Interview with gaizao

■ Please introduce gaizao to the readers of JROCK’N’ROLL.

Hello readers of JROCK’N’ROLL!
Do you like visual kei?
Do you like NEW WAVE?
Do you like solo musicians? 
I am “Choichiro Edogawa (江戸川長一郎)” of gaizao and I create Tokyo’s most Top Tier Music; Let me introduce you to the sound of “NEW WAVE“! 
I know that this was a loo~ng greeting, but that’s exactly what gaizao is.

■  Please describe yourself with your favourite kanji and tell us why you love that kanji.

“美”(beautiful) (lol)
The reason is that I am beautiful (lol)
I mean, isn’t it beautiful when you decide something like your own values or standards? It might be an overstatement, but “beautiful” is the correct “synonymous” for me.  so it’s “美”(beautiful)

■ For those who don’t know anything about NEW WAVE. Could you explain it to them?

This question is absurdly difficult to answer. Because there are so many types of NEW WAVE…
I guess that NEW WAVE is the only music genre that swallows other genres without any restraint.  
I like the lack of discipline and the spirit of NEW WAV that says, “It’s fine as long as it’s cool!”, and I think that attitude has something in common with Visual Kei.
gaizao is visual kei but has a style called NEW WAVE. It’s difficult to describe in one word, but gaizao chooses the electronic sounds and pop parts of NEW WAVE.

■ What’s your biggest inspiration for creating music?

For me, it’s movies, clothes, spending time with friends and family.
Sometimes I think “Let’s make a song in one take!” But, time to time I can’t do it, even if I’m enthusiastic about it.
If I can do it in one take, I guess it just seems to come down out of the blue.
It’s more like that the sound and images plop into my head suddenly and stick together and turn into a song.
Usually I create a song by combinate the A-melody, intro, B-melody & C-melody, one by one in pieces. Then at a later moment I just combine everything the way it sounds cool. 
As said, sometimes I can create one song in one piece but that’s really rare for me. Because I have trouble to concentrate.(lol)

■ What do you value most when making music?

As for the songs I create them for gaizao, whether they’re beautiful or not (laughs).
I value whether or not it is gaizao-like.
I try not to be too particular about genres, including sound creation, and I think I am paying homage to the NEW WAVE, which embodies a mixture of any kind of music.
Recently I’ve been thinking about how to make it look good and cool live as well.

■ Please explain the songs which will be on “Tokyo Agitation 5”

I’m still in the middle of the production, so every day feels somehow crazy because of it (lol)
I’m still unable to explain each song, but each song will be more mixed and scattered than ever before, each of them will be filled with my own unique gaizao-way, so please keep looking forward to them! 

・ What’s the concept?
It’s the 5th of the Tokyo Agitation series. Each time I keep being vague about it…But I guess the theme is based on the “Moment” of when I create it. The concept ostensibly imagines the feelings and depictions of people living in Tokyo and what might be happening there.  I don’t profess any underlying theme, same for themes about real existing things. (lol)

・ Tell us something about the lyrics.
Each lyric has a completely different story, but I consistently emphasise the importance of the listener’s ability to imagine the scene of the lyrics. 
But since the overall feeling is about “myself” and the character(s) in the lyrics are also close to “myself”, I often get told that they don’t understand the lyrics because they cannot sympathise with some parts. (lol). But I’m totally fine with that…(smile)  

・ Tell us something about the song composition.
The most recent release was a digital release. It was a single with a song which expresses its message and the strength of the song by its hook. But what about the rest, where are the surrounding songs? So by releasing just one piece it feels a little bit of a waste of time, because there is nothing to compare too.
Because of that, when I release my music as a multi-song release, I try to make my audience notice why each song exists and the meaning of each song’s background. And I also try to give each song on the release a connection, that the release feels as a whole.  
The reason why the musical elements are different from each song is because I don’t want to be tied just to one genre. Some people might feel it’s hard to listen too, but as I said earlier that’s the wonderful part of NEW WAVE, you can mix anything and that spirit feels to me also similar to visual kei.

・ Please tell us about the concept of the artwork. 
This time, the photos taken by photographer “Pendori-kun”. The photos are absolute amazing cool looking…
I really wished I could take photos the way of how he takes them. I would love them to use it as an artwork. His photos totally impress me each time again. Pendori-kun also took the photos for “Tokyo Agitation 2” and since that time I have loved his photos because of their uniqueness and sexyness which makes each photo very appealing.
During the shoot Pendori-kun gets into his own zone…which makes me feel conferrable because of his gentleness and craftsmanship.
A lot of photographers have taken photos of me. But for this kind of shoot I really wanted to do it with Pendori-kun, so I asked him again. 
And because the MV of “Gum Tape” is the lead number of the mini-album.(lol) The artwork is also a packing tape (lol).
Btw, I’m waiting to receive my own designed tape. It’s fun to create your own design from scratch and it’s nice to gain inspiration from various things around me.

