interview, translation, write up: Saiya (something or other about Matt Riser)

Interview copied from Newgrave vol. 5. Thailand: Newgrave. 2003.

Here you go honey ^_~ This is the ONLY originally English interview you will ever find on my site. Normally I'd suggest ordering the magazine, only it seems pretty non-profit. I'll take this down if there are issues with it being here. Really though, its a nice magazine, so maybe it would be worth it to get it anyways...

Lights go down, lingerie covered fans press closer to Lolitas and velvet slides against leather to vie for better positioning. The introduction music sounds, curtains open, and Bera, Mimi, and Lem take their places, each step bringing tensions higher...Yet it is not until the fourth and final member appears that we are truly captivated. He radiates. Long locks flow out from beneath his crown and over pailer than pale shoulders. Gloved and clawed hands rest delicately over his corset-covered sides. Huge fiberglass wings seem to glow behind him; amazingly they draw your eyes up and away from garter-topped stockings and his infamously frilled g-string (me: t-back in nihongo). His magnificently long eyelashes flutter, Dada's voice rings out and Velvet Eden spirits you away to wonderland.

These images float in my head as I stand outside Marui One, the department store for all your Visual needs in Shinjuku, Tokyo, a rahter conspicuous place for us to rendezvous. This does nothing for my reservations about who, or what, I will be meeting today. I expect thet prince we know clad in spider webs and roses. But will it be a man barely recognizable in business suit or worse...? The gap between stage persona and 'real life' is often startling in Visual Kei. Terrible images of pink sweatsuit-wearing band members swirl in my head. Around ten minutes after the appointed time he arrives, and my fears are quelled. This is unmistakably Dada, the performer that I admire and respect. He is tiny, even in generously healed boots and covered in leather and a few layers of lace. His face is made up, sans the trademark eyelashes, and his hair does a good everyday impression of its stage counterpart. A real life version of the character he portrays in performance. He orders an ice chocolate and prepares himself to deal with my less than perfect Japanese skills, and so we begin.

The visual scene is a fickle one; one's favorite band is often here one day, gone, name changed, or has new members the next...Velvet Eden has strangely attained its name through significant shifts in both musical style and extreme member changes. Why?? Dada looks thoughtful for a moment, ums and ahs and then smiles. "I like the name." He likes it, good enough reason. But this brings me to the most embarrassing question on the list, very early in the interview. Were the sexual connotations of the name known when it was chosen? Was the link intentional, accidental, or merely ignored? "We didn't know." Originally taken from the title of an American magazine, the meaning was discovered at a later date. The memory of this revelation creates the most adorable look of shock on his face that inevitably melts into a smile and giggles. The tension is broken and questions and answers flow more freely now. He is very aware of my level of Japanese and often pauses to check I understand exactly what he means, rephrasing or continuing once he is satisfied that I do.

On the subject of recording his countinance becomes slightly sober again. No, there are no plans to re-release their early recordings. They were created by people who are no longer part of Velvet Eden, and therefore not something that he can listen to easily. The recent 3 demo tape series will not be released on disc, but something else will be seen soon. Whether it will be on CD or demo tape is also yet undecided, but whatever the recording is, it will be something different to the latest offering. Quality seems an immensely important issue, and any amount of time will be expended to create it. Change is afoot...perhaps in the direction of their earlier, more electronic creations, rather than their current jrock feel.

Inspirations...definitely mixed. Dada listens almost exclusively to non-Japanese artists, and rattles off a fairly standard list of gothic faire. He says he likes almost anything and has what sounds like an impressive collection of one hit wonder singles. There was at least one local act that affected him: Soft Ballet. I have perhaps heard the name, but know no more. He enthusiastically explains that they were gothic before the genre truly became a trend. Such was his fandom that he was once part of a copy band. Two keyboardists only, armed with a metal hammer and a grinder or chainsaw to play their instruments with. I looked a little bemused and apparently skeptical. He assures me that it is true. and his face lights up as he demonstrates the way the audience would hold ther arms over their heads to protect themselves from the flying sparks. The man at the table beside us looks worried.

