BLOOD: The Japanator interview

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[I just posted my interview with BLOOD over at Japanator. Here it is for those of you who may have missed it.]
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We recently reported on the upcoming BLOOD tour. They'll be hitting up four clubs in the States, one after another, from February 1st to the 4th. The tour is organized by radio show/production company Tainted Reality. Check them out for ticket info and more (or just go straight to the BLOOD ticket info here.)

I was recently given the opportunity to shoot a few questions over to the band, and let me tell you, they delivered. The band has been undergoing a long transition from vis-kei to goth, and guitarist/programmer Kiwamu isn't shy about his feelings toward the current state of the vis-kei scene ("Recently many bands are just boring bands. There is no originality,") and vis-kei fans ("Many fans join a visual kei band's fanclub without listening their music.") He also comments on music downloading ("They want to get songs without any respect,") and bad anime-con promoters that they would rather just forget. BLOOD is obviously a band that's independent and proud of it, not afraid to tell it like it is and step on a few well-deserving toes. 

Check out the entire interview after the jump. Huge thanks to Roger from Tainted Reality for giving me the opportunity to talk to the band, and of course to the band itself for being very cool and honest, something any music scene can always use more of.

Jtor: How did the three of you meet and form the band? Have you been in any other bands before BLOOD?

Kiwamu: I formed BLOOD in 2002 when I met Kaede. After that, we changed vocalists twice. Fuki is the third vocalist. He joined in 2004. After we made this lineup, we are going well now. BLOOD has carried out its own activities as an independent group belonging to no company. We have achieved great success, having sold a total of 18,000 CDs and performed over 50 one-man live shows around the world, including in Europe and America. I also sponsor gothic events in Tokyo on a regular basis. From 2004 to 2006, BLOOD worked under the concept VENGEANCE for BLOOD, basing all band activities on the theme of vampires. From 2006 to 2007, they conducted all activities under the concept of the French poetry collection Les Fleurs Du Mal (The Flowers of Evil) by Charles Baudelaire. As of April 2007, they are currently working with a new concept "Symphony of Chaos". Before BLOOD, I was the only person had some activities in Japanese indies scene. My past work is in our website. If you have interest in this, please check them.

Jotr: You have recently added two female members to the line-up,  Bloodmore Har and Ryo. Could you explain their role in the band?

Kiwamu: Har is a woman, but Ryo is not woman. Please don't mind. He looks very pretty in fact. Har is the dancer on the stage. She has her own band The Royal Dead. When I saw her at the event, she looked very cool. So I asked her about dancing live. Her support is not at every show, but when she can come to our show, she will support us. And Ryo, he is the talented manipulator [I think he means "producer." -ZB]. My agent Miwa introduced us. When we had the sound check at the studio, his sound was very cool. So now, we have re-recorded our new album to put his sound on these songs. In fact, I need to make almost parts on our songs. He can bring his many ideas to my songs to bring out the detail of songs, they are good magic.

[In my defense, here's the photo of Ryo:]

Jtor: How has your sound changed from vis-kei to goth? Is it simply more electronic, or is it something else?

Kiwamu: Last year, we started to change our sound style to Gothic. Maybe our new style is electric gothic. When I talked with Fuki about our next vision, we noticed "we have not listen to visual kei music for 5~10years." Recently visual kei bands are very boring. Stereotype, copy-cats. So we changed the styles. Our melody is Japanese-style. And backtrack is European gothic-style.

Jtor: You've said before that "Visual Kei fans don't listen to music. They just enjoy the face of band members," and that "...goth is attitude." What exactly is "goth attitude" to you?

Kiwamu: Many fans join a visual kei band's fan-club without listening their music. I hate that situation. I can't understand that. Visual kei music is just fashion to many fans. For me, gothic is not fashion. In fact, I have worked with many foreign gothic artists, and I am working for my band by myself for six years. Recently I organized a gothic event in Japan. I produced a gothic compilation album. For me, everything about these activities are life-style. Gothic is my attitude to express my feeling. So I don't join in any record company in Japan. For the visual kei record company, artists are just money. Not music. They just want to get money from artists. So I have helped many independent artists in Japan.

Jtor: Even though your musical style is evolving, you are still a very visual band. Is there any difference between traditional vis-kei and simply being a very visual/dark band?

Kiwamu: I think the music style definition is difficult to explain in a word. Some maybe think "BLOOD is visual kei" another maybe thinks "BLOOD is industrial." Another maybe think "BLOOD is visual and gothic band" etc. But we had activities as an old school visual kei band from 2002 to 2005. Of course, we are proud of this period. We don't say "BLOOD is not visual kei!" It is a very strange thing. Some artists do this. A shame. They spit on their past works. It is not cool. In fact, music genres are just for the music companies and CD shops.

Jtor: What was wrong with the vis-kei scene that caused you to abandon it? How is the goth scene different from the vis-kei scene in Japan?

