Interview with MONO in Germany

author: Yuu & Till

© Teppei

Thirty minutes before the start of the show we made ourselves comfortable in the band's tour bus to have a chat about MONO with the tired but obviously relaxed Taka. Since their formation ten years ago, the band spent the better part of their lives on tour. During both the interview and the show, the band did not act like they were thousands of kilometers from home. After all these years, it almost seems like the stage has become their home.


We just counted it yesterday: Today's your 15th show in a row! And 18 more ahead, with just a single day off! Aren't you guys dead already?

Taka: Last night we just slept. (laughs) It depends. Sometimes, a day off will change your routine in a bad way. Continuity is great. Your body gets used to it, so it's not that hard. We spent practically the last six years touring, that's okay.

Did anything noteworthy happen so far? Any collapsing stages, weird fans, etc?

Taka: During the first week of this tour, I cut my arm badly on stage. I don't know what happened, suddenly there was all this blood on the floor...but somehow it didn't hurt. I didn't feel anything, it was crazy. Now it's okay.

What keeps you alive?

Taka: Definitely the crowd. They give us the power. If we were just playing for five to ten people all the time, we couldn't do this.

This year is a great anniversary for MONO. Looking back at the beginning: What did you initially hope and expect to achieve?

Taka: We are a Japanese band. When we started, we wanted to tour outside Japan, which was very hard. I don't know the reason, but I've seen American bands tour through Japan and Asia, European bands as well. But there were only few Japanese bands touring outside Japan. Nobody called us, we just wanted to. We didn't know how to get a recording contract or find a great booking agent. I think it has been getting better over these ten years. But time is going by so fast...I remember when we had to play in bars during our first U.S. tour. No stage, no microphones, six or seven people and everybody drunk. Nobody listened because nobody knew about us. This made us play louder and louder, rocking the guitars, bass and drums...

So that's the reason why you're so loud?

Taka: (laughs) Yeah, definitely. We're loud as hell. We wanted the people to have a great impression. Now we're getting more quiet. I think American people are very honest. When they like the music, they like it. Our first UK tour had seven people at every show. Now it's almost 800 per show. We really appreciate that because we are a small indie band and hate advertising and major companies. We want to stay independent. People just talk about us and everything happens so fast. Everything seems natural. All this happened because of the audience.

Here in Europe, Hymn to the Immortal Wind was released just ten days ago. It is linked to a story by Heeya So. You used to say you like instrumental music because of the openness of meaning; that aspect is smaller now. Is it easier to compose when there is a concept?

Taka: The idea came about because there are lots of instrumental and post-rock bands, and all of them are pretty much similar. And they all say that the people can imagine things just by listening to the sound. I cannot believe that. I thought it would be beautiful and great if we could show something more particular. When it is like a movie or book, people find it easier to access. If we all have the same imagination when hearing the track, it will be stronger.

So you will have more control over their interpretation?

Taka: Yeah. I think it's like a gamble, though. Some people like to imagine things their own way. I wanted to try something a bit more like a movie.

It's not the first time for you, but what was it like to work with Steve Albini and with an orchestra? He is actually not a classical producer, right?

Taka: I think on our first album, we used one cello, for the second album it was one cello and one violin, and for the third album it was a string quartet. It's natural growth. Before I wrote the songs for Hymn to the Immortal Wind, I already had the plan to use a full orchestra. I had the confidence to write a score because I had planned it for five years. You get so much volume from a single quartet, if I prepared a second quartet, how loud would that be? You can already imagine it. And although we are using a full orchestra, four of the musicians on this album are the band, which hasn't changed since we began. It is very easy to communicate. When I see a problem, I talk about it and so do they.

I was asking because your mix is very clean compared to Steve's other work...

Taka: But Steve is kind of a genius, he knows all kinds of music. He could even record a jazz band because he has a great hearing. And he's always fun to record with. We hate making overdubs, we just play the things we would play in a live setting. And it only took two weeks, including the mixing, to make this album. That's very fast. He is definitely a genius. He is my teacher.

You said you wanted this album to be brighter than your older ones. Did that work for you?

Taka: I think so, yes. What do you think? (laughs)

I think so, too.

Taka: I wanted to make something like Beethoven's Symphony No.9, a crazy, emotional piece of music.

When you write music, is there a certain story in your head which you follow? Not for this album, but in general?

Taka: I wrote some scripts, but I'm not a professional writer. The members and Esteban (Rey) who did the artwork of the last three or four albums might know it.

I really like the artwork and the homepage. They match the album's mood.

Taka: Thank you. I wanted to make music people can listen to in the morning, because they usually do it at night. We always explain it as a forest, very dark, and you have to find hope. From the beginning, hope was the central thing for this album. Goodbye, death.

You like acting international, you work with a lot of people from different countries, right? You have a picture gallery on your old website. How did you choose the artists and the pictures?

Taka: I have no idea. We just collected interesting images people sent us...

They're pretty similar to the music.

Taka: As I said, they were sent to us. That's Internet culture. (laughs)

When this tour is over, what are your plans?

Taka: Well, we are going to play in New York with an orchestra, then it's Taiwan, Japan and Europe again for the festivals. We'll tour for three years at least and then...we might write new songs. I don't want to think about it now.

So it's very open right now.

Taka: Yeah. Last year we decided to stop touring. I was writing the songs for 300 days, it was totally chaotic. I prefer touring, it makes me feel good because of the strong emotions and the crowd. When I'm in my rehearsal room in Japan, I think about it and imagine it constantly. It makes me happy.

Talking about internationality - would you agree that your visual design (the CDs and the homepage) is Japanese while your musical style is European?

Taka: Oh, you think so? Actually, I have no idea. Someone told me that Ashes In The Snow, the first song of Hymn to the Immortal Wind, has a very Japanese melody. Maybe I have some traditional Japanese things in me, but I don't control that. I love Ennio Morricone and Beethoven, but I don't know how much traditional Japanese culture is in me. But maybe I have it.

Would you like to make a movie score?

Taka: Definitely. We want to do that, it would be beautiful.

Please give some comments to our readers!

Taka: To be honest, I think until three years ago, it was so hard to play in Germany. We played a lot, but the venues were always empty. Even in France, the UK and the Netherlands, things were improving for us, but Germany was hard. It seems people are starting to get interested now. We are very happy to play here, and I hope that our music will reach more people.

That's great.

Taka: It will be great, I believe. (laughs)


Thanks to MONO and to Joris from Conspiracy Records for making this interview possible.