Pia
--Matenrou Opera was formed in 2007, right. Your trait is a type of music that fuses melodious phrases with a violent metal sound, but, was this the shape of the band at the time when you just formed?
Sono ‘’When we just formed, the bands I had been in before had an image where we injected modern music. Previously I had been in a band with a rose-like aesthetic. So we incorporated those modern sounds, heavy rock and digital music etc. The band name and concept are the same as well; ‘’Matenrou’’ expresses the rock and digital sound etc. and ‘’Opera’’ expresses the beautiful classical and piano melodies from long ago. Thinking I want to make music mixing these two sounds together the name Matenrou Opera was given.’’
--This time’s album will be your first Major album, it being one of your chances to have a lot of people getting to know you, were you always very aware of that concept?
Sono ‘’As usual, more than ever when talking with all the members, I steadily though let’s make the music we call ‘’Matenrou Opera’’.’’
--More concretely, what kind of talks did you have?
Anzi ‘’Without restricting this album, because from every day on I’m thinking ‘’let’s fuse modern and classical’’ it became this culmination, right. Having been especially aware of that this time, that’s the attractiveness of the band. I think a band with just the vocals and the others members performing as a backing track, such conditions are not band, it’s a solo vocalist. A good meaning of the word band is where each member of a band is on the stage and such, making sound and such, fighting to be able to assert themselves and able to create a chemical reaction; that’s what a band is. That’s why each member is aware that they’re giving birth to the kids of the new generation. As for me, the number one thing I thought of was, when somebody listens to this album, I want to make them think ‘’I want to play the guitar.’’ In this work what I was especially diving into was tampering with the sounds I had created.’’
--You were thinking about having an influence on the next generation as well, right.
Anzi ‘’I am the person I am now because in my time as a kid I had bands which I thought were cool. Looking at the present music scene, it’s extremely frustrating that there aren’t really bands entering the charts. But because it’s a period in which there are a lot of bands coming up, I think the bands who can’t give me the impression that they’re cool are bad. The thing is, I don’t want the times to be an excuse for that. In this moment, I’d like to point out the tension-bearing charm of these great bands; a number of people who don’t create solo work but get together and work on one thing together.’’
--Certainly, everyone of Matenrou Opera assert themselves strongly, don’t they?
Sono ‘’That’s true, being in the center is an important thing.’’
--In even just one song there is a quiet melodious part and parts with the guitar strumming aggressively etc., this dramatic sound of quiet and moving coexisting, right?
Sono ‘’I really like dramatic things with a turn. Like chord progression, for instance changing the A melody and the B melody, changing the hook as well and an lot of different things changing, I love doing that.’’
--You let the guitar solos play with a generally good feeling as well, but is that also the highlight of the song?
Anzi ‘’That’s my style and I get a lot of people telling me the technical aspects and the fast playing is great but playing it like that is not my goal. I play, holding the idea that more than being praised like ‘’what a fantastic technique’’ I want people to be moved like ‘’I don’t quite understand but this guitar is fantastic’’.’’
--And the singing voice as well, in that strongly tense sound there is an undefeatable strength.
Sono ‘’Recently I’ve come to think like I want to become a singer who overflows with vitality. I want to become a rock vocalist who overflows with human kindness, laying bare the whole of my being while singing.’’
--‘’Justice’’ has become the album’s title as well. Is this the song which summarizes this whole album.
Sono ‘’ ‘’Justice’’ is a pillar. The title is ‘’seigi’’ (Translator’s note: that’s just the word for Justice in Japanese) however, I think there’s only as much justice as there are people. For instance, there’s also the justice of a neighboring person overflowing into the other person. However, I want my own justice to pierce through without being like that! is the meaning it is filled with. I think a person like that is able to live an enjoyable life.’’
--With other songs as well I think the image was drawn of “if I let my whole being go through, what kind of life will I live.”
Sono ‘’This time in particular became like that, right. Up till now I’d picked novel-like protagonists, like 32-year old men and so forth. I’d written lyrics doing that; this 1 year or so the amount of lyrics where I cheer on the listeners and give them a push in the back and so on is increasing. Perhaps, there’s no intention to it; ever since the earthquake disaster has happened, I think it’s become like if you’re a musician somewhere and you’re not putting out words like that, well, you can’t do that.’’
Anzi ‘’There’s a lot of things to create sympathy to that extent. As for this time, more than sympathy…’’
Sono ‘’I wonder if it’s the feeling of ‘’because we’re thinking about it’’?’’
--And so, to have the listeners think about it?
Sono ‘’It’s like that, yes, it’s like upon having them think of it, reaching out a hand.’’
Anzi ‘’That and, because more than turning to our listeners and saying ‘’therefore, let’s have faith’’, if we don’t have persuasiveness, it’s useless. Because we say the cool bands are this way, right, we aim for a sound in which our justice pierces through.’’
----And there is a tour carrying that mindset. Could you tell me about the atmosphere of a Matenrou Opera live?
Sono ‘’Because we’re a rock band, the fierce parts are fiercely violent. But Matenrou Opera is not just that and we have scenes where we have you carefully listen to the music. The audience is able to step inside the world of Matenrou Opera. I think we’re a band that is able to do that.’’
Anzi ‘’Our sound doesn’t fit in a serious live house. If it’s a hall or something, if it’s big you’ll see that the music shines. But if it’s live houses and such, if it was possible to transmit this loud sound on such a scale I think that would be nice. Simply headbanging, raging and sweating, ah, I don’t want a live that’s only fun.’’
-Nagoya is ell.FITS ALL, right. I’m looking forward to it!
Anzi ‘’I think the readers of pia (Translator’s note: that’s the site that published this interview) are people who like lots of different types of movies and plays. Recently I’ve come to think it’s useless to try and put music into genres. I hate being rejected by so called prejudice of genre. Music is music, you know. Because we have the confidence that we make good music, if you don’t stick to genres and you’re interested, please give us a listen. Because any person regardless of what they like are welcome, please enjoy our music!’’