Interview with m:a.ture

After hearing that the Hokkaido-based band had undergone some changes since our last interview with them, we decided to get in touch with m:a.ture once again to find out what the band members have been up to and received some interesting answers from them.


First of all, hello to the whole band. It has been a while since we had the last interview. We hope you all are fine. What activities did you have in that time?

dai konan: It’s been a while. I’m alright, everything is good. I was involved in some session bands and projects. But these were just for fun, nothing really serious. Actually, I've been busy as a songwriter. Not to mention that I write songs for the band. I’m kind of working as a songwriter.

shin oumura: I was working on the songs for m:a.ture. Like dai, I too was involved in session bands. Say, if you don’t play live shows, you forget the feeling of them. I’m a live musician, I want to play live. Also, I had many recording projects, for which I did producing, engineering, mixing and mastering. Pretty much everything. I have been busy with musical activities.

minato: I started a side project called Minato Session with local musicians, and I helped out as drummer for many projects and bands. Recently, I got a job as a drum teacher at a local music school.

You have two new members. In fact one new member and bassist ryō becoming an official member. What led to this decision?

shin: I have asked him several times to become our official bassist. And this time we finally made him. I assume it was good timing.

ryō: I’ve been their support bassist since the bands’ first show. I was like an “almost-official-member.” I knew shin, dai and minato from before and we've been having a blast since then. That is to say, I love the band. Plus, my former band quit. All my passion goes to m:a.ture right now.

dai: Well, we hated each other in the first place. We have grown well, and now we can deal with it. (laughs) No. He has been our support bassist for a long time. I’m glad he fit the spot. We’re going to rock the people. (laughs)

minato: The two new members have a bright future ahead of them. (laughs)

Could you introduce the new member, wajo?

minato: He's a down-to-earth, nice and funny guy!

wajo: It's nice to meet everyone of you. I used to to be a guitarist for a local band called EsoLLa. This band disbanded at the end of last year. I got an offer from m:a.ture around that time to be a second guitarist, so I decided to join the band. We've known each other for a long time, but I never thought that I'd join m:a.ture because of the music style as I used to play in the typical visual kei bands.

dai: Actually, wajo and I grew up in the same area. We used to party hard.

ryō: wajo and I were in the same band before. We've been playing music together since we were young and stupid. He's a unique guy. Everybody laughs when he's backstage. He's a weirdo-looking dude with a long beard. (laughs)

dai: Would be rad to see him in a Lincoln-style beard. (laughs)

shin: Like everybody said, we knew each other and we were good friends. You know, he was a one of those guys who is always around. He's pretty much drunk every time I see him. I think his birthday and mine is somewhere really close.

ryō: The more alcohol he drinks, the better he plays the guitar. He gets called “Alcohol Hermit” every once in a while. (laughs) Also, he has an ability to make interesting effects with amplifiers!

A question to the two new members: What do you expect from being official members of m:a.ture?

ryō: I want to make this band bigger and bigger. I want to do shows overseas! People take m:a.ture as a serious band. Our job is to catch our listeners' attention. It would be great if we can get more fans.

wajo: Since I'm the only new member who has never played in m:a.ture, I hope I feel comfortable playing with them. Now that the band has two guitarists, I'd try to express the band's musical style, or guitar style should I say. I hope I can fit their style.

dai: Goody, goody. I'll turn you into beasts of burden. Work hard for me, private cowboys. (laughs)

You planned to announce the new members in the line-up on April 1st. Didn’t you fear that fans might think this would be an April’s Fool joke?

minato: I thought so. (laughs)

dai: Yeah, but in my opinion, April's Fool is not that big an event in Japan. We weren't worried about it too much. The plan was changed though. We announced it on May 2nd? If I got it right.

shin: I didn't mind about April's Fool at all. As for our schedule that we had, we should have announced it on April 1st. But, as there was a big earthquake, our schedule got screwed.

