This article appeared in the August 2004 issue of Fool's Mate magazine. Translation by Julia H., lacryma@rokujo.dreamhost.com Please e-mail before reposting or copying. Thanks to Jessica P. and Yuri Y. for helping with the final draft.

La'cryma Christi: To The "Southern Lands"
A straight talk article: Going along to Okinawa + Interview with Taka, Shuse, Levin

La'cryma is busy with everything surrounding the 10th year anniversary of the band's formation, but in the middle of all this they had the final show of their tour and, what's more, in Okinawa. In this article: the concert they held at Dance Club Matsushita on May 21st. Also, the meeting they had with the members of their fan club the next day (with a special concert!). And, how they're not stopping and are ON FIRE! Encompassed in this special Okinawa report is an interview with Taka, Shuse, and Levin, from the band that's releasing a video collection on June 30th and a single in August.

The last concert of DSS tour

This year, commemorating their ten year anniversary, La'cryma Christi is pushing forward with various projects. One of these projects was a concert in Okinawa entitled "DEEP SPACE SYNDICATE SPECIAL." Regular concertgoers were allowed, but the event was a combination of a concert and a trip for the fan club, "Sympatia." Four-hundred and fifty people from the fan club participated. This was the first live in Okinawa for the band and it was also the first fan club trip. In Okinawa where everything was new, what sorts of tantilizing events would unfold? I was interested, so I went as a fellow traveller to give it a try.

May 20th. A grade-two typhoon was approaching the Japanese islands but, as it seemed to be turning around, after twelve the band members' jumbo jet departed for Okinawa from Haneda Airport. 3:30 PM, we safely landed at Naha Airport. Okinawa was right at the height of the rainy season and the day was cloudy with a chance of rain. It was nothing like the Okinawa in pictures and in videos. Even so, on the way to the hotel we could see palm trees and got the feeling of really being in a southern land.

After check in we didn't have any specific plans, so everyone went out to do different things. Rental cars were cheap, so Shuse and Levin went out for a drive. "Let's get over to Ishigakijima Island!" said Levin, getting excited and hardly even knowing what he was saying. Eventually they went over to Shuri Castle and the beach. And they said that of course they ate sokisoba.

Hiro drank back at the hotel and, feeling good, he walked around the neighborhood around the hotel. He was drunk, but he sobered up, took it easy, and had some more to drink. It was just like Hiro; he wasn't drinking awamori, the Okinawan rice wine, but instead he drank Jack Daniel's.

Koji seemed really tired, so he went right to bed. But he woke up after three hours and went out with the road crew to eat at a restaurant named Jack's Steak House. After that, he was at Darts Bar until two in the morning.

Taka headed out for a walk around Naha's main street and Kokusaidori, the international avenue. Actually, Taka had visited Okinawa before for about a month, having come for the filming of the film Noel about a year and a half ago. We went along Kokusaidori and the feeling of the islanders came back to him. I showed what an Okinawa virgin I was when I said, "I thought the girls here only looked like SPEED [1]" so Taka volunteered to be my guide. While snacking on some Blue Seal red potato ice cream, an everyday treat here, he told me a lot of stories. The one I found most interesting was about "Nangoku."

Taka singing

The backdrop of this song, written by Shuse, is Okinawa. Even now Shuse's grandfather lives in Okinawa as do many of his other relatives. "Nangoku" seems like a love song, but actually it's also a song engraved with the sad history of war. Over two hundred young girls, ages 13-19, of the Himeyuri Gakubutai Nursing Corps [2] lost their lives as victims of the war. In Itoman city there is a memorial to the Himeyuri, a memorial for prayers to their remains. This is the Okinawa which, in the midst of the beautiful nature of southern lands, still bears the scars of a terrible war. This is the basis for the lyrics.

After, Taka lead me to Ichibadori to find some dried sea snake for souvenirs and to visit an English conversation school where he had some friends. Finally, we stayed in the area and went and hung out at a bar, just like every night. It began to rain, but Taka went out on a drive with an Okinawan inventor and they wandered around the beach.

