Hits (Hitsugi/NIGHTMARE) and KNZ (BVCCI HAYNES) from the unit GREMLINS. So far they’ve released two singles, [the Carnival] and [故]. It has been one and a half years from start-up to the launch of their 1st album [MAD THEATER] on February 18. Let’s tell the whole picture here.
****Hits-san as Hitsugi of NIGHTMARE, KNZ-san as BVCCI HAYNES. May we think of GREMLINS as extracurricular activities since there is a “home group” for each of you?
Hits(Vo & Gt): Participating as support members are guitarist Mizuki of Sadie, and bassist Chiyu a member of SuG; so all the members participating in GREMLINS have (another) band that is the main group. If you liken it to school, (if the main bands are like the classes) it feels like after-school extracurricular activities. However, since everybody gets together to try to play seriously, making the most of their (limited) time, GREMLINS is just like the main bands. Without a doubt GREMLINS is, for the 4 of us, a place for significant expression.
**** GREMLINS, which began in June 2013, released its 1st single [The Carnival] in October of the same year and its 2nd single [Yue] in March 2014, has finally released its 1st album [MAD THEATER] one and a half years after the band’s formation. In this work, many different characters are revealed. Is the content (of the album) constructed as unfolding stories of various people?
Hits: They are expressed by the theme given to each song. If you think of it as a movie, the images would be like short scenes (Theater) which have “emotionally disturbed” (Mad) adults in them.
**** The heroes who appeared in the music, they all have their feelings stretched to the edge of madness.
Hits: I think everyone has “sickness” and “darkness” in their heart; but people can not successfully control it so eventually they are going to breakdown. That being said, it’s not all negative stories; there’s some music that conveys the feelings of “love” and a song done with the theme of alcohol; so there are bright songs too, they’re not all devoted to one particular type.
KNZ (Dr): Regarding the album [MAD THEATER], I went back to features more like the time of the 1st single [The Carnival] which first defined the GREMLINS likeness. In addition to that, even while depicting the world-view after that, I finished the work of compiling the history of GREMLINS up to now.
**** Certainly, lively personalities and their stories have been protrayed. [Bacchus] which was also recorded as PV on the [A Type], the surrounding liquor… it’s a song that depicts a sensation of being drunk isn’t it?
Hits: Exactly, it is a song in which “liquor” was the theme. The PV was shot in a club-like atmosphere, the four band members performing surrounded by a bunch of people, fans and models who were mixed together and acting rowdy. When you watch this rambunctious video, it makes you want to join the crowd over there, I wonder if it seems like that.
**** In [Bacchus], you depict an excessively indulgent state of mind; then in [Mourou suspense], it’s a man on the verge of madness who could X(kill) at any moment.
Hits: Because the hero went to X(kill) a person. As for the suspense part, exploring someone who is a criminal is a real thrill I think; but even writing “X” and “?” on the lyrics card for this song is a play on that riddle.
**** [Cinderella] is full of cleverly written imagery that’s quite erotic.
Hits: It is, both live and in-store. The fans who come to meet the members are always making themselves look attractive. I’m a Hide fan too, so I KNOW that psychology. I wondered, can we write that “fan psychology” from a woman’s perspective. As for the erotic imagery, it is because I feel like “I have fans like that too!” In terms of fan psychology [Hidden + a] is a song which I wrote honestly about my feelings for Hide, who I hold in my heart as a yearning; but in the sense that the “hide” in [Hidden], in here I’m even hiding Hide’s name.
**** Oh, what do you mean?
Hits: If you take out the “dn” of Hidden it becomes Hide! Also the “+ A” added to the title, if you connect it to the leftovers it becomes “dna”. In other words, it was attached because I felt like “I want to connect to Hide’s legacy”; likewise the lyrics reminisce back to the time when Hide died, from the place where the story had begun.
**** I thought it was about thoughts/feelings for another person who I could’t meet.
Hits: That is because it was written to be taken as thoughts/feelings for someone special who died.
KNZ: He likes to make an underlying theme (hidden meaning) to the lyrics. It seems like a typical story at face value, but the black point of view comes out when a different interpretation is taken and you say “it’s saying such a cool thing.”
Hits: [Bereavement], which is about thinking of important people who died, has a hidden theme of “masturbation?” [INSANE] is the song of XXX, because the lyrics line up to make a hidden mnemonic. In the songs we recorded, an underlying theme may or may not always be present. Since music will change meanings and feelings depending on how it’s perceived, I’ll be happy if each one of you get it in your own way and have fun.
**** On the “B Type” you have also recorded Hide’s [50% and 50%].
Hits: It was assumed we would, since we had recorded covers of Hide’s music for 2 singles；all 13 songs recorded for the album are a whole GREMLINS’s work, not a single one can be excluded. This time when making [A/B Type], I didn’t want do a Bonus Track by cutting 1 song from there. Therefore, [50% and 50%] which had been set aside to use on the next single, was used as the Bonus Track for B Type.
**** This album explores that which can be explored, it is likely that various feelings that were buried will come bleeding out.
KNZ: Sometimes there will be bright lyrics in dark song, sometimes vice versa. So it is work that you can enjoy to how exploring hidden feelings, including the hidden themes that were put in the lyrics. If the [MAD THEATER] album itself, becomes a culminating work based on what we’ve expressed this past year and a half, and that it created for you this album, it will be more interesting how we can show the GREMLINS worldview in our first one-man tour, starting from here on out, by all means, we should make it together with everyone.
Hits: We are going to present a view of the [MAD THEATER] world, not tied to the album, to do a live where you are able to enjoy the current GREMLINS; so now it’s just trial and error, of course I want you to look forward to what will happen, but since our juggling of schedules is terrible, plan on seeing GREMLINS live now, because I don’t know when will be the next time you can see. Don’t miss this chance, I want you to come and experience a live that is alive!