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- Where did you two first meet?
Kalm: He hit on me outside Studio Alta.
Dada: I was out there feeding the pigeons, and they were like, "There's
none other than him."
- Right, so you met outside Studio Alta. And Velvet
Eden itself was established in November, 1998. But when did you first
meet? .
Dada: About half a year before that. Back then we were doing different
activities, and at the same time everything wound down for us and we had
a lot of free time.
- How did you decide on the concept for Velvet
Eden?
Dada: I'd been focusing on my own band from the beginning, but back then
there were a lot of bands like us and it was hard to do. But, then, suddenly,
I realized that no one was left. Well then, I thought if I tried now it
might be easy, and it was.
- Then Velvet Eden was formed as a band where you
could do the types of performances you wanted to?
Dada: I wanted to place really strong emphasis on performances, but I
thought it would be easier to express ourselves to the fans if we focused
on moving ahead with comparitively light footwork.
- And so you've been doing live performances, and
they've remained the same style as they are now from the very beginning?
Dada: Yes.
Kalm: If there's any difference, it's only to the
extent that we have a guitarist now.
- What are you aiming for in terms of sound?
Dada: A one-hit wonder. There've been one-hit wonders from every time
and place imaginable, right? I've always loved them! Gazebo, Balitmora,
the like. And I wondered if I couldn't bring all of those kinds of people's
attraction into something. I wondered if I couldn't actually keep something
going then (laughs).
- I see (laughs). And Kalm's in charge of the songwriting,
and so I'd like to hear from him what kind of songs he feels he's writing.
Kalm: The songs I want to write I suppose.
- Ah, and as for your lyrics, Dada?
Dada: Those're one-hit wonder too. I don't like the idea of something
not ending with one blow. I hate to continue on neverendingly with the
lyrics, or to say something's a "prequel." That's why I like
one-hit-wonders, but that doesn't mean I'll make it end like any old one
hit wonder. I'll bring the stories to an end one song at a time, and then
connect them, and then they'll become one large story from that. There
were people who did that long ago, right? Like David Bowie. I was brought
up listening to things like that...I also have a tendency to be caught
up in a fabricated world, but actually, they're things from actuality.
- You're saying that what you sing aren't just
figments of your imagination?
Dada: Right. I've seen a lot of those things in my dreams! Just before
I fall asleep, or just before I awake from a dream, my senses become extremely
sharp, and so I've been thinking that must be the story setting I've been
searching for. And when I pass deeper and deeper into that state of dreaming,
I grow to understand all sorts of things...it's probably a little dangerous,
but there was a time that's all I did. That way, I more or less understoond
the flow of the story, and the types of people the characters were. And
then, when I awoke, I thought of how I must have just made it into a warped
version of how things had happened in reality. So I wrote that all down,
and now I'm being made to feed it all back.
- In other words, you can control your dreams?
Dada: I can! No kidding. Like, "gosh, this dream's a little harsh!~"
(laughs). I've even had people I meet in my dreams tell me, "Cut
it out. This ain't a dream!" And then, I've had some interesting
dreams where the characters from Velvet Eden will all come out and hold
council. They'll say they can't keep up with me, and that I'm being too
willful and selfish! And when that happens, one of the characters'll say
something like, "Ah, it's come to this point already. I've gotta
die now" and that sort.
- (laughs) You were just seeing that?
Dada: I inferred it.
- Moving on, your common point in music must be
darkwave, right?
Both: Yeah
Dada: It's not just darkwave; I like fragile things. Like things that
are gone...so I don't like things that can keep on living strongly. Perhaps
among the people who like Velvet Eden, there are a lot who gravitate towards
those kinds of things. Ruins, people who've died...I think those are close
to a state of dreaming. So in connection to darkwave, there aren't really
many people who are overflowing with life it seems. If dark wave became
popularized, I definitely wouldn't like it!
- And, your first album, "Ningyou Shoukan",
will be released Dec. 10th, but what kind of songs are the six you've
recorded for it? Like, are they songs you've already performed, or...?
Kalm: I wrote them for this album.
- What's the part you want to get across this time?
Kalm: It's been put out pretty plainly, and the
rythm's different from how it is in its raw form, so I'll be happy if
those who don't know about us listen for that point.
- And on the lyrical side?
Dada: We tried lightening up a little. If you're talking about in relation
to the lyrics, I wanted to stray from the demo tapes and music we've made
until now a little bit, in terms of content. But it's not a complete departure
from the story; I wanted to do something a little side-story-like. If
you listen to it, I think you'll understand parts about the main story
that you hadn't quite gotten before. After that, it's like you've been
given a glimps at how the main story will unfold from now on I guess.
- Your demo tapes are all sold out now, so it's
it a problem for you to make this your intro band work?
Dada: It's perfectly fine. It's not like it'll be aweful if you don't
understand everything from here on. I made it so you can get the story
no matter where you pick up from. That's what I meant when I said everything
is contained in itself before!
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