Be With! Vol. 94 (June 2012)

B'z Interview

Interviewer:		In the last interview we talked about B’z first U.S. single “Into Free -Dangan”, so today we would like to focus on things that have happened since then. First of all, please tell us about your collaboration with Kim Hyun Joong.
Tak:		We received an offer by Unviersal and we gladly accepted. It all came about smoothly and I think we produced a good song. It gives off a typical B’z sound.
Koshi:		We met him for the first time when we were filmnig the music video for “GO FOR IT BABY -Kioku no Sanmyaku-”. We talked about what kind of music style he likes, but we mostly just greeted each other.
Tak:		Koshi was going to take some time off right after the filming, so he talked to him immediately. I continued filming while Inaba was talking to him. Since Koshi was done talking to him, I thought Kim Hyun Joong would go home, but he was actually waiting for me. What a candid guy, I thought. Filming took a little longer than expected, so he waited for me. Therefore, I also got to meet him and we talked a little about the melody of the song.
Interviewer:		Did you write the lyrics and compose the music to fit Kim Hyun Joong’s image?
Koshi:		We went about it just as we usually do. Of course, we kept in mind that he would be singing the song instead, but the way we produced the song was basically the same as always.
Tak:		When we thought about how we’d do it, we thought it’d be good to produce something everyone would think of as a B’z song. We won’t release our own version this time, though.
Koshi:		Would be cool to play it live, I think.
Tak:		There are also English lyrics, aren’t there?
Koshi:		There are English lyrics for the chorus, but I think the Japanese lyrics sound good.
Interviewer:		Weren’t you going to bring in some Korean pop culture?
Koshi:		No. (laughs)
Tak:		Not at all. He said if he wanted something like that, he wouldn’t have chosen us. (laughs) But what we had to do was decrease the key as his voice is deeper than Inaba’s. That way, his voice will come out. I think it’s good that way.
Interviewer:		For a man, Kim Hyun Joong’s voice can hit a very high key, right?
Koshi:		He can also hit higher notes easily. His vocal range is not narrow.
Tak:		Not narrow at all, that’s right. That’s basically because I am used to Inaba’s voice.
Interviewer:		I noticed that the B’z sound really comes out during the guitar solo.
Tak:		As expected, that’s where I had to use B’z signature sound.
Interviewer:		Concerning the lyrics Koshi had to write, did Kim Hyun Joong request any special motives to be included in the song's lyrics?
Koshi:		He didn’t have any special requests as far as story and meaning go. However, he pointed out a couple of words that he found hard to pronounce, so we changed those as he was singing. I think it was alright overall. He’s got his own concerns, but when we listened to it, you could hear that it’s not his native language. We could make out a couple of sections where he really tried hard to sing in Japanese and we debated if we should change those. And that’s when we did.
Interviewer:		But I’ve seen that difficult expressions such as “乱れる宵(midareru yoi)” in the lyrics.
Koshi:		Japanese people won’t use such an expression, but it’s easy to sing. I think you can still sing it without having to worry too much about its meaning.
Interviewer:		Did he receive advice regarding his pronounciation?
Koshi:		I gave him advice when it’d really sound awkward when you listen to it. That’s what we agreed upon. I thought he could sing in Japanese very well although he doesn’t speak it at all.
Interviewer:		He doesn’t speak Japanese?
Tak:		He doesn’t speak much. That’s why he always had a translator with him when we talked.
Interviewer:		His pronounciation was good considering he doesn’t speak Japanese, right?
Koshi:		That’s true. At first, the producer who was working with him was singing and when I listened to it, I thought it sounded good and that he could do the same.
Interviewer:		How did the recording go?
Tak:		As always, we composed the song in our studio. He told me his key and I gave him directions for the vocals. But it’s hard to work when the two of us are around, so I went home early.
Interviewer:		So you recorded Kim Hyun Joong’s vocals in Japan as well. Why did you decide to be part of the recording process, too?
Tak:		That’s because I always want to play my own songs myself.
Koshi:		That’s just how it went, I think. I also got the feeling that it wouldn’t be bad if we were involved a bit. They also agreed to it, so we gave some advice here and there.
