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ROCK AND READ 023 – Interview with Kazuki of SCREW

Firstly, please tell us where you were born.
★I was born and raised in Tottori’s mountain recesses, and when I was small I was really cute or so my mom says. As I as a bad child, I occasionally had lower grades in primary school and to my classmates I said such things as “It’s because you have to call me Kazuki-sama” and also “If you don’t call me by that name then our friendship is over”. Well, I am a person that helps people get to their feet, so all they had to do was say “Kazuki-sama” as if they were crying. Replacing my heart from there, I became a good child (laughs)

Generally a brat?
★Yeah, I was pretty much the biggest brat.

Was it like that around the time of kindergarten?
★The time around kindergarten, I almost don’t remember anything. But I remember coming to class as showing a girl’s underwear……

So maybe that beginning of life is a memory?
★……you could say that (laughs). It gives an awful impact for the event, but I didn’t put the underwear on or anything. Though I remember giving up to display the skirt, it’s a really intense memory.

Surely that is intense.
★Even now I’ll recall that moment. I went out with that girl in middle school, she’d say “We’ve known each other since kindergarten, haven’t we. And you still won’t come [to my house]?”, so I would say “I can’t do such things. I don’t care.” (laughs)

The time around primary school?
★I was doing tennis. For about 4 years of primary school I began it regularly.

You began tennis on chance?
★I have 2 older brothers, and both of them did tennis. At home is a beauty room, but my parents wanted my to do sports, so I did a little of it at the time. That stream, I also began to do it [more].

So just by yourself, you wanted to do tennis?
★That’s right. My elder brother was very good at it. With that I got better at tennis, and a few times I had become Japan’s best*. At that kind of level, I was small and longing to be like “awesome brother”. However, when I first started tennis I was really happy.

How long did Kazuki-kun do this?
★During the time of primary school there was this national athletic meeting that I went to, and the prize was never taken. Around the first year of middle school, so things like “Kazuki has his brother’s talent, keep at it” were said but in the end I stopped playing. If I continued, I probably would’ve been in an article about tennis players (laughs)

So no more than with utmost effort, you didn’t do anything but tennis in primary school?
★Tennis was really my life then. Though I studied as usual, at the time of recess I would have a racket [and hit the ball against] the wall. If class finished, I’d go do it at the school’s court and play tennis, so tennis really effected me.

Well, weren’t you popular?
★That’s right! In those days, I think I had the best life. I had a cool brother that had a fan club at another school. So I was really noisy and all in hopes of achieving that. Eventually, I didn’t get a fan club but the people from the other school said “Let’s be friends”. Also with Valentines chocolate, I’d get it from [girls of] my school, and a lot from the other school. And now I think I get more than ever (laughs).

How old is your brother?
★I have 2, so the oldest is 5 years older than me, and the second is 4 years older than me. They both played tennis.

It’s like you’re tennis siblings.
★My first year, we were the 3 brothers that were raised [playing] tennis. I think mom and dad thought “It’s good to raise you this way~”.

Did you have a good relationship with your older brother?
★It was a good relationship. But for the oldest one, when I was in my 2nd year of primary school it wasn’t until I was a junior high school student, and I had went to a school in another prefecture and graduated there with tennis, so I don’t really have memories playing with him. My second brother I played with a lot, and met neck to neck at tennis a lot so our relationship was good.

And your parents?
★As a child, it was a good relationship. Everyone played tennis very hard, and so growing up quickly, we became closer on a grand scale…… or so I think that’s what it is in my memories. Actually, I preferred playing with my brothers but somehow I was the one that only left [the house].

So you took that as a chance to stop tennis?
★Well I stopped tennis, but my excuse for stopping is because I’m not good with socializing so I wanted to start on that more. To say that it’s typical, I made friends with a senior, and so with tennis I began to slack off. I didn’t go to practice, and the advisor started saying “Do you have any interest in this? In what way?” and so I ended up not seeing the advisor anymore. After that was a bit of a naughty time that I rushed into, but at that time I was thinking of stopping tennis like “I wasn’t able to play tennis anyway”.

