Interview with girugamesh at JRock Revolution

One of the quickest rising stars in the visual-kei scene, rock band girugamesh took some time to sit down and speak with JaME before performing for the first time on foreign soil at JRock Revolution. Casually dressed and settled into a booth at the bustling restaurant in the Renaissance Hollywood hotel, the band shared some of their thoughts with us before their scheduled performance on May 26th.

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For our readers who may not be familiar with girugamesh yet, would you please introduce yourselves?

Nii: girugamesh guitarist, Nii.
Яyo: Drums, Яyo.
shuU: Bassist, shuU.
Satoshi: Vocalist, Satoshi. It's nice meeting you.

How did girugamesh form and how did you meet one another?

shuU: Nii and I have been friends since elementary school. We were all local friends though and just banded together. So here we are.

So you're all originally from the same city?

shuU: Yes.

How did each of you get involved or interested in music?

Nii: I've been heavily influenced by my father who listened to a lot of music.
Яyo: My father influenced me as well.
shuU: There was always a guitar at my place, so the music would just make its way to my ears.
Satoshi: I was actually influenced by my mother. Then during high school, I started playing acoustic guitar and performing at school festivals.

When was your first live?

Nii: Ehh.... (thinks) Back when we were in high school.

Was it scary?

Nii: (laughs) Yes, very. At that time, the audience looked so strict and we could see everyone.

What attracted you to the visual-kei scene?

Nii: I guess you could say that the music that we all listened to was visual-kei type music. So that's how we all ended up in that scene as well.

Which bands did you listen to?

Яyo: X-Japan.

When composing your songs, is the music written first or are the lyrics written first? And how is the arranging process?

Яyo: The music is written before the lyrics.
shuU: I arrange the bass part first and then I give it to the other members. From there, we all work to arrange the entire song.

Яyo, you compose the majority of girugamesh's songs. What are you inspired by?

Яyo: I'm influenced by a variety of mediums. Japanese and American bands as well.

shuU, you wrote Ame to Fukoumono off of 13's reborn. This had quite a different feel to it than many of girugamesh's previous songs.

shuU: What I had in mind for that song, both the music and the lyrics, is I wanted to create something more lively, but still very powerful.

Satoshi, are your lyrics based mainly on your own experiences and feelings or do you get inspiration from other sources?

Satoshi: The majority of the lyrics that I write for girugamesh stem from my own emotions, anger, and what I'm feeling at that very moment.

Is it ever difficult to find the right words?

Satoshi: Ah, you could say that because each and every word has its own cognitive differences. Each one has its own feelings and nuances to it as I try to project what I'm experiencing.

What can you tell us about your upcoming mini-album, Reason of Crying?

shuU: We're always up for a new challenge as we go along, but we're still staying true to a real girugamesh-style experience. We're trying to portray, as the title says, a Reason of Crying.

How did the writing go?

shuU: Nii wrote one of the tracks but as for the rest, it was Яyo as our main composer. Satoshi wrote all of the lyrics.

Why did you decide to release Volcano as a video-only single?

shuU: We wanted to visually portray the explosive nature of a volcano.

You've done a cover of Mika Nakashima's Glamorous Sky before. What made you decide cover that song?

shuU: (laughs) To tell you the truth, it's not that interesting of a story. All four of us just really liked it.

Satoshi, we hear you're a big fan of movies. Have you had the chance to go sight-see in Hollywood while you're here?

Satoshi: (laughs) Not yet. We're still a little bit jet-lagged.

Are you going to go see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie?

Satoshi: (laughs, nodding) Yes, hopefully!

Do you think you'd ever write or direct a film?

Satoshi: Oooh.... If there was some nice music that I'd like to write.... If I could get to direct a film that matched that music, that'd be pretty interesting to do.

You played in the Nippon Budokan for the first time this past December. What was that experience like?

shuU: It was really big but nothing too unusual, so we managed to do it like any other live. We were a little bit nervous, but if you look at it from a different perspective, the larger the venue, the more we can do and the more we can experience. We felt more excited than nervous.

Do you feel that you had a good reaction from the fans?

shuU: Yes. We were very pleased at the reaction and there were more fans cheering for us than we expected.

Nii, you were able to participate in a session band with a number of other band members from Danger Crue. Were you nervous?

Nii: (laughs) Definitely! It was much more nerve-wracking than playing as just girugamesh earlier.

How often were you able to practice beforehand?

Nii: Ah, we only had one shot to practice together.

After this, you'll be traveling to Germany to take part in J-SHOCK 2007. What are your expectations for Europe?

shuU: It's going to be our first European expedition, just like JRock Revolution is our first time in America. We're very excited and looking forward to it.

For fun, can you tell us something about the member to the right of you?

Nii (about Яyo): Let me see.... Яyo, huh? He's the youngest member of girugamesh, but he acts like the oldest.
Яyo (about shuU): He's the most respected member. We all look up to him and he acts as the adult of the band. Without him, us other three would just fall apart.
shuU (about Satoshi): There's a HUGE gap between his real-life personality and his personality on-stage during a live. The difference kind of pisses me off sometimes (laughs).
Satoshi: (about Nii) He's very emotional and kind of creates the atmosphere for the rest of us. You could say he's the mood maker.

Do you have a final message for your fans?

Nii: We want to keep pushing forward. Please look forward to it and support us.
Яyo: We're going to rock this world!
shuU: Our lives, our songs, and our music are like our diaries. If you look back on it and reflect, you can see how we're going to grow.
Satoshi: The language might be different, but our feelings always come from our hearts, so please save a place for us in your heart as well.

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JaME would like to thank the JRock Revolution staff, the Renaissance hotel, Danger Crue, and girugamesh.