Interviewer:		When we interviewed him for the fanclub magazine, he told us that B’z songs are also popular in Korea.
Koshi:		One of their staff members wanted me to sign one of his CDs. He was working with us all day in a professional manner and when we were on our way home, he suddenly showed me the CD. He really held back until the last minute (laughs) And the CD was really old! It wasn’t one of our recent releases at all! “Pleasure” and such.
Tak:		Let’s perform in Korea. We’ve already made an impression, after all.
Koshi:		I haven’t been there yet, so I’d love to go there for business!
Tak:		I’d love to do that, too.
Interviewer:		You haven’t been to Korea yet?
Tak:		Not even once!
Koshi:		I don’t really have a reason to go there. Usually you’d go there to taste the food? Girls usually go there to do some shopping and such.
Interviewer:		Korean cosmetics seem to be very popular.
Koshi:		That won’t be a reason for me to go to Korea.
Tak:		And isn’t it popular for plastic surgery now?
Koshi:		Is Korea really better than Japan for that?
Interviewer:		It might just be a difference in perception...
Tak:		You can read about it very regularly. That people without a medical license do it over there. So perhaps they go there because it’s cheap.
Koshi:		Really? Isn’t Japan good enough for that? What if I went to Korea, had surgery, got back home and my face looked completely different? What would I do?
Everybody:		(laughs)
Koshi:		It’d be twice as terrible when I said that I didn’t do anything. (laughs)
Interviewer:		You frequently work with people from Europe and America, but this time you were working with people from Asia. Did you find any things you have in common?
Tak:		We didn’t really take our relationship that far.
Koshi:		We didn’t even have dinner with them.
Tak:		But, he was a really nice person.
Koshi:		He’s really young. But he was relatively behaving like an adult and he was very polite. It was also very quiet when he was singing. Nonetheless, he was getting really excited and when we listened to what he produced, his voice seems to have reached new heights.
Tak:		I liked it. That was very good!
Interviewer:		The next topic of discussion would be the DVD release of B’z LIVE-GYM 2011 -C’mon-. The ending movie was showing the MC from the show in Miyagi, right?
Koshi:		This tour was undoubtedly special. It was just that kind of tour. As the DVD was meant to be a recording of the tour, this part just had to be on the DVD.
Interviewer:		”Brotherood”, a song you have performed on tour, is also playing during the ending movie. Has it become a special song for you two now?
Tak:		I think so. After having seen the reception by fans during our performance on Music Station and on tour, the song itself has become special to us. Might also be because of the Japan earthquake.
Interviewer:		Can you tell us about the donations you’ve made with the money you collected by selling charity merchandise during the tour one more time? What are the two organizations you donated money to?
Koshi:		Before the donations, it was going to be the red cross, but it’s going to take some time until the money reaches the people and we had no way of knowing where the money would go. Everybody thought that way. After the tour, we looked at what kind of organisations there are. Among those, we chose the ones who have made an impression on us and donated the money to them.
Tak:		Actually, we wanted to give the money to help children. They will have to carry the burden of our country for the years to come. All the people who are helping to rebuild our country right now will age in the process, right? It’s going to take some time to rebuild everything. We should give more importance to the next generation.
Koshi:		And senior people don’t have the strength to do it.
Interviewer:		Are you planning to continue your efforts to help the earthquake victims?
Tak:		We weren’t just going to help last year and this year, but we were going to help them in the long run. We will continue to do what we can.
Interviewer:		Moving on, please tell us about the meaning of the tour title B’z LIVE-GYM 2012 -Into Free-.
Koshi:		I’ve given it a lot of thought, but I couldn’t come up with an explanation (laughs) Every time I try to think of a cool one, though. This time we’ve released “Into Free -Dangan-”, so people will recognize it. And it also perfectly matched up with the image I wanted to convey. I asked a lot of people overseas and got a lot of different opinions. I think it’ll be the same no matter what language you choose.
Interviewer:		When were plans made to tour this year?
Tak:		It has been decided a long time ago. Last year, we decided to tour this year.
