Billy interview

JaME recently had a chance to meet up with the five members of visual kei indie band Billy. As well as getting to know the band and their concept a little bit better, we took the opportunity to ask them about their first full album Bouquet, which will be released in January. In addition to solving the mystery about the band’s fondness for the letter B, we also asked about the infamous naked photo shoot...

The bandmembers have also written a shorty entry for our weblog.


Can you please introduce yourselves?

Baku: I’m the vocalist; Baku.
Mine: I’m the guitarist; Mine.
Takuma: I’m the guitarist; Takuma.
Tsubuku: I’m the bassist; Tsubuku.
Hiroshi: I’m the drummer; Hiroshi.

How did each of you get interested in music?

Baku: I was influenced by my father. I didn't know much about different genres, but my father really liked a guitarist named Masayoshi Takanaka, so I was listening to that kind of rock music all the time. I'd stand by and copy him using a tennis racket as a guitar (laughs).

Did you play guitar first?

Baku: No, I couldn’t play. (laughs) But my prompts to start music were cover bands that I joined in my junior high school and high school days.

What kind of music did you cover?

Baku: I played X-JAPAN or LUNA SEA, because at the time there was a boom in the Visual Kei scene.
Mine: I used to be a kid who watched TV all the time. I was interested in various idols, anime, and other popular things, one of which was bands and rock. I don’t know when I started concentrating on it, but I started to like music instinctively. Then I was asked by my friend "Why don’t you play in a band?" in my adolescence, and I thought "Ah, that’s cool. I’ll do it." It was something like that.

Did you play guitar first?

Mine: I bought a guitar first, but I wanted to stand out and be a vocalist, so I did a vocals for a while actually, but...well... I found I had forgotten myself! (laughs) However, I wanted to play an instrument in a band. I saved my money from New Year’s gifts and from doing paper rounds, and I bought a cheap guitar to play. As I started to want more originality, I gradually moved to the center of the band.
Tsubuku: I was forced to play piano as long as I can remember, so I played piano for a long time. My father also played piano, and I listened to it. I was surrounded by such an environment; that was my prompt to touch music first.

What prompted you to start a band and play bass?

Tsubuku: A bass has only 4 strings, so I thought it would be easier. (laughs)
Takuma: I was perhaps influenced by my elder sister. Her hobby was collecting CDs, so I'd listen to them and watch TV programs with her.

Did you see X-JAPAN and LUNA SEA?

Takuma: Yes. The first time I saw Visual Kei was LUNA SEA, so I started from there.
Hiroshi: My father played in a band since I was a child, so there were all kinds of instruments in my home. My elder sister played piano, and there was a guitar, bass, and a drum set. I just thought "It's noisy" when I was a child, but when I was in high school it started to seem cool to be in a band, so I got interested. I don’t know why but I chose drums because not so may people played them.

How did you meet each other?

Mine: There were members of my juniors who were roadies. We met like that at first, but when I made a band, I didn’t care about who was senior and who was junior, especially as I wanted to invite attractive people. At that time there were many attractive people among my juniors, so I asked them one by one.

Did almost all of you sympathize with Mine’s music and assemble to play with him?

Baku: Yes.

At around the same time?

Baku: Among us, Takuma and I had been getting along with Mine for the longest time and we listened to his music most. I respected him since I was his junior.

Did you meet him in live houses often?

Baku: Yes, I accompanied his band. I used to do my own band at that time too, but I felt a bit like I was cheating on them since I wanted to sing his music.

And later, Tsubuku and Hiroshi were asked to join the band?

Baku: Well, we knew them from before.

Why did you decide on the name Billy?

Mine: I thought that it would be good to have a name that felt young, like a young boy's name. However, I didn’t care about our band’s name that much, actually, because I thought that people would remember us more from what we would do, such as our songs and performances. So with all this in mind I wanted a band name that was a common name easy to recall, rather than a complicated name that could be interpreted in various ways. I often find myself listening to other bands that start with the letter 'B'. In this world there are many bands that start with 'B' such as the Beatles, and BOØWY in Japan as well. They're great artists, so I thought I would raise the stakes from the beginning. We often say "We will be the best 'B' in your history!" as our catch line, and I hope we can be the band of the best 'B' personally or generally.

