May 2017 witnessed another edition of the irregularly held metal festival
Pure Rock Japan. This time, the line-up of the event, which has been taking place in Kawasaki for the past few years, featured
GYZE,
Aldious, and
Matenrou Opera. Its biggest star was one of the most famous Japanese metal bands in the world,
GALNERYUS. The band has been a regular presence at the event since 2009, when it first performed on its stage. That show was also the first with its current frontman
Sho, who was still a guest vocalist at the time.
Reporters from the Polish JaME team had a chance to meet with the band before their show and talk about their past, present, and
GALNERYUS's plans for the near future. The interview was held backstage, in a relaxed atmosphere which hardly indicated the band was about to play the final show of the festival. Most of the questions were answered by the group's leader and founder, guitarist
Syu, who greeted the reporters with a very well-pronounced "Dzień dobry!" (Polish for "Hello").
Your last release, UNDER THE FORCE OF COURAGE
, is a concept album which tells a particular story. Is this a form that you will return to in your future releases?
Syu: Right now, we can't say what the new album is going to be like, but our last release was in fact a concept album that was meant to tell a single story. As for the next album, all I can say right now is that we would like it to be the same way, but whether or not that's going to happen - I will just leave that to your imagination. We recently switched labels. Our last album was released under VAP, but the new record will come out under Warner Music Japan. It will be called
Ultimate Sacrifice, and its Japanese release date is set for September 13th.
What does your creative process look like – does one of you bring in completed songs, or do you write them all together?
Syu: For our last three records, the songs were mainly written by myself and
Yuhki. Usually I write the songs first and then
Yuhki adds his compositions; for example, the song
Emotion from
Resurection was written by the two of us together, I can say fifty-fifty. But before that, for example during the recording of our fourth album and the song
New Legend, we entered the studio together and played a sort of jam session, creating the song together. I think this was also the case for our fifth?
Yuhki: Yeah, generally back with our previous vocalist, up to the fifth album, we all went into the studio together and created the arrangement together.
What was it like with UNDER THE FORCE OF COURAGE
? Did a single song evolve into an idea for the whole album, or was the concept ready beforehand and you wrote songs to fit the theme?
Syu: Ah, that's actually an interesting question. With this record, we actually thought of the title first, then its world and the backstory, and only then recorded songs that fit into it.
We know that Syu and Yuhki do backup vocals, but your last album features more of Syu’s – as you call it – "death voice". Do you intend to use more of such elements in your future releases?
Syu: Of course! (laughs).
Yuhki wrote the songs
Soul of the Field and
Rain of Tears specifically so that I could use my death voice. He created an atmosphere which enabled a sort of conversation between our vocals, an interesting contrast ...
Yuhki: It allowed us to broaden the sound ...
Syu: Exactly, it let us broaden the sound so that it would fit both my death voice and
Sho's high tones. At present, I don't really use much growling since
Sho's voice is very clear and high, and we would like it to stand out. But, maybe with the next album there will again be a chance for me to use my death voice, because it's really fun to do.
And is there a chance we will hear more of Spinalcord or Aushvitz, or is that already in the past?
Syu:
Spinalcord was created by the same members who formed
Aushvitz, so it’s basically the same band. In my opinion, at this time, my vocals are not the very best, but if I can achieve a proper quality to my singing in the future, so that I can go and sing in front of people on a stage, then of course I would like to try that.
You have a number of releases featuring cover songs, such as the series Stand Proud
and Voices from the Past
. How did you choose the songs to go on these albums? Do you plan to release more of such songs?
Syu: The
Stand Proud releases were my solo records, so I alone chose songs that inspired me, or that I simply liked. Now, the
Voices from the Past releases were albums for which all members of the band, and especially the new ones, after line-up changes, chose two songs that influenced them in some way, inspired them or changed their perception, or that they simply thought were good songs to show what
GALNERYUS was. As for our plans, we don't really plan to release a new cover album at the moment, but if we have the chance to do so in the future I would gladly do it. Recording this type of album is really fun.
You’re involved in numerous side projects aside from GALNERYUS. Do you even find the time to do other activities outside music, like for example go out and grab a beer with friends?
Sho: He assembles Gundam models! (points to
Taka)
Yuhki: And prays for world peace (everybody bursts out laughing).
Taka: Well, I really do assemble Gundam models.
Sho: I enjoy fishing. And I don't drink.
Fumiya: I play online games.
