Interview with psychopath

Liner-notes publish date: 2023/01/08

■ You released your 3rd MINI-ALBUM “Vampire”. Could you share your own thoughts to our readers?

Chiru: This mini-album is the first release we have produced since corona. It also took a long time to complete, because we couldn’t meet up. So it’s a mini-album which got completed over time. When we finally finished the mini-album I felt really really happy. 
Rather than asking you to pay attention to anything, I would be happy if you could listen to everything very closely and to enjoy our mini-album deeply and broadly by all means. I hope you will notice and enjoy any details as well. So I recommend listening with some good headphones to enjoy it to the fullest.

brainmindsystem: I hope that this mini-album “Vampire”, will be an opportunity for more people to get to know us as psychopath. Also “Vampire”is filled with various thoughts. There are various points I want you to pay attention to, but I can’t say it in just single words. Well, please listen to “Vampire” as a whole. I would appreciate it if you could feel our worldview as psychopath.

■ Please explain each song to us in more detail.

Song writing explanation by brainmindsystem
01 Flower of Darkness
This song was created with the intention of showing strongly the industrial aspect of psychopath.

02 Even
This song was created with the intention of combining psychopath’s industrial and pop sensibility.

03 Eryngium
This song was created with the focus mainly on the chorus, to bring out psychopath’s pop feeling.

04 Vampire
Usually I create songs from guitar phrases, but this song was created from the synths.
After Chiru added her melody and lyrics, the song turned out to have a real nice feeling.

05 new world
Chiru asked me to create a song which would end with the sound of a piano as well, so we brainstormed about how we could do that the best and it turned into this wonderful piece.

06 鬼灯
This song was a big challenge for Chiru, as she took my rough guitar phrases and added her own melody.
Even though this was a big challenge for Chiru, it turned out to be a great piece.
It all turned into a nice song because Chiru has put in a lot of her effort.

07 Despair
NAGANO （BEAST/C.I.JOE’S PUNX） asked me; “Shall we do something together”? So we chose this song to create something together.
So we took the song “Despair?” which was originally released on our first mini-album, which is a great song for SOUND TREATMENT.
And after we finish this song, it doesn’t break the world view of psychopath at all. Together with NAGANO’s treatment, my guitar and Chiru’s vocals it’s still us.
I’m truly grateful to NAGANO.
NAGANO is my favourite seniors, teacher and eternal rival!

Lyrics explanation by Chiru
01. Flower of Darkness
Because this song is an instrumental song, there aren’t any lyrics.
The title of the song is dark, so we added a deep bass sound and I added the melody of the piano with the feeling as how a flower would sound.

02 Even
There are various ways to translate “even” in Japanese. There are various meanings such as “balanced” and “equal (height)” etc.
The song has the meaning of wanting to walk on the same line as someone and view things from the same point of view. The lyrics focused on the future, where you wish to walk together with someone forever.

03 Eryngium
I love flowers and Eryngium is the name of a flower.
In the flower language this flower means “secret love”.
So this song is also about secret love for someone.
The lyrics are written as a story, at first it’s unrequited love, in the middle it’s mutual love, but what will happen at the end…?
Please read the lyrics^[1] and feel the sadness of a woman.

[1] You have to buy a real copy of the album to read the lyrics. The lyrics aren’t available to read online.

04 Vampire
I love vampires and wanted to make a song about a vampire someday.
And that wish came true with this mini-album.
I wrote the lyrics from the perspective of a vampire while pretending to be one myself.
We also released a MV for this song and I play the vampire in the MV.
I hope you will enjoy this song, the lyrics, the video, everything about it.

05 new world
The world you are in feels so bright and happy to me. It’s a song full of hope that I want to escape from where I am now and go to a new world where you are.

06 鬼灯 (Hozuki)
The title of the song is also the name of a flower.
In the flower language hozuki has the meaning of “falsehood”.
The theme of the lyrics is “fake self”.
The weak hide themselves.
The weak are afraid of others.
But the weak are really strong as well.
So, don’t pretend to be something you’re not.
It also expresses the hope that we can live our lives as we are.

07 Despair
Despair is despair. It’s a poem for someone who is desperately saddened by the loss of a loved one. Why was it you and not me?

