Interview with WagakkiBand

Just before their US debut at Anime Expo in Los Angeles, crossover octet WagakkiBand spoke to JaME about their journey so far, the difficulties of fusing Eastern and Western influences in their music as well as some funny habits they have.

It's great to be able to speak to you again after our first interview with you last year. How has 2015 been for you thus far?

WagakkiBand: We’ve appeared on a TV programme for music in Japan, and have had many opportunities to play overseas concerts, including our first overseas one-man live during two days in Taiwan. Our upcoming second album will be released in September, and is full of our original songs.

In the meantime, we will be going on a nationwide tour of Japan. It’s only been a year since we made our debut, but we’ve already received a bewildering number of opportunities. It's a great honor for us, and we appreciate them all.

You'll be performing at Anime Expo in Los Angeles on July 4th. What are you most excited about for Anime Expo?

WagakkiBand: We’re tense, because it's our first time playing a concert in the US, and we don't know how the audience will react to our performance. Still, we're looking forward to having the concert.

Senbonzakura has been your most well-received cover song to date. What made you decide to cover the song?

WagakkiBand: We first posted our cover on a popular video hosting website in Japan because we wanted many people to see our performance. On this video hosting website, Senbonzakura is an overwhelming popular song.

The song has a traditional Japanese melody, and we chose it because we believed that the song was a perfect match with our style. It also has more of a rock feeling than Japanese classical music, and is at a tempo that is supposed to be difficult to play with traditional Japanese musical instruments. We wanted to make something that nobody could imitate.

Would you say that creating an original song is more challenging than producing a cover? Or is making a cover more difficult because you have to find a way of making someone else's song fit your own style?

WagakkiBand: There’s no real difference in difficulty between these two tasks. Only one of our members arranges a song, but each of us arranges our own instruments’ parts for the finished song. When we covered Vocaloid songs, we've made interesting arrangements that we couldn't even have imagined, because the songs were not originally written for us.

If one of our members writes an original song, it can be a quicker to produce because the songwriter has a better idea of our abilities and idiosyncrasies. But if it's an original song, the members often respond with arrangements beyond the songwriter's imagination. We complete works by trusting in our own and each others' instincts.

What is the most difficult part of mixing the East and the West in your music?

WagakkiBand: Traditional Japanese instruments are intended to be played acoustically, so balancing volume levels can be difficult. Also, we're always conscious of not being boring or being too similar.

What are your songs’ lyrics usually about?

WagakkiBand: Our band has several songwriters, so the lyrics are completely different for each song. Before now, Suzuhana, Asa and Machiya had all written original songs, but Kurona and Kiyoshi have also written songs for the new album. Please look forward to listening to them.

Do you design your outfits yourselves? Which outfits have been your favorite so far?

WagakkiBand: Each member discusses their wishes with a designer who makes our outfits. We think workmanship has improved with every outfit. In our personal opinion, the outfits for Ikusa have been the best.

We're sure you've received many comments about your songs from overseas fans. Can you share any of your more interesting comments with us?

WagakkiBand: One fan commented "I have no idea what the lyrics mean but you're my favorite! I love you!"

Tell us about an interesting quirk or habit each band member has.

WagakkiBand: Yuko touches her hair when she talks, and every day she kisses, kisses and kisses her pet rabbit Ume. Kiyoshi often meditates, and bites Daisuke a lot. Wasabi and Kurona also get bitten by him sometimes.

Daisuke prowls about whenever he’s on the phone or brushing his teeth, and he always searches for ramen restaurants nearby to where we’re working. Beni talks clearly in her sleep, and always does stretching exercises after bathing. Kurona shouts "boom!" in a loud voice whenever he gets the chance, and everywhere he goes, it seems to rain.

Machiya is always checking real estate information, and rises up when he falls down. Asa tries to make a joke whenever he can, and is always the first to go home from venues. Wasabi becomes naked without anyone noticing, and often checks out his muscles in the mirror.

Suzuhana, what inspired you to take up shigin before WagakkiBand was formed? How do you learn shigin, and is it a popular style in Japan?

Suzuhana: When I was five, I began learning shigin recitation and shibu dance. One of my parents was teaching the piano at home, and one of the students introduced a shigin lesson for me to visit. That was the starting point.

I began it while I was surrounded by many adults. I liked them so much, and they praised me. It was pleasure for me, so I continued to receive lessons. After I began to take part in some contests, I got the urge to aim even higher, so I got serious. After I won a championship in Japan, I started seriously thinking about wanting to go out as a representative to tell the world about Japan.

The most common way to begin shigin is by being the relative of a shigin singer. Few people begin shigin in childhood. In Japan, there’s a strong impression that shigin is an activity for their grandparents’ generation.

Beni, is it difficult to play the shamisen? We heard from another female shamisen player that playing the shamisen can be especially difficult for females. Is that true?

Beni: I don't think it's difficult for females. If I must say anything, I make a point of doing muscle training, stretching exercises and standing lessons to build strength, to maintain my body's trunk stability. The shamisen is usually supposed to be played on a seat, but in my case, I usually play for long periods while standing up.

The shamisen has "tsubo"₁, which is like a fret on a guitar. It's very sensitive. If you deviate even a little from the standard practice, the shamisen responds in a different pitch. So, I guess this is another difficult point of playing the shamisen.

_{1 “Tsubo” means "acupoint".}

What is your favourite matsuri? What do you like most about this matsuri?

WagakkiBand: It's the Aomori Nebuta Festival. It’s the most exciting festival we've ever seen. The explosive sounds of the drums and bells resonate deeply in our hearts. We relish such a feeling.

What Japanese custom would you like your foreign fans to know?

WagakkiBand: Nowadays, Japan has no ninja or samurai anymore. Like our music, modern Japan is a mix of traditional things and things flexibly imported from overseas countries. But those traditional domestic things from the old days have the ‘wabi-sabi’ worldview, which is found nowhere but here. We’ll be glad if you have become interested in Japan through us.

Do you have a message for JaME’s readers?

WagakkiBand: If you come to love Japan through WagakkiBand, it's our pleasure! Please listen to our soulful music!


JaME would like to thank WagakkiBand for this interview opportunity.

WagakkiBand's sophomore album Yasou emaki will be released on September 2nd. Music videos for Akatsuki no ito and Ikusa can be watched below: