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After Schwarz Stein's break up 2 years ago you've started once more
as the solo singer "Kaya." What's your basic concept?
I said this back when I was in Schwarz too, but I'd like to convey
a world of aestheticism and decadence so it's easy to understand, and
that's what's at the nucleus of it all. At the moment it's taken the
form where I'm singing like this by myself, but I'd like to try out
all sorts of things, and not get caught up where I am. After this I
might end up in a band, might use live instruments, or may even do a
joint project with someone. Right now my appearance also relies on this
kind of make-up, but if you say "aestheticism," doesn't it have a different
sense of value depending on the country it's in? I think I'd like to
do those things as I please and in various ways, so I don't get caught
up in myself and what I've already created.
You say that the core of your work is aestheticism and decadence?
Now, I don't think there's any type of musical genre within the music
scene that you could call "aesthetic-kei". If you wear make-up and pursue
beauty, then it's like, "Oh, you're visual kei…" isn't it? I'd like
to break that down. If you speak in terms of aesthetic literature, then
there's Tanizaki Junichiro, Mori Mari, and Mishima Yukio, and there
are aesthetic-like people in all sorts of other genres, but in Jpop
everyone's lumped together. I'd like to revise that sense.
There's one more thing, but club sound's your specialty it seems.
Like you want to relay the fantastic nature of the dance floor.
I do think I'd like to spread the way people have fun at clubs to live
houses. Put simply, perhaps the sensation of becoming one with the music?
When people go to clubs, there's not the feeling of "performers and
audience", but they come with the sense that "If I don't come, it won't
start." I'm pretty much like that too (laughs). And so, because that
part of me wants to begin spreading that, there's a part of my music
that does specialize in dance numbers.
What's the attraction of the club feel?
In a club there are a lot of things that are free, or more like it's
the wonderful sense of freedom without regard to gender and race, and
religion, mixed with the deepening of the night that bring out a hint
of decadence. Everyone's been drinking too, and so it's not just freedom,
but a feeling of debauchery. I can't express it too well though.
In one sense, it's a feeling of detachment?
Right. This is just my own theory, but there's a big difference between
gothic and decadence, and there's a gorgeous element in decadence that's
not there in the gothic.
I see. But isn't it hard to infuse a live house with club ways? If
it's a live house, isn't it more mainstream for people to do hand movements
and the like?
For that I have a lot of plans regarding how to make it more like
a live, so for example, for the June live I did things like bring in
a DJ and have him play only songs that I liked and thought were easy
to take in, and had drag queens and had men close to the scantily clad
ones you'd find at clubs, a lot of people, on the stage dancing. Then
after that, since I want to have a stage that you can't find in other
bands, I do things like establish a dress code.
It's just like a party, hm.
Yes, More than a live house, I'd like to create a sense that it's
a show occurring during a party. My ideal is a feeling like I've built
a bridge between an underground party and a live house. I receive a
lot of mail from the fans saying the same thing too. They have an interest
in drag shows, but either they have no courage and can't go, or they
don't know where to go to find them. So I figured I'd do it for them.
By the way, what kind of music do you yourself like?
Originally I liked 80's music, and stuff like Dead or Alive and Kylie
Minogue, but right now I'm into hard house.
I see. And before you said that when you're in a club atmosphere you
feel free.
Does that mean that there are a lot of things in reality that make
you feel un-free?
I suppose so. I've always had a sense of discomfort. And then when
I first went to a club I felt so free. Maybe this is an exaggeration,
but I felt like I had been freed. And so I wondered if I couldn't do
my part in helping others with that too. Yeah, I had a lot of worries
when I was younger. It's getting easier though.
What kinds of worries?
I can't really say it very well in just one sentence, but things
like wars and religions in the world, and things about myself that highly
worried me. So when I moved from Shikoku to Tokyo and stepped into the
club, and in that instant saw man and women of all different ages heaped
together with disregard to their country, race, and sex, I thought how
free and wonderful it all was.
It seem like deliverance from sexuality is also one of your themes,
but what is your sexuality (straight, gay, bi)?
It's not a matter of having one or not having one. It's not an appearance
or sexual discrimination thing either, but based on sensibility, and
so until now, among the people I've purely loved, there have been men
and women, even those who are extremely different than myself in age.
I think everyone's like that! But I think in the end everyone fixates
on age and appearance (laughs). For me it wasn't just based on passion,
but I also came to worry about my way of thinking and how my world differed.
With that one consciousness it's really easy to feel at ease, and so
I think I'd like to bring that out as a topic.
Returning to the topic of music, how are you making steps in making
the songs?
As a solo artist I'm doing the performing and organization all by myself,
and for the songwriter, I convey my world view and direction beforehand,
and then direct him on the fine details of what feel I want to the song
before I receive it. I've felt from long before that Kalm, who wrote
the songs for my first and second singles, is someone who writes very
beautiful, unique songs, and when I requested song from him, he was
happy to do them for me.
You've never composed before?
It would be nice if I could compose them for myself, but I'm basically
very much a vocalist, and so I'm not that much oriented towards becoming
a singer/songwriter. And I don't have any problems singing songs others
have written either, so it's not an issue.
Your first single, Kaleidoscope, had a very gothic, digital turn…
I wanted to make it something that would easily show what direction
I'm taking as Kaya. I wanted to show a world of beauty and decadence
in one song. And as for the lyrics, they're my commitment. The aesthetic
revolution I want to pursue will take perserverence and a lot of effort,
or more like I feel that it will be a long battle, and so that was my
commitment to starting it.
And the coupling song, "Remains of Mind", is dark and
dramatic.
Although "Kaleidoscope" was the premise for my thoughts
and feelings, I kept the listeners firmly in mind, but "Remains
of Mind" is a sublimation of my personal worries and conflicts
written into a song. They're's a sense like they're just like something
out of my diary, and it's to the extent that I was wondering if it would
really be okay to release it. Actually, they're bits that I wrote out
in a journal and took out and made into lyrics just like they were.
I can feel an extremely heavy darkness in the song.
What happened to you? It must have been painful...I received a lot
of fanletters with that impression, but it was surprising that the lyrics
to this song were immensely popular. Those who have been with me from
the beginning wrote things like "this is Kaya." It'd be a
little too heavy if that were all I wrote though (laughs)
And your September release, "Masquerade", seems to be
jazz.
My mom was always someone who loved jazz, and so it was always playing
at home along with classic and popular music, so perhaps I naturally
think it has a good feel to it.
It sounds like you had a good household environment.
I really do think I was lucky. My surroundings were overflowing
with music and beautiful things. And I really like roses, but it's a
like mother like child thing. Perhaps it's because my mother noticed
how many rose goods I had and became envious, but when I went home there
were so many...(laughs)
What's the meaning in the title, "Masquerade"?
Before I'd gone to a bit of a maniac type of club, and I'm singing
about what happened there. It became an entirely different world from
the afternoon to the night, and there were people from all different
sorts of sexes, sexualities, and countries gathered there, and only
someplace like a masked ball can you have a different face at night....I
thought it was Masquerade-ish out of habit. And that was the perpetuous
for thinking to write these lyrics.
I think jazz is also a type of dance music! So this kind of music
can make you feel passion and corporeality.
That's right. I wanted to release something with a more real feeling.
There's a violin in the beginning, and it has a really raw, lively tone.
I wanted the song's rawness to come out, and so we added it in hastily.
The coupling song, "Psycho Butterfly", has a touch of
digital and gothic to it as well, doesn't it?
When it comes to gothic and decadence, I like decadence better,
and really I've been focusing on the decadence part of it. Maybe it's
only a minor change, but when I asked Kalm to write it, I wanted to
try doing something that was completely gothic. The lyrics are from
my own experiences, of course, but this time the focus is on the Japanese.
I've always wanted to sing something with the sabi of hiragana, and
I think I've finally been able to accomplish that.
The transient feeling of the butterfly comes to life in the words
"hira hira", and the effect is truly beautiful.
I really like butterflies, along with roses, and I've used them
for a long time, but when I went solo I started thinking of how I'd
like to use them again somewhere. So when the gothic song was done,
I thought "Ah, I can use it here!"
Roses and butterflies are an important motif then?
Whether it's roses or butterflies, I feel that with just those I
can convey my world view well. Transience, beauty, and cruelty, I feel
everything's concentrated within the two.
And many of your thoughts are in there too.
This time I went all out too (laughs) I hope it'll serve as the
stimulus for those who listen to the music and read the lyrics, even
if their consciousness doesn't undergo any change, to at least know
that this kind of world exists.
And what is your closing remark for this time?
As I said before, I'm expressing decadence and beauty in a way that's
easy to understand, and I'd like to establish an aesthetic genre of
music. And if it can be a support in changing the listener's sense of
awareness, then I will be happy.
...Kaya went to Moonside? edisnoom yes is no and
no is yes everyone's got a different face and I wanna finish Earthbound
(;_;) Stupid jobs.
Other than that, I play the violin (or I used to...like, I still can,
but not as well), and so I have this natural affection for anyone who
mentions it : P
I've always thought gypsies are the best violin players. There's this
one technique where they wind the horsehair around the string and pull,
and then they use pizzicato and double strings and it's really awesome.
Highly recommended. Of course they can do that because they have horses
and I can't because then I'd just use up all the hair on my bow and
no one would buy me a new one and that would be angsty. My grandma said
we were descended from gypsies, but we think she was just a little out
of it.
Um...anyhow, sorry this was late; I only have Saturdays to myself now,
and I had to learn CSS first so this page would look like how I want
it to look. Those who don't have their own websites probably won't understand,
but for someone who basically did everything in Dreamweaver and MSPaint
for 4 years because she couldn't afford anything else, having Photoshop
at my disposal is quite an incentive to learn new things (plus I've
been studying Java and CSS is relatively similar so it was easy-peasy
doncha know).
Perhaps next I'll compose odes to Kaya with Sonar XD
...or not...
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