So you stopped out of feeling?
★Yes. From that time, my Dark Ages began.

So under the good people, why did you make friends [with your senior]?
★Basically, my senior was a graduate from the school. It was in the middle that he was my brother’s classmate, and so my senior, and I used to drop by [my brother's class]. My brother was really serious but that person wasn’t a good one, so that senior and I became friends, and from then on the darkness began.

What about study?
★From the 2nd year of junior high I didn’t do anything.

But you did it in primary school?
★For my 1st year I was doing my best, since I think I got relatively good results then. But in my 2nd year it was almost nothing. Nowadays the good manager says “your head is unskilled!” and “I don’t know Sinology“, since they don’t think I studied flat-out in school. However, for Christmas I always get the Sinology Drill (laughs).

So why was it a dark time with your parents, Kazuki-kun?
★I desperately was made to reform my life. “You do things this way” was given to me to teach, but the parental advice of puberty, I resisted it. As a child I said “I won’t obey you, you can’t make me”. And also “I’ll do as I want”. I couldn’t do anything (laughs).

Did you like things at that time?
★I had in interest in bikes, and my senior gave me a ride and taught me how to ride one in a parking lot.

So you weren’t interested in music then?
★I was after that. My senior is from a different neighborhood and he’d say things like “Why do you like bikes? Come riding with me”, and so I’d get on and we’d go to his place to play. That person played guitar and I thought “Oh, that’s cool!” and so I began playing bass.

You thought guitar was cool but you began to play bass?
★For some reason the atmosphere was like “Let’s start a band”. I didn’t have an amp at the time, and so no band and it was like “We’ll join it together”*. We’d do it at my senior’s house, and he’d say things like “You, play the bass”.
[*Usually guitar amps are made for guitar and guitar only (same for bass) but there are a few that can play both instruments. You just have to put it in the different input jacks, and the bass would likely go on the higher one to hear and keep up the rhythm.]

So you didn’t know there was a difference between bass and guitar?
★ Not at all (laughs). In a magazine was Sex Machine Gun’s bass player NOISY-san (in those days), and I was reading that he said “I think it’s a simple thing to begin and learn that guitars have 6 strings but bass have only 4″ and so I thought, ah I see. But there wasn’t really anything I wanted to do, since I merely wanted to go have fun with my senior.

What did you do at that time?
★At the very beginning, LUNA SEA’s “MECHANICAL DANCE”. I has a bass solo in the middle, so I have a memory of playing that solo for the first time. To some extent I had hoped that I could play it [perfectly], but I played X and Halloween and Gamma Ray instead. I did those 3 at the time.

It’s metal isn’t it. So you were listening to their music?
★No. The ones I listened to were SPITZ, Mr. Children and Imai Miki. But while with my senior it was metal, so gradually I ended up listening to it. Of course, I had a feeling of wanting to become that good [at playing], so I started listening to metal myself.

And what about tennis at that time?
★I already stopped. My 3rd year of middle school, I wasn’t going to school. I didn’t go to school since I was with my senior and playing bass. Which reminds me, my parents, it raised a problem each time I got to buy something. I think they probably wanted to make me reform myself, but I got advice from various people. Also it raised a problem in school, “come for awhile!” and so for one week I actually attended. During that time, I was given an invite that said “we’ll go shopping” and what I wanted to buy the most was an instrument.

Each time was difficult, but your collection is increasing!? (laughs)
★Each time was difficult, but they were very kind about it. It’s my parents’ love.

So you knew of that parental love?
★I didn’t at that time. And also at that time I didn’t eat dinner with them, so we weren’t able to talk. I was always alone in my room, and I’d go out with my senior. During middle school [his house was a] short distance from mine, so it was like we had a gathering point. That sort of time, my parents were really gentle and connecting. Of course I’d get mad and end up fighting with my dad, but thinking back now I have very strong and gentle memories [of them].

