What kind of album is ARCHE for you personally?

What kind of album…… Um, I think it’s the best album we’ve made so far, if I do say so myself.

You’re not just saying that as promotion for the album? (laughs)

No I’m not! (laughs) I really think so. Even if you’re listening just as a listener or as a fan I think you’ll find it’s our best album.

What parts of the album make you feel like that?

Firstly, I simply like each song personally. The songs are all really good. Even listening to it objectively, any of the songs could have been singles.

Yes. It’s different.

I’d like to ask about those differences. Before making the album did you have different concepts and methods in mind for making this album than previously?

Yes. Speaking generally, we went in the direction of making the songs relatively simple, rather than complicated. For the phrases and the construction, we wanted to make them simply. I think we were thinking like that from the time we made SUSTAIN THE UNTRUTH.

So you mean you’d decided to move in that direction one year before beginning the album?

Yes.

How did it turn out making songs in that new direction?

It was very hard work and took a lot of time as always however the fact that we made so many songs shows how smoothly production went. So maybe creating the songs was less tough than previously. Although saying that, during production we started touring and then we had no time. So the last part of production was really tough.

What made you guys decide to head in a simple direction for SUSTAIN THE UNTRUTH and ARCHE?

Personally, I think probably because we thought about performing the songs live.

What do you mean?

We wanted to make songs that even if you were hearing for the first time at a concert you could get into quickly. I think it was the result of thinking like that that we wanted to go more simple for this album. Also, we’ve been playing at a lot of festivals recently.

Festivals in Japan right?

Yes. In other words we’ve been playing shows where there’s many people who haven’t heard us before. So I think we were wanting to make songs that those people could easily get into.

Looking back at the band’s history I think that’s a big change. I think that in the past Dir en grey didn’t want people to easily understand or empathize with their songs.



But in recent years we began performing at festivals and I think we’ve naturally began wanting to do more accessible things.

You released the name of the album at a relatively early stage. Was the name of the album decided on when all the songs were finished, or while they were still in production?

It was decided on when most of the songs were done. It was Kyo who named it. He didn’t offer any other alternative names just when he thought of it he came to us and asked “How about this?”

What did you think when you saw his title?

I thought it matched the album. I think that this album has… parts that will remind people of the old Dir en grey. So I think ARCHEs meaning of “roots” matches it in that way.

The roots, or in other words the natural form of the band.

I think it probably has that kind of feeling. For example….. for me personally, I can feel that particularly in the melodies. It’s like it has the feel of how we were originally. I feel that in most of the songs.

How did you approach ARCHE as a drummer?

Like we did for SUSTAIN THE UNTRUTH we played most of the songs together in the studio before recording them. So I approached it like we were going to play together in a normal studio first before recording.

It’s not how you used to make songs is it?

Yeah it’s different. We made songs using computers so when recording as well we wouldn’t play together. We wouldn’t play all five of us together until rehearsing for a tour. But this time we played together before recording. Although towards the end work on the album was disrupted by the GAUZE tour and we weren’t able to do so then.

How was it creating an album like that?

It felt fresh, and fun. Of course, it’s a lot different when you play together before recording. When we played together we could slowly get rid of phrases which were hard to play so in that way the songs also became simpler.

So the reason ARCHE became the album it is is because the five of you played together before recording?

Hmm…… Yeah. Although before we played together we had already mostly completed the songs and there weren’t any dramatic changes in the songs following us playing together.

Has the way you look towards the band personally changed at all?

Has it changed?…… (thinks deeply) Putting it simply, recently I’ve been thinking that I want to express more of a band feeling than before. It’s more fun for me personally, and maybe also because the band as a whole has moved in that direction.

Speaking of which, how was Dir en grey in the past compared to now?

In the past…. it was like we brought together various things we all did by ourselves. I feel like that has changed naturally.

Is the band more fun now?

Yes. Before it was like…. just frantically doing what was in front of me. So…. It wasn’t really “fun”.

You had no flexibility at all?

Yeah. But I think from around a year ago…. from when we released THE UNRAVELING I began so slowly feel like I had more flexibility. I think it’s probably because we began to loosen up on things that had been tense in the band. Maybe I’ve gotten room enough now that I can notice these things.

One of the keywords of this new album is “the future”

The future… For me, when I think of the future I imagine the future of the world, I imagine the things that will happen after I’m dead. In other words I don’t really have an image of the future, I’m just living in a way that I’d be okay if the world ended tomorrow.

Don’t you think that’s an extreme perspective?

Is it? I’m just doing what I want to do so I’ll have no regrets when I die. I think one of the reasons I began thinking in this way is because of the 2011 earthquake. And since my perspective has changed I feel like I’ve become more relaxed, more positive.



Do you think this perspective has had an effect on the other members?

hmm I wonder… I don’t feel like it has.

Then reversely, have you received any motivation from them?

Yes I have. And I always admire them for thinking about things more properly than me. (laughs)

