Recently you’ve been wearing black whether it’s suits or sweatshirts. Is black a strong color for you? And does it represent anything?
ShuU: Our music has so many parts in it. There’s hip hop elements, techno elements, heavy rock elements, metal elements. When you have an artist palate you’ve got all these colors and when you mix them together – it becomes black. And that’s what black means to us.

Now that you came to Sakura Con, is there any other plans to come here in the future in the US?
ShuU: Right now it’s really still in the planning stages, but we’ve discussed it and we all want to come back to the United States.

So recently the Sakura Con commercial’s been circulating the web frequently. What’s your opinion on this?
(Members laugh as they’re being told the question.)
Яyo: It’s great.
Satoshi: I’ve watched it so many times on YouTube.

And the remixes, too?
All: Yes!

What do your friends think about it?
Satoshi: We really don’t have friends. (Laughs.)
ShuU: During the Q&A the fans really booed that commercial, but we didn’t think anything bad about it at all.
Яyo: I want to meet that guy. (Everyone laughs.) We want him to do a guest chorus. (Everyone laughs.

NP: He’s actually a voice actor, I heard.
girugamesh make a noise of surprise.
Яyo: That’s why he’s got such a great voice! I want to meet him.

This is your second time in America since JRock Revolution in 2007. How do you feel now that you’re back in the US?
ShuU: So many bands that we love are in America. So to be able to come to America and play [in the same place] – we’re very happy to do that. And we’re so happy to meet the American fans.

Satoshi, in a few comments you’ve made a wheezy old man voice. What is that inspired from?
Satoshi: (in the wheezy voice) You mean this voice? (Everyone laughs.)
ShuU: (in an equally wheezy voice) You shouldn’t do that voice now!
Satoshi: Beat Takeshi; The famous Japanese comedian Kitano Takeshi. He’s also a movie director. That’s who I’m impersonating.

Now that you’ve been to L.A. and here in Seattle – is there any other place in America you would just love to perform at?
Яyo: New York. But really all America. …The entire world. (girugamesh laughs.) Everywhere.

Did you get a chance to view some of the sights in Seattle while you were here and what was your impression of them?
girugamesh: Of course!
Яyo: It’s really pretty. (girugamesh agrees). And the view from the tower was great.

How do you think the performance on Friday went?
Яyo: I really don’t remember it, but the live was fun! So I think maybe it went well. (Laughter.)
Satoshi: You know, we’re so excited when we’re doing it that we really don’t remember much after it. It’s all a blur.
ShuU: We did the long tour in Japan and then we had a European tour, but in America we just came and did one show. We did the same type of a setlist that we did for the CRAZY TOUR. In the end, we all had fun.
Nii: The first time we came to America we were so nervous – we didn’t think that we did so well. We thought maybe we were just really excited, but maybe it didn’t go so well. But this time around we were able to really relax and do the live show. I think it went really well this time.

Nii, what’s your favorite YouTube video?
(Satoshi giggles)
Nii: I like live stuff from Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park. I love to watch their live performance videos on YouTube.

Do you watch Nico Nico Douga in Japan?
Satoshi: I look at them. I watch our stuff and I watch what people are saying.
The others said they didn’t watch it.
Яyo: It’s not so good to watch Nico Nico Douga because you’ll be watching it and all of a sudden a really bad comment will come across the screen. (Яyo and Satoshi laugh). It just depresses you. I don’t know where to put my rage! (Everyone laughs.)
Satoshi: Why don’t you just write a comment?

Would you like to live in some place that rains like this with beautiful weather or more like a beach or even a desert such as Arizona?
ShuU: I’d really like some place with water.
Яyo: I wanna check out a desert.
Satoshi: The dry air is really bad for my throat so I want somewhere that is wet.
Nii: I like it when it’s always sunny.
ShuU: Seattle has a lot of rain, right?
(Interviewers nod while making agreeing noises.)

It’s called the Rainy City.
ShuU: We should make a song called “Rainy City”. (Everyone laughs). You’ve heard it here, it’s an exclusive.

Out of the current setlist you’re playing, do you each have a favorite song you like to peform?
Яyo: Every song is fun. (He chuckles.)
ShuU: For me, I like “evolution”. Cause it’s got the chorus and a lot of different sounds in it. It’s really fun for me - even though I get tired. (He laughs.)
Nii: Me too, “evolution”, cause I can dance. (He laughs.)
Satoshi: For me it’s “smash!” cause there’s a call and response with the fans and I love to do that.

Do you each have a specific routine to get yourselves pumped up before the show?
Яyo: First I need to control my breath and I eat this. (He pulled a box of mints out of his pocket. Spearmint Frisk). I put a lot in my mouth; I chew them up. (He makes a silly chewing noise before making a roar, slightly hitting his face). And then I hit myself (Everyone laughs). And then I’m ready. (He laughs).
ShuU: I do some stretches. While I do some stretches, I imagine a good live show. I imagine how it would be going good.
Nii: I stretch and I pace around the green room.
Satoshi: I have a steam humidifier that I use for my throat and to clear my nose, I breathe, I have my manager give me a massage, and I do vocal exercises. And then let’s go.