Were your brothers peevish to you as a younger brother?
★I was the one sulking, since my older brothers went to another prefecture and did tennis there. So in my house I’d swagger around freely. But during summer vacation my brothers would come back, especially my eldest brother who had a horrible temper. An absurd muscle man that returned and got angry. But at the time when my brother came back, I wouldn’t come home as much as possible. At that time my dad said things like “saying that is useless, you’ll see the circumstances soon”, but my brother came back and I said “Hey don’t make our parents cry” and I’d get a harsh scolding. And he lied about that situation by saying “I didn’t.”

So he made a mistake in his answer.
★At first he could only say “Isn’t it because of the connection”. So, each time my brother came back it got more scary and frightening, it couldn’t be helped.

And so the result didn’t change?
★Yeah. At the time of my parents’ home, it didn’t mean I behaved like a spoiled brat. So I think I could only do what I could.

Around your 3rd year, you didn’t go to school?
Even then it was compulsory education, and I’d be near school and say “I won’t turn up”. Once, after school a friend and I went on a ferry. Then a teacher and everyone would come and they said “Why did you go for”. It seemed like “It’s none of your business. But we’ll go soon” (laughs). The high school principal came too, we were actually surprised.

Were the teachers afraid?
★They were afraid, but came loose. It was only one close part for about 5 people and they didn’t say anything, and so I went to the junior classroom and the atmosphere was something like “Ah, I really came here. What to do”. I was an idiot, now that I think about it. But I was trying to appear smart.

What about senior high school?
For senior high school, at first I didn’t have any motivation to go. At that time I was thinking of wanting to do a full-blown regular band. But even if I did have a band in my parents’ home I had thought it’d be nonsense, so going out for Tottori I was thinking of relying on myself. Everyone was nearing finishing middle school and thinking of things like “Where will I go for senior high?” though I wouldn’t say things like that. To me, everyone that went to high school was an idiot (laughs). Though, I was thinking that my wish of starting a band would come true. Speaking my mind to the teacher, they said “You won’t get into senior high”. It was a feeling like “I don’t plan to go anywhere”.

You thought you had a chance to start a regular band?
★On TV I was watching a VK band, and thinking that they were cool I took the chance to start one. After that, I spent a day in my room to spray my hair and only listened to VK songs. Because of that, I didn’t think I’d ever leave Tottori. I wanted to move out of the house so much at the time.

You didn’t do any bands or lives?
★At that time in the house, I was pounding the drums and had a small 10 watt amp. Though I couldn’t do lives, I stood on stage in my 3rd year of middle school at the culture festival. We played Sex Machine Gun’s “Mikan no Uta”. Somehow at that time I said “I’ll play guitar” and so I played it. It was a suitable solo. There was no way I could play [the actual one] (laughs).

What kind of feeling was it?
★It was a good feeling. I wasn’t able to imitate the solo with my right hand, but I did it in the middle of the stage. It was fun.

But at the time of your 3rd year, your teacher had already said “you won’t get into high school”?
★Because it was the culture festival there didn’t seem to be a relation. I couldn’t help it not coming to class late? While going through the corridor from the gymnasium to the classroom, it seemed that I wouldn’t go at all (laughs). But I think the teacher actually said I wasn’t a bad person……

So what did you do after graduation of middle school?
★I went to Osaka. Both my brothers remained in Tokyo, so not everyone was wanting to move to Osaka. Because I was 15 I wasn’t of age, but at the beginning I moved with my parents*. At that time with my parents help it was like “You’ll like this experience”. Deciding to only live in that place, it was by chance. At first my room was empty. On a futon, TV and bass.
[*he means that they helped him move there]

By what means were you thinking of living there?
★I was thinking if I was living there then I’d get something like a part-time job. There was a lot of light riding (laughs). I was found working at restaurants, but the first day there I was late. It was only because I slept in late, but while they were angry their necks were getting red I’d say “I made a mistake and came to the [train] station late. I’m sorry, it’s my first time in Osaka”.

So you began a band then?
★With my senior and starting music, it was after I came to Osaka that I went to a music store to see leaflets to see if there were any for recruiting members. But I thought the [bands were] left unpaid at first. So for that time being I worked! I thought that working for 6 weeks, my senior and I could basically live at the music store then.

