Zy 53: HIZUMI (D'espairsRay)

A year and four months after their release of REDEEMER, D'espairsRay will release their long-awaited new work, MONSTERS. This interview was conducted before we were able to listen to the song, but vocalist HIZUMI, who represented the band, explained the song in great detail for us. He told us many things about the recording and the tour in which they are planning to promote the release.


Well... we haven’t listened to the songs of your new album MONSTERS yet because of the timing of this interview... but you have almost completed it, right?

HIZUMI: Yeah we are there. I think that I am the only one in the band who can really see the overall picture fully. (smile)

Ah, you haven’t finished the lyrics yet? (laugh)

HIZUMI: Only one more song. (laugh)

So, we’ll ask you, HIZUMI, to talk about the story around the album!

HIZUMI: Generally speaking…… I don’t think it's an album that you listen to really carefully. It's more one that is like one of our live concerts. Of course that doesn’t mean that there are not songs that make you listen carefully, but overall I think that most of the songs are the type that you enjoy in our lives. I think that this album matches D’espairsRay, for better or worse.

Do you feel like you came back to your original intention for the band?

HIZUMI: I often hear that. (laugh) As we have played for ten years, we returned to the feeling that we had when we first started. Actually I hear the same from other bands coming up on ten years, too.

But of course, it doesn’t mean that you return to the sound you had at that time.

HIZUMI: No. It’s more a matter of our feelings, returning to how we felt when D’espairsRay was first created.

In that sense, your tenth anniversary could be a good prompt to look back on the band.

HIZUMI: We are not as sick as we were before.

Were you sick?(laugh)

HIZUMI: We were completely sick before. (laugh) We were never able to keep a conversation going.

I didn’t think that. (laugh) I always thought that you were great guys.

HIZUMI: No, no, we are very bad people. (laugh)

But hearing you say that, I feel your lyrics have changed a lot. There are more positive words than before.

HIZUMI: Yes. When I see our old lyrics… they did not necessarily send the exact message that we wanted to send. (smile) There were many songs where I threw my thoughts in one-sidedly, and honestly speaking, I doubt listeners could really feel them. They were too one-sided. Well, I don’t know about instrument players, but for singers, when I play those songs in our lives, I put my all my thoughts into them. I think that is a plus, but when I play only those songs a lot, it’s pretty tough.


For the full interview, please refer to Zy 53.
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