「Visual Key Story Talk」
Mana-sama, the founder of the legendary visual kei band “MALICE MIZER”, invites various band members and related parties for a talking project. The musicians are brought together under the common denominator of “music” and “visuals”. This time the guest is KAMIJO of Versailles. In January 2023, Moi dix Mois x Versailles x D x Matenrous Opera announced the launch of a project in which the four artists will join forces to create a new scene called “Japanese Visual Metal” and develop various activities. Please enjoy the conversation between the two who have started walking together into a new era as rivals and allies
Writing and composition: 本田水奈子 (Honda Minako)
―First of all, please, tell us how did you two meet and what was your first impression of each other?
KAMIJO： One of my high school classmates was a guy called Kinzou, who was a roadie for MALICE MIZER before me. It was through this connection that I became a roadie as well. The first time I saw Mana-san in person was on the street in front of the Meguro Rockmaykan, and even from a distance I could see him standing on the street, dressed all in black and wearing black sunglasses. As for the time, yes…, I think it was around 1:00 pm because that’s when the live music house was opening. At the time, I was a young boy who had never even been down to Meguro, so the moment I saw it, I remember thinking, “What a place Meguro is!” I remember being shocked. Meguro = MALICE MIZER. That was my impression.
Mana： Personally, I had the impression that a fresh, good-looking young man had arrived.
KAMIJO： That now looks far from refreshing…
Mana： (the impression/he) is completely steeped in aesthetics, isn’t it?
KAMIJO： Since then, we have been friends for about 28 years. I have always watched Mana-san’s steps since we first met.
―What kind of interaction do you usually have in your private life?
KAMIJO： We are currently working together on the Japanese Visual Metal project, so I think we are in contact more often than ever because of that
Mana： That’s so
KAMIJO： Thanks to the start of the project, I’m a little bit happy because I feel that the distance between me and Mana-sama is getting closer, a millimetre by millimetre.
Mana：(smiling) Eels, we went to eat them, didn’t we? He told me, “There’s a good eel restaurant.”
KAMIJO： We have gone, right?
Mana： There was a time when we talked while drinking wine at an Italian restaurant.
KAMIJO： We talked about “what is aesthetic”. I simply enjoy listening to Mana-san’s stories and having dinner with him is a blissful experience. It was the same when I was allowed to be around him working as a roadie, but all the members of MALICE MIZER, starting with Mana-san, are always mysterious in some way. So I am really happy to be able to ask you now through our talks what I didn’t understand at the time.
―Did it take a lot of courage when you invited Mana-sama to participate in this project, given that he was still mysterious even when you were working with him as a roadie?
KAMIJO： Indeed, courage was extremely necessary. However, Mana-san himself knows best about his own presence and position in the music scene, and I knew that he was deeply concerned about his fans, so I thought that he would be able to sympathise with me if I talked to him about this matter. I was motivated by the feeling that the chance that we could work together wasn’t zero.
Mana： When KAMIJO contacted me about it, I simply thought: “It sounds interesting”. In the beginning, we weren’t talking about doing a live show yet, but they had ideas that I didn’t have, like sending a wrapping truck through the streets of Shibuya. I think it’s quite a fresh new sight to see the streets of Shibuya dyed in Japanese Visual Metal. My first impression was that it would be interesting and fun.
KAMIJO： I thought it would be strange if there were Japanese Visual Metal trucks in the everyday life of the city. I thought that with our music there as a soundtrack, we could create a good sense of strangeness, like the world in a movie. To create a world where reality is no longer real. I invited you to join us with such a feeling. So it’s more like events and live shows were incorporated into that world-building.
―When did you come up with the idea of doing something like this with Mana-sama?
KAMIJO： It’s not so much that it just came to mind to me, rather it was something that already existed originally… It was inevitable, as I had always seen Mana-san coming up with idea after idea to surprise and entertain his fans, and I had been following his steps for so long.
Mana： When I was in MALICE MIZER, all I could think about was how to surprise the audience at live performances.
KAMIJO： Anyway, you will regret missing the opening of MALICE MIZER’s live show. I think I have learnt first-hand that it is what SHOW is all about. As someone who has seen Mana-san live for many years, it was only natural for me to always think about what I should do to make the fans excited.
―I feel that the ism inherited from Mana-sama’s attitude lives on in KAMIJO-san’s own band activities.