Kiwamu: Please look at the Japanese visual kei scene. There are no good bands, I think. When we started music, there were many good visual kei bands. X-Japan, Luna Sea, Kuroyume etc. Recently many bands are just boring bands. There is no originality. Right? Of course, in Japan, gothic scene is very small. So we are not thinking about "we will be big in gothic scene." I am thinking about our vision in the world wide. You know BLOOD had many live shows in foreign countries without any record company support and we went there as first visual kei band. Now my plan is secret. But I will make the new style in the Japanese scene.

Jtor: Are there any other goth/industrial bands you admire (past or present)? Are there other Japanese goth/industrial bands you admire?

Kiwamu: Recently I listen to many artists I didn't know [before.] Siva Six, The Birthday Massacre, Dope Star Inc, London After Midnight, Hocico. They are not major artists, but very cool. And recently I started to work with many independent artists. Some of them had no CD album, so I support them as the label. Virgins O.R Pigeons from Greece, GPKISM form Australia, Spectrum-X from Italy, they are the artists who release albums from my label. In the world, there are very very cool artists [no one] knows. So I want to help them for this scene. Oh, I don't work with rap and hip-hop artists. lol. Sometime I get the strange email from them. But I don't know that sound. Cool sound, cool looking, no deal with any label. They are important for me.

Jtor: You have said before that you are strongly against music file-sharing and people who illegally download music. You are now in a position where it is easier to find legal samples of your music and live performances, but for many bands, file-sharing is sometimes the only way for fans to learn more about Japanese bands because so few bands are marketed overseas. How do you feel about this today? Do you think you would have as many overseas fans without the internet and music sharing? What is the best way for non-Japanese residents to learn more about bands that have little to no promotional support?

Kiwamu: I know this situation. Without internet, we can't make good activities. So I just dislike lazy fans. They want to get songs without any respect. We're always getting strange emails from lazy fans. "Can we meet at the guest room?" "Where can we get your songs by free?" "Send me autograph pictures." "Lets talk!" etc. We are very tired to read these strange emails. So I think illegal downloading is not a problem [for the] songs. It is a problem of fan's thinking. Lazy fans act in strange ways. So good fans buy our CDs and download from iTunes, because they know musicians work for songs very hard. Of course, we respect these fans too. MySpace is a very good tool. Owing to this, we can get many fans all over the world. Roger [from Tainted Reality] made this first for us. It was a good choice.

Jtor: Many Japanese bands only make appearances at anime cons, or at least cons are the first place they play in America. On this most recent tour you are hitting up regular clubs and venues. Are you consciously trying to avoid the anime scene? Do you think American anime cons are a good place for Japanese bands to play? Is it easier for you to do shows outside of cons?

Kiwamu: At US conventions, we had four live shows from 2003 to 2004. There were some troubles we wanted to forget forever. So bands can't hope [to bring their best show] to the fan. If they don't mind about that, the convention is good. In some countries, we had the live shows at the conventions. There were good conventions and bad conventions. If the convention staff is very cool, the band becomes cool.

Jtor: You have always preferred to work on your own terms, without major record label support. Do you feel this has helped you out in any way? Is it difficult to tour without a major record label?

Kiwamu: BLOOD has good agents all over the world. Owing to them, we can go to other countries to tour. BLOOD had 50 live shows in ten countries. I appreciate [the agents] very much. In USA, Roger works for BLOOD very very much. There are many lazy promoters in USA, but he is a serious worker. And if the record company works for foreign markets, they always say "five members and three staff need eight airplane [tickets], and condition is etc." I hate [this tactic] very much. They should know their value. They are more valueless than they think. BLOOD is only three members. So quick working. We don't need to worry about airplane fees for eight members. Some bands want my advice. So I always say "please reduce your members."

Jtor: Much of your past work has revolved around a single concept, like vampires or Baudelaire's "Les Fleurs Du Mal." Your new concept is "Symphony of Chaos." Can you explain this a little? What can we expect on the new album?

Fu-ki: In the dark labyrinth,you can see nothing and only hear the sounds of chaos.Then they are harmonizing...
Kiwamu: The new concept is not concrete one. We can make the new style music on these dark fields.

Jtor: Much like people in the west have a hard time understanding anime and Japanese culture, some find it strange that there is a love of French and Victorian style and Romanian vampire stories in Japan. What about these dark themes do you find interesting?  

Kiwamu: We are fans of these dark cultures very much, so it is natural. For example, these cultures are very fresh to us. For example, in  two days, I sent BLOOD sample songs to many DJs. They liked our music, so many [more] of them replied to me than I hoped. From this weekend, in many countries, they will play our songs at their shows. It is very interesting. Japanese DJs search for foreign music very very much and foreign DJs search for another country's music and they come to the Japanese scene.

You can find more from BLOOD online at:

TAINTED REALITY
OFFICIAL SITE
MYSPACE