You always did a band with that senior?
★No, it’s not really that kind of thing to joke about. The result was that we didn’t do one.

So Kazuki-kun didn’t go to Osaka to start a band with his senior?
★No. He came to Osaka to get into university. He was a person that really loved bikes and guitars.

So how long did you continue living that sort of life?
★I guess for about 7 months. But I didn’t get money. Mom sent the money to me, and I had planned to cook for myself but…… somehow I guess it was unbearable? I had thought many times that I was a burden. Since I did buy a lot of equipment.

So you practiced?
★I did but…… I’d play bass after coming back from work, and I’d play a little guitar too although I was really worn out and did lie down then. On the way I had thought “What the hell did I come to Osaka for?”. Because I was living by myself in Osaka, I understood my parents’ blessing to me. Then I thought “What have I been doing until now?”. After that I tried not to worry as much as possible.

So when they visited your life changed?
★My senior at work, he was a person that liked VK. This person was a roadie for an Osaka-based band. Because of that he invited me by saying “Let’s do it together”.

So you weren’t in a band, but started as a roadie?
★Yes. I hadn’t decided to be in a band, and I didn’t know anything of roadies then, but for that time being I thought I’d try it out. That person said “Being a roadie is useful”, in a way like it was a good experience for the world, I think. And because of that I began [being a roadie]…… I was really random (laughs).

What kind of things did you do?
★Things for the equipment, all the staff-like things too. Insertions (handing out leaflets), and it was also things like shopping for the person. But the main thing was the equipment on stage. So I remembered the [settings of] the equipment. I think it was exactly that time I really stuck with guitar.

Why was it that time that you thought of it?
★I met a very skilled senior. I met my senior that went to university, but the people of the Paul Gilbert group said things like “You’re great”, and I didn’t really know anything but it was skillful. Watching that person, I thought “I have no choice but the guitar”.

So you thought of it while watching that person play guitar?
★That’s right. I was so shocked and thought “How can you do such things [on guitar]?”. Little by little at that time I would play guitar, and I think it was since then I found the guitar interesting.

So being a roadie became a good experience?
★It was very useful. I followed with a whole-country tour, and I got a lot of experience. At first it was all fresh, and then seeing things I was deeply moved by them and was like “Aa, so these two things are like this”. The equipment van for the tour, my seat was on them (laughs).

It seems that your back would get sore (laughs)
★It was painful at that time. On the contrary it was quite fun. But it’d be scary if I got angry (laughs).

So you did work?
★I did. But since I was busy I couldn’t do it all the time. For about 2 months I didn’t go to a single day of work, and so I’d call mom and say “I’m sorry mom. Can you pay the rent?”.

Your parents are good, aren’t they.
★It really seems that way. I can do things freely, and it’s thanks to my parents I am who I am now, at that time I had thought deeply. Because of that, I received 43,000 yen to pay the rent.

So it seems that you studied being a roadie, so you weren’t able to do band activities?
★The time that I began as a roadie, I promised myself “I’ll stay on for 1 year” and after that I was thinking about starting my own band. I said “I have many side-to-side connections”, and so for a year as a roadie I continued to do my best. And then just after a year, that band broke up.

And because of that you started a band?
★Yes. Me being a roadie and going on tour to Tokyo, of course I had thought that the band would reach to Tokyo [before breaking up]. And then graduating as a roadie I went out to be different.

Again it was random?
★No. This time I was with a vocal roadie, and so we started a band and he was always with his younger brother so it was us 3. That was when it was random, that we had 1 member right before us. We lived together in Chiba, but the rent was 16,000 for 1 person. And then we began a lot of band activities.

At last you started?
★Yes. Because of that, being members with the vocalist we went to see lives and at once we got 3 members. They were exactly for the opposite side [of the stage] too, guitar, bass and even drums, and we already had a vocals, a guitar and keyboard. And because of that combination, we were Clover.