As for their Visual side? At the moment pantomime is influencing costuming. Here I find perhaps one reason that watching Velvet Eden can be more like seeing a play than attending a gig. The lyrics are fairytale-like, and their image only serves to boulster it. Their outfits are of original design, but created by others as he cannot sew (sow = pig *lol* they spell like me...O_o)...The wings he made himself. The average Visual band changes image quite easily, and as often as possible. A more punk themed, less made up appearance is quite popular on the local scene recently, so why do they remain consistently gothic in appearance? Apparently the image in his mirror needs this assistance; the gothic likeness will disappear only when he likes what he sees without the make-up. I keep the fact that he is stunning on and off stage to myself at this point. On a slightly related topic I bring up the way that Malice Mizer are often mentioned in the same breath as them, presumably due to their similarities in appearance. What does he think of this? He pronounces them scapegoats. He uses gestures again, Velvet Eden is apparently following in their path. "We use them the same way that a racecar driver uses the car in front..." An interesting perspective, and hard to interpret. Use them to advance? As an excuse? As something to measure themselves by? (As a more experienced band who knows the best way to reach the goal maybe...I mean, god, Malice just DOESN'T DIE, like... THE SMOOZE ...duuude *lolololol* ... or the phalanix...) He gives no specific references to their music or even their image. They are simply there just to be made use of, and he seems satisfied with this explaination.

As for matters of fans overseas...Is he familiar with the American gothic scene? Not now, not really. But it was a big part of his past. Has he ever considered touring or releasing in Europe or America? No, but he might think about it if it were requested. Has he ever been to America or other countries? Only to China, but the gothic scene really isn't an issue there. He grins. He had mentioned earlier that he had just received fanmail from a non-Japanese fan. "Most of them come to Japan, don't they?" There might be some lyrics translations into English in the future (eh-heh. Really?) I ask about the internet, the only real accessible source of information for those of us overseas. His face darkens a little. He feels that foreign and Japanese internet sites differ in atmosphere. Homepages here are, well, bad luck. Bands that have them seem to break up. BBSs are witness to things that shouldn't be said, innocent comments can become destructive. But...he likes the idea of fanpages.

Does he have any message for his American fans? He ums and ahs a little again. Perhaps overseas fans see Velvet Eden's image and music as something different to what it actually is now...Him writing the music might explain this. His roots are important to him, substance is important to him. It is different to explain the connection to Visual Kei, but Japanese idol pop of the 80's held that quality. He wants to return to those roots. Everything he says to me now comes back to that one thing, attention to detail. Precision. Quality, excellence, superiority. To say that he seeks it seems too shallow a phrase. As I look into his eyes as he speaks of his music, fashion, the band, and all in between, I can see where his fascination with spiders comes from. He is such a hunter, dancing across his web with elegance and preying upon perfection.

I'm still pondering the "Malice is the Phalanix" thing. I mean it. It's like they absorb people and make them replicas of Mana (Juka and Kazuno *cough cough*)...and they never die. They are creepy.

So anyhow, I realized that I hadn't paid any attention to this when I read it the first time. Oops. I fixed a few of the typos so this isn't the exact write up; I'm sorry. It reminds me of a song I use to sing a lot when I was a kid...

One elephant went out to play, upon a spider's web one day
He had such enormous fun that he called for another elephant to come.

Two elephants went out to play, upon a spider's web one day
Then it was two minus one, so he called for another elephant to come.

Three elephants went out to play, upon a spider's web one day
But one simply did not show up, so they called for another elephant to come.

Four elephants went out to play, another live that fateful day
But nobody else did come, so they slept without their heads propped up...

...or "slit their wrists in their bathtubs," for those who never saw that movie. I modified the last 3 verses ^^ They were originally exactly like the first one, only progressively more elephanty.

And Soft Ballet isn't that obscure among jrock influences I don't think. Just ask Klaha...