Interview & Press Conference with m.o.v.e.

JaME recently had the opportunity to interview m.o.v.e., before their performance at Sakura-Con in Seattle, Washington.

Hello, and welcome back to the US! Could you please introduce yourselves for our readers?

Motsu: I’m Motsu, I do the rap
Yuri: I am the singer, Yuri.
t-kimura: Composer, arranger, and guitars.

Why did you choose the name m.o.v.e.?

t-kimura: Motsu and I had known each other for about 10 or 15 years, quite a long time, and we wanted to collaborate with various kinds of music genres that we had heard, so that’s what happened. We didn’t want to be stuck with one genre so we decided on m.o.v.e., as in to be able to move through different genres and to be able to incorporate all of them.

You last played in the US in 2005; are you excited to be back?

Motsu: This is our 3rd time and we’re really excited and looking forward to it.

What do you feel the main differences are between Japanese and US audiences?

Yuri: In my personal opinion, I would have to stress that fact that Japanese attendees come for the music, whereas with American attendees, it doesn’t matter if they know the songs or not but they'll still enjoy the moment and really make the concert an enthusiastic experience. Knowing that is really great. And if a song comes on that they know, they really sing it loud! It’s great!
Motsu: Your voices are SO BIG! Your bodies are big too.

This year marks the band’s 10th anniversary. Do you have any special plans for the occasion?

t-kimura: We’re in the middle of talking with various recording companies right now. We’re thinking of more CDs and other lives. We’re planning a lot of other stuff, but it’s still kind of a secret. We can’t let the cat out of the bag. (Laughter)

What do each of you see as the most memorable moment over the past 10 years?

Yuri: Going overseas has been really great. For me, I’d say the lives and various things that've happened. Meeting various people like staff and fans.
t-kimura: I would say for me, it would be the experience of being able to re-live making our first CD. Coming overseas and playing makes me really remember that feeling again.
Motsu: For me, there was a promotional video that was made last year or two years ago for Initial D, where we weren’t really part of it, but the Initial D producers and directors put it together. In it, the Initial D main character, Takumi, the car driver, was in a car battling the members of m.o.v.e. He was the other racer, and even though I wasn’t part of planning that, it was great to be able to see the expressions, and even seeing how I was given the expressions of being tired or shocked; it was really well drawn out.

What do you feel is your biggest accomplishment in your 10 years together?

Motsu: There was a live house tour that we did two years ago, and that was a real success.
t-kimura: And also just being able to continue mixing and combining music from various genre in to our music, that was also a great accomplishment.

We’ve heard that you collaborated with 8-ball for a song for “Speed Master”. What was that experience like? Have you worked with 8-ball before?

Yuri This was our first time, it was a lot of fun.
Motsu: There was a D-1 Grand Prix, and 8-ball was doing the theme song.
t-kimura: We had opportunities to meet and work together at various concerts. So we said “Well, how about this time we do a recording?”. It was a lot of fun.
Yuri: 8-ball only sings in English, so for me it was interesting, because we were able to collaborate and it ended up being sort of 50/50 Japanese and English. It was a lot of fun.
t-kimura: I think the 8-ball vocalist is a US citizen.
Mostu: I think we’ll probably do something again; we’d really like to work with them again.

Aside from the Speed Master single, can you tell us what you’ve been working on since Grid was released? Can we expect a new album soon?

Motsu: We’ve been doing a little recording here and there.

It’s a secret, right? (Laughter and nodding all around)

t-kimura: Right now, we’re just heading in to the recording season.

You have produced songs in many different styles: Eurobeat, rock, Latin….were you influenced by other artists to try this variety of sounds, or was it something that came as a natural part of your creative process?

Motsu: When we change styles, we have this feeling of accomplishment, like “Oh yeah! We did it! We’re ready to move on.”
t-kimura: We don’t have any interest in doing music we’ve done before. We like to move on.

Are there any artists that you consider an influence, or look up to?

Motsu: I wonder.... American bands?

Any bands

Motsu: Well, I’ll leave MTV on, and sometimes I’ll stop and say “Oh! This is really great.” And then I’ll check the name of the artist. But sometimes the CD is not released in Japan yet, so I have to track it down. Underground artists have some songs that really catch me, that I really enjoy.
Yuri: I don’t really know. I try to listen to many different genres from the beginning. There aren’t a lot of people that I look up to..
Motsu: What about me??? (Laughter)
Yuri: I really do look up to Kimura and Motsu a lot. I don’t have anyone else in particular that springs to mind that I look up to. Recently, I’ve been listening to a lot of rock, and I really like that. Mostly bands with female vocalists.
t-kimura: Do you have enough paper for me? I think you’ll have to take a whole page of notes. (Laughing) Nine Inch Nails, Linkin Park, Prodigy, they’re really popular, Depeche Mode, Hans Zimmer - The Pirates of the Caribbean sound track. I like soundtracks, screen music. That’s it for American music. For European music, I like more of the drummer based bands.