What kind of band were you guys?
★I’ll say one word: Utamono*. We were considering the melody so seriously, since we were a fresh band. We’d wear over-the-top makeup and costumes not similar to other bands, and I thought of becoming a band that was just about music.
[*Utamono - one word in Japanese, but the translation for this would be "classical Japanese poetry". Think... IRODORI or Kagrra,? XD]

And little by little the metal influence of music came, didn’t it.
★That’s right. At first with metal, it was very much like VK to be doing [such songs], so from there we did soft visual. While I was a roadie there was plans for magazines, it was a good plan [for the band] to take pictures of their roadies. At that time, my mouth was covered in blood so it was really visual. We used fake blood (laughs). But there were various events for the band, so I think that the cool utamono band began then, and I think with the vocalist we said “I’ll absolutely do utamono”, and with my nature we did an utamono band.

What kind of activities did Clover do?
★If I think about it, it was that thing, making way of what we thought (laughs). I think now that we weren’t really aiming on getting big. Before the band I hadn’t made a single song. All the songs I made were rejected. Though I did my best making them utamono, they were no good. With the exception of me, an experienced person with bands, or so that’s what someone said about me in the beginning. But it was fun. I went for one thing and it was fun, so I was cheerful and was like “Ah, so now I’m on tour♪”

Were the lives good?
★Where we performed was away from perfection (laughs). The first band’s live, opposite to [our van was] D’s van. We were really happy, being able to play at AREA. But the guest seating at the other lives were somewhat lonely, although we were knowing of the reality. At that time I had thought senior roadies were really cool. And now I can go try on the world that’s relentless; it was a feeling that sank deeply into my mind.

How long did Clover do activities for?
★For about a year. We did 2~3 tours, and organizing 1. We weren’t able to do a one-man. And the for the first time we had recording experience, we were thinking of various things while recording.

Considering Clover’s activities, how were you thinking it to be?
★Honestly saying this, I was thinking that perhaps I could get better. I had thought that it was a cold world (laughs). But that time with a live video, it was embarrassing that I didn’t see it. I was intending to play so well, but I could only stand there and play [guitar] like it was out of fashion. It was only the rhythm that moved around. After looking they said “What are you doing? It’s like you’re in the studio?” and as myself I wanted to do something about it. The stage-left guitar is a person that moves a lot, and I seemed like a stage-right guitarist that just silently played. But playing as still person wasn’t my plan.

What was the cause of the breakup?
★Before the vocalist quit, the remaining 4 went out seemingly looking for a new vocalist. But we couldn’t find anyone so we continued doing lives without one, though our motivation was falling. Someone said “This isn’t the right time?”, and so we disbanded. We quickly organized a last live and even got the vocalist to come, so it was the last for us 5 together.

And after that?
★I continued my part-time job. It seemed that I wasn’t thinking of a new band, but slowly I did get that feeling.

So I guess you met a feeling of fire?
★I didn’t catch the fire, because I felt I couldn’t do anything. I came to Clover around a time that it was very new to me, and so I didn’t think of replacing it with a new band. A lot of people were calling out to me for session bands, so for a little while I did both work and sessions. That was the time I got to meet SCREW.

So with that mind you did it?
★I had met Byou before. At that time, he had disbanded from Joker, and made a new band. Yuuto was already there, and once we talked at a session. At the beginning I used the session for my own convenience, but I saw the members in my free time with any chance. Then I found that Byou and Yuuto were quite cool, so I was surprised how popular they were. Their aura is different. Well, those 2 and I were pleased when we watched the session, and so we came together. The makeup for Clover was light, and so they said to me “We’ll make your look darker” and that wasn’t even it for the live, they said “We’ll all do it for the lives” (laughs). It all began from there.

So before that you were doing a session band, were you thinking of making a new band?
★I was barely thinking of wanting to look for members, and I wanted to do simple lives. Before, I got an invitation from a senior but I rejected it (laughs). For a moment it was a cruel thing [to do], like “We decided on THIS day”. It wasn’t “We’ll do this”, so it was always those days. But he was a good senior, they did fun sessions.