You have already released a remix, or as you call it a remake single. Why did you pick those three songs for it?

dai: I feel comfortable with calling it a remix. But our king boss-man decided to call it a remake. (laughs) Well, with regards to songs, we have released Disorder and Ash before. Both were sold out for a long time, and people kept asking us how to get those CDs. So we've decided to put it together on one CD, and add one more song to release it. We all are happy. (laughs)

shin: When we had our radio show, those songs were our Christmas presents to the listeners. And when we were working on the remixes, we had to add and re-record many parts to get them to sound good. There were too many parts added. That’s why we felt that it should be called a remake rather than a remix. Now let me speak a bit about the songs on that CD. Firstly, Disorder. Originally, I was going to sing this one in English. But as you know, we are all Japanese and we don't speak English. So, when we were working on our first album Scarlet, I decided to sing it in Japanese. However, somewhere in mind, I wanted an English version of it. Though, we made it.

dai: Actually, I wrote the English lyrics for this one.

shin: Secondly, Ash. When we were looking for a song to remix, I had an idea of making it a 4-beats-up-tempo with a club-sound feel to it. Thinking of that, I came up with this remix. And lastly, Arrival. This one is the title track from our second album. We did this one at a radio program on Christmas. I wanted this one to sound kind of like a Christmas song. Arrival has a pop and catchy feeling. Therefore, I chose this song.

And why do they have such strange remix names like walk on the bright side mix?

dai: Haha. I definitely think they have strange names. But I didn't write the songs. (laughs) shin wrote all of them. I'm kind of in a position as an arranger in the band and the rest of the members come in and play. For lyrics and song titles, I pretty much don't get to know them till the songs are released. (laughs)

shin: Those three songs sound way different compared to the originals, so I came up with those titles. Ash is up-tempo and it has a groove to it. For that, I wanted a screwed up remix name. With regards to Arrival, the theme of the song is brightness and hope. I wanted a positive sub-title.

You also told us that you are planning the release of a new mini-album near the end of April. Besides the three new songs you “promised,” what other songs will be on the album? Have you already decided?

shin: We had a plan to include a couple of unreleased remix tracks, but this plan was just a plan, and so we will have five brand new songs! I assume it would sound different since we have new members. I love the idea of a new input.

dai: The pre-titles for the new stuff are: First time quick, second time slow, You are the bomb because you don't suck ass, You sick f*ck, Stick it in the horse ass and Randomly beat the living shit out of an old lady because she is old.

m:a.ture: Absolutely not. (laughing)

dai: For the songs, you'll know when they come out. The band is working on the new CD and it will sound different from what we have done before. It's taking shape these days and it will be released on June 9th. Let's say that we will give you more than $10 worth of music if you pay $10 for the CD. That's the promise.

How did the earthquake in March affect your activities? Especially the release of your mini-album?

dai: We had to cancel all our plans. We were going to do at least three shows before June. Trouble seemed to keep following us and we had to go through really terrible times. But we didn't cry in the shower in a sissy, wimpy way. We drank a lot and handled whatever troubles thrown at us like men. (laughs) Oh, well, that’s good that we’re finally releasing a new CD. We are ready to kick ass hard. (laughs)

shin: All our plans were postponed. Another side was released without any big promotion. Our new album was supposed to be released in late April, but it became June 9th.

How did you experience the earthquake in March?

shin: People in the area near by the prefectures Miyagi and Fukushima looked more confused compared to the earthquake-stricken area like Ishinomaki city and Onagawa town. Because of a lot wrong information and misunderstandings. I think that I can say the same thing about the situation at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Complicated information from mass media that made the situation seem worse than it actually was created great confusion. That's something we should think about in the future.

minato: After the earthquake there were no water, food and cigarettes in the supermarkets. Bus and train services were disrupted. We were bit confused, but the situation is getting better.

To end the interview on a happy note, do you have a cheerful message for your fans overseas?

shin: Thank you very much for reading it! I really appreciate it. Use condoms when you do it! Love and peace.

dai: I'm the prince of darkness, the fallen angel from grace... and... all of our songs are available at the iTunes store. (laughs) We are going to jack ass!

ryō: Hi, this is ryō. Nice to meet you. I'm a half between Ninja and Samurai! (laughs) We are cool, rad and cooler than ever! I hope you listen to our music! I hope everybody in the world will listen to our music, I really hope. (laughs)

minato: Check our new m:a.ture!

wajo: The new m:a.ture has five members. Please come check us out on the stage in Japan, if you get a chance. I promise you will have a blast watching our show! Well, I can’t afford your flight tickets, but... (laughs)

dai: At the end, our official website is updated. Please come and check it out. And add us on Twitter. If you take time to write to me, I will take time to reply you.


Many thanks from the whole JaME team, and good luck in future!