POWER PLANT PRESS SPECIAL interview with Miwa and Masa

[nogizaka]

(From February 2006)

Interviewer: 2005 appeared to be another busy year for you. Looking back on it, how do you feel?

Miwa: We did a lot of things. We appeared in many events, and DCT Garden Ikeda was opened.

Masa: And Miwa started the brand ‘What Mee Mee Wants’.

Mi: Yes, yes, it’s truly indy- so small-scaled. It is unrelated to the so-called “Fashion cycle”, and we create things only as I want, when I come up with an idea, and when I can do it.

I: How did you start it?

Mi: I simply wanted clothes to wear for rehearsals. (laughs) Even caps- I couldn’t find anything I liked, so I thought, “Why don’t I make them?” I have friends in the fashion industry, so first, I thought I would ask them to make things for me, but then I thought that there might be people who are interested in these clothes, so I thought, “Why don’t I try?” So, I draw pictures of what I want to have when the ideas come to me.

I: So when we think about it, it’s kind of funny that that sort of idea didn’t exist before.

Mi: That’s right. Years ago, when I went to London, for example, I had some time to go to shopping or to see the city, but I don’t have that time now. I’m involved in mixing, so I don’t have time for things like that. So when I realized that I’ve been wearing the same rehearsal clothes for many years… (laughs) Some of them worn out… (laughs)

Ma: She is wearing the same clothes for every rehearsal, and she is pointed out as wearing the same clothes as seven years ago. (laughs)

Mi: I thought “That’s no good.” (laughs) So then I thought, “Why don’t I make them?” It is as if an adult is playing seriously. (laughs)

I: Are you busier than before?

Mi: Yes, we take care of everything, so it is very rewarding, enjoyable, and satisfying. But we don’t have enough time.

Ma: Yes, physically busy.

I: Then, you have been in constant motion, but with satisfaction, for one year.

Mi: Yes, very much, but I’m not sure, because I have been spending every day without even a moment to feel that satisfaction.

Ma: There are a lot of occasions when we cannot achieve the result that we wanted to get, so it might be better to call it “In the middle of a war” rather than “Satisfaction”.

Mi: We feel we are in a battle.

I: But the result is affected by good and bad luck. So, as far as your creative activity, we get the impression that it’s very satisfying.

Ma: Yes, that is true.

Mi: Yes. (laughs)

I: So this new album is the creation in the middle of that ultra-busy time. You also release singles constantly.

Ma: To be honest, we wanted to release the album at the end of 2005.

Mi: We were so happy when we completed ’Nando demo’. That is a very important song for us. We didn’t want to leave it behind. We wanted to create an album which has that song on it. We wanted to listen to it, and we wanted people to listen to it. So we started recording in the middle of a busy schedule.

I: You began recording the album with the single ’Nando demo’ as a platform, but did you have a blueprint for the entire album?

Mi: ’Nando demo’ and ’Sora o yomu’ we created with a very serious attitude, so we considered them to be the foundation. Then, lively songs like ’Jet!’ and ’Sunshine’ came, so we wanted the album to be strong and straightforward, and we are obsessed with Pop- the Pop part of Dori. The Pop Dori can do, the Pop Dori should do, and the Pop only Dori can do. We wanted to express those.

I: I’ve listened to it, and surely it’s Pop, or the work which conveys the real feelings that you are living now. You are living in the time called “now”, and the album reflects various experiences up to now, and your view of music is wide. And there is a refreshing attitude that confronts this contemporary time without any hesitation.

Mi: Yes. I think our various experiences appear in each album, and I want it to be that way. Various things, including things we’ve learned after many failures. Pop in a global-sized sense. Spanish heritage Reggaton is extremely popular in big cities like NYC, different from earlier times when only Black people were considered good at Rap- now White people are also good at Rap. Also in Japan, new genres, which we couldn’t imagine when we were younger, such as J-R&B now exist, and we are living with them. In that process, we see and listen to many different things, various changes we check with our eyes and ears, or feel them with our skin. There are still things Dori wants to do, and we can still do them, so we were happy when we completed the album. So we said, “This is what we wanted to do.” We did it, and we are happy.

Ma: Yes.

Mi: It’s self-praise, but it’s very straightforward.

I: When you are recording, do you do a lot of discussion?