ShuU, do you have any hidden talents?
ShuU: It won’t be a secret anymore if I told you! (He laughs.) I have an amazing talent for being late. (girugamesh laughs.) And I can sleep anywhere. And recently I’ve begun magic. (Everyone laughs before ShuU takes two rubber bands, connecting them in a cross shape.) Ok? They’re connected, right? Do you see it? Right?
(He looks at the rubber bands for a moment before slowly turning around.) Hang on. (ShuU has turned himself around, apparently fixing the position of the rubber bands as the band members laugh. He turns back around after a moment.) It’s connected, right? (The band members laugh again.)
I rub them together, and... (He rubs them together and they suddenly come apart. The interviewers made an impressed noise while clapping.) You guys are so kind, I love you. (Everyone laughs.) I’ll study more and come back to America with that.
Satoshi: Why’d you screw it up?

Since it’s an anime convention what’s some of the best cosplays that you’ve seen here that you really liked?
Яyo: Naruto. And I want to do it too!
ShuU: I was shocked by the guy who was dressed up as me. If I’m tired at my next show, I just want to use him instead. (Everyone chuckles).
Nii: Me too, the ShuU cosplayer was really great.
Satoshi: No Face from Spirited Away.

To expand on the question she had before, what do you like to do after the concert to wind down?
Яyo: Beer.
ShuU: I just like to sit, zone out and smoke.
Nii: I just sit in a chair and zone out.
Satoshi: Before a live, I don’t drink water. So after the live, I drink a lot of water.

In your last album, MUSIC, your sound seemed to morph into a more industrial type of metal. Do you plan to stick with the new style or will your music continue to evolve into different styles?
Яyo: Right now, that’s still changing. It’s still being planned. I promise you though, it will be really cool the next thing we do. So please expect it.
(After a moment of silence, they laugh.)

Яyo, you once mentioned that if you weren’t in the band you’d be in a Japanese motorcycle gang. What would the name of the gang be?
(girugamesh laughs hearing the question.)
Satoshi says to Яyo: Gyotoku number 1.
Яyo: Gyotoku number 1. (Satoshi laughs). It’s where I’m from so that’s why I want to be called that.
ShuU: There actually is a motorcycle gang named that. They’re spraying their name all over the place.
Яyo: I’d like to enter that gang. But because of the band, thankfully, I have not had to join. Thank you band! (Everyone laughs.)

So what kind of motorcycle would you have Яyo?
Яyo: The older style, like the really loud one. (Яyo and Satoshi start to imitate the noise of the bike while ShuU laughs). I’d have the Japanese headband wrapped around my head. (The band laughs). So uncool. (The band laughs again.)

What impression do you want first-time girugamesh concert goers to walk away with?
ShuU: I want them to think we’re crazy and that ‘wow that was really fun’. But the good meaning of crazy.
Яyo: Yeah, we want them to come away thinking it was fun.

What’s one question you want people to ask or one thing you want to talk about?
ShuU: It’s not really an answer to that but I’m pretty sure the fans really want to know what’s happening in the background when we’re not on stage.
Яyo: If it’s interesting, it’s going to come out anyway.
ShuU: We really talk about anything. If they ask us about girls, maybe I’m a little bit shy. But we talk about stupid things and shy things, anything.

Besides the magic trick, is there anything else all of you are trying to learn just for fun?
Satoshi: Impressions.
ShuU: He’s got a really good monkey impression.
(Satoshi starts to make monkey noises while everyone chuckles. He then pretends to pick things out of Nii’s hair and eat them; everyone laughs louder.)
ShuU: He does a lot of impressions. We were doing Donald Duck versus Donald Duck in my room today.
(ShuU starts to make Donald Duck noises and Satoshi makes a hairball like noise.)
ShuU: That’s not it!
Nii: That’s just you normally.
Яyo: I really don’t have anything else that I’m trying to do.
Satoshi: He’s boring! (Laughter.)
Яyo: I really am boring. (Satoshi laughs.)
ShuU: I’m really jealous of him though because even his hobby is music.
Яyo: But that’s boring!
ShuU: I guess, yeah. (Laughter). I have too many hobbies. And I really have to try to focus more on music I guess. (He laughs.)
Яyo: But with music my money keeps disappearing. I’m using so much money on my hobby, buying equipment and stuff like that.

Do you have an English word or phrases you like to use?
Satoshi: [in English] "In the bed." (The band laughs.) When you have fortune cookies, with every fortune cookie at the end you can say “in the bed.” (Everyone laughs.)
Please put that in your lyrics then.
ShuU: “Rainy City” and “In the Bed”. We now have two new songs.
Nii: When we did the 47 prefecture tour, I liked to always say “Are you ready?!”
ShuU: This might be a bad word but…I have a t-shirt that says “Shut the fuck up”. (Everyone laughs). And for a while I was saying it all the time. (Everyone chuckles). Without even being mad at them I would just point at them and say “shut the fuck up”.
Яyo: “Crazy”. Like the good crazy though.
ShuU: I like the word “Rock” too. I want to put a tattoo on my hand eventually that says “Rock”

“Rock” and then “Roll” on the other hand.
(The band laughs.)
ShuU: “Rock n’ Roll. Rock…in the bed.” (Everyone laughs). “Sorry”. I like to say sorry too.

Message to the readers.
Nii: girugamesh is going to continue to make good music and continue to do live shows. We do want to come back to the States and abroad. So please look forward to that.
Яyo: I’ll say it simple: We’ll do our best so please support us.
ShuU: Save the magazine that’s talking about us or bookmark the page that’s talking about us. We’re going to get bigger. And you can always look back and see what we were. Back in the past, we said these stupid things. You would know.
Satoshi: We want to go to a lot of other countries. If the fans in that country call us, we want to go. So please call us.




Nippon Project would like to thank girugamesh, JapanFiles and George Trombley for making this interview possible. Credit also to the other media who were on the press panel.