The 21st was the concert. The location was Dance Club Matsushita in Naha. With about five hundred fans there, the concert began with "Hysteric Style." Taka used a lot of Okinawa dialect, like "Welcome, Okinawa!" and "I love it here!" During the band member introductions, Hiro played an Okinawan folk song. Then it turned to Levin, who had had a birthday on June 3rd. "Happy Birthday!" rang out from every seat.

"This is the first time this has happened, I'm really happy," said a delighted Levin. And Koji caught the whole thing on camera. Then it occurred to Taka to play the drums left vacent by Levin and Shuse, matching the rhythm, started singing Quiet Riot and Queen. That was the sort of relaxed mood there was. Even so, their playing was suitably passionate for a final concert.

Every day I had had the chance to listen to stories about the songs and when they introduced "Nangoku" for the encore, it was deeply moving.

"All of us, we're the champions! All of you, you're the champions! Thank you. I love you guys!!" said Taka and with that their long tour was over.

On the 22nd was the special fan club-only party. The location was normally used for banquets and was a party hall with a big stage. The plan was to have a good time with the band members during a full course Chinese dinner. At noon, the band members appeared on the stage and everyone said a toast. The party had begun.

Pictures with the band

"Please eat the dishes that we picked out the recipes and ingredients for," said Taka, but no one could settle down and eat. The pictures with the band members started right after. Surrounded by the band members, it was an exciting time taking pictures with the band. Following that was question time. And of course because they were thought up by guys from Kansai, lots of gags were mixed into the answers. Next was a game, a rivalry between teams divided up between the thirty-nine tables. The object was the guess how each band member would respond to simple questions. For example, "Which of Doraemon's tools would you want the most?" To the winning team, number four, they only gave pictures with a message about Okinawa from the band.

Then, excitement kept going up and up! Costumes from the first part of the tour, the special mike stand Taka always used, a video of the tour specially edited by Koji, and many other precious treasures were given away in a drawing. About thirty people received these treasures.

There were many tables where no one had eaten, so we rushed into meal time, but after fifteen minutes we'd reached the height of excitement. The systems engineer signaled to the band members and they made an entrance from the door at the back of the banquet hall. The five band members were tossed around in the crowd of fans and made their way through the chairs and tables to the stage.

"Everybody, come here!" said Taka. The fans rushed in to the front of the stage and with "Henseifuu" the concert began. The drinks on stage were naturally Orion Beer. The band members were a little drunk and felt great as they played. Taka and Hiro treated some thirsty fans to the drinks they had on stage. When Taka was announcing "Nangoku" he told the fans about their future plans. In August, a single will go on sale. In September, a best of album reflecting fan requests. Then on October 1-3, there will be a three-day tenth anniversary concert in Nakano Sun Plaza. Finally, they finished up with "Warm Snow." The ending featured Hiro playing an Okinawan folk song and Taka shouted, "I love you all, so very much!!" and the scene was very Okinawa-like. Joining hands and exchanging heartfelt greetings, the five band members and four hundred and fifty fans.

But, not everything was over. The band members reappeared and, shaking hands with all the fans, expressed their thanks, "We're tied to you all with a very special bond." The five band members lined up at the exit to the banquet hall and shook hands with the fans as they saw them off. It was a party of over four and a half hours.

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The band in Okinawa

- How are you feeling, now that your tour which went on for nearly half a year is over?

LEVIN: The "Vol. 4" concert at Shibuya O-East especially left an impression. When we did "CANNONBALL" it was a performance that couldn't have been done in practice. We really had the soul of the groove. Really, it was because we had all been doing this together for ten years, that was the sort of feeling that there was on stage, and it was a great feeling. I thought, if we could be like that on stage every night, we'd be a band like Zeppelin.