Mi: We bring songs to each other, or show them to each other to make a song together, and when we do that, if one of us tends to get off track, or go in the wrong direction, then the other pulls them back or helps the other one find it out. That happens naturally.

I: If there was a key word that lead you both in the same direction, what was it?

Mi: Well, it might be “Dori’s Pop”.

Ma: It’s that simple.

Mi: Yes, simple, or straightforward.

Ma: Yes it is.

Mi: I was conscious of it when I made music or did arrangement.

Ma: When we made decisions, there were parts that we cut out, or we just changed the direction. Of course, there are some parts which are crazy, but we gave straightforwardness priority. We let her be as creative as she wanted, and let her develop a story as much as she wanted. We didn’t care what the musical format was, we didn’t care for the rules- which are Americanized- we didn’t care about the format called “Pop”. We pursued Dorikamu’s Pop, Japanese Pop.

I: So you had the album’s title already at that point?

Mi: No. The title came after almost all the songs were done. Each song has a very strong character, so we were talking about what we should do about the title. Then, Masa said “It is an album that rocks.” “Rock” has different meanings, like “cool” or “shaking”, and he said it feels like rocking. So first, we talked about calling it ’Love Rock’. It was my idea to add ’The’ and ’s’. Because this album is our love, so our love should rock. I thought it was better to add ’The’ and ’s’.

Ma: We wanted to rock from the beginning this time.

Mi: Yes. “Rocking” was there as a key word.

Ma: The original meaning of “rocking” came from there. But, on the contrary, we narrowed the meaning of Rock as a musical genre, In the original sense, Rock can be used to describe all about music.

Mi: Like “Rocking”.

Ma: Yes. So we wanted to present it in a new way. They started using “Rocking” in a very good meaning in clubs. For example, “We Rocked today.” Rock is going back to it’s original meaning. As it’s background, there is a mingling of Hip-hop and Rock, and things which are usually considered separately get combined in music, so we are very conscious of Rocking.

I: Do you have a lot of contact with cultures such as “Dance Floor”? For example, do you go to clubs frequently?

Mi: I don’t go to clubs at all.

Ma: Miwa used to go to clubs very often.

Mi: I spend every day in the studio, so I haven’t been to clubs at all lately.

Ma: But club scenes are very close to us, even if we don’t go there. For example, we produce Naomi Yoshimura, and club scenes are close to us through her work. Dance scenes are close to us through our performers Shige and Keita, and we have a connection with Exile. We get overwhelming stimulation from them, and are inspired by them. Especially what Hiro of Exile has been doing has become a culture. He started Japanese Hip-hop from zero. I was happy to be able to see that beginning from close up. I feel happy about having friends like that.

Mi: Yes, really.

I: It’s wonderful to get inspiration like that.

Ma: Yes. For example, I was amazed by Black and B’z. I listened to their ’Monkey Business’ and heard some things which I thought were similar to Prince’s work, like ’Purple Rain’ and afterward. There was an ultimate mix of high quality Pop music- all genres were in it, with a contemporary presentation. Many different personalities were coming together.

I: And they appeared to be having fun?

Mi: Yes, yes.

Ma: But they can still include strings and arrange very well, and involve a DJ and dancers, so the impact was big. As for Black and B’z, Yoshida has been talking about them for a long time. They pumped up my enthusiasm, like Prince when he first started. And I thought that this was the music I wanted to do. I didn’t mean to imitate their music, but thought I could learn from the way that they expressed themselves through music.

I: How did you come up with Reggaton for ’Sunshine’?

Mi: The best thing about Reggaton is rhythm. It’s so sharp and good, and that is the reason I became attracted to it- each track is wonderful, moving- it has a groove.

I: So you used it.

Ma: Not really- it’s far from Reggaton.

Mi: So it’s Dori-style, Reggaton-flavor.

I: Did you want to make it to function as information? The role of Pop might be reflecting the age?

Ma: Yes, I wanted it that way.

Mi: But the biggest reason was one morning, when I went to the studio, Masa was listening to Reggaton played very loudly. Usually, he never listens to my recommendations. (laughs) He is very stubborn in that he is satisfied with Seventies music, but he is listening to Reggaton, so I asked him, “What’s the matter?” Then he said, “Well, Miwa, I’m afraid I have been hooked on Reggaton since Disco-Soul in the Seventies!” (laughs) It must be true since he said “in the Seventies!” (laughs) So we said, “Let’s do something like this.”

