Natalie Music Interview translated, Part 3 of 3natalie.mu/music/pp/theletsgos/page/3 Right now, what we do is booming── Just recently, for the first time in 4 years and 8 months, you've released an original album, I HATE THE LET'S GO's.
This work includes a song from the split single with The Autocratics ("THE LET'S GO's × THE AUTOCRATICS"); songs from the limited-delivery singles "Summer Girl", "Ticket To Mars!!" and "Tiny Tot Rain"; and 3 newly recorded songs as well. Is the oldest among them "222", which had been recorded for the split single?COCO Production times were relatively scattered. There are places where even we don't know which is the oldest song (laughs). "222" is oldest in terms of release date.
── The line "original punk from '77" appears in that song, and in addition you cover "Neat Neat Neat" by the Damned at shows. All of you share a liking for it I expect — are you what you'd call original punks?COCO I like it certainly, but not to that extent, not at all.
MOËKOV To look at what you said about having favorite artists in common, talking about excitement level for one thing, then maybe we weren't very much, until now.
COCO For example I've always liked PUFFY, my favorite artists are relatively dispersed. Ah… but Mie-chan, you like the Sex Pistols don't you?
MIE I like them!
MOËKOV I like the Pistols, and I don't even know the names of the songs! Speaking of which, I heard Sid Vicious's "My Way" for the first time.
COCO Ehhh?! You heard it only just the other day? (laughs)
MOËKOV Uh-huh. It was awesomely cool.
COCO Seems like every pastime is relevant at least once in awhile, doesn't' it? (laughs)
MIE But lately, punk is striking a huge chord with me again. Maybe my live performances are getting more intense under that influence, I don't know. Right now, what we do is booming, wouldn't you say? I would.
COCO It's the GREATEST.
Moëkov: Pistols rule── In reality, from the start of the album, things like "Otsukaresama Song", "What I Want", "SNAKEY SHAKEY", the new recordings are finished as speedy, nothing-held-back punk numbers. Even the sonic textures are immensely rough and forceful. COCO I don't know, maybe on those three songs the momentum of the band as it is now came out.
Attracted to artists where the coolness has something bad about it── On the other hand, the sweet summer tune "Summer Girl" beginning with an oldies-style chorus, and the Motown pop style on things like "Monkey Monkey" and "Ding Dong" — the way the music is recorded, the whole work makes such a colorful impression, it's finished with a wealth of high points and low points. COCO Honestly, it feels to me like I crammed all the songs I like into one. I love music that resembles American pop, I guess songs just naturally come out with that kind of feel. My father often listened to oldies in the car, so maybe that might have had an effect.
MOËKOV By the way, when we made the new album we re-did all the singing on the tracks that have already been published. They're re-mastered for this album as well.
COCO That's why current style is reflected in every song, I think.
─
─ What was it like to make fresh recordings of those songs? COCO I fully realized how cutesy-pie my singing had been until then (laughs). Not that I was doing it consciously.
NEMOTO DO SHOBŌRE (producer) When she's singing on the first song, "Otsukaresama Song", Coco sings in a voice like Crayon Shin-chan (laughs). That was really good.
COCO A — how should I put it — a bratty feeling (laughs). By putting on that style, I think a whole new direction for vocals has come to light.
MOËKOV On that vocal, the job of toning down the sweetie factor got done (laughs).
COCO It did, didn't it? (laughs).
── Nonetheless, the "cute" appeal that is the original character of the band isn't impaired at all on this album. I don't feel anything "unbecoming a woman". COCO Ahahaha (laughs). Even if I try my hardest, I can't be that type. On this album, I thought it would be good for a sense of us as we are right now, in our natural form, to come out in the sound.
── On that score, is there any band that you're targeting? COCO The Ramones. That they kept on doing the simple things is a very cool stance, I think. The members' characters might be all over the place, but the moment they hit the stage they tightened up into one single band. Beyond that, speaking of whether the image of the band itself was sexy, it was never any such thing, there was a knuckleheaded feel somehow, you know? (laughs) I thought the figure of them on stage playing full-force was cool. They really passed down the love of rock 'n' roll, I'd say.