Why do you often use concepts dealing with boys and girls?

Mine: When I thought to make Baku vocalist, I thought about why I wanted to do so. He is, in a way, still a boy who is green and not experienced in the world. He is impudent and I felt a charm that only those in their rebellious stage have - and he never seems to grow up, so I thought to make it our theme. We are kind of similar, so I felt it was kind of symbolic of the band.

Baku, were you able to sympathize and receive Mine's work easily?

Baku: When we just started our band, I thought it was difficult. Then I understood that I should express myself just as I am, as we got along well together. Now I can really express myself in a natural way. Before, I sometimes didn’t do what I was told immediately because I was shy. Our relationship started from that of a senior and a junior, but we found ourselves on the same level, walking the same path together in the band. So I really started to think that I could express everything in Billy.

So now you can pick up his work pretty easily, right?

Baku: Yes. I want people to see and feel everything I have to offer. Good or bad.

The teamwork you both have is really good, isn’t it?

Mine: Of course, it’s incredible! We take a Japanese bath together everyday. (everybody bursts out laughing)

Until now, you've been creating works that have strong concepts. When writing songs, do you decide the concept first and start music afterwards? Or when you choose songs, do you pick the songs that matched the concept?

Mine: The most important thing, I think, is the concept. I don’t think very carefully about determining a concept, but when I get inspired I consider the theme that comes to mind. As for the theme of 'boys and girls', some people can’t imagine how kids feel at that age; Billy feels conflict or anger or loneliness one time, then other times it’s solitude, or contradiction in the world, or unrequited love. So I try to bring things into relief one by one, what he fights against, or what he tries to solve. Otherwise there won't be a message, I think. So this is the concept.

It’s not easy work to make music and put lyrics on it, is it?

Mine: No, it’s a little bit different. When the concept comes to mind, music and lyrics also come at the same time.

How do you write your songs?

Mine: I face my PC with a guitar and impersonate the images in my head.

Do you arrange the songs together?

Tsubuku: In the final stages we do it together, but before that, we think about each part separately. When we play together we give advice to each other, then finish it all off.

You have two guitarists; do you each think of your parts separately?

Mine: Basically I make the base, and we talk about ideas to further the concept together. We try all of our ideas that we actually like, so it develops from there.

Baku, do you talk with Mine a lot about the world view of the lyrics that he writes?

Baku: When the lyrics are made, I ask him to give me a rough idea. I can put in my own originality, in the way I play with or progress them. However, there are times when the composer says “This part should be like this!”, so it is important to keep a balance. The songs that Mine makes have such big messages in parts of them, which I don’t have, and I think he watches me and thinks about what I do objectively. So I try to sing being aware of what the song or composer wants to say.

Do you hope to sing your own words in future?

Baku: Yes. I really hope so. I have learned so much by joining this group, and one day I would like that chance too.

Why did you decide to have your first lives "in secret"?

Mine: I’ll tell you honestly, leaving just reasons behind... We made the band without telling our mothers about it. (laughs) So we couldn’t tell them anything until the band was working well. (laughs)... Very teenager-like, don’t you think? (everybody burst out laughing) We tried not to be found out, so it had to be a secret.

About your performances; a live show is obviously more than just "playing music", but you had an opera solo for SE/entrance, music from a horror movie halfway through the show, and the vocalist made a pretty theatrical performance, waving around a huge flag and so on. Why is that so? Do you feel obligated to give your fans various stimulation other than just your music?