Which song do each of you like to perform the most?

Motsu: I would say Dog Fight for me, because I know there’s a lot of time for me to show off with that one.
Yuri: I really like Trance a lot. I also like C’est la vie on Grid; that one’s good for me.
t-kimura: I really like the re-arrangements we do for the lives.

Yuri, do you do vocal training to help you with the many different styles of music m.o.v.e does?

Yuri: I don’t really train specifically for each genre. And I don’t have a set day that I go to training, but I’ve been doing it off and on since my debut. I’ve had the same instructor since my debut, a female teacher.

Which style of music do you each find the easiest to perform?

Motsu: I like more upbeat music, like songs that are 180 beats per minute ….that tempo is the most comfortable for me. So, songs like Dog Fight and World’s End, songs that turn to half tempo.
Yuri: Let’s see. I think in general, rock is a lot easier for me to do. I can’t quite put my finger down on a particular song, but in general, the rock style songs are the easiest for me.
t-kimura: I’d say any songs that have a lot of guitar, because I play the guitar. But songs with the keyboarding sequences, the sequences are all programmed, so it’s a lot harder to perform those live.

t-kimura – You’ve produced and composed for other bands that have very different styles from m.o.v.e.’s. What led you to that type of work? How would you describe the differences between producing m.o.v.e.’s own music and music for other artists?

t-kimura: Well, firstly, when I am composing for m.o.v.e., it’s really important to me that I enjoy it, that it’s fun for me. That’s a key aspect. With other artists, they have their own goals, and it varies from project to project. It depends on what their goal is, if they want to bring up sales or something else, then I focus on that goal when I compose for them.

You’ve done several songs for anime and movies. Do you think this has helped introduce US fans to your music?

Motsu: Definitely, yeah.
Yuri: Without Initial D, we wouldn’t be here. (Laughter)
t-kimura We’d probably be window cleaners or something. (Laughter)

Would you recommend doing theme songs to other bands who are looking to increase their US presence?

t-kimura: Japanese bands?

Yes.

t-kimura: I think a lot of Japanese artists don’t realize there are a lot of events like this happening. That you have conventions like this. A lot of people hear that the music goes over to the US, but they don’t have a secure feeling that they can make big sales in the US.

Do you have a final message for your fans?

Motsu: We only get to come on occasion, so, this kind of opportunity, we just have to wring it and really make the most of it .
Yuri: I hope that the concert tomorrow will be a great success, and will help us come back to the US and be re-invited.
t-kimura: I think it’s great for various cultures to interact and learn from one another. I’m really glad to see it happen.
Motsu: Please come to Japan and play!

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JaME was able to take part in m.o.v.e.’s press conference on April 8th, the day after their performance. We asked a few more questions at that time.

Yesterday’s show was amazing. Are you happy with the performance you gave, and with the amount of energy you got back from the audience?

Yuri: It was amazing. Whenever we come to America, we actually do receive energy from the audience. Especially this show in Seattle, we were really happy with the response we got, and really amazed by the way the fans shook the building. We’re very happy that the buildings here are made really well! (Laughter)

You’ve brought some pretty impressive support members with you. Could you tell us a little about each, and how long you have known them or worked with them?

Motsu: Charlie K. on keyboard acts as our band master. He does this for many bands, including Otsuka Ai. He’s worked with us for 10 years. We had Yonezawa on guitar; he plays for Kumiko Yamashika. On drums was Okazaki Katsushige from Age of Punk. He also works in Lucy with Buck-Tick’s Imai Hisashi. Then there was Hiroki on bass. He works with HYDE, and has worked with Gackt. He’s also worked with us for a long time.
t-kimura: Hiroki is a drinking buddy of mine. He used to be in my goth band in our high school days. It was an industrial rock band called “Death Master”. Actually, we’re still doing some recording for that band, over in France.

Will you come back to the US and see us again?

Yuri: We haven’t got any solid plans yet, but we want to. We’ve been invited to Germany, but we do want to do more US and European performances.

Thank you so much for your time!

JaME would like to thank the members of m.o.v.e. for their time, as well as Avex and Sakura-Con for their assistance.