SHUSE: This time we had a tour schedule that cleared up a lot of the dissatisfactions we'd been feeling up until now, since the album had penetrated more and had made the rounds. And each time the tour advanced, it felt like the songs became part of La'cryma Christi. I think DEEP SPACE SYNDICATE has a feeling of completeness, that it says "This is La'cryma Christi." Our new song, "CANNONBALL," came out of that. It's just a cool song and so live performances are fun. Ten years ago, when the band formed, we didn't have that kind of fun. Ten years have passed and finally I think it's become something we've mastered.

- Has the way you think about being happy changed?

SHUSE: Yeah. For example, ten years ago we were only looking up. Devouring our rival bands. Even while we'd be saying that we'd made a good song, we'd only be conscious of it as something to make an impact with. Now, it's like "good is good." And all of us, we have fun while we play and the audience has fun too. It's a good relationship. Before now, there were probably things we should have done that we couldn't.

TAKA: Me, I don't look at the entirety of the ten years. With a vision of a half year, or a month, I'll think about if it became what I wanted it to. This year too, half the year's gone by but, if I think about my 2004, I feel like the way the year has turned out hasn't been anything like my vision. There's a feeling of completion, too.

- You've held up some high goals, but you say you've only surpassed them.

TAKA: Yes. I think they've already been exceeded. Didn't we just play a concert in Okinawa? Because that was one of our dreams too. We talked about it on the first day, but "Nangoku" came from the Okinawa within Shuse. We thought that we absolutely should play that song in Okinawa. And of course, when we did, all these incredible things came to mind. It was a song we wrote because it had to be written and we did it just as we had envisioned the song. Just wham, you know. This is probably something trivial, but I was really affected by it.

- Of course, Okinawa was probably saying "welcome" to you too.

TAKA: Boy, but when that grade 2 typhoon came in I thought, uh oh, this isn't good. I was worried whether or not the fans who were coming down on the day of the concert would actually be able to come. So, it was a relief when that morning at 4:30 the course of the typhoon changed. Everyone was on a pretty tight schedule, but the live was fun. There were lots of Okinawans and they were really interesting. At the hall there was a big disco ball too. When I was standing on stage, I thought, that will really remind me of "DEEP SPACE SYNDICATE."

- So, the concert was expressed in that central element of the disco ball. I wondered if it was a spaceship.

LEVIN: I also thought that the disco ball opened up the whole thing. What will come of this, I thought. (Laughs). At that concert it seemed it could be a lot lower, but the people at the concert hall said that it looked like if it was any lower it would hit the spectators' heads.

TAKA: At any rate, the concert went well. It was great that everyone came.

- But until about 4:30 in the morning, what did you do?

TAKA: Boy, I really didn't sleep. Thank goodness that the typhoon veered off. But because of that I was really tired. When the typhoon hit we were "the band that calls storms." (Laughs.)

- Suddenly you're talking like Yujiro Ishihara [3], aren't you?

TAKA: Well of course, when keeping time on the high hat I sing it right out. (Laughs.)

- In Okinawa, on the second day there wasn't there a concentrated "communication time" when you got to directly feel the affection for the band?

LEVIN: There was. We've wanted to do things like that for a long time. We finally did it this year and we were really happy about it. I thought, I want to have a unique experience and have a fun event.

- After the concert, you all drank until morning, partying nearly without sleep. That's tough, isn't it.

SHUSE: No, because partying was really what we were shooting for. (Laughs.)

Photo shoot in the ocean

- Even though you were drinking a lot during the concert, you rocked out. The next day, you had a photo shoot scheduled pretty much from when you opened your eyes, how was the weather?

LEVIN: The weather was good.

SHUSE: We took some shots in the ocean and everyone said that it was contingent on the weather. It was thanks to the clear weather that we were able to stick to schedule. And because we stuck to it, we were all able to go swimming in the ocean.

TAKA: The photo shoot was fun, wasn't it? (Laughs.)

LEVIN: And I thought, at long last I've come to Okinawa because I looked into the water and thought "This is Okinawa" for the first time. (Laughs.)

SHUSE: But it wasn't just a beach, it was an untouched beach, so of course the sea was amazingly beautiful. All of us went around it and had a grand time in Okinawa. (Laughs.) Though I burned in about fifteen minutes.