KAMIJO： Certainly. Above all, MALICE MIZER’s live performances were just so well-crafted that I absorbed them every day. For example, when I had my first one-man show as LAREINE I felt the urge to do something, so we changed the black walls and floor on the stage of the Rockmaykan to white. However, we couldn’t just do what MALICE MIZER had done, so we had to hit the point where we could do something that MALICE MIZER hadn’t done, and that was quite a challenge.
Mana： Indeed, MALICE MIZER probably didn’t even mess with the colour of the stage walls. We did bring in a lot of decorations, though.
KAMIJO： I think MALICE MIZER has raised the bar for all the next generation of bands. As someone who is following them close behind, I said to myself, “This is crazy”.
Mana：（Smile）
KAMIJO： MALICE MIZER had a medieval European concept, so we could have been Greeks! That was about as close as you could get to choosing a line that didn’t overlap so much…
Mana: LAREINE didn’t have much of a Greek image though～
KAMIJO： No, in the end, the Greek idea was rejected in haste
Mana： Oh, is that so?
KAMIJO： I have acknowledged that I like the European worldview of 18th-century France and other European countries. That’s why I was MALICE MIZER’s roadie. I wondered what it would be like to twist that and try to make a Greek image. There were members who said, “But Saint Seiya would be nice” (laughs), but I still prefer roses…So, I started to express what I wanted to do honestly. However, at that time, I felt that it would go against my own aesthetics to publicly state that I was a roadie for MALICE MIZER.
Mana： I see.
KAMIJO： I tried not to mention your name until our debut. I’m sorry, but I’ve been rude all the time not to put your name on Special Thanks.
Mana： So it was like that. Besides KAMIJO, three of the four members of LAREINE were roadies for MALICE MIZER, so I guess there was a bit of a strange feeling watching them in action.
KAMIJO： There were quite a lot of roadies. At the time, my heart was pounding every time I wondered who among the roadies would be taken on the MALICE MIZER’s tour.
Mana： I see
KAMIJO： We could not all follow the tour in droves, so there was a good chance of me being left behind, as I didn’t have a driving licence. But for some reason, they have generally taken me with them and I have a lot of very happy memories.
Mana： When you were on tour, did you visit any haunted spots too?
KAMIJO： Haunted spots?
Mana： When MALICE MIZER went on tour, they basically had to stop at haunted places.
KAMIJO： I didn’t go there. If I had been taken to a haunted place, I would have quit being a roadie.
Mana： What? Is that true? You are not comfortable with ghosts.
KAMIJO： No, I’m not. If I had been told about going to a haunted place, I would have really flown away before I was taken there.
Mana： I see
KAMIJO： It’s no good being scared at all…
Mana： Back then, all the roadies lived near my house. Kinzou and MAYU, for example, were probably a 30-second walk away, right?
KAMIJO： Yes, right. I was two or three minutes from Mana-san’s house, but I was rather close to Kami-san’s house. That’s why I was often invited to Kami-san’s house.
Mana： I get the impression that Kami somehow looked after the roadies the best
KAMIJO： Yes. I was taken to so many different places. There were times when he would say things like, “I’m going out for a meal, so follow me.”, I also have memories of Kami-san taking me to distribute leaflets at the L’Arc-en-Ciel concert at Shibuya Public Hall.
Mana： Heh, that’s new to me. Kami, you did that!
KAMIJO： That’s so. Accompanied by roadies. He said things like, “Bands have to work hard on their own.”
Mana： zealous, right?
KAMIJO： I also went with Kami-san to deliver CDs.
Mana： At a CD store?
KAMIJO： Yes. We rode around CD shops together in the equipment van for both “memoire DX” and “Voyage 〜sans retour〜”.
Mana： Surely, at the time we delivered them ourselves
KAMIJO： It was a system where we communicated directly with the shops and they bought them from us at a good percentage, but that was a system unique to MALICE MIZER. That method has been used since the days of demo tapes, hasn’t it?
Mana： I guess you’re right
KAMIJO： It may not be clear to those reading this article and it may not ring a bell, but this is a very powerful method. Basic newcomers are usually commissioned. In that sense, MALICE MIZER is a legend. I also imitated the MALICE MIZER method in my own band later on (laughs).
Mana： I used to go around to different places with a load of CDs. Several in a day.
KAMIJO： The experience and the contacts I made with shopkeepers at that time helped me in my subsequent activities. I think the reason why the stores supported me was because of my time as a roadie
The rest of this article is available on the Salon members-only page!
https://lounge.dmm.com/detail/1686/
Source: DMM Online Salon
Translation: KAMIJO Italia
Translation © KAMIJO Italia
KAMIJO Italia 