Interview de Yoshiki par BARKS

-- Is your neck all right?
YOSHIKI: Neither good nor bad. 2 or 3 fingers of my left hand are numb. They stay numb all day, so a medicine that kills the numbness is prescribed.

-- Does it affect you to hold drumsticks?
YOSHIKI: No. Sensory nerves and motor nerves are different, so I can move the fingers normally. I just feel like I’m touching ice…..like frostbite? It feels bad. It might cure, or might not cure because nerves are damaged. I was told that the next treatment would be to cut the front of my neck and insert a piece of metal from there if it gets worse.

-- You want to avoid it, don’t you?
YOSHIKI: I’ve come this far. Whatever happens, happens. (laugh)

-- Your fans are worried about you because they know you never cut corners.
YOSHIKI: This is the price that I have to pay for that. (laugh) I was thinking that this would happen someday. Of course I’m careful about it. I’ve been told that I must not play drums without the cast.

-- I also hope that it will cure naturally. A miracle that cures an incurable disease can happen.
YOSHIKI: It can. It is like a miracle that X JAPAN is still ongoing.

-- But the current condition of the band is so good, isn’t it?
YOSHIKI: The physical condition is not good (laugh), but the mental condition is good.

-- The recording is getting to a climax, so do you feel your development as a musician?
YOSHIKI: While X JAPAN was separated, I listened to a variety of music, worked on VIOLET UK, and absorbed more and more various music from dance music to jazz, after that we reunited X JAPAN, so I think a little wider variety of elements were added. Of course I returned the basis to rock….hard rock, so sensitive voicing, grace notes and others might have improved. However, I won’t go for how to make it complicated or how to pick up the tempo, because I’ve done all about those stuff long ago.

-- I see.
YOSHIKI: As you will see if you ask SUGIZO, X JAPAN’s tunes are really difficult to play though they are easy to listen. For example, in “Jade”, the key goes halftone down in the middle of the tune but it doesn’t sound like that. (Editor’s note: The riff in the intro is G but it becomes F# before the guitar solo.) Current X JAPAN might be listener-friendly but getting complex.

-- Audiences don’t easily notice that.
YOSHIKI: It’s hard for players. (laugh)

-- One year has passed since SUGIZO joined, so is there any difference of his position between the concert at TOKYO DOME in May 2009 and the upcoming concerts at NISSAN STADIUM?
YOSHIKI: Yes. We have been getting more like a band, also for the recording. I was just one mass of anxiety at the time of reunion, like “What should I do? How should I do this?”

-- But you broke through everything.
YOSHIKI: Including the health problems, the situation surrounding X JAPAN is not peaceful yet, however, NISSAN STADIUM will be our starting point in the sense that we’re going on world tour. In that sense, our unity as a band has evolved for 2 years after reunion.

-- The evolution is a treasure for the band.
YOSHIKI: Many cases of reunion end just after reuniting at the time, but I think X JAPAN has come into a new chapter now after passing through some eras. Lollapalooza show on August 8 and NISSAN STADIUM shows on August 14&15 will be the first activity in the new chapter.

-- To talk about new X JAPAN, SUGIZO is a crucial person. Can you tell what X JAPAN expected for him and what he tried to give?
YOSHIKI: In the first place, his participation resulted in a natural way. Before that, SUGIZO and I formed a band called SKIN with GACKT and Miyabi, and I realized that we have musical commonalities this much when we played together. Both of us have a background in classical music, are particular about loop including progressive music – dance music, and like modern classical music as well.

-- SUGIZO’s activities and VIOLET UK are…..
YOSHIKI: Similar. So, he participated quite naturally.

-- You both are similar also in that you both are abnormally stoic.
YOSHIKI: But it was the same as the case of HIDE’s participation. He didn’t suddenly participate, there had been a relationship between human beings, and we had a relationship in music, and then he became a member. It (SUGIZO’s case) was the same as that.

-- Right. Unlike session musicians, a relationship between human beings is a source of power for a band.
YOSHIKI: I think that many things had happened to ToshI, and I think there was awkwardness between us at the beginning of reunion. However, since the beginning of this year, the many walls around us suddenly disappeared. On the contrary, we were surrounded by a thick high wall that we couldn’t see each other’s world over when the band broke up.

-- A wall that seems you can never climb over.
YOSHIKI: A wall that seems to stay until the end of my life. But it became lower and thinner at the time of reunion, and then it finally almost disappeared now. ToshI and I have been talking and having a meal together often recently, which feels like the time when we started the band. So, I feel now might be the true start of X JAPAN.

-- Now is the true start?
YOSHIKI: This reunion is close to the feeling that I felt when we formed the band. We are rookies in other countries. In that sense, this occasion came at a quite good time. I don’t have any thought like we are a quite successful band in Japan or a band that can fill arenas is going overseas at all, and I feel like I will do anything on this occasion. I think it’s different from the feeling at the beginning of reunion.

-- It’s an original intention in the true sense of the term.
YOSHIKI: We’ll go on world tour, but live houses (clubs) would be fine. I have a feeling that I’ll do perform anywhere.

-- It’s a statement like a rookie band.
YOSHIKI: We are a rookie band at heart. Come to think of it, the concerts at NISSAN STADIUM are like self-produced. Take us as a big indie band.

-- X JAPAN has been prone to that since the early days. A great indie band that make their way as they like, as they believe.
YOSHIKI: Right. That’s why we might have managed to get by even though the label changed and our surroundings changed.

-- Finally, I’d like to say one thing. Well…..I’d like X JAPAN to release many albums. (laugh)
YOSHIKI: Yes…..There’s no other band that has released no album even after performing at TOKYO DOME many times after reunion, is it? There has never been such an inefficient band.

-- It figures if you cannot compose, but you’ve provided many songs for other people, haven’t you? Though you provide songs to others, you don’t compose for yourself. Could you please do something about that?
YOSHIKI: I’m strict with myself. But this time, the album will be released. (laugh) I think I can be proud of it.

-- Around the autumn?
YOSHIKI: Yes, it will. Even if there is any delay, it will be released by the end of year. If it’s not released, I’ll cut my stomach. (laugh)

-- Songs released to the world are grown by audiences and they return to the band. The new songs will influence the band as well.
YOSHIKI: Right. As for “Kurenai”, I made it long ago, but it brings a tear to my eye that people sing it still now.

-- Songs keep alive without aging.
YOSHIKI: At that time, I played “Kurenai”, “Silent Jealousy” and others, but I didn’t think that I would play those at this age.

-- There is a long way to go. 10 years, 20 years …..
YOSHIKI: Maybe. X JAPAN has nine lives. (laugh) It’s a band that looks like it’s going to break, but it doesn’t break.

-- Even if it breaks, it will revive after fixing up (surgery).
YOSHIKI: We destroyed it by ourselves and reconstructed it. We fell over more than seven times and rose more than eight times. (laugh)

YOSHIKI: At that time, I played “Kurenai”, “Silent Jealousy” and others, but I didn’t think that I would play those at this age.

Bucc a écrit:
Yosh: Oui, A l'époque je jouais Kurenai [...] Et je ne pensais pas que je les jouerais encore aujourd'hui.

Oishiiii a écrit:

Bucc a écrit:
Yosh: Oui, A l'époque je jouais Kurenai [...] Et je ne pensais pas que je les jouerais encore aujourd'hui.

C'est exactement ça

J'ai noté une erreur de traduction Japonais vers anglais.
C'était plutôt:

-- I also hope that it will cure naturally. A miracle that cures an incurable disease can happen.
YOSHIKI: It can. We also need a miracle so that a french concert can happen.