- If you could visit a little longer, that'd be nice wouldn't it. If you had time to spare, maybe you could compose in the midst of the air and scents here.

LEVIN: If I had time, wouldn't I pick to just forget about everything? (Laughs.)

- You have Okinawan blood don't you, Shuse?

SHUSE: Yeah, I guess that's true. Even though I know absolutely nothing about Okinawa. I haven't met my relatives. I was happy I could come for the final concert of the band's tour.

TAKA: I was in Okinawa about a year and a half ago and everyone greeted me warmly. In Okinawan dialect, there is the expression "Everyone you meet is your brother. All of mankind are brothers." It means that the people you meet are your brothers and sisters and that meetings aren't by chance, but are fate. The people I got to know were really people that will be friends for life. I want it to be the same with the fans who come to see the concerts. We haven't met by chance, but we've come across each other because there's something there. I think it's the same for all the members of the band.

- Incidentally, in June, your music video collection Six Visions will be released, isn't that right?

SHUSE: It's finally coming out. (Laughs.)

- This is a video collection that's cut out of about four short years of history, but you can see an amazing change, can't you?

SHUSE: You can see a different band in each song. (Laughs.) Even so, it's really worth seeing.

TAKA: We filmed "Lime rain" on the last day of the 20th century. We were in Yokohama at the house of the commanding officer for the old army. It had a distinct atmosphere to it. After the 6th, I shaved my head, although it wasn't like I'd become part of the army. After that, I came back from America and on that day we had a song to shoot. Even as I looked at the other band members the feeling had completely changed. Like, everyone was at a good age to be doing this. As the years add up, they just keep getting cooler.

- More and more, a feeling of a human touch is spilling over. In "GROOVE WEAPON" each band member's character comes out.

TAKA: A miracle happened during that shoot. The owner of the helicopter's granddaughter was a fan of La'cryma and he said, "If you use it, here's eight hundred million yen." (Laughs.) When we were filming, the wind from the helicopter was incredible, and Hiro's eyes were amazingly full of tears. That wasn't the miracle though, but it was an event during shooting. (Laughs.)

- You have the video collection, but the band isn't staying in the past. It's heading towards the future and you're even planning your summer tour early.

SHUSE: We're doing that now and we're in the studio recording and composing, because until the tour, all of that will be taking shape. We're going to decide on the summer tour and then do a lot with the new songs.

TAKA: It's only three shows in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka, but I think we're probably going to call it the hot road tour. But even though we're saying hot we don't mean sweltering, but more of a hotness that has a feeling of being really fiery. I think it'd be good if we could get that kind of feeling.

Taka by the beach

- I would imagine that all your various experiences on this long tour are going to be poured into new songs and into the band in the future. Would you say that the band will become even stronger than before?

SHUSE: I have confidence it will. We're going to be on the attack.

LEVIN: Actually, since we've come up with these harder songs, I'm looking forward to playing them soon.

SHUSE: You can see that hard rock style in "CANNONBALL," but we want to play something more "awesome." (Laughs.) Not "cool," but rather "awesome." Can we do it? Really? I think we can.

TAKA: I'm writing lyrics now, but it's because I got lots of different kinds of power from the tour. I think that maybe I've been influenced by that. Now, when I think of what's going to come out of it, my heart pounds in anticipation.

NOTES:
[1] SPEED is a Japanese band made up of four girls. The band is from Okinawa, so the author of the article is saying that he thought all the girls in Okinawa would look like the girls from SPEED.
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[2] "Himeyuri Butai (Star Lily Corps). A corps of 221 field hospital nurses in Okinawa; organized on 23 March 1945 in response to the American invasion of Okinawa. It was composed of local female high-school and normal-school students and their teachers. Many of its members committed suicide in June as Japan's defeat neared." (From Kodansha's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Japan)
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[3] Yujiro Ishihara was a famous Japanese actor in the 1950s and 1960s. The film that's being referred to here is Arashi o Yobu Otoko, rendered in English as either A Storming Drummer or Man Who Causes a Storm.
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