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Often clad in traditional and elemental Japanese clothes, their songs portray sounds from ancient times with a blend of modern day music. Anyone who sees Kagrra will definitely not miss out on their unique grace and style. However it is very apparent of late that Kagrra is beginning to redefine their outlook as well as their interpretation of the bands ideality. [ code : {IS} ISSHI, {AK} AKIYA, {SH} SHIN, {NA} NAO, {IZ} IZUMI ] Would you please kindly enlighten us to what really lies behind the band called Kagrra? IS : We are not just a band that solely strives for our Japanese traits. What I'm trying to say is, we are not only that, a band that tries to inject traditional Japanese sounds into modern day music. What we're striving for right now is our maxim 'Neo Japanesque'. This applies for Kagrra musically and visually. Can you explain to us with more detail on what 'Neo Japanesque' is? IS : If we take our songs for example, Neo Japanesque is the genre of music we make and play. It's Kagrra. Even if another band takes our songs and performs it, it won't sound the same, will it? Why? Because our songs are ours and that is Neo Japanesque. So how did that concept and name come about? NA : It's just like this. Neo Japanesque means something Japanese with a mixture of something else. Something like Japan plus America. Yeah, that would seem... SH : That would seem too much. (laugh) AK : That means the America part must be humungous!! (laugh) NA : No. Everything is absorbed by Japan. Even America!! (laugh) To say that your lyrics are very classical, I would choose to say that they are redolent of ancient Japanese influences and are very elegant and beautiful. When I read through the stories behind the lyrics, I find myself thinking about the olden Japan times but it's not just that. It's a splendid mixture of all sorts. IS : Every song varies in the way I will sing it, but there is never a point in my lyric writing where I go, 'No, I need to make this sound more Japanese...'. I just write what I want to and nothing is forced out of me, just to stay dedicated to our 'Japanese roots'. AK : It doesn't really matter does it? I mean, anything we produce is Japanese style. (laugh) No matter how screwed up it may be it's still Japanese style. To say it simply, I'm Kagrra! (laugh) Only you? (laugh) AK : I meant to say 'we'...(laugh) (group laugh) SH : Let me sum up what Akiya wanted to say. Kagrra used to be a band that produces songs in that style but there were songs that weren't very Japanese, right? That's why we made up our own style, which is 'Neo Japanesque'. In this new genre, Japanese styled music is not something very laboring but merely something that comes naturally. It's like we have Japan and in Japan we have so many things and one small part of it is Neo Japanesque. Kagrra, we're part of that too. AK : Exactly what I had wanted to say just now! (laugh) SH : Sure, speaking to your own self again.(laugh) Izumi, it seems that you are getting deeper into yourself too, in your drumming that is. SH : ...yeah, further into his spiritual mind. (laugh) IZ : (laugh)It's not because of the rhythm...but the fact that I'm just flowing with the Japanese style. (group laugh) AK : Well, isn't that good? (laugh) IZ : I guess that's true too. But when all five of us get together and make our music, in the end we're still Kagrra. Why did you guys choose to venture into this genre of music in the first place? IS : At that time, when we first started out in 1998, there was no band that played such music, so I thought that it would be a good idea to introduce a new genre into the music scene. AK : At that time it was the boom of the 'Ra-zoku'(Ra-Tribe). Huh? What's the 'Ra-zoku'?? SH : Bands that had names that started with the particle 'Ra' as in 'LA-' in romaji form. AK : It was those times when almost everyone will look at a flyer and go 'Damn, I can't read your band's name!!'. Sheesh. I thought you meant 'Ra-zoku'(裸族) as in the Nude Tribe. (group laugh) SH : It was just that period that every new band that made a debut was called 'La-' something. (laugh) To think of it, I guess you are right. There was that time... IS : Yeah, every band was very pro-Europe at that time. IZ : And wings, everyone had wings on stage. It was the time of the Wing Dance. (laugh) AK : Don't forget the bloodied faces. (laugh) IS : (laugh) So the five of us wanted to do something different. And just to pure luck none of us wanted to do the European thing. Plus we are Japanese, so it is only natural that we are most knowledgeable in our Japanese culture. Since no one else wanted to start a band that was based on our very own traditions we decided to go for it. Although, I have to admit we were not very optimistic about the whole idea. (laugh) (group laugh) IS : Although it didn't look like it was the best thing to do at that time, we did it anyway. |