・ How did you come up with the concept of the special edition bonus?
Elaborate packaging was always the best part of Visual-kei.
It seems that the scene is a little less CD-oriented these days… For me, visual kei is the extreme of a genre that has solid sound and artwork and appeals to all of our five senses.
That’s why I’m so particular about the packaging this time.
I haven’t revealed the contents yet, so I hope people will pick up a copy at a store or at a live show.
I want people to look forward to it all the way. Surprises are one of the best parts of Visual-kei (laughs).

 ・ Are there any points to be aware of?
Don’t use the packing tape. 

■  About your event “Midnight Cycling Recital vol.6 Real Record! Kabukicho Great Great Fire!” Please tell us your enthusiasm and thoughts.

It has been a while since I hosted an event myself, so I hope everything goes smoothly without any problems.
The first priority is that the people who come enjoy themselves.
All the artists who appear are super cool and I’m the cutest newbie of all of them, on this day gaizao will blast everyone away for sure. 

■ Why did you choose Shinjuku HEIST for this event?

I had originally been performing at Club SCIENCE, which is located on the floor above HEIST, and when HEIST was built, I was asked by the staff if I would like to see the lower floor where HEIST is located. 
I think it was probably a goth event… I was fascinated by the underground basement of Kabukicho (laughs).
It has an underground feeling even if it was just built, the place looks really beautiful. It really feels like the home of gaizao, as if I created it. Well everyone please come and don’t get lost. 

■ Why did you decide to call your event “Midnight Cycling Recital vol.6 Real Record! Kabukicho Great Great Fire!”

Midnight Cycling Recital has been the title of my event since before gaizao, and the subtitle is based on the colour of the location and the performers. I like to play in Kabukicho. There are a lot of strange restaurants, good restaurants, things you don’t want to see, and a lot of glamorous things, you know? I thought that Kabukicho would be a great place to host the event, so this time it was “Real record! Kabukicho is on great great fire!”

■ It is said that gaizao’s live shows have a unique atmosphere. Please tell us the unique color of gaizao’s live performances.

There are various people who became solo artists and even in visual kei it became accepted to come out solo. I’m also very thankful to my seniors and mentors.
gaizao puts in lots of effort to make anyone dance on the floor and that’s unique to be able to let anyone dance.
My music is also close to club music, which melts into me as well and of course I show that feeling at my shows.
I’m always very happy if the audience feels that my live shows are unique. It always makes me really happy if I see the audience dance in front of me. 
So, gaizao’s live shows are unique because everyone makes it unique together. 
It’s fun to dance alone at a dance club, but at a live house I wish to dance with everyone. So please continue to enjoy gaizao’s lives…I will continue to give my best to make it enjoyable for you! 

■ What do you enjoy the most about hosting live events?

When I host an event I am able to explode my own colour at the venue.
I really wish that those who will visit my events enjoy it to the fullest, even if they need to watch artists they are not interested in. I try to create the perfect atmosphere that everyone will still enjoy, so I prepare a lot of things for everyone. So it’s always fun to organise. Also, one thing that all my live shows have in common is that more and more people enjoy gaizao’s songs. This makes me very happy. 

■ To continue your music activities, what’s the most difficult part about it?

It’s money. I know that some people don’t like this answer, but it’s money.

■ Can you speak English or other foreign languages?

I only speak a little bit of Chinese…(smile) No…I’m not at a level where I can say I can… but I would like to learn. Learning languages of various countries…. Getting known overseas is one of my dreams. So I’m waiting for overseas bookers to invite me.(laugh)

■ What kind of year do you wish 2023 gonna be?

Every year is a great year, but I wish I could do more stuff, stuff I couldn’t do because of corona. Oh I wish to play overseas! So I’m waiting for overseas bookers to contact me. (lol)

■ Do you have any goals or challenges for your future activities?

My goal is that more people know about gaizao. I wish to challenge that with SNS strategies, which I’m not very good at. Also, I really want to go abroad. 

■ Lastly, do you have a message for our readers?

I had lots of fun answering this interview and chatted a lot, which ended up to be a long interview. If you read this far, I guess you’re a big fan of gaizao, so please keep on following and supporting me by going to my shows and buying my music. Thank you for reading! Big love for you!