■ What kind of year you hope 2023 is gonna be.

Chiru: I have been concentrating on a mini-album production for the past few years which we finally completed and released. For 2023 I would like to stand on stage again, which I wasn’t on for a while.
psychopath’s lives are different from my solo activity, because my movements are quite more violent. I’ll do my best to practice a lot to give the best show. So, Please come to our live show if we schedule those again!

brainmindsystem: I want more people to know about the existence of us, “psychopath”! I want to be such a year

■ Do you have a message for your fans and readers?

Chiru: Thank you for reading until the end. I would be happy if you would listen to our music a lot from now on. Thank you for your continued support.

brainmindsystem: Those who already have purchased and listened to our 3rd  mini-album “vampire”, I love you!
And for those who still have not, even if you are just a little bit interested in us psychopath, I would appreciate it if you could purchase the CD or download it from a distribution site. Well, thank you very much!

Interview 2022/01/28
VocalのChiruとGuitarのbrainmindsystemによるデジタルロックユニット。
暗い輝きを放つ世界観は聴くものを魅了する。
そんな二人にお話を伺いました。

・3rdアルバムを制作されているそうですが、今作のコンセプトなどは何かありますか？

brainmindsystem→僕個人的にはインダストリアルポップを目指してます。
でもだからと言ってコンセプトや決め事を決めずお互いに自由に音を作りあげていくのんが僕達のやり方です。

・現在レコーディングはどのくらい進まれていますか？

Chiru→ようやく半分ぐらいまで出来てきたかなとゆう感じです。
私、レコーディングになると緊張しちゃって固くなってしまい、いつものように歌えなくなってしまうんです…。
なのでレコーディングは毎回苦労していて。
自分の納得いく歌が歌えなくて、何度もやり直して…自分との闘いですね。
妥協はしたくないので、時間かなりかけてでも自分の納得いく歌が歌えるまで頑張りたいと思ってます。

brainmindsystem→僕達は遠距離なんで今この世の中コロナの状況でなかなか会えていなくてレコーディングがなかなか前に進めていない状況ですね。
でもまぁ僕達は僕達のペースでやって行きますよ。

・楽曲の制作過程はどのような感じですか？

Chiru→psychopathの楽曲に関してはbrain氏がオケを作ってきて、それを私が聴いてイメージを膨らませ曲のテーマを決めていきます。
テーマが決まったらそれに合うようなメロディや、ピアノを入れる曲に関してはピアノを入れて、最後に歌詞は書く感じです。

・それぞれソロでも活動をされていますが、ユニット活動との大きな違いは何でしょうか？

Chiru→ソロに関しては自分のやりたい音楽を自由に作って表現しているわけなんですが、ユニットに関してはbrain氏が曲を作ってるので自分では絶対作らないような曲を持ってくるんで面白いですね。
こんな激しいサウンドの曲を私が歌うの？て思ったこともありますし、この曲にどんなメロディを合わせようかとか、brain氏の持ってきた曲をどう活かすか、色々考えながら二人で作り上げるのは楽しい時間だったりもします。

brainmindsystem→楽曲の表現力の幅が全然違いますね。
僕1人（ソロ）では表現出来ない物をChiruは作りあげてくる。

・brainmindsystemさんが京都、Chiruさんが仙台で活動されていますが、お二人の出会いはどのようなものだったのでしょうか？

Chiru→二人の出会いに関してはカッコよく言えば出会うべくして出会ったとゆう感じですかね。
出会った当初はお互いそれぞれ音楽活動をしていて。
私はユニットを組んでいて、brain氏はソロでやってて。
ユニットが解散してからは一人でやっていくと決めて私もソロで活動するようになったんですが、暫く経ってからまた誰かと一緒に音楽やりたいなってゆう気持ちが芽生えてきて。
それで一緒にやるならbrain氏しかいないなと思ったんです。
で、ユニット一緒にやらないかと誘ったのは私でしたね。

brainmindsystem→ファンと読者の人はここが一番知りたいと思うんですよね。
2人はどう出会ったのか？
でもあえて秘密にしときます。（笑）

・お互いの第一印象はいかがでしたか？

Chiru→出会った当初は全身黒くて長髪で、前髪で目を半分隠しててビジュアル系って感じでした（笑）

brainmindsystem→行動力のあるネガティブな女の子（笑）

・psychopathの名前の由来を教えて下さい。

brainmindsystem→名前のとうり精神異常ファンの方が僕達の事を精神異常のように僕達の事を好きになってもらえたらと僕がChiruに提案して2人で決めました。

