LIBRAVEL, Thank you very much for the opportunity for this interview.
VOCALS: Hayato (隼)
GUITAR: Sou (奏)
GUITAR: Ray (レイ)
BASS: Amane (天音)
DRUMS: Kazuha (一葉)
Please introduce yourself with a single Kanji, and please tell us why you did choose that Kanji
Vo.Hayato: 今(Ima) (Now)
The reason is because for me the most important thing in life is “now” rather than the past or future.
Gt.Ray: 零(Rei) (Zero)
Ray is my name, but the Kanji fits my image.
Dr.Kazuha: 風 (Kaze) (Wind)
I couldn’t really think of one, but it’s “Wind”. Isn’t wind a synonym for freedom? I want to live freely without being bound by anything.
Gt.Sou: 無 (Mu) (Nothing)
Because I want to be invincible(無敵 Muteki) and because I like the word “(無限 mugen) infinity”.
Ba.Amane:天 (Ten) (Heaven)
It’s a part of my name, but I also want to go beyond everything.
Besides music, what are your hobbies ?
Hayato: Fortnite
Ray: PUBG (PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds)
Kazuha: Still to be creative; designing and video production.
Sou: Cars
Amane: Cooking.
LIBRAVEL formed in 2019, what is it like to be a new band on the visual scene? Is there a problem?
Hayato: It’s a new band, or rather we’re a new band: Everything we make is new.
Please tell us briefly about the musical background of each member.
Hayato: I learned to play the piano when I was in elementary school and since then I got interested in music, I started to learn sound and mixing on my own when I was a university student and also started to sing for the first time.
Ray: I started playing guitar when I was 17 years old and my first live was when I was 18 or 19 years. When I was 19 years old I joined a band, after my last band broke up I formed LIBRAVEL.
Kazuha: I originally started playing drums in my elementary school’s brass band club, which is how I got into music. After that I went to a music school in America to learn more about drums and music theory.
Sou: I got into X when I was in the 6th grade and started playing guitar when I was 18 years old.
Amane: I started to play bass guitar because my brother was a guitarist.
Which artists and events have influenced you the most?
Hayato: ARLEQUIN. I went to see them and was very moved by every word Aki said, and so I fell in love with them.
Ray: the Gazette
Kazuha: The reason why I wanted to be in a rock band was L’Arc~en~Ciel and the reason why I wanted to learn about music in America was because when I heard Dream Theater for the first time they really impressed me.
Sou: X JAPAN
Amane: Janne Da Arc. Every time I saw them live, I wanted to be on stage too.
What is each member’s own unique inspiration for creating music?
Ray: listening to different genres of music.
Kazuha: It varies from time to time, such as actual incidents, stores from novels, movies etc, scenes from dreams, memories from the past etc.
Sou: Listening to Mozart.
Amane: I listen to mainstream music when I create new bass lines.
How did you become interested in visual kei?
Hayato: I’ve been listening to L’Arc~en~Ciel since I was born, also I was attracted to their unique world view, way of singing and music, and that’s how I fell in love with Visual Kei music.
Ray: I didn’t like Visual Kei music at all, but after listening to the Gazette, I started to love it.
Why did you choose to form LIBRAVEL as a visual kei band?
Ray: The bands worldview, visual kei would be the best way to express it.
What’s the most difficult thing for being an artist?
Hayato: Conveying my feelings. I’ve always been unable to express my feelings, so it’s difficult for me personally to convey what I’m feeling or what I want to say at a live show.
Ray: It’s my spirit. The more serious you are about the music, the more you get lost in it, so the hardest thing is to maintain the mental strength to overcome it!
Kazuha: I guess it’s the starting point. For both composing and designing, once I am in the composing/design flow, the work goes very well, but if I’m not inside that flow, I’m just lazy and can’t get my work done… lol.
Sou: I guess, to stay motivated.
Amane: It’s about facing yourself, and it’s difficult to find your personality and other aspects of your strengths.
To all of you, What is visual kei? What is the connection between music and visual? And what does Visual Kei mean to you?
Hayato: For me, I think visual kei is a culture, a wonderful culture where it’s easy to draw your own image, your own ideals, your own world. The meaning is inside this band.
Ray: It’s a genre where we can express our entire worldview. The looks of visual kei bands doesn’t differ that much from each other, but visual bands have intense music and wacky lyrics. Visual Kei isn’t really suitable for TV, because the topics aren’t just bright and fun, it’s also heartfelt and dark. I think it’s a genre where you can express a negative expression on top of the sound.
