copying songs from other bands after we completed this one. Like BOOWY, ZIGGY and so on.
*T/N: like the guitars in the beginning of this :D
- Eh? This kind of bands? Isn't the generation different?
Aoi: It is (laughs). But the CDs the guys who said they wanted to be in a band bought were all old. (laughs) And while we were doing songs like these, the people around us were doing Sex Pistols' (laughs). I considered Pistols very stylish, you know.
- Listening to Aoi's guitar one can sense a metal-taste, too, so what about that?
Aoi: I love metal. My brother was like that, too, so I was listening to overseas heavy-metal, hard-rock etc already by the time I was in elementary-school. Metallica was a must. Even the very first foreign album I bought was a METALLICA one, I think. I also liked EXTREME and so on. I absolutely love Nuno Bettencourt [T/N: Extreme's guitarist]. But I can't play like him (laughs). There was also some guy at school who could play guitar quite well and we both loved HELLOWEEN. We'd play Helloween's CDs and we'd play along in harmony. These are the roots of my twin-guitar life, you know. Helloween was great. We even had a twin lead guitar. We were happy together, huh? (laughs) [T/N: LOL xDDD] It feels like Helloween's style has become my own blood.
❞I took the night-bus and went to Tokyo with just a bag and my guitar❝
- One could also say your roots are in metal, right? When did you start playing in a Visual Kei band?
Aoi: It was after I came to Tokyo. I wasn't doing Visual Kei when I was in my home-area, I didn't even plan to. I wasn't interested in it. Or rather, I didn't even know what "visual kei" is in the first place.
- I thought you had moved to Tokyo together with the members of the band you formed in your home-area.
Aoi: No, it's not like that. I quit the band at he same time I graduated from middle-school. I wanted to go to a music school in Tokyo after I graduated high-school, but I was told by my parents that I couldn't. My dream was shattered then and I would just hang around with friends without going to school (laughs). I was playing guitar at that time, but it held me from going to school and having fun with my friends, so in the end I thought "I don't need that guitar anymore....", so I stopped playing for a while. I had worked really hard during middle-school, delivering newspapers and so on, in order to get that guitar, but then I was denying it, not making any effort anymore. However, there was one folk-guitar my brother had left back, so I would sit at home alone and play songs by Yuzu, 19 etc on it and sing along. One day I was watching a late night show were bands appear and I thought "What's with them? They're so lame". The truth is I wanted to become a pro. But that was beyond me that's why I felt sulky. I felt jealous and thought "they appear on TV although their level is so low". I wanted to go to Tokyo then. I thought I could do much more. But at that time I had just become able to work and I didn't even have the money to... go to Tokyo (laughs). Anyways, I decided to go there.
- What? You randomly went to Tokyo all alone?
Aoi: Yes. I'm living in the spur-of-the-moment(laughs). I went to Tokyo without a moment's hesitation. I just took a petty bag and my guitar with me and hopped into a night-bus (laughs). I arrived in Tokyo, but as for a place to stay.... (laughs). I had no acquaintances either. And don't forget, I had arrived early in the morning in Ikebukuro. There were so many crows, I wondered "What's with that city?". There was a boy in the bus who I made friends with and he asked me something like "What are you going to do from now on?", but I was like "No clue" (laughs). I remember drinking some coffee with him for a while and separating ways then.
- You came here without even having decided where to live... Did you rent an apartment soon?
Aoi: I didn't. At that time I only had 50000 yen [T/N: around 500 euros or 650$] with me (laughs). It was enough for the traveling expenses of my round trip and food only. I was wondering what to do. First of all I had to find a job, right? Since I had worked as newspaper-delivery-boy, I thought about doing the same again, but then I decided against, as expected. (page3)
I brought painful memories back, so I quit (laughs). Then there was once a customer at the izakaya I was working in my home-town, who said: "My sister is living in Tokyo, so if you need anything just tell me". I called that person and he told me "Go to my sister's place for the time being". He even told me where the keys were. I really can't believe it when I think about it now, but I just entered a stranger's house and simply fell asleep on the kotatsu (laughs). When I woke up everybody was back (laughs). I thought "What kind of state am I in?" (laughs).
❞When I started playing in the GazettE, learning how to do the "cutting" technique was my first challenge. ❝
- It's almost like a manga (laughs). Under these circumstances you weren't able to start a band, I guess, right?
Aoi: It was half a year later that I started playing in a band. That young lady even introduced me to a job. Then I decided to start a band while working part-time, but I hadn't been to a live-house before. Because there are no live-houses in the country-side! (laughs) Therefore, I didn't know how to gather members. I would only check for member-recruitings in magazines and so on (laughs). I thought that's how everyone finds members (laughs). Then I saw one and the band I decided to give a try was a Visual-Kei one. I was like "I don't know what Visual-Kei is, but is that OK?" (laughs). "I have a guitar and soon I'll be able to play at lives", that's what I thought.
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