On October 17, a day before their performance at Tsukicon in Helsinki, Finland, JaME had the opportunity to interview the band Aicle. This interview gave us an illuminating idea of this cheerful oshare kei band, regarding their roots in music, their enthusiasm in performing in Europe and their fervent hope to appeal to European fans with their music and unique style.
Please introduce yourselves and tell us about your roles in Aicle..
emiru: I’m the vocalist, emiru. In the band my responsibilities include writing the songs and singing.
leon: I’m the drummer, leon.
saran: I’m the bassist, saran.
rubi: I’m the guitarist, rubi.
This is one of your first performances abroad and your first in Europe. Are you excited?
emiru: Of course we’re excited! But knowing that all these fans, some of whom have come here from other European countries, have come here to see us and are here waiting for us has made us feel a lot less nervous. Now we’re just feeling good.
rubi: Also the idea of fan mail was very important to us. We thought that now we've come to Finland, we’ll then get lots of mail from here too!
On the same evening you're performing, two other bands will also be playing - vistlip and Dio - who have had both concerts in Europe before. Do you think this is helpful for your own performance?
rubi: Yes, it has been very helpful. For example, with the members of vistlip we’ve talked about the reactions of the European audience and the general routines here, among other things.
What are your expectations for tomorrow’s concert? What kind of impression do you want to give to the Finnish audience?
emiru: Because there are all kinds of visual kei bands, we want to do something that no one else does - we want to leave a theme park-like impression that this is ‘our thing’. After the audience has seen our concert and are going home, we want them to think: ‘How nice that we came here!’
Your looks are very colorful and original. Where do you get the ideas for your costumes?
emiru: Every time we get ourselves new costumes we have a theme. This time our theme was the shoals of fish of the tropical areas. They swim in the ocean and glimmer nicely and we had this kind of an idea in our minds when we were designing our costumes.
How would you describe your music and lyrics to our readers who don’t understand Japanese?
rubi: Aicle.’s theme is that there’s something grotesque in us, but at the same time also it's also colorful pop music - within us the grotesque and the bubblegum pop are mixed. Our lyrics mirror this theme. There might be dark and gloomy elements included, but at the same time there are joyful pop parts - it’s the contrast between these that we want to express.
Please describe your relation to your instrument, or emiru, to your voice. What do you think is its best feature? How did you choose your instrument?
emiru: My own voice has been what I’ve used since I was little. It represents who I am, and this exactly is what makes it an instrument for me. When we formed the band, singing was what I wanted to start doing. At first we made the decision that we want to be a visual kei band, and when the time came to choose the instruments, voice was an easy choice.
leon: What impressed me was the fact that when you hit the drum, it makes a sound. At first the simplicity attracted me, and nowadays I feel like it’s a part of my own body; my hands and feet - my entire body - are included in the action.
saran: Even before I started to play in Aicle. the bass was what sounded best to my ears. It feels most natural, and when I go to a music store, the basses catch my eye immediately. It’s the coolest instrument.
rubi: When I was a teenager, my father played the guitar. So I had a guitar at home, and when I found it and started playing, I got hooked - and I am still that way.
What kinds of goals and hopes do you have for the future? How do you think your concert in Finland tomorrow will affect it?
emiru: We want to make music that people everywhere in the world want to listen to. We hope that after we’ve performed people would like to hear more of it. We hope that the audience would like to see us again and that we would be invited to come to Finland for a second time.
What kind of message would you like to give to our readers?
emiru: When we formed a band in Japan, we never imagined that we would come this far or that people would be able to read an interview that has been done with us in Finland. That’s why we hope you like our music and listen to our CD - and want us to come back here.
Good luck for your concert!
Aicle.: Thank you!