Mine: Yes. Those promote our world view. The stage is a sacred place of entertainment. I don’t want to say much, but Visual Kei is looked down on by some people, as though it's not particularly good music, which is a shame. It might be a long way from rock, but when making a better show of entertainment, the flow is important. Of course we show our real faces, but I want to challenge people who work seriously on the stage other than just as musicians, such as performing arts, circuses, musicals, and produce something of the same quality as them. I want to develop that. Well, it’s enough if we can get our message across as a band, but we enjoy coming up with ideas and want to try new ones all the time.

All of you contribute ideas?

Mine: Yes. I don’t say "Give me your ideas!" but all of us contribute naturally.
Baku: We are very friendly, so our hobbies come out in our daily conversation. For example, when someone says "Yesterday, I watched a movie", we say "That effect was good" or "Take a look at this", then we watch it or listen to music together, so we can easily understand each other.

Then you try to do it on stage. (laughs) But do you have anything you can’t do?

Mine: I have many things that I want to do, even we can’t do it physically. (laughs) Like if I could manage it, I'd want to do it. When I watch an entertainment show, I often think "I want to do this!"

Do of you watch musicals?

Mine: Yes. We are interested in them.

Do you aim to show fans more entertainment than just playing music on stage?

Baku: Well, the music is the premise, of course. But also we think "let's put this in!", or "let's try that!". It comes very naturally to us.

How do you make your looks match your music? What sort of feeling or theme do you use?

Mine: Well, there aren't any handsome guys among us (everybody burst out laughing). But the album title is the business title, the lyrics are speeches, and the arrangement and performance make the scene, I think. Our looks are similar to actors, and I want to make our costumes and visuals to match the concept.

In reference to the naked photo shoot, how does this express your band's concept?

Mine: In that time, we used the word 'monster' with the concept of 'death'. I thought about various ideas about what costumes and visuals we should, such as wearing monster suits. However, that was too superficial. I wanted to get across the 'monster inside humans' and 'mental death'... Then, I came up with being stark naked! (laughs) You’ll see the photographs from that time and find that our skin color is very pale.

So the theme was 'monster' and you chose to be stark naked?

Mine: Yes. That was the theme of Wednesday~Kaibutsu wa Shinukoto ni shita~. When I think of the vivid monstrous part of humans, or the part which goes towards death, I think that visual really matched us.

I thought it was because of your ironic reverse expression against the way of present Visual Kei that over-decorates itself, like "Look at us, we don't have any decoration!"

Mine: We don't think that much about the others on the scene. While we are interested in them, we don’t compare ourselves. If anything, we only have a few friends. (laughs) We rather enjoy what we make between the five of us, so it’s the concept after all.

Could you tell us about your latest single, Butterfly United? Was it easy to choose songs?

Mine: No... it was very hard! (everybody bursts out laughing) I brought so many!

From among how many songs did you choose the three you decided on?

Mine: There were about 20-30 songs, I think. (laughs)

So you chose only three?

Mine: Yes. Actually, we recorded other songs once and thought that we would use them, but just before release we said "No, it’s not right," and recorded again. We took quite a long time to choose the songs.

Three different types of songs were put on the single, and it was produced by Masao Akashi. Was there anything different from before?

Tsubuku: Mr. Akashi used to be a bassist, so I could let him judge and I could feel easy since he pointed out things that I didn’t know. He has good chemistry with us, so I felt relaxed and easy too.
Takuma: Our recording environment simply became better. Before, I myself chose various sounds, but for example when I said "I want to make this sound," he gave me lots of advice on what I should use. Because there are many fine materials for the setting, I could play easily and felt good.
Hiroshi: First of all, it was the first time that someone other than us was involved in making our songs, and we had never discussed arrangement except amongst ourselves, so I was a little bit worried about "how we would be". But I thought that Mr. Akashi's arrangement was cool, and we could understand clearly what it would become, so it was easy to play.
Baku: As Hiroshi said, I was afraid at first because it was the first time that a person except band members participated, so his judgment might be severe (laughs). However, Mr. Akashi flattered us about our good points. We finished working while we said "Ah, you can do that, so do it more!" so I enjoyed a lot. His way of thinking was interesting even in his casual conversation. I often thought "Ah, I think it’s a good way of thinking!", and such conversations were naturally a good influence in our recording. We didn’t try to do difficult things but just tried lots of different things easily, like "That’s a good idea! Let’s do it!" I enjoyed it.
Mine: It was easy. (laughs) Until now, we did it all by ourselves, and our various decisions were, at times, mistakes. As Mr. Akashi, who has a lot of experience, produced and directed us, our environment became better. I really thought that if we made music in this good environment, we could make such good music that I'd feel like I could complete it without noticing. Moreover, he didn’t deny anything that we had done before and he taught us the way to make good things even better, so we got more confidence.