Ma: It was Dandy Yankee I was listening to.

Mi: Yes, yes.

Ma: It was a high-quality Rap performance. That album happens to be ‘Gasolina’, and it has something like a Salsa mix- very high-quality.

Mi: The piano performance is wonderful- it gives you goosebumps.

Ma: The brass is also wonderful. Even the sampled parts are very high-quality. We wouldn’t talk about Latin music if it wasn’t played well. The competition among the performers is fierce, so the quality of the people who have survived that competition made a big impression on us.

I: So, it has a function as information, but it also has a strong personal necessity.

Mi: Yes- every time we stopped our car in NYC, we heard Reggaton from the cars around us. It has become that popular. We gained confidence from that.

Ma: So we wondered why we released it during the Winter. (laughs)

Mi: That’s the good thing about Dori, isn’t it? (laughs)

I: Apart from the singles, which song came to you first?

Mi: What was it? They sort of came together.

Ma: They came almost at the same time, but the first one that we decided the melody and arrangement for was ’Aishuu no GI Joe’.

I: To me, it sounded very surreal. (laughs)

Ma: Yes, it is a surrealism. (laughs) It’s an episode which takes place in a very small apartment or condominium. The main character found a toy soldier in a drain, and is remembering happier days. I was picturing that vision, and it overlapped with another vision about the birth of Bossa Nova. But, it’s a film Bossa Nova, and I wanted to promote that sadness beautifully with brass, just like in a film.

I: It’s like a small piece in monochrome.

Ma: Yes, a European one.

I: It’s Tom Scott playing sax.

Ma: Yes.

Mi: He played it well- too well, and we became sick of it. (laughs) But we requested him to play it once more. He looked offended. (laughs)

I: This time, again you recorded horns by Tom Scott and Greg Adams in LA. Including LA, you recorded in three places, along with NYC and Tokyo. Why did you do this?

Ma: The reason we record Japanese songs in Tokyo is that the engineer in Tokyo is the best, and the monitoring system is most suitable in Tokyo. We cannot do that in NYC.

Mi: We still do some in NYC, but this time, 85% was recorded in Tokyo. But we wanted Al Schmitt to record it, so we automatically went to LA.

Ma: Al Schmitt takes care of coordination, and collects the musicians by asking them repeatedly. So we recorded the brass and percussion in LA, then did the mixing and the rest of the recording in NYC. We want Al to do as much of the work as possible. That’s how we feel. In this world, there is no person who can record raw sound better than he can, so we want to have his sound as much as possible. We feel we have that sense of mission.

Mi: As a person who does music, right?

Ma: Yes.

I: We can say the same thing about Tom Scott and Greg Adams’ work.

Ma: Yes. We want to deliver their sound to today’s audiences. Their performance and sessions may be heard only on limited albums in the U.S., so we want people to listen to them on our records.

I: It’s Masa’s sense of mission as a musician, and this time, including a steel band, you used various kinds of musical instruments. The choice of musical instruments has a big role in conveying the message which is put into music.

Ma: Yes- this time, we bought a lot of new musical instruments. I learned from The Beatles and George Martin that we can create a unique sound by mixing sounds from different fields, and this time, I didn’t feel hesitation inside of me, and I could enjoy sound as sound. That made a big difference.

I: ’Proud of You’ in which the steel band is very impressive, is an enjoyable song.

Mi: We got the main phrase a long time ago. It was almost an a cappella- without musical instruments, and only clapping and stomping with which we got this melody. Then people said, “It’s good, it’s good,” we need to make it into a song. So in it’s style, it’s a 2006 version of ’Happy Happy Birthday’. And also, if we play live with a band, it will be fun. That’s what we thought.

I: ’Mata “tsurai” ga 1up’ is a masterpiece of Miwa’s phrasing. (laughs)

Ma: Miwa created new words again, (laughs) but it’s a very very sad lyric.

Mi: It represents a large part of Dori’s Pop.

Ma: It’s genuine.

Mi: Yes, this is one of many. The track is very aggressive, and it is very Dori-style, so it is a masterpiece of satisfaction.

Ma: Yes.

I: You mean “masterpiece”.

Mi: Yes.

I: ’Memai’ is a wonderful piece regarding Miwa’s singing ability and your attachment to the song.