Because of that SCREW started.
★Yes. Somehow the beginning was a great impact, and our fighting spirits settled in greatly. Clover’s vocals didn’t look at things from the outside, but Byou thought and looked at things like “This person is great”. But that wasn’t [the reason] for Clover wanting to break up, it was actually that we wanted to do our best. Though since meeting by chance, SCREW began [activities] not long after [the breakup] and I think it was about half a year [later that we started]. At that time our drummer Jin joined officially, and for about 1 month we prepared and started as a session band.

So SCREW is the first time for Kazuki-kun where it’s the music he likes.
★Isn’t it. I guess it was turning back to the start of music. I couldn’t head bang [and play guitar at the same time] until we did that live (laughs). Byou is saying “Head bang” and while playing I’d shake my head as if in denial for practice. The music stirred up the most of it, though it was good that none of us had cut our hair then.

So there were a lot of fresh things to do.
★They were wonderful things. Somehow there was a popular pair each time a live came our way. Everyone would get excited seeing those people, it was a feeling like “What is this!?” and “The live is so good”. Though I didn’t see all the guests [while on stage], they were head banding so it felt really good. The ones that I saw head banging, they were doing if since it was their first time. It was an amazing mobilization, so I thought “This session is so cool” (laughs).

So that kind of mobilization was great?
★We always had about 100 people that came. Because of that me and Jin-chan said things like “We’re probably not useful, but it’s good right?”.

SCREW’s first live was a one-man wasn’t it?
★That’s right. Before that secret there were about 15 lives that we were doing. Our first live was 23/04/2006, but for the one-man we were making the amount of songs needed for it, and in March there were a lot of secrets that came and the lives would finish before everyone could hold hands at the end and jump. Because they were secret [lives], we didn’t have our regulars all the time. We had a premonition of beginning something, and I think everyone was happy with it (laughs).

So for Kazuki-kun, SCREW’s first one-man was a birth one-man?
★Yes. We did the best we could. I saw the one-man video and thought it was horrible. It was an awful performance, though we’ve had a severe change. But everyone is lively. Well, everyone is young (laughs).

As for your own impressions?
★I didn’t realize that I didn’t do well. Though we played 10 songs, I don’t remember what I was actually playing. I didn’t have any self-confidence at that time. It was good that we had a lot of guests but I didn’t really look at the guest seating then.

And thinking of that time, you felt that you’ve grown?
★Yes. Next year will be SCREW’s 3rd year, even though we haven’t grown very much (laughs). SCREW plays negative things, turning our backs to things, though now I think it’s become positive.

Why did it become a negative band?
★We came up with imagining the band’s progress, so then it wasn’t all so different. Mobilization and a problem of mathematics came about. We thought that such music was useless. As a matter of fact, just recently it’s that kind of thing that’s negative that we’re not going to worry about. But now it’s about our pace, step by step and walking in a sexy way, so we think it’s good that it’ll be this way. But now and then, we weren’t looking. Though I think that the other members have a lot of thoughts too, but now I think we’re all going for one target.

So it looks that you’re doing well, but you had a time of worry didn’t you.
★I did. I wasn’t thinking about anything else but worry, and as I was performing I was bearing it. So, for SCREW’s lives, from the stage there was probably a negative aura radiating.

That’s from Kazuki-kun alone?
★I think it was from each person, but the members weren’t thinking of similar things. What we were doing was already going badly, and it was unsuccessful struggling out of it. But now there is none of that.

So you surpassed it, but what was your reason for it?
★Me and the members say to be positive comes with feeling, so there are a lot of new things like challenges that come, and I think it’s good that we’re tied together this way. So, everyone is thinking flat-out I guess (laughs). Before stepping into this office [for the interview], I think there was a part [of me] as a child. Thinking of it now, I was thinking of things like “I wonder if I should bother worrying if this is going to be really serious?”. I didn’t think of anything, only doing lives. But there were a lot of people speaking, and though we don’t think of the seriousness, I think some seriousness came about it. You had met the former seriousness, but that seriousness was easy-going wasn’t it. Recently it’s doing things precisely while before it was we won’t advance and won’t think of anything. The band’s current status and situation is great, and I think that the band wants to do their best in their power