Interview with ALSDEAD Before Anime Vegas

author: Ruka

© ALSDEAD

Visual kei band ALSDEAD is quickly gaining recognition abroad with their unique brand of rock that's catchy, deranged, poignant and inspiring. Preparing to release their third single and perform at Anime Vegas, the group took some time to answer our questions.


What does the band name “ALSDEAD” mean for you, and why did you choose it?

ALSDEAD: The name ALSDEAD means “everything is dead." Without exception, every single person will die at the end. But meanwhile, new life will be created somewhere else. This is like a transmigration of life. We believe the cycle of death and nativity has massive energy, and we made the word “ALSDEAD” with this energy in mind.

Could you describe ALSDEAD’s concept?

ALSDEAD: Our view of a life cycle: death and birth.

How was the band formed, and why did you decide to do a visual band? Have you all always listened to visual kei, or was there a memorable moment where you suddenly felt attracted to visual kei music?

ALSDEAD: Originally, we formed as “Dice And Joker,” which was just a rock band, not a visual kei band. We changed bass players when Dice And Joker disbanded and began a new band called ALSDEAD. The reason we chose visual kei is because unlike other genres, visual kei focuses on both music and visuals, which means there are more options to express our feelings.

What bands or musicians have inspired each of you?

Maki: Led Zeppelin, Megadeth and DanderDanger.
Shin: EXTREME and ANGRA.
Setsua: Stray Cats and Motley Crue.
Reito: L’Arc~en~Ciel.

This summer you performed in America at the anime convention A-Kon. How was the performance, and did it meet your expectations?

ALSDEAD: It was greater than we expected. We were excited every minute, as everyone was very nice and energetic, plus the crowd was really pumped.

At first a different band was scheduled to perform at A-kon but they canceled due to fears of H1N1 (swine flu). Currently, this is still a problem in the States. Are you not anxious about it? Is your urge to perform in the U.S. stronger than your fear of catching the flu?

ALSDEAD: Well, basically we are risk takers. Also, you can’t be a rock artist if you are nervous about the risk of the flu! But, of course, we are sorry about the people who were unfortunately infected.

Anime conventions naturally draw a large crowd of people, larger than usual live houses in Japan. How did you feel about this when you came for A-Kon, were you anxious about the number of people attending?

ALSDEAD: No way! Rather, the number of attendees made us more excited. If we get the opportunity to perform at Madison Square Garden now, we wouldn’t be nervous at all, we would be excited. We just want to do our best and go over the top.

And now you’ll be returning to the U.S. for Anime Vegas. How did you come upon this opportunity? Are your expectations for this second live in America different from those of the first? Is there anything you hope to change for this live?

ALSDEAD: We had been hearing about the Anime Vegas deal for the last few months. We couldn’t wait to come back to the U.S. after the first appearance. The set list will change this time since our new single PARADOX will be released this October. Other than that, there is nothing we hope to change for this live, we'll just do our best as usual.

Since you’ll be performing at an anime convention, your fans there may want to know: do any of you have any anime, manga or video games that you like?

ALSDEAD: All of us like anime and manga, especially Reito; he is an otaku. We like "Dragon Ball," "Naruto," "Hunter Hunter" and much more.

What do each of you like to do in your free time, what are your hobbies?

Maki: Billiards and golf, but I’m pretty busy these days, so I don’t have time to enjoy my hobbies.
Shin: I like to cook during my free time.
Setsua: I watch rock DVDs and enjoy them by myself.
Reito: I watch anime DVDs and enjoy them by myself.

Maki, according to ALSDEAD's MySpace, you do a lot of the composing for the band. Did you compose all the songs on the group’s singles? And what inspires you to compose?

Maki: I’m composing songs with Shin. We work together; I start the base, Shin makes the music, and we add more stuff to the music like that. A lot of things inspire us. For example, kids who just play around at the park.

Do you make use of an instrument, computer or only your voice when composing your songs? How do you make clear to the other members what you want them to play, or is it a process that grows between all of you?

Maki: The computer is a necessity when we make a song. Usually, I make a base using bass and guitar, then Shin will start to arrange it and make it a better song.

A lot of your fans here don't understand Japanese, so could you describe what some of your lyrics are about? What kind of images or themes are important for you?

ALSDEAD: Human beings are easily influenced by the wrong things: drugs, evil-mindedness, etc. People have to understand that life isn’t that easy and we must try to control ourselves. That is what we are expressing in our songs.

Your MySpace says your music "assumes mental disorder to be the basis." How would you say you express that mental disorder in your music?

ALSDEAD: Just expressing how you act or think if you are suffering from mental disorder.

How have the recording processes for your releases been so far?

ALSDEAD: We’ve been doing pretty well. We are always trying hard to be better than our previous releases. Now we are working on our third single. It’s really cool and heavy, so definitely, please check it out!

For your single S.a.g.A., could you tell us the meaning of the titles F99 and S.a.g.A.? What did you have in mind when making these two songs?

ALSDEAD: The idea of the name “F99” came from ICD, which stands for International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. “ICD provides codes to classify diseases and a wide variety of signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances and external causes of injury or disease” (from Wikipedia). F99 is one of the codes representing “mental disorder." And "saga" is your disposition or nature in Japanese.

On October 7, your third single, PARADOX, will be released. Can you tell us a little about this release? Does it have a specific concept and how would you describe each of the songs?

ALSDEAD: PARADOX tells the story of a lady who appeared in the first single KIZU. A concept of the whole single is “loneliness." We are describing many different kinds of loneliness on this CD.

Each of you has an online journal. How vital do you consider journals/blogs as a method of keeping in touch with your fans?

ALSDEAD: Yeah. It is a good resource to communicate with fans since we are easily able to tell what we have in our minds through blogs. So please access our blogs!

This will be your second time to perform in the U.S., so a lot of people already know you here. When you started the band, did you imagine you would be making a name for yourself abroad so soon already?

ALSDEAD: At the time we started to play music? We were just naughty boys. (laughs) When Megadeth came to Japan, we got really excited and went to the live show to see them. Now we get a chance to perform at the place where our favorite band was formed; it’s like we are dreaming. We appreciate that U.S. fans are very supportive.

In the future, do you think you will continue to come back and play in different parts of the U.S.? How about other continents where Japanese music is popular, like Europe?

ALSDEAD: We will play in every single place as long as people are waiting for us, of course Europe too. We will go to India, Brazil, even in the South Pole if people are seeking our music!

How do you see yourself over the next ten years, what kind of goals do you have for the band?

ALSDEAD: Ten years from now, it might be difficult to keep heavy music flowing like it is now. Yet we are sure that we will continue to rock n’ roll. There is no goal in our life. We won’t stop pushing forward.

Please leave a message for your fans.

ALSDEAD: Dear everyone: we will come to see you guys with the best music. Please stay up to date with the information and don’t miss our performance! Let’s meet up at the live house. We love all of you. See you soon!


JaME would like to thank the band and Cure Media USA for the interview. ALSDEAD will perform at Anime Vegas alongside Satsuki on September 5-7.