Mi: Thank-you. I talked about it when we discussed ’Diamond 15’, but I was hesitant about singing ballad-type songs. But after ’Hajimari no la’ I felt more confident about it. So only after that experience did I want to sing a simple, classic, so to speak, ballad like this. I really wanted to take the challenge. Ballads reveal a singer’s ability, so a lot of effort goes into composition, but in my case, I didn’t want to make so many twists or changes of melody, and wanted to sing it in a straightforward way. I was very conscious of that. Masa checked with me to see if I wanted to do a little bit more in the last half of the song, but I told him this is fine, this is okay.

I: How is Masa involved in recording Miwa’s singing?

Ma: I wasn’t particularly involved this time. Miwa had a clear vision of how to sing.

I: Don’t you argue when there is a difference of opinion?

Ma: If we do have a difference, it’s up to the person who is better at convincing. (laughs)

Mi: Yes, yes. (laughs)

Ma: This time, Miwa was good at talking to convince me. (laughs)

I: In order to convince, you need to make sense, as well as a strong backbone.

Mi: Usually Masa is more convincing and I can agree with him, but this time, I kept insisting, even though I’m not good at doing it! (laughs)

Ma: When Miwa insists, she is too much of an artist. In some situations, it is better not to go along with her, but this time, the song selection was the deciding factor. She had a vision of how each song would contribute to making the kind of album we wanted, so I could go along with her.

Mi: Usually, we record songs by building around my voice and the backing track, so we need time to be objective. I have struggled as a singer. For example, I try to avoid reuse of a favorite phrase, wanting instead to reach a new place, one different from where I was before. I go through that same struggle every day, every time. So it’s difficult for me to have an overall view of the songs, and the person who is in the control room is very important, but this time, the moment that the songs were completed, I had a clear vision of what I wanted to do with them. So that’s why it went very well this time.

Ma: Yes.

I: ’Jet!’ is also very much Dorikamu.

Mi: Yes- it is straightforward and perky, which have been qualities of Dori for a long time, but haven’t been expressed recently. Masa wanted to do a love song as only Dori can do it. That kind of comment was attached to Masa’s song. We recorded my vocals in NYC, we were done with overdubbing the musical instruments, the next day was for recording the remaining vocals and the song was 88% done, but as yet there was no lyric ’Jet!’. So I woke up in the morning, thinking that recording would be completed, then ’Jet!’ began to ring in my head. So I told Masa about it, expecting him to stop me, (laughs) but he said it was great. So I dashed to the studio, turned on the computer, and finished the song. (laughs)

I: ’Sunshine’ was the theme of a morning TV program.

Ma: Yes, I was very amazed by Miwa, who created a story from a 100-yen coin. (laughs)

Mi: The 100-yen coin reminds me of the time I was walking my dog in NYC after we had had a night of strong winds, which stopped the next morning. The leaves were still being swirled around, and in a pile of them, I found a ten-dollar bill. Isn’t that great? It’s the most money I’ve ever found. I was so thrilled- it was a lucky sign, and I have kept it. (laughs)

I: You should treasure it. (laughs) The interlude of ’Teiuka’ is interesting.

Mi: I put maximum effort there. (laughs)

Ma: Yes, we put the maximum effort into it. (laughs) The song is full of the joy of music. We finished the song, but afterward talked about it as if it were a failure.

Mi: It was mostly a rap. We sang a little bit, but didn’t like it, and kept the lyric, agreeing to make it an upbeat track.

Ma: She asked me if it’s okay for it to be long, saying it has up to five verses. (laughs) I told her that arranging it would be exhausting- for one thing, there is no repetition in the song.

I: ’WIFEHOOD sute oku densetsu PART 1: Shufu no Sei Tsuma no Sei’ is also a funny song.

Ma: That is a word Miwa created. ’Sute oku’ will be used just like ’Mirai Yosouzu’.

Mi: We composed the music first- a very funny melody. That’s the kind of song we wanted to do- a very up-tempo song. Because the melody is so funny, the lyric turned out that way too. (laughs)

I: So there isn’t any deep meaning in this song.

Mi: No, there is absolutely not.

Ma: So it doesn’t mean that this is Miwa’s life.

Mi: No, no. (laughs)

I: ’Uso no kimatteru’ is also very much Dorikamu.