・京都と仙台とはなれた場所で活動されていますが、大変だと感じることがあればどんな所でしょうか？

Chiru→結成した当初は距離がありすぎるんでライブはやらずにネット上だけで活動していく予定だったんです。
なので離れてても問題ないだろうと思っていたんですが、活動していくうちにやはりライブやりたいなって気持ちが芽生えてきて。
ただ、すぐに集まれる距離ではないので会うのはいつも飛行機移動で。
ライブが決まっても一緒にスタジオに入って練習したりってのも中々出来なくてそこらへんはやはり大変ですね。
レコーディングとかも二人集まってやってるんで、特に今はコロナ禍とゆうこともあり、県外への移動が中々出来ない状況なので、それもあり音源の制作も時間がかかっている状況ではあります。

brainmindsystem→やっぱ遠距離だしすぐに会えないすぐにレコーディング出来ないと色々とあると思うんですよね。
だからと言って僕はそれを苦に感じた事は一度も無いです。
逆にそれを楽しんでやっています。

・お二人はどのような音楽に影響を受けてこられましたか？

Chiru→音楽はジャンル関係なく幅広く聴いているので、今まで色々なアーティストに影響を受けてきました。
たとえば女性だとCoccoさんや八神純子さん。
私が裸足で歌うようになったきっかけはCoccoさんですし、ピアノと歌とゆうスタイルは八神さんの影響も強いです。
ピアノに関してはスガダイローさんをリスペクトしていて彼のピアノを初めて聴いた時は衝撃を受けました。
後、最近はpsychopathの楽曲でラップを取り入れた曲も作ってるんですが、私がラップをやりたいと思ったきっかけはglobeのマークパンサーさんに憧れてです。
やりたい事はどんどんやっていくスタイルなんでラップに関しては初心者ですがこれから頑張っていきたいと思います。

brainmindsystem→
ソフトバレエ
ATARI TEENAGE RIOT
ミニストリー
ザマッドカプセルマーケッツ
デランジェ
BOOWY

・今の担当パートを選ばれたキッカケは何でしたか？

Chiru→私の担当パートはvocalとpianoなんですが、ピアノに関しては4才からやっていて。
ただ子供の頃はピアノ弾くのは好きではありませんでした。ピアノの先生が怖くて。ピアノ辞めたいとしょっちゅう言ってましたね。笑。
で、中学生ぐらいの時にピアノ教室を辞めてからは暫くは弾いてませんでした。
また弾き始めたのは確か12年ぐらい前だったと思います。
当時アコースティックユニットを組んでたんですが、その時にピアノと歌を担当することになって。
それからまた始めた感じですね。
歌に関しては子供の頃からずっと歌うのが好きでした。
子供の頃は演歌をよく歌ってた記憶があります。
小学生に入ってからは自分で曲も作り始めて友達とユニット組んで歌ったりもしてました。
自分から歌をとったら何もなくなるんじゃないかってぐらい歌は私にとって生きがいです。

brainmindsystem→ギターに関しては僕がガキの頃に家にギターがあった。
プログラミングとしては僕が好きだったバンドがデジタルだった。

・(brainmindsystemさんへ)この記事にご登場されていますがNAGANOさんとエルシードの当時の思い出をお聞かせ下さい。

brainmindsystem→もうNAGANO（BEAST）さんとは古い付き合いです。
僕がガキの頃（ヤンチャだった中学生）の学校の先輩でその当時からむちゃくちゃ可愛いがってもらっています。
昔先輩が後輩に卒業式に学ランを渡すと言うふうしゅうがあったんですけどNAGANOさんのタンランを僕が受け継いだと言う（笑）
エルシードのシゲタ君は僕が当時音楽活動も何もしていない頃NAGANOさんが当時BODY DEPTHと言うバンドをやっていた頃NAGANOさんにローディーやらないか？と声をかけてもらいローディーもどき（まともにローディーをやっていない為）をやっていた頃にシゲタ君と出会いそれ以来NAGANOさんの事をお互いにリスペクトし続けている仲って言うかそんな感じっすね（笑）