Kazuya: For me “visual kei” is a stage where you can express the music you want to make to the fullest extent, not only audibly but also visually. And that’s also the true meaning of “visual kei”.
Sou: For me visual kei is the coolest of any genre.
Amane: For me, visual kei is youth and it’s all about music.
What’s your favorite place to write a new song?
Ray: Home
Kazuha: I usually come up with a new melody at home while playing piano notes on my keyboard.
Kanade: When I’m out for a walk.
『追憶/Tsuioku』 Type A
1.Shuukai Meirei。(集会命令。)
2.REMINISCE
3.Shin“kyou”sha (信“狂”者)
4.The Last Days…
5.EGOISTA (エゴイスタ)
6.Hitoribocchi (ひとりぼっち)
『追憶/Tsuioku』 Type B
1.al Coda
2.REMINISCE
3.Shin“kyou”sha (信“狂”者)
4.The Last Days…
5.RUIN
6.『S』
Could you tell us something about the costumes and artwork for “REMINISCE” (追憶/Tsuioku)?
Hayato: For my costume, I had an image of a military uniform, a prince, or something in between.
Ray: The previous costume was made with a good old-fashioned image.
But this time we chose costumes with an image of what we wanted to express.
Kazuha: For the artwork, I asked our designer to create a 2-TYPE design based on the title “REMINISCE” with two opposite motifs such as “Past and future” and “Ruins and near future”.
Sou: The theme of the costume was “pervert”.
Amane: It went from a nostalgic feeling from our last work to a modern atmosphere this time.
NOTE: The mini album is titled (追憶/Tsuioku) which means REMINISCE.
Why did you decide to name this mini album “(追憶/Tsuioku) / REMINISCE”?
Hayato: The Japanese translation of REMINISCE is Tsuioku(追憶). The songs and lyrics are a part of a person’s past memories and past events, which are transformed and expressed as music, so we named it “REMINISCE” to capture a part of our way of life.
What was your main inspiration for the creation of REMINISCE?
Sou: I imagined a fast-moving classical piece.
What is the lyric concept of the song “Reminiscence”?
Hayato: The concept was inspired by my old self.
There was a time when I was caught in the arms of bad happenings in the past and couldn’t move forward. But no matter what kind of life I lead, it’s the time I’ve lived, so I turned it into a poem to remind me of the time that has passed, and to make it a proof that I was alive.
The atmosphere of the music video “Reminiscence” is really wonderful. How did you make this music video? What was the idea behind this music video?
Ray: Our first MV we wanted to give a good old-fashioned feeling, but for this MV we wanted to emphasize our presence as a band, so we added our own colors to it. For the background of the MV we imagined a future which could happen in the future. It is a worldview that imagines people from a different perspective than the androidization of humans and their current form.
There is a lot of different content on the LIBRAVEL Youtube channel. Why did you decide to share different types of videos?
Ray: Because it’s trendy.
Kazuha: YouTube is becoming a very influential medium these days. It’s not just about sharing music, it’s also about creating a lot of excitement by sharing various other videos. We thought it would be a great opportunity to open up the doors to people who don’t already like visual kei and let them get to know LIBRAVEL. So we post all sorts of videos.
Corona is a global problem, how do you as an artist face it?
Hayato: Well, music has saved my life, so even if it’s a hard time now, I’m going to save everyone within my reach, including myself! I and we are going to face it with the feeling that we are able to do it!
Ray: Since we only have music, which we distribute via YouTube, digital distribution and physical, also we’re going to do live show’s with a small number of fans so that we can keep social distance.
If LIBRAVEL were to perform anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Hayato: USA, I want to touch this thing called ‘free country” through my music.
Ray: I want to go to Tulsa again
Kazuha: Personally, I want to make a triumphant return to the USA where I have many memories.
Sou: Wembley Arena
Amane: I would like to perform in the USA, where my favorite metal bands and others have performed.
What’s your ultimate goal for the future?
Hayato: World Tour!
Ray: To create the kind of songs which saves people’s lives. I wish to give people the courage to live on when they’re feeling desperate to die.
Please give your message to your fans and readers.
Hayato: We’re not a band which will be beaten by corona or anything like that, so please don’t worry about it! Let me hear your loud voice again!
Ray: Cheers!
Sou: I’ll be waiting for the day we meet!
Kanade: Be careful to not catch COVID-19
Amane: Thanks for reading until the end!
Thank you very much for this interview!
Interview together with Katt.
We will work together on more interviews in the future!
★SNS★
Twitter: 隼
Twitter: レイ
Twitter: 奏
Twitter: 天音
Twitter: 一葉
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