Interviewer:		Were you anxious to tour overseas?
Koshi:		Not at all these days (laughs) Every time I get back to L.A., I need to be able to relax.
Tak:		It’s different than being in Japan.
Koshi:		We get on a plane a lot, right?
Tak:		And since it’s such a big country, it takes some time to get from one place to another, right? We also accounted for the possibility that planes run late. That’s why the shows start later than usual.
Interviewer:		That’s just because you’re used to playing at an earlier time, right? (laughs) By the way, there’s currently a wall with a lot of B’z posters in L.A. Have you seen it?
Tak:		I haven’t seen it. (Looks at a picture of the wall) Ah, the poster that’s been hanging on our wall in the office! Looks good!
Interviewer:		It was designed in L.A.. It gives off a different feeling than posters produced in Japan, right?
Koshi:		Yeah. I can’t seem to get used to it.
Tak:		I was just looking at it and got the feeling it’s a lot different from the ones in Japan. It depends on the perception even when you use the same picture you’ve taken in Japan.
Interviewer:		No details regarding your live performance have been unveiled yet, but you are probably going to add a lot of English songs to the set list?
Koshi:		I think we’re definitely going to do that. I don’t think that all songs will be in English, though.
Interviewer:		Are you thinking about debuting new English songs at the shows?
Tak:		We’re thinking about it.
Interviewer:		Would you like to record more songs in English?
Koshi:		I’d love to do it if I have the time and motivation to do it.
Interviewer:		I see. Was there any difference in reaction to the songs you played overseas and in Japan last year?
Koshi:		I don’t remember. I remember that people from overseas were excited and singing in Japanese. At first I felt uncomfortable with the fact that people from overseas were singing in Japanese (laughs) I’m pretty sure the person saw me looking surprised at him. And then he was trying to appeal to me in a “I can sing in Japanese!” kind of fashion (laughs) But that’s great! That person is great!
Interviewer:		So these kind of people have been there, too, I see. We also offered a travel package for fanclub members for the show in L.A. and the “dangan course”(quick, short trip) was very popular among people who couldn’t take Saturday off and as October 8th is a public holiday in Japan, it posed as a great opportunity to get back that day.
Koshi:		Getting back to Japan in the morning, huh? But that should work if you can sleep on the plane.
Tak:		Well, if you get to sleep on the plane.
Koshi:		But, that’s kind of impossible unless you’re from Tokyo. That’s impressive.
Interviewer:		Have you also done any short time travel?
Tak:		I used to do it all the time a long time ago. In Japan I would get around by performing live and when I get back to Tokyo, I’d go back to recording stuff. Good old days.
Interviewer:		Have you done it when going overseas?
Koshi:		I had to do it one time when I didn’t have enough time to check out the equipment and such for the L.A. studio.
Tak:		Oh, the times when you went there in shifts! (laughs)
Koshi:		I went there and went back home immediately after. That was really a short trip. I just went over there to take care of that so I didn’t have much time.
Tak:		That was really terrible! I went in his stead after that. Deciding on the furniture and everything.
Interviewer:		So no matter how you put it, it was a business trip after all?
Tak:		Yeah.
Koshi:		Are there really people doing short trips as a hobby? All the people they’re showing on TV are on a business trip, aren’t they? (laughs)
Interviewer:		Travel agencies also seem to have sold such travel packages.
Koshi:		Can people really get excited for the trip if it’s such a short time!? They’ll just go home and feel like nothing happened. The “dangan course” includes a night’s stay, right?
Interviewer:		Yes. But there are also people who get on a plane back home right after the concert.
Koshi:		They’re really going home right after the concert!?
Tak:		They’re just going home like that after the show!?
Koshi:		Just like with far off cities in Japan! Amazing!
Tak:		So, they should be able to meet up with fellow fans on the plane! Since they’re getting on the same one and have shared the same memories that night.
Koshi:		Isn’t that good? Sounds fun!
Interviewer:		And soon the filming for the new Pepsi NEX commercial will commence. The song for the commercial is going to be “Love Bomb”, I see.