── That comes out in "Otsukaresama Song" with the phrase, "I'm not skilled, I'm not cool, I can't quit the guitar". There's a link there somewhere. COCO What I'd say is, just as you can say that being cool goes along with rock 'n' roll, you could also say being bad goes along with being cool. Rather than artists who have decided
bachibachi is stylish, I'm attracted to artists where the coolness has something bad about it.
── Rather, to those artists whose human nature, good or bad, comes out in their performance.
COCO That's what it's about. Although I'm following after cool like my life depended on it, in some ways that seems a little uncool (laughs). I think that we could be a band like that, too.
── Lastly, could each of you please let us hear your impressions of the album? COCO Although it's self-praise, I think we were able to make a truly cool album. Now I can tell that someday we'll be able to give a proper form to what we want to do.
MOËKOV When I listen somehow, I…… start laughing. I often laugh out loud when I work. As far as I'm concerned, I think that on this production I was able to break out of my shell. As long as I don't get down about how it doesn't compare to the last album, I feel very strongly that I can go on positively engaging with new work.
MIE I think we were able to make an album that says, "How 'bout
that!!" Listening to this, if there's anyone who thinks, "THE LET'S GO's, yes and no" then I guess there's already not going to be a life-long relationship (laughs). It's a work with approximately that attitude, I think.
One-band battle of the bands── Daringly, the work is called I HATE THE LET'S GO's.
What's the reason for the title?MIE In short, it's talking about "LOVE". In other words, "HATE" means passing beyond "LOVE", loving to excess.
In the interval since the last work, within the band, naturally there were good things as well as lots of hardships, especially because there were many times when we fought. However, even lumping in all the various things, even so, the fact is that standing on a stage playing as a trio is my number-one enjoyment. Lately I honestly think it might be that we're already in a relationship we can't escape.
◼︎That's the whole interview. It'll have to do until the day someone from Shonen Knife
decides to take questions that are actually about something substantial. I'm impressed
by how much the interviewer knew, the way he would put people on the spot for
personal responses, and how honest the band members seemed to be.
_____________________________
Atsuko Maeda – cute isn't something you are,
it's something you do"Cutsy-pie" — K
awaii-ko buru is girls putting on a deliberate phony
cute-girl act. People who aren't fooled by this are disgusted by it.
"Crayon Shin-chan" is a cartoon character created by Yoshito Usui, popular for over
25 years. Shin-chan's an out-of control five-year-old, like a mischievous monkey.
"Unbecoming a woman" is
on'na datera ni, a phrase applied to females in traditionally
male roles like prizefighter, construction boss, bodybuilder, weapons specialist.
By implication, women like that are masculinized.
"A knuckleheaded feel" is
bonkura-ppoi kanji, a dimwitted-ish or blockhead-like feeling.
A sense of being at the bottom of the class, people who are an effort to deal with.
"Can't quit the guitar" — the whole verse is:
Umakunai kakkoyokunai Gitā yamerarenai Umakunai kakkoyokunai kedo Naze darou Umakunai kakkoyokunai Gitā yamerarenai Nani no yaku ni mo tatanai hito da | I'm not skilled I'm not cool I can't quit the guitar I'm not skilled I'm not cool, though I wonder why I'm not skilled I'm not cool I can't quit the guitar I'm a good-for-nothing person |
Bachibachi is SFX for arcing electricity, crackle-crackle. Also the title of a very
macho boy's manga about sumo wrestlers, where the characters are always staring
each other down.
Bachibachi Elekiteru, Bachi-Bachi Generate, was an awful variety
show on Fuji TV. Imagine twenty class clowns competing for attention all at once.
How this is a contrast to bona-fide bad boys with guitars is anybody's guess.
DOYA! faces from Google
"How 'bout
that!!" is
DOYA!, a classic comedian's catchphrase for having just done something
impressive and feeling very self-confident about it. The
DOYA! face is an internet meme.
NicoNico's dictionary says
DOYA! is originally something you might have heard from a golfer
who has just sunk a great putt (according to one theory). A smug challenge: can you top this?
"THE LET'S GO's — yes and no". The Japanese phrase is
sou demo nai, often translated as "not really".
It's an equivocal response, for when you want to contradict somebody by allowing that their views
are not totally without merit, but you have reservations about the matter.
Sou dewa nai = That is not so!
Sou demo nai = That's so, and yet not...
detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1329780083