Yuhki: And I love making udon (everyone laughs, while
Yuhki demonstrates hand making udon noodles), and generally pasta!
Syu: I think he just made that up on the go! (laughs) I race go-karts. I love racing.
Yuhki: You're faster than
Kubica (note: a Polish race driver)
Syu: Oh yeah,
Robert Kubica! We love
Kubica.
Vocalists often take particular care of their voice, for example by... not smoking [note: looking at the package in front of the vocalist and hearing the rest of the band giggle it is clear that this is not the case here] or not drinking. Sho, do you also have a special regimen of caring for your voice?
Sho: I sleep a lot. Really. Long and often.
Syu: I can confirm that! After a show,
Sho is always the first one to go to the hotel to sleep. And when we're on tour and going somewhere, he's always sleeping on the bus.
Sho: But that's true. A long sleep is very good for your throat and for the voice. Sometimes I also wear a protective face mask.
And at what age did you all start playing your instruments? Did you take lessons, or were you self-taught?
Taka: I started when I was 14. I mainly taught myself, but during my studies I took lessons for two years.
Sho: I was 13 when I began singing, but that was more of a hobby. It was only when I was 20 that I decided to become a professional, and that was when I began practicing seriously, but I learned to do it by myself.
Fumiya: I began playing the drums at 15, but before that, since I was seven, I've been playing the piano. I learned to play the drums myself, but with the piano I went to a music school until I was 17 years old, so for 10 years.
Yuhki: I began with a guitar. When I was 13, I had a dream of becoming a guitarist, but let's say it did not go well (everyone laughs), so when I was 14 I started playing the keyboard. But, unlike
Fumiya, I did not go to school for that. I'm self-taught!
Syu: Since when I was six to – let me think – till I was 13, I learned how to play the violin with a teacher. Then, at 13, I started playing the guitar, but that was on my own. I also learned to play other instruments. When I was 10, in fourth grade, I began playing the drums, and also piano, since I was four, but that only lasted for two months. I wanted to try my hand at different instruments, but in the end I stopped playing the violin and drums when I was 13 and picked up the guitar.
Now for some history – a few years back you released a song entitled Alsatia
, which was a completely different style than what we came to expect from GALNERYUS, and which makes this song unique. What inspired you to create a song so different from the rest of your output?
Syu: For
Alsatia, I used a seven-string guitar, which has a broader scale and is tuned much lower and has more bass sounds, so the song is much heavier. With the present line-up, I no longer use that type of guitar, only six-stringed. But around that time, I was really interested in that type of rhythm, in tribal sounds – drums, rhythm, which is why the song ended up the way it did. And anyway,
Alsatia was created as an opening to the anime “Mnemosyne no musumetachi”, so when we wrote it we also took inspiration from the series.
GALNERYUS has gone through numerous lineup changes. What motivates you to keep on playing?
Yuhki: Nowadays, the band has the most wonderful musicians. We have the best line-up. That was my motivation to keep going - that this would one day happen, and that I would one day meet all these great people and get to play with them. Each of the present members has their own habits, their own pros and cons, but that's precisely why we can create our own sound, which makes me really happy. That, and world peace of course (everyone laughs).
Syu: The changes were necessary so that we could better express the music of
GALNERYUS and say what we wanted to say. These were not personal issues, but rather something which occurred naturally from our music. In order for the band's sound to be the best it could be, we had to keep looking for members that would understand each other the best, and that would best be able to show what
GALNERYUS really is.
In the beginning, you mainly recorded songs in English, but now we can hear more of your mother tongue. What influenced this change?
Syu: Melodic speed metal and power metal came from Europe – the Japanese did not invent, but rather imported these genres. Most of the bands who play this type of music are also from Europe and they sing in English. Since we really like and respect them, naturally we also had English lyrics at first. This changed when
Sho joined the band, since he expresses everything – the words and the sounds – better in Japanese. And also, we're obviously Japanese, so it is easier for us to express the full meaning of songs in our mother tongue, and these songs are also easier for our audience to receive.
You’ve already played several times outside of Japan. Do you intend to play more of such gigs, perhaps festivals, or are you focused more on Japan right now?
Syu: We have many plans, but right now nothing is certain and booked. Of course, we don't want to stop at Japan. Our goal is the whole world, and we would love to play in Europe again.
Thank you very much for the interview!
GALNERYUS: Thank you!
Syu: Dziękuję! (note: Polish for "Thank you")