・(Chiruさんへ)ユニット活動では目をサングラス等で覆われていますが、どのような意図があるのでしょうか？

Chiru→特に意図はないんです。
ただ、自分の顔にコンプレックスがありまくりで顔の全てをさらけ出す勇気がないだけです。
なので写真を撮る時はどこかしら隠しています。
たまに片目だけ見せる時もありますが、顔を人に見られるのが怖いってのもありますね。
前作の2nd albumでCOMPLEXって曲があるんですが、コンプレックスをテーマにした曲で自分のことを歌ってる曲でもあるので良かったら聴いてみてください。

・今後の活動予定を教えて下さい。

brainmindsystem→まずは3rdアルバム作りそれからライブって感じすかね

・ファン読者の皆様に一言お願い致します。

Chiru→いつも応援してくださっているファンの皆様、ありがとうございます。
皆様の応援が私の日々の心の支えになっています。
コロナ禍でライブ活動の方も今は全然出来てない状況が続いていて、待っててくれているファンの方々には申し訳なく思っています。
今年こそはアルバムを完成させてライブをするのが目標なので楽しみに待ってていただけると嬉しいです。
今後とも応援よろしく哀愁。

brainmindsystem→はい より多くの人に僕が醸し出すサウンドに脳が刺激されChiruが醸し出す ボーカルに心響いてもらえたら幸いに思います。

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Interview 2022/01/28
psychopath is a digital rock unit consisting of vocalist Chiru and guitarist brainmindsystem. Their dark and radiant worldview fascinates their listeners all around the world. We spoke with them about their music.

・Hello and thank you for accepting this interview. I heard you are working on your third album. What is the concept behind this album?

brainmindsystem→ Personally, I’m aiming for industrial pop. However, it is our way to freely create sounds with each other without deciding on a concept or decision. 

・How far along are you in the recording process?

Chiru→I feel like we’re finally halfway there. When it comes to recording, I get so nervous and stiff that I can’t sing as well as usual… So recording is always a challenge for me. One song took a while until I was satisfied with it, so I had to retake it over and over again… It was a battle with myself. I don’t want to compromise, so I want to give everything until I can sing a song that I’m satisfied with, even if it takes a lot of time.

brainmindsystem→ Because we live so far away from each other, we haven’t been able to meet again because of Corona. So we haven’t really been able to move forward with recording. But we’re going well at our own pace. 

・ What is the process of creating new songs?

Chiru→ For “psychopath” songs, brainmindsystem creates the basic melody and after I’ve listen to it, we’ll create the image of the song. Once the theme has been decided, we create the final melody that fits the theme. If I feel it needs also piano, we add it too. After the track is done musically, of course, lyrics will be added to it too afterwards. 

・What are the bigger differences between your solo activities and your unit activities?

Chiru→ As for my solo work, I’m free to create and express the music I want to, but as for the unit, brainmindsystem writes the music, so it’s interesting that he comes up with songs that I would never write myself. When working with him, I often think; “Am I really going to sing a song with such an intense sound?”. It’s really fun to work together while thinking about what kind of melodies will match for each song which brainmindsystem wrote for us.

brainmindsystem→ The range of the expressions inside each song is totally different. Of course, Chiru is able to create something that I alone (solo) cannot express myself.

・brainmindsystem lives in Kyoto and Chiru lives in Sendai. Because it’s really far away, how did you two actually meet? 

Chiru→ As for how we met, if I were to put it coolly, I would say that it was just a matter of time before we met. When we first met, we were both doing our own music. I was in a unit, and brainmindsystem was a solo artist. After the unit broke up, I went solo and started my solo project, but after a while, I started to feel like I wanted to create music with someone again and I thought that brainmindsystem was the only person I could work with. I was the one who asked him if he wanted to start a unit project with me.

 brainmindsystem→ I guess our fans and readers really wish to know how we both meet. But I would like to keep that a secret.

・ How was your first impression of each other?

