As we spent more time on music, I felt that we should present the us who had levelled up.
Q: So first, you clear the 'homework' that is right in front of you.
Tora: That's right. I just barely scrapped by. But, because we had more time in our hands, I spent more time on music. And because of that, I felt that we should present the us who had levelled up.
Q: So now you spend more time when composing a song.
Tora: Yeah. Before, the song making period always ended up overlapping with preparation for the next tour, so there were times when I just barely made it with the song making itself. This time, since we took some time for ourselves, as we started the song making early, I could compose songs more comfortably. Really, I think I had the luxury of spending my time. And because of that, I could put more emotional attachment to each and every song.
For me, Alice Nine is not a job but rather a lifework in which we devote our lives into. Since we have a clear vision and engage in our music seriously, we didn't have unnecessary impatience or worry.
Q: Now you refer to yourselves as A9. But from August 23rd onwards you will have a comeback as Alice Nine with "Alice Nine 11th Anniversary Live [Re:birth ~hishou~]
Show: That's right. Alice Nine.. well, then it was written as アリス九號。was formed on August 24th, 2004. But in order to prepare our official come back, during this period we chose to use A9 instead. And it's also one of our strategies to enter our 11th year. We want to get everything back, including our name as Alice Nine.
People may ask, why not (give a live performance) on 24th instead, so I will say it here. 23rd is a Sunday so we hope more people will be able to see the new us, and so we decide to move the date one day early. And beside that..
Tora: We gave our 10th anniversary live performance on 23rd, so it will be a full year since then.
Q: How did you spend your time in this 1 year, Show-san?
Show: Like I had said before, when thinking about "our next 10 years", I had a clear vision in my mind. But in trying to reach the vision, somehow we still lacked something. "Then, what should we do to get the things that we are lacking right now?" So it's like, if you run a marathon, you don't only think about the goal that's 42.195 km ahead. You start from smaller goals and accumulate them because each steps and results that go in that direction are also important. And when we set that up.. it's like we came to know what kind of skills are needed, and how to prepare them. And that's why we allocated one year to brush up ourselves. And that's why everyday was full and enriching.
Q: Didn't you get worried since you didn't do any public activities?
Show: For me, Alice Nine is not a job but rather a lifework in which we devote our lives into. Since we have a clear vision and engage in our music seriously, we didn't have unnecessary impatience or worry.
The decision that we make are now directly connected to our creativity. I think we're in a really good environment now.
Q: I listened to your upcoming mini album 'ginga no oto' which will be released on "Alice Nine 11th Anniversary Live [Re:birth ~hishou~]" and available only on your live venues. I think there are more toughness in the songs.
Show: That's right. I think it's simply a reflection of our mentality which had become stronger. In order for Alice Nine to keep existing, not only the will of the 5 of us, the support from other people who care about our existence is also indispensable. And so, we deeply think about, "What do we want people to feel when they come into contact with us?" I hope it's reflected in our songs.
Tora: I think our meetings play a major part. We meet at least once a week and every meeting lasts a few hours.
Show: Although, it would be ideal to be able to talk without setting a place and time for it. But I think it's good that we set up a system to create (a place and time) to talk to each other.
This (Alice Nine) members are already like comrade in arms, or family. But even in families, if you don't gather in living room and make an environment like "okay, let's talk", you won't really talk to each other. It's the same for the 5 of us. I think it's good that we have a fixed place and time to reach mutual understanding.
Q: You handle everything related to the band by yourselves now.
Show: Not only the 5 of us, but we also have staff who had been supporting us and went independent together with us, and so our current environment is not that different from the one we had when we were still in the management company. I'm really happy for that. However, like I said earlier, it's true now the 5 of us are the one managing and directing, and also take all responsibilities for this existence called Alice Nine. And that's why, to bring Alice Nine to a better environment, our (weekly) meetings are indispensable.
Q: So, not only directing the band, the 5 of you also bear all responsibilities now.
Show: That's right.
Hiroto: That was one of the reasons we went independent. Rather, I feel that we're steadily making the environment that we want.
Q: Your sense of responsibility is also reflected in your songs.
Hiroto: Now we don't just compose some songs and perform them live. It's more complex, and it can only be done by engaging with various things well. We decide everything about Alice Nine while bearing all responsibilities. And of course it will lead to better actions.
Q: Does it give you a positive tension?
Hiroto: When we still belonged to a company, we were like, "We will concentrate on our music, so we will let others handle everything else." But as we started to look for a deeper meaning to Alice Nine's existence, we became like "It's because we take all responsibilities in our creation that our music and existence have become clearer". Of course there are some difficulties in taking all responsibilities, but we could be here now because we decide that it was the best for the current us.
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