Interview With ScReW

One day before Jrock Invasion we got the opportunity to make an interview with SCREW, a relatively young Visual Kei Band, who performed at the Rock Identity Event Jrock Invasion in Germany. The five musicians - all in bulky jackets - and apparently a little battered from the long flight greeted us friendly in one of the backstage rooms in the Palladium of Cologne.

Hello. Please introduce yourself to our readers!
Jin: I am the drummer of the band, Jin.
Yuuto: I am Yuuto, the bassist.
Manabu: My name is Manabu and I am guitarist.
Kazuki: I am a guitarist aswell and my name is Kazuki.
Byou: I am the vocalist, Byou.

You are in germany for the first time. Which impressions could you gather and what do you think about Germany?

Jin: I have heard beforehand that Germany is great and that the german fans are generally in a good mood. I like that and I hope it will be proven true tomorrow!
Yuuto: I have only seen Cologne so far, for me the city is beautiful - like from a movie.
Manabu: Since I have arrived at the airport, I feel that the air here is kinda different.
Kazuki: I have heard that in Germany, it is very cold. But personally, I find the climate very pleasant.
Byou: I think the germans are very good at soccer. *laughs*

Tomorrow you will be performing at Jrock Invasion. What are you expectations?

Jin: I would be pleased if we could enthuse the fans.
Yuuto: When I perform in Japan, it is more of a matter of the head. Here one is so close to the fans, I think that's great.
Manabu: I think the german fans react and feel different that the fans in Japan. I am really curious about how the fans will accept us, what it will be emotion-wise.
Kazuki: Tomorrow we will play together with bands who are above us, so to speak. Especially because of this, we would like to show our abilities and deliver a good show.
Byou: We want to - especially as a japanese Band - leave an impression with our performance.

Manabu, you are a regular member of SCREW since May 2007. Have you settled in well?

Manabu: I am really happy to be a member of this band. It is a beautiful thing and it is a lot of fun.

Which meaning does the name "SCREW" have?

Byou: I'm not quite fond of things that are 'straight forward', I prefer things were you need to use your head and think. Screw means Screw translated, and as a listener, you have got to occupy yourself with us, to 'screw yourself in' and we as a band want to screw us into the hearts of our fans with our music *smiles*

How did you meet each other?

Yuuto: Well, me and Byou have done music together before, Kazuki was introduced to us through acquaintances and we immediately thought that he would fit to us. We met Jin on the Internet *laughs*, we thought he was cool and he fit to us, Manabu then was also introduced to us personally through a friend and then joined us.

Byou and Yuuto, so you have been together in a band before. How come you are in a band together again?

Yuuto: In between, I made music with other people too but I realized that Byou and me fit together best. It is most fun with him, additionally, together we achieve the best results musically and take advantage of this.

You are a relatively young band and already have the chance to perform abroad. What do you think about that?

Jin: When we got to know about this, we were very astonished, precisely because we are a young band. We never would have expected that but this chance has made us very ambitious - we definitely want to deliver a good show and not 'loose' to the other bands.

I heard that your stage performance is very interesting. How does it distinguish?

Jin: Our songs are very hard on the one hand, but they also contain beautiful melodies. We try our best to convey this interplay on stage aswell.

Byou, you were a roadie for the band kagerou and said once that the vocalist Daisuke is your role model. Why?

Byou: Yes. I learnt a lot through him, he was kind of a teacher for me. His influence has definitely heavily influenced me.

Different music styles do influence your music. Do you decide beforehand in which direction a song should go or does it happen spontaneously?

Kazuki: Byou usually allows and sets up a structure and tells us how he imagines a song. The rest of the band then creates a certain image on this base how we like it. So we actually decide beforehand in which direction the speficic song should go and what kind of topic it has got.

Has the joining of the Label Indie PSC helped your career in your opinion?
(the band shortly confers with each other and the manager)

Byou: First the band was pushed a lot, of course. Additionally, Manabu joined us, and the band grew, he really is an enrichment for us. So it was a positive decision which definitely helped us.

Why did you only play Secret Lives at first?

Byou: We wanted to see what it is like to perform with four people at that time. We had to approach slowly to the whole thing and that is why everything happened secretly *laughs*

Do you have a certain kind of message which you want to convey in your songs?

Yuuto: We do not have a special message, it always depends on the song we play. The listener has to let our music sink in and then decide for themselves which message he sees in it.

How did you get into Visual Kei and fascinates you about it?

Jin: I was mainly influenced by X Japan and my passion for music got me into Visual Kei. This band has definitely thrilled me.
Yuuto: What really like about Visual Kei is that in this scene there are different styles of music. There are pop bands, very hard bands and very different melodic bands. I like this variety.
Manabu: I got hooked by the whole package in particular, especially the exceptional style.
Kazuki: I can only associate with that. The style really fascinated me, additionally I was influenced very much through my older friends who were interested in this style and the music and they finally got me into it.
Byou: God told me to follow the Visual Kei *laughs*

And what kind of music do you listen to private?
SCREW: Mainly Slipknot and Radiohead. But we often listen to our own music privately!

Do you have any ambitions as a band for the future?

Jin: We want to evolve as a band and be successful.
Yuuto: We do not want to perform in germany alone but wish to play our music everywhere in the world.
Manabu: We want to become successful step by step and improve music-wise.
Kazuki: I think one should set a goal at a time, reach this and then set a new, higher goal. Currently I am looking forward to tomorrow and see this performance as a goal. After that I will search for a higher goal!
Byou: We would like to do a oneman tour in germany.

Do you have got a final message to our readers?

Jin: I hope you will get to know SCREW better and that we will please you.
Yuuto: We want to become a famous japanese band and we would be happy if the readers of JaMe would support us in this matter.
Manabu: I'd also be happy if our popularity would increase with the help of the readers. Thanks!
Kazuki: We definitely want to come back to germany and hope for your support!
Byou: I would be happy about new friends. *laughs*