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?