Press conference of L'Arc~en~Ciel in Paris

The night before the concert at Zénith, we met with the band L’Arc~en~Ciel for a press conference in a large Parisian hotel. A room had been prepared for the occasion and a lot of different media representatives were present. The host for the press conference presented us with the order of events: a quick photo session, an introduction of the members through questions from their team and then finally it would be time for questions from the media. This would all be conducted in English and Japanese.

The band arrived a little afterwards and, once the photo session had finished, the questions from L'Arc~en~Ciel's host began.


Questions from the host

First of all, could you introduce yourselves one by one?

hyde: I’m hyde.
ken : Je m’appelle ken ("I’m ken" in French).
tetsu: I’m tetsu, nice to meet you.
yukihiro: I’m yukihiro.

Thank you very much. You probably haven’t had time yet to properly settle down in your new surroundings, but what are your impressions of Paris?

ken: Ah, we went somewhere with the group...
The Tuileries?
ken: Yes, I think it was there. I went for a bit of a walk there yesterday and it resembled a Japanese park like in Yoyogi and it was very pretty. I felt very relaxed.

Is it the first time in France for each of you?

hyde: It’s my first time!
ken: It’s the third time for me.
tetsu and yukihiro: First time as well.

Are there any places in particular you’d like to visit while you’re in Paris?

hyde: Hmm... I’d like to go to several places, but there isn’t a lot of time... I’d like to go to Mont Saint Michel! I’ll come back to Paris again.
yukihiro: Yes, I’d like to go to Mont Saint Michel as well.

The name of the group L’Arc~en~Ciel is in French, do you have any special feelings towards France?

hyde: Of course. I really wanted to come to France one day and I’m very happy to be here!

If you compare this tour, TOUR 2008 L'7~Trans ASIA via PARIS~, to your previous international tours, you’ve visited more countries, including different Asian countries as well as France. Is there a special theme for this tour?

hyde: Definitely. There’s a big boat called L’Arc~en~Ciel which goes to each of the countries. It’s like if we were sailing in the boat.


Questions from the media

At the time of this interview you have played in Shanghai and Taipei, but you have also chosen to come to France. Did you have a particular reason for this?

ken: We had many opportunities and we discussed them a lot: perhaps we should go to Stockholm or other Scandinavian places. We could have visited loads of different countries, but finally we asked ourselves: "Hey, why not Paris, of course? Nowhere would be better than Paris for a first time!"
hyde: We wanted to go to Paris! L’Arc~en~Ciel in Paris, even! (laughs)
ken: Yes, yes, of course! L’Arc~en~Ciel and Paris! We had to go there at least once. So that was how we decided to come to Paris.

Are the reactions of the Japanese audiences and those of other audiences different?

yukihiro: Yes, of course, I think they’re quite different. In Japan, we know and understand how the fans react, as well as what they want. There are places where we still haven’t performed and we are very excited at the idea of going to them and are really looking forward to it.

The concert tomorrow will be broadcast in five different cities in Japan. Is there a particular reason for this?

tetsu: It’s our first world tour and it’s the first time that a Japanese artist has done this. So that’s why we wanted to share it with our Japanese fans.

Could you tell us a little more about the concert tomorrow?

hyde: It will be L’Arc~en~Ciel's first time to put on a concert in Paris so the European audience can see us onstage. We want everyone to truly understand what L’Arc~en~Ciel is. That’s what we’ll be trying to do!

Which song from KISS is the best to play onstage?
hyde: Pretty Girl. It’s really good!

Will we be experiencing the Christmas song from KISS (Hurry Xmas) at the concert tomorrow?

hyde: (laughs) We’re wondering whether it would be a good idea to play a Christmas song in the middle of summer!

Why did you choose the title KISS for the album and why this cover?

hyde: We wanted the title and the cover to work as one and that they'd have the same meaning.
ken: Could you show us this cover? (he asks to see the European version, which is still packaged and he has difficulties opening it, which makes the audience laugh)
hyde: A kiss is a wonderful thing. It’s like shaking hands, but that can be seen in lots of different ways, like as political thing or something else. A kiss is something more intimate and beautiful than that. We hope that people of the whole world can connect and create something as beautiful as sharing a kiss. That’s the significance of the title KISS.

Is this concert in France the beginning of a bigger tour throughout the whole world and not just Asia?

ken and yukihiro at the same time: Hmmm... (Everyone laughs)
yukihiro: We still haven’t planned anything. It’s already a wonderful opportunity to go outside of Japan and play. I think we will do something like that.

Did you know that you were perhaps the most awaited Asian group in Europe?

ken: We checked that on the internet but we didn’t think that we had that many fans in Europe. Are you sure that we can believe what you’re saying?
Yes!
ken: We haven’t been able to verify it on the internet, so tell the fans to leave us messages and then we’d be able to believe it. Please! (everyone laughs)

Do you think it's weird that Europeans listen to Japanese music? What do you think about this?

tetsu: Hmm... We listen to international music, like English music for example, so it should be the same for people that listen to Japanese music. I hope that here the audience will listen to and accept our Japanese music.

You have a song called C’est la vie (From the album heavenly). Why did you choose a French title for this song?

hyde: It’s an old song but it’s a very inspiring and beautiful song. The sound of this expression combined perfectly with the music.
Do you plan to play it tomorrow?
hyde: Wow! We’ll have to practice then!

With a career of over fifteen years (seventeen years), what do you want to say musically? Do you want to continue with the same sound or would you like to reinvent yourselves entirely?

tetsu: I think that with the last fifteen years and the time that’s passed, we feel good at the moment. We’ll continue to look for a good sound and we still have things to do as a group.

We know you as well from your work with music for anime and video games. Did you do these because you really appreciate the anime or video game or are you selected to participate? Do you compose the music expressly for this purpose?

hyde: I really like them, but that doesn’t change whether it is for an anime or not. When I work on a song for an anime, I imagine myself purely as the musical director. I’m more interested by what there is behind the story, so that is how I conceive the music.
yukihiro: I like them as well, but I’m not really involved in them, I just do music for anime and video games for the music. I’m happy to participate in it and that’s all.

What has surprised you in the tour so far?

yukihiro: We’ve already done two concerts in Asia and I’m really looking forward to the concert tomorrow.
tetsu: We have yet to do our third concert, but during the concert in Shanghai it rained loads and there was a thunderstorm. I was afraid of getting electrocuted!
ken: Yes, during our first concert it rained a lot and our second one, in Taiwan, was also an outdoor concert but the weather was so nice! It’s so comfortable to play outside in that sort of weather. The worst was on the way back to Tokyo from Taiwan when I watched a movie. I’d always wanted to see it, but it was really boring... It wasn’t what I’d imagined!
hyde: Hm... I haven’t been too surprised during the last two concerts, but I realized that now we’re worthy of going outside of Japan, thanks to everything we’ve done in the past. You can come to see us tomorrow, it’ll be the best concert since our debut! So please come and see it!

Do you know any French music groups?

hyde: Vanessa Paradis. (laughs from the audience)
ken: Jane Birkin.
tetsu: Charlotte Gainsbourg.
yukihiro: Daft Punk ! (laughs from the audience)

Will there be a DVD of the concert tomorrow?

hyde: I don’t know when it will be released, but yes, there will be a DVD of this concert.

Host: Thank you for the press conference.


JaME would like to thank Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc., GanShin and, of course, L’Arc~en~Ciel.