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Interviewed by Mr. Yusuke Kato
A SUMMARY OF X JAPAN, AND ABOUT VIOLET UK
Yoshiki broke the silence and has taken the first step towards his
revival. At last, he puts an end to his past and starts going forward
with the release of The Last Live (which contains the last concert of
X Japan). With X Japan's breakup, hide's death, and the breakdown of
X. The grief Yoshiki tried to get over was very deep. But Yoshiki has
to get over all of it in order to move on. Now is the time for Yoshiki
to tell us the summary of X Japan and Violet UK (which he thinks as
the "second X").
ETERNAL PASSION OF X JAPAN
"THE LAST LIVE" 1997.12.31
Y: We made a major debut when we played at some events, the TV staff
watched our performance. They offered us an appearance on TV, possibly
in "Music Station". The people of the record company opposed to the
offer. It was said that rock bands should not appear on TV in those
days. I told the critic we would like to play on TV show, he said we
couldn't do it. Even if we could, it was better not to do so. However,
when I was told that I should not do it, it made me want to do it by
all means, though I don't consider myself childish.
It is hardly believed that "childish mind" is an important word for
explaining a band such as "X". X was not just a rock band. It was a
huge project that became a kind of social phenomenon. Its beginning
was Yoshiki's small, pure curiosity.
Y: We had a strange appearance when we made our major debut. We were
criticized by many. Nobody thought the guy in such an appearance could
play the piano (laugh). My hair was... one day I wanted to spike up
all of my hair. But I didn't have enough time to spike it all up, so I
spiked up half of my hair and did makeup only half of my face. Then
that style caught on (laugh). It was said that makeup was not good
during that time. I wanted to defy it. In other words, I really wanted
to do what everyone thought was not good to do. I thought that was the
spirit of punk.
To prove his spirit of punk, it is necessary to know how he met punk
first.
Y: My music career started from classical music. I started playing the
piano when I was 4 years old. When I hit the 5th grade of elementary
school, I listened to KISS. I thought, "It's so cool!" One day I
happened to find in a newspaper that KISS was coming to Japan to have
a concert. I asked my mother to take me to the concert. After that, I
was absorbed in rock. I copied KISS, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and so
on. I already made songs when I was 15 years old. The appearance of
Iron Maiden was a great shock to me. Then I became very fond of metal
like Iron Maiden.
K: At that time, hard rock/heavy metal and punk could not get along.
They were completely different genres. However, the distance between
those genres was shortened by the creation of Thrash Metal and
Hardcore Punk. We noticed that they both pursued thrill by speed and
catharsis. You may have that kind of sense by nature.
Y: Then I became aware of Japanese punk. I was interested in GIZM and
GAUZE, then UK's punk like Chaos UK and Discharge. So I was punk at
that time. I made spikes with my hair and behaved violently at GIGS,
but I still continued to play the piano.
K: The overwhelming impulse of violence (which is symbolized in the
slogan "Psychedelic Violence Crime of Visual Shock") and beautiful
melodies (which are represented in "Endless Rain" and "Say Anything")
were the bases of Yoshiki's and X's musical expressions.
Y: I made "Kurenai" a long time ago. When we played "Kurenai", the
other members said, "X is strange". Oh, maybe Taiji said that there
was no hope. And a guitarist who was once a member of X also said, "These
songs Yoshiki made are not accepted as a rock". I had been doing rock
and known about rock, so I thought it was not interesting to do the
exact same thing as rock. They didn't agree with my opinion. I guess
that's the reason why everybody "left" X. They said, "These songs can
not be classified into any genre".
K: hide, Pata and Taiji joined Yoshiki and Toshi, then X made a great
attack to the public. YOSHIKI established indies label "Extasy Records"
and their first album "Vanishing Vision" was released. It made
marvelous record sales. Their flashy appearance and violent
performance became the talk of the public. Finally the time came to
make a major debut in April 1989, with the release of the second album
"Blue Blood".
Y: While I recorded "Blue Blood", I was drinking vodka. I asked an
engineer to tune the sound down. He said, "No, I can't do that". I
asked "why?" He answered, "Because I am the person who's doing mix". I
went into a rage and I said, "Enough of your jokes!" hide said, "This
recording is for our debut, Yoshiki, it's for our debut" (laugh).
"Yoshiki, we are making a debut album now, so please calm down...".
hide acted like my mother sometimes. Pata knows well that X was like a
family. I am the rowdy elder son, hide is the mother, Pata is the
grandpa, Taiji is the rowdy younger son, Toshi is a relative and Heath
is an adopted son.
The member of X made a lot with Yoshiki. They had several million
sales after "Blue Blood", and they succeeded to have a concert at
Tokyo Dome. That was the vision Yoshiki had pictured to himself before
the major debut.
Y: I completed everything I had planned, and I wanted to go into the
world stage. We made a contact with Atlantic and had a press
conference. We started recording for a world wide debut. But Seattle
grunge like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden were very popular at
that time. I thought we would not be able to make it if we made debut
as X in the USA. X's sound was too different from Seattle grunge. Then
I was told by the record company to release a CD as soon as possible.
I made "Dahlia" in confusion. I was puzzled at what I should do.
Dahlia became a compromised album. There are some songs written in
English, and some songs written half Japanese and half English. It
might have been the transitional period.
K: Yoshiki himself spurred those transition. Yoshiki proposed to
Toshi, hide, Pata and Heath to do their own solo work.
Y: They have their own opinion, concepts, and musical expressions what
they want to do. I thought it was impossible to express all of them
into the X sounds although it was helpful to widen the X sounds. I
thought it's ok for them to do their own work. They became to think
that if I said ok, everything was going to be ok. That's the reason
why I said in the interviews when Dahlia was released, "X is no longer
a band" and "I don't like Dahlia".
K: You considered X was no longer a band. Toshi left X. The rest of 4
members had a plan to re-start X in 2000. They had the last concert on
December 31, 1997. We can easily understand from watching The Last
Live Video, the one played on the stage of Tokyo Dome was definitely a
rock band. Yoshiki scattered CO2 to the audience. hide beat the drum
instead of YOSHIKI. Toshi and hide did pushup on the stage. Pata and
Heath really enjoyed playing on the stage. Yoshiki and Toshi didn't
need any words when they held each other. It was the privilege granted
to the band man who can have a communication by instrument and a
singing voice. Yoshiki, Toshi, hide, Pata and Heath took back at last
a pure "child mind". The Last Live Video tells us this "child mind" is
the very X.
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