Chiru→ When I first met him, he was dressed all in black with long hair and bangs that half covered his eyes. It gave him a visual-kei look. (laugh)

brainmindsystem→ A negative girl with lots of energy (laughs)

・ Please tell us the origin of the name of psychopath. 

brainmindsystem→ As the name implies, I proposed the idea to Chiru, and we both decided on it, hoping that fans of mental illness would like us as much as the mental illness like us.

・brainmindsystem lives in Kyoto and Chiru lives in Sendai. What’s the most difficult part of this? 

Chiru→ When we first formed, we decided not to do any live shows because of the distance and only promote and release our stuff via the internet. At first I didn’t think it would be such a big problem, however later on I really had the desire to also stand on the stage as a unit. However, we can’t meet up right away, so we always need to take a plane to meet each other. Even if a live show is scheduled, we can’t always get into a studio too and practice together. Recording together is also difficult now, especially now that we don’t leave our prefecture because of Corona, so it takes us longer to create new music together.

brainmindsystem→ There are various things that (can) happen when you can’t see each other right away and you also can’t record right away. However, that said, I’ve never been distressed by it. On the contrary, I really enjoy everything. 

・What kind of music have you been influenced by?

Chiru→ I listen to a wide range of music regardless of genre, so various artists have influenced me. For example, for women, Cocco and Junko Yagami. Cocco is the reason I started singing and Yagami-san has a strong influence on my style of piano and singing.
As for piano, I respect Dairo Suga and was shocked when I heard his piano playing for the very first time. Recently, I’ve been writing songs for “psychopath” that incorporate rapping, and the reason I wanted to rap was because I admired “Mark Panther” of “Globe”. I’m a beginner when it comes to rapping, but I’m going to do my best.

brainmindsystem→ Soft ballet, ATARI TEENAGE RIOT, Ministry, The Mad Capsule Markets, D’erlanger, BOOWY

・What’s the reason you play the instrument you play now?

Chiru→ My part is vocal and piano, but I’ve been playing the piano since I was 4 years old. But when I was a kid, I didn’t enjoy playing the piano. I feared the piano teacher. Back then, I quit playing the piano and said I never wanted to play the piano again. (laugh). So since I was a junior high school student I’ve quit playing the piano. About 12 years ago, I thought about playing the piano again. At that time, I was forming an acoustic unit, and was in charge of piano and singing, and that was the start of playing it again. As for singing, I’ve always liked to sing ever since I was a kid. I remember singing enka songs a lot when I was a kid. When I entered elementary school, I started writing my own songs and sang in a unit with my friends. Singing is my reason for living, so much so that if I took singing out of my life, there would be nothing left. 

brainmindsystem→ As for the guitar, I had one at home when I was a kid. As for programming, my favourite band was digital.

・To brainmindsystem please tell us about your memories of NAGANO and el:cid.

I have known NAGANO for a long time already. He was my senior at school when I was a kid (a bad boy junior high school student), and he has been very cute and nice to me since then. There used to be a tradition where seniors would give their juniors their uniform after their graduation ceremonies, and I succeeded in getting Nagano’s uniform (laughs).
When I wasn’t doing any music yet Nagano asked me if I wanted to be the roader for Body Dept and in doing so, I also met Shigeta from el:cid and since that time we respect each other’s music as well.

・To Chiru, Why do you actually always wear sunglasses all the time?

Chiru→ There is no particular reason. However, I just don’t have the courage to expose everything about my face because of my inferiority. So when I take a photo I always hide things. Sometimes I only show one eye. Often I’m just too afraid that people can see my full face. There is a song called COMPLEX on our 2nd album and that song is about myself singing about an inferiority complex.

・Please tell us about your future plans.

brainmindsystem→First of all, to complete our 3rd album and after that, to plan some live shows.

・ Please give a few last words to our fan readers.

Chiru→ Thank you to everyone who always supported us! Your support is supporting me daily. I haven’t been able to do any live shows due to Corona, and I feel bad for our fans who have been waiting for us to perform again. My goal is to complete our 3rd album and perform live shows again this year. Please look forward to it! Thank you for your continued support!

brainmindsystem→ I hope that more and more people will be stimulated by the music I create and be moved by the vocals that Chiru pours out.

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