BLOOD interview in Finland

JaME Finland got a chance to interview BLOOD just before their performance at the Gloria Club in Helsinki on August 26th 2007. This was their third gig in Finland. Due to a very tight schedule, the interview was held backstage while members of BLOOD were doing their hair and make-up. Kiwamu, founder and guitarist, answered the majority of our questions.


Hello, we are from JmusicEuropa. Thank you for your time.

Kiwamu: Thanks.

How are you? Are you already feeling tired, or do you still have a lot of energy left for the last gigs of the tour?

Kiwamu: To be honest, I'm a bit stressed out because many of the previously scheduled gigs were canceled afterwards. I personally blame certain organizers of this. Despite this we have been enthusiastic about our concerts, and those organizers who fulfilled their tasks have done marvelous work.

In 2005 you were the first j-rock band in Finland. After this many other bands visited our country. Do you feel that you set an example for these bands in any way?

Kiwamu: I think that those bands are vastly different from us. Sadly many of them are just after money; usually they are signed by greedy labels. I think that it's really sad, and no, I don't really think that those big labels want to take us as their example. (laughs) I myself don't listen to any visual kei bands because I think that they're so incredibly boring.

You have visited Europe many, many times already. Do you have a certain routine for touring here?

Kiwamu: This is our seventh time here. I always contact a lot of organizers before touring. Sometimes they reply to my emails really slowly and it's infuriating. At the moment I'm really angry at Russia, Italy, Spain and Greece because they screwed up so badly. Luckily we have a lot good memories from Finland; you're gorgeous and sell a lot tickets to our gigs. I'm - (points to fu-ki and Kaede) we're grateful to JrockSuomi because they've given us a brilliant opportunity here in Finland. Moments like these never make our tours boring.

Where did you get the idea for your theme "Synchrony of Chaos"?

fu-ki: (takes a moment to think) I wanted to describe chaos, which people may suffer inside and the chaos which surrounds us. Not just one chaos, but the great combination of all chaos.

Your newest album features NOA. How did you end up working together?

Kiwamu: I really like the music he produces so I asked him to sing for our album. First of all, the result of earlier collaboration projects have surprised me positively. For example, working with the Greek band Virgins O.R. Pigeons who is playing here today as a warm-up band. We like to work with artists who are interested in BLOOD's music. We enjoy having the opportunity to work with them. I especially like when someone wants to do remixes of our songs, but back to the topic; NOA is a great musician and he understands my passion for gothic industrial music. Therefore his being featured is a great addition to our album. (everyone laughs)

What about EXO-CHIKA from Aural Vampire? And generally, what do you like about electronic music?

Kiwamu: I marked her voice when I first listened their music. Later I sent an email concerning their attendance at an event of mine. After mailing back and forth for a while a respect for our style arose – they were especially impressed about the tours in Europe. She wanted to participate on our album. Personally I admire her sincere understanding of good music.

What is your greatest achievement as a band?

Kiwamu: We have had a lot adversity with several countries and their incompetent organizers. Issues with our gigs are really important to us, so nowadays we have to be extra careful when choosing organizers to work with. It's really hard for us, but I've always been proud of myself for finding all the right kind of, trustworthy people. It's absolutely the greatest achievement of all.

Is your current style just the right one for you or are you still developing in another direction?

Kiwamu: We are happy with what we are now. (points to Kaede) Especially Kaede, who was a fan of j-rock. Being a fan for around six years or more is basically where we started to develop our band, but our passion for visual kei disappeared fast. We think that most visual kei bands are really boring and stereotypical. They are just imitating. They could never be anything as great as, for example, LUNA SEA and X JAPAN were. Nowadays we get all of our ideas from gothic bands, so after the visual kei period we started to listen to more underground types of music to get inspired from new kinds of styles. Visual kei is meant for younger people, but industrial and gothic is for older, more mature and better looking fans. We want to do genuine gothic music for people who are taking a real interest in our good sides.

What are your plans for after you've finished this tour?

Kiwamu: We have been thinking about making a new album. I would really like to do a double album where the first disc is dedicated to BLOOD's new music and the second disc would include remixes of BLOOD's music by European artists. We have been talking about this quite a lot with other people.

Thank you very much for the interview and have a great gig!

BLOOD: (bows) Thanks.

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Thanks to our photographer Heikki Mitikka.