Why did you decide to make a remix album of Babies, Good-bye? What was the motivation behind it? Did you want to make the existing songs better, or different?

Mine: I'm surprised with this question, like "Where did it come from!" (laughs) This Babies, Good-bye was released just after we started the band, and we rushed the release without thinking too much about it. So I wanted to do it again after a while, to add more and to do it even better. It was out of my curiosity I suppose.

Do you feel the remix changed it?

Mine: Actually it changed for me at that. Now I think I could do it better...well, even I want to re-record it totally. (laughs)

If you could pick one song from your discography to be played on the radio in a country outside of Japan, which song would you pick and why?

Takuma: Maybe I'd choose Tuesday~Kaibutsu wa koufuku ni michita~. I'd feel like choosing that because I like the song best, but also it’s simply easy to listen to, and no other song is similar.
Tsubuku: It’s so hard... But I want people to listen to the new single Butterfly United. I have the most confidence in the sound and arrangement, and I think the song was made well.
Hiroshi: I choose Wednesday~Kaibutsu wa shinukoto ni shita~. I want to see the reaction, including our photographs! (All: burst out laughing) This is from my own idea that foreign people prefer this kind of music. (laughs)
Baku: Uh... I choose Wednesday~Kaibutsu wa shinukoto ni shita~ too. This interview influenced everyone quite a lot. I think we could take the concept of this song and what we were influenced by at that time into the entertainment show on stage most. That’s why this song was released as a single.
Mine: It’s hard... but I choose Shining Dancer! I don’t think there's another song like it anywhere in the world.(laughs) If we could show our originality like "There isn’t such a band with this kind of sound anywhere else," it would be good. I wasn't sure which to choose between Wednesday~Kaibutsu wa Shinukoto ni shita~ and Shining Dancer! Well, I want people to listen to it, to be surprised and to laugh. (laughs)

You will release a new album, Bouquet, in January 2008. What can we expect from it? How will it be different from your previous releases?

Mine: We put various songs into the album, and it’s not a concept album. We tried to put in what we have now as much as possible, so I think we can show the variety of the songs we make. Besides me, Baku and Hiroshi wrote several songs, so we can show our variety even more. What’s more, a full album is a first for us! We are making it to be the greatest work of our lifetimes, so you should expect great work!

Please give a message for JaME readers.

Takuma: This time, we'd like people we hardly ever meet to read our interview. Please get to know us and get in touch with us! Keep your eyes on us!
Tsubuku: This is the first time for us to have exposure to overseas fans as Billy. If you get interested in us when you read this, I would like you to get to know us a bit more. I’m happy if you get interested in our previous works and following works even if it's just a little bit.
Hiroshi: I really want to know how you, foreigners, think of us! (laughs) I think we can give you more surprises. Please send us e-mails! Thank you!
Baku: I want to perform overseas, and I want you to come to see us. We could even play naked. (laughs) I’m very happy with this opportunity to have an interview, and we really want to go overseas and show our stage show to you all. I think it will come true one day, so please wait for us!
Mine: I think we are a new taste in the visual kei scene, which is getting more popular all over the world. I really want you who are interested in us here to listen to our music - and I really want to do live concerts in various places. I'm sure you will be able to feel something totally new and different, so please look forward to seeing us!