author: Finja & Laura - translation: Kay

© PS COMPANY

On the day before their first performance abroad, at the J-ROCK INVASION event in Cologne, we met the young band, SuG, in the Palladium. The quintet greeted us warmly and, after an introduction, we started on the special themed interview with the band.


Audience (What do they mean to you?)

Yuji: Our fans are like a treasure to us! Our audience is very important to us.

Beauty (How do you define beauty?)

Chiyu: You are beautiful!
Takeru: Yes, German women are beautiful.

Character (What is your band like?)

Masato: We can’t lose and we are very free. We do what we want!

Drawing (Draw something for us!)

Takeru: Drawing? Oh... (devilish laughter) Okay! (He takes the paper and starts to draw enthusiastically.)
Mitsuru: Ah...ice-cream! (Takeru is drawing ice-cream.)

Entertainment (What is amusing to you?)

Yuji: Making music is entertainment for us, and not just that, but everything that one experiences as a musician.

Football (Are you interested in it?)

(Everybody looks at Masato)
Masato: When I was a kid I played football, but now I'd rather sit on the bench.

Germany!

Mitsuru: Germany! I love cars and that’s why I like it here! Mercedes Benz!

Heavy Positive Rock (Your motto - what does it mean to you?)

Chiyu: We want our music and message to go in a positive direction!

I scream party! (Tell us about your newest release.)

All: I SCREAM PARTY! PARTYYY! PARTY! (They continue in this manner for a while.)
Takeru: Ah, and... "I" meaning "myself" can also be seen as "ai" in Japanese, which means "love." It’s a play on words so to speak...and love is actually a kind of party, I think. So it includes the meaning "let’s scream love happily and cheerfully like a party."

Japan!

Takeru: Samurai! Ninja! Do you know about them?
Oh and...hara-kiri!
Chiyu: Hara-kiri! Do you know about hara-kiri? (Takeru dramatically acts out the art of committing hara-kiri.)
Yeah!
Takeru: (enthusiastic) Do you like hara-kiri?
Ah...it’s much too brutal! (The band laughs and continues to gleefully discuss hara-kiri.)
Chiyu: And what kind of image of Japan do you have in mind? As a German person, I mean.
It’s impressive and colorful.
All: Colorful...hmm...

Kölsch (German beer - have you tried it yet?)

Takeru: Beer? We haven’t tried it yet. Is it good?
Yes, you really should try it!

Logo (Why is your band logo a butterfly?)

(Yuji pulls Takeru’s shirt down and reveals the butterfly tattoo on his chest.)
Takeru: I have this butterfly on my chest and we liked it, so we made our logo out of it.

Music (What kind of music do you like?)

Takeru: MUSE and INCUBUS.
Yuji: L’arc~en~Ciel.
Mitsuru: Techno and trance.
Chiyu: Uh...I mean, Underworld! No no, UVERworld.

New Years Eve (How will you spend it?)

All: We’ll eat!

Once upon a time...

Masato: It hasn't been this way for many years, but for a long time, as a child, I was very into sports.
Takeru: I did Kendo, Judo and Taekwondo for a long time! And the sport I played for the longest time was basketball.
Mitsuru: For a long time, even during my childhood, I drummed on everything.
Chiyu: I played soccer and volleyball for a long time. Perfect! Perfect!

Para para (Show us the dance that many fans will do during Japanese visual kei concerts.)

All: Para para! (Yuji starts to dance.)
Uhhh... (laughter) That's terrible.
Chiyu: Terrible! (laughs)
Do your fans always dance like that?
Takeru: Yes! I think it looks sweet. But you don't like it much, do you? (laughs)

Questions (What kind of interview questions do you like?)

Takeru: I really like unusual questions. (laughs)

Role model (Who are your role models?)

Masato: X-Japan! For example, hide.

SuG!

Takeru: In English, there’s the term "thug." When one writes it more simply, it’s our band name. (laughs)

Treasure (What is important to you?)

All: The band!

Unique

Masato: (points to Yuji) You are unique! (laughter)
Takeru: The music.

Visual kei (What do you think about the scene?)

Takeru: In Japan, visual kei includes many things now, which I really like. It has many directions and the borders are very broad.

Wish (What do you wish for in the future?)

Yuji: I wish that we will become well known in Germany.

X-Rated

Takeru: Hmm...what do you mean with that?
For example, movies like "Battle Royale."
All: (at the same time) Aaaaah! Ooooh?!
Takeru: When a movie like that has a good plot and it's good, then I like to watch it.

Youth

Takeru: I would like to have my mind and the minds of the people around me stay forever young.

Zoo

Takeru: We’ll tell you our favorite animals. Penguins!
Yuji: Ponies. But only small ponies!
Mitsuru: White tigers.
Chiyu: Uhh? Orcas!

Thank you very much for the interview!

All: Thank you!


JaME would like to thank the band, Rock Identity and PS Company.