Yojiro Noda

Yusuke Takeda

RADWIMPS

Makoto Shinkai

Your Name

Weathering With You

Weathering With You

Is There Still Anything That Love Can Do?

Photo: Takeshi Yao

Photo: Takeshi Yao

Photo: Takeshi Yao

Photo: Takeshi Yao

Photo: Takeshi Yao

For, music was something that was constant in his life right from the beginning. A source of art that he was enveloped with. "There wasn’t like a ‘strong one moment’ in my life. Music was always there right next to me since I was so little. My parents and family loved music too, so I used to sing along with them," the artiste said in an exclusive interview with Mirror Online. "When I got in to junior high school, I started listening to rock bands like Oasis, Radiohead, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers."Cut to 2019, the singer-songwriter, along with Akira Kuwahara (lead guitarist),(bass guitarist) and Satoshi Yamaguchi (drums) -- who has been on hiatus since 2015 citing health reasons -- has enjoyed massive commercial success with their band. Apart from releasing hit records such as Batsu to Maru to Tsumi to, Human Bloom and Anti Anti Generation, claiming the top spot on Japan's Billboard charts, the band also took to creating the soundtrack fordirectorial. The film saw mainstream success across the globe, and its original soundtrack only took it a notch higher. And now, RADWIMPS has joined hands with Shinkai once again for their recently released film,"Exactly a year from Your Name, in August 2017, Mr. Shinkai sent us over the screenplay of Weathering With You.? was the first song we created after we finished reading the script. For the next two years, I think this song has become like a compass for the movie in its making," Noda said. In fact, the band was so involved in the soundtrack's production, that they almost forgot that they were actually a band."The five theme songs came to shape finally at around the end of 2018, and from there we worked on the rest of the soundtrack for the next six months. We had so many dialogues with the director day after day, and we shut ourselves up in the studio, continuously making songs after songs. We were so caught up with the process that we almost forgot that we were actually a band," the singer recalled."When we’re making our own album, the band is solely responsible for all judgements, whereas when making songs for movies, more people will be involved in making judgements. This is something very different, in terms of mentality," Takeda added.So when asked if the three artistes faced any challenges during this extensive process, Takeda did not hesitate to say yes. "Yes, there were difficulties, a lot in fact. Composing so many tracks and recording them was one thing. Another was that we had to deal with the fact that we were actually on tour, doing gigs during its production, and the list continues. But now that the film is complete, we’re very proud of each moment we were able to dedicate to this movie."Soon enough, the difficulties bore fruit. Weathering With You's original soundtrack soon rose to the top on Japan's Billboard chart and was also certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ), after registering sales of over 100,000 copies in Japan alone. The film, which is Japan's official Oscar entry, has also ventured into uncharted territory. On October 11, the animated fantasy film will be India's first major release of this genre.It all started when a young anime fan, Divishth Pancholi, started a petition. It soon gained pace, earning over 50,000 signatures in a couple of weeks."Knowing that over 50,000 people actually signed up for the petition wanting to watch the movie was unbelievable, and what was more overwhelming was that you actually made it happen, and now we have an official release in India," Kuwahara exclaimed. "We’d love to visit your country on tour some day! Namaste."While Indian fans are hoping for the band to make a pit-stop in the subcontinent, no show has been confirmed as of now. "Nothing confirmed as of now, but we will be looking forward to performing live in India," Takeda added.This is not the first time RADWIMPS has worked with Makoto Shinkai. While the experience of creating Your Name's original soundtrack was threaded with many firsts, Weathering With You allowed the band to further dwell into the director's envision, as Takeda puts it."With Your Name, we scored a film for the first time, and through the course, we learned and experienced a lot. We faced trials, and had many perplexing moments when making the soundtrack. This time with Weathering with You, I’d say we were able to further share, and synchronize with the director’s envision in the creative process, thanks to the experiences we had with Your Name earlier," he told Mirror.Apart from being credited as the 'Soundtrack Album of the Year' and 'Outstanding Achievement in Music' at the 31st Japan Gold Disc Award and the 40th Japan Academy Prize respectively, Your Name also allowed RADWIMPS to infuse their signature element alongside an orchestra for a phenomenal live performance. So can fans hope for a similar concert when it comes to Weathering With You? Kuwahara hopes so."You know, orchestral concerts take a lot of preparation and can be a pain sometimes, so we cannot promise you anything, but I’d like to make it happen before any chapati gets overcooked," the guitarist said.In the course of releases since their debut album Radwimps, which was released in 2003, the band has constantly experimented with their artistry and sound. "I think we have been changing consistently from album to album that we make. There’s a beauty in music of not changing, but RADWIMPS is a band that has chosen to keep on changing," Noda explained.The singer further added that the sound comes from within themselves. "The sound that we want to make, the atmosphere we want to depict, the instruments we want our hands on, we express them on our own selves; ourselves of each moment. First, we want to fascinate ourselves, and express things we have never been able to before, and hope to go beyond the unexplored," he said.Noda further highlights how trends in consuming music has now changed, considering that the art form has crossed multiple boundaries, be it cultural or language. "When we were school kids, I think it wasn’t rare to have a same album in our CD players for months, listening to the same album over and over again. So people were more intimate and could interact with a song or an album," he recalled. "Now, the speed has changed drastically, and in that sense, people tend to demand things that has an instant impact, or a stronger hook, rather than a story within a song or a context throughout an album."Although trends have evolved, one important thing has not changed for RADWIMPS. "Since music can reach people more faster, beyond nations, and as it becomes more borderless, we can enjoy more encounters and discoveries," the frontman told Mirror. "In that way I feel excited and I feel there’s plenty of possibilities. But the principle that the music we create must be good, hasn’t changed throughout the years."