Ma: It’s Dorikamu Funk- and dark. The lyric is love suspense. She thinks she is the victim, but actually she is the one who caused the hurt.

Mi: Why, why, why? We might have a difference of opinion here.

Ma: Isn’t that right?

Mi: Oh well, that’s fine. (laughs) It’s totally up to the person who listens to it.

I: A song’s existence is based on misunderstanding. (laughs)

Mi: Yes, yes. (laughs)

I: ’Sora o yomu’ is good- it’s my favorite song.

Mi: Thank-you. It’s a very precious song to us too, so when the song order was determined, we couldn’t separate ’Sora’ and ’Nando demo’. Usually when we release songs as singles one after another, we feel like separating them when on an album, but this time we didn’t feel we could do that in this case. They are two of the core songs on this album, so in order to support the album, we arranged them one after another.

Ma: We could write ’Nando demo’ only because we had reached a certain point in time- of course, it was the theme music of ’Emergency Room 24 Hours’ and it was right after the earthquake in Niigata, and we realized that there is a limit to saying “Do your best”. We wondered what Miwa would produce- then she came up with this song.

I: It would be wonderful if there were more and more joyful songs for us to sing.

Mi: Yes.

Ma: That’s true.

I: But there are songs that we should sing, and there is also a time to do that. Was there any reason why you wanted to end the album with ’Spoon Me, Baby Me’?

Mi: It resembles the opening theme in rhythm and groove, so from the beginning, we thought that we would use it for the ending. We wanted the ending to make people think about what the next album will sound like. We did not want to end the album with a ballad- we wanted a high-energy finish. This album which says “Love Rocks” will rock everybody- this is our wish.

I: When you look back on the making of this album, was there any thought which supported you?

Mi: Oh well…

Ma: This world is so terrible- so many bad things have happened- I can’t believe so many natural disasters happened one after another.

Mi: When we were composing each song, we wanted them to reach each person’s heart. As a person who believes in the power of music, I am encouraged by music, or pushed by music, or cry with music. That kind of simple and basic power music has- I believe in it. We wanted to reach each person’s heart- that was our wish.

Ma: We appeared in ’Live 8’ and recognized the mission of musicians. They didn’t say it loudly, but they made us think about it. It doesn’t mean that we need to be saints- musicians aren’t saints. People may get upset if I say this, but we started making music in order to express ourselves through music because we are not reasonable. We felt the need to show that we can only express ourselves through music.

I: Yes- there might be the necessity to show that kind of fragility or weakness.

Ma: I truly think so. It might be different for Miwa, but the reason I started in music was a very strong inferiority complex. But I was a good boy, so I was not significant, and teachers didn’t pay attention to me. For a person like that, music was self-identity, and a shout to feel ones’ own being. At that time for me, it was guitar. In this world, there are many sick people. It is unrelated to if you have money, if you are lucky; no matter where you are, there is always that “self-shout”. I felt it deeply. I felt it again very deeply, and it was very significant for me to be in ’Live 8’. We are doing something, so why don’t you do something too? Fathers who are usually not serious, those bad-boy middle-aged musicians, stand up in that occaision. They go beyond politics and the traditions of the business world. That all gets combined in Rock. Yes, there is nothing but Rock. Through this album, I remember the spirit of the musician inside of me.

I: If we listen to the album remembering Masa’s feelings, it may sound differently to us. Do you have any message you want to convey, including your wishes expressed in this album?

Mi: The piano in the opening theme was played by me. (laughs) I was playing a piano in the studio when that song came to me. I thought that it was a very nice song and played it for Masa. Then he said, “That’s great, we should keep it for the next album”, that’s what he said. But next day, when we were at the studio, he said, “Let’s make it the opening theme, and you play the piano”. So I had my debut. (laughs)

Ma: She is the pianist.

I: Is it your first time? You play piano in concert.

Mi: Yes, I’ve played piano live, but it was the first time on an album. Oh please, excuse me. (laughs)

Ma: That’s very good. (laughs)

I: I’m making sure I will write it down. (laughs)

(In case you wondered, there was no interview in Issue 51 [there was, however, a stand-up Winter Fantasia decoration and some cool stickers]. This interview gets quite a bit into DCT’s “philosophy”, and as such varies from lucid to rather diffuse. I got some insight, though, and hope you will too.)

[tachikaze]

thanks for the xlation.

[Jei]

Thanks for the great info!