First of all, could you please introduce yourself?

MIYAVI: I’m MIYAVI, a guitarist who can sing, dance and tell jokes! I’m working very hard and doing my best with musicians of the same generation as myself, to arouse the Visual music world!

Have you ever been to Europe?

MIYAVI: I have been to France and England, for photo shoots. I was surprised to meet foreign fans there. In France I visited a club called [Queen]. When I left the club a little bit drunk at around 4 am, there happened to be a fan outside who said ‘Ahhhhhh------!’ when she saw me(laugh). In Japan, I usually don’t have my picture taken with fans, because it might cause a rumor which I won’t have the slightest idea about, and that could cause trouble. But I was drunk and excited at the time, so we said ‘Let’s take a picture together!’ (laugh)

When did you start taking an interest in music and guitars? When did you start playing guitar? Who inspired you?

MIYAVI: I was 15 years old. I had been playing soccer and intended to be a professional player. But in the 2nd grade of junior high school, I dare to say that I failed in that. But I happened to hear some talk about starting a band, and I got a guitar. At that time I didn’t have a role model, I just wanted to play the guitar and write songs on the guitar all of the time. Although I listened to various types of music, I was very moved by Visual-kei artists such as X-JAPAN and LUNA SEA. As well as that, I liked the Blues, and I listened to hard rock bands such as METALLICA, L.A. Guns, MARILYN MANSON, Industrial style music such as NINE INCH NAILS, and a even a little bit of Motown such as Ray Charles. Because of those artists I got various elements from all kinds of places, but by far the biggest effect was from Visual-kei artists.

What kind of band was your first Band ‘Loop’?

MIYAVI: It was nothing but visual-kei! (laugh) 'Loop' was the band I played in from my 3rd grade of Junior high school. In that band I studied how to do make up, how to perform lives, and how to write songs.

Why did you choose to be a solo artist instead of forming a new band after Due ‘le quartz? Have you ever thought about joining/starting a new band?

MIYAVI: When the band broke up, there were fans already for a new musical project to begin so I didn’t have time to find members to make a new band immediately. I wanted to start rolling straight away, because the fans were waiting for me. I didn’t have singing experience, so at the beginning my singing was a little off, but I thought things would improve as I progressed, so I started as a solo artist.

Had you never had experience singing before?

MIYAVI: I only shouted.(laugh) I just made loud noises in the background. I had never done lead vocals to convey something in a song.

Did you write lyrics by yourself?

MIYAVI: I wrote both lyrics and music all the time. I also did all of the sequence programming by myself. That was until I began my solo career and debuted as a Major artist, up until then, I programmed all of the bass, guitar and chorus, prepared the pre-mixes, and brought it all to the studio.

Where did the idea for Mintaishi come from? Do you plan to reform and play with this session band again?

MIYAVI: It was just for fun.(laugh) Mintaishi was really minor and temporal and I had actually forgotten about it until right now.(laugh) When I was in Osaka, I really liked Japanese hard core bands. But after I arrived in Tokyo, I met up with the members of hard core bands, and we said ‘Let’s play together!’. Actually, our musical style was totally different, so even though I wore visual-kei style makeup and dressed up, the band still played hardcore style music. How can I describe them?…..they were close but a little bit different from The Ramones, SEX PISTOLS etc, but somehow they seemed more dangerous,(laugh), but we played together because I liked them.

Did Mintaishi actually play lives?

MIYAVI: Ju

MIYAVI'S TOURS!!!
14 Aug 2007 18:30
HIROSHIMA NAMIKI JUNCTION 広島県
17 Aug 2007 18:30
KANAZAWA VAN VAN V4 石川県
19 Aug 2007 17:30
TOYAMA SOUL POWER 富山県
21 Aug 2007 18:30
NIIGATA UNDER WATER BAR PRAHA 新潟県
23 Aug 2007 18:30
SAPPORO MOLE 北海道
24 Aug 2007 18:30
AOMORI SUNSHINE 青森県
26 Aug 2007 17:30
SENDAI NEO BROTHERZ 宮城県
31 Aug 2007 18:30
KICHIJOJI STAR PINE'S CAFE 東京都
2 Sep 2007 17:00
SHINKIBA STUDIO COAST 東京都
7 Sep 2007 19:30
星光現場 北京 <---- BEIJING! <China>
9 Sep 2007 19:30
雲峰劇院 上海 <----- somewhere in ... <CHINA!>


If you are looking for tickets for the Muffathalle venue for Dir en grey...
15.08.2007
Muffathalle
Munich [GER]
http://www.konticket.de

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