Interview with ADAMS

JaME got the chance to meet ADAMS guitarist and producer Shota in a small bar in Luxembourg. There, he talked about their future works, the responsibility of being an artist and killing Adam.


Hello Shota! Since ADAMS‘s first interview with JaME a year and a half ago, a lot of things have happened with the band. Could you sum these up in just one sentence?

Shota: Wow, that's a difficult question. Before, when we were still in Japan, we didn’t expect all this, but when we touched the European culture by coming here and performing, we felt a lot of unexpected things that made changes to our planning – like a big accident. We’ve experienced a lot in a very short time.

About your upcoming single Akisame you said it would be ADAMS's final work in the J-rock/J-pop genre. But since you are both the band’s producer and guitarist, won't there always be some elements of rock music in your songs?

Shota: Well, it was also some kind of accident. I’ve gotten in touch with a lot of cultures. At first, we already had our plan for, like, first album, second album, third album and so on. When we started ADAMS, it had a J-rock, visual kei, rock band kind of feeling. Though we’d already planned it like this, we always try to change our sound. Especially the guitar. For the next album, in the songs we are making right now, I don't play guitar. It's only the computer. But ... maybe I want to play guitar. But it's a challenge, you know? (He laughs) It's always like "What can I do? Guitar? No guitar?" It's only my imagination of what I can do, so it's a challenge every time.

So you already had a plan for ADAMS, like first album, second album ... But your concept is that ADAMS will be born in 2021. That is a pretty long time. Have you really planned everything until then or are you spontaneously deciding the next steps the band will take?

Shota: Actually, we already have our plan for the next ten years – Adam and me decided it beforehand. But like I said, we came here, and in Europe, we saw and touched and felt a lot, so everything’s changed a little bit. But generally, we have a plan for these ten years, yes.

Please tell us more about Akisame.

Shota: Akisame's sound is like the sequel of Boku no Sei and Seseragi. It's a sad love song. I created the music three or four years ago, but Adam wrote the lyrics just recently, so they're very fresh.

Are there any themes you’d like to explore on your future releases?

Shota: Well, our sound has changed, but the message remains unchanged. We sing about love, always.

Your motto is "Revolutionary. Originally. Timeless.", but isn't it difficult to be "revolutionary" all the time, with every new release, PV and event?

Shota: I don’t think it's difficult. Because Adam and me don't always like having the same fashion, sounding the same, saying the same things. We are a cool Japanese rock band, always. It means, if next time – for example – we would like to make enka ... our career is finished. (Everyone laughs) But seriously, if I can't make the music I want to, it means our career is over. All the time, we want to change something. And we do that. Perfectly. It's our confidence. But ...

Enka...seriously?

Shota: Enka or ... something. I mean, if I told Adam "For the next album, we'll do it like that!" and Adam says "I don't like that", it also means our career is finished.

So, next question. Comparing your first European tour in 2013 with your second tour this year, ADAMS's performances seem to be more relaxed and spontaneous. How have the experiences of your first tour influenced your second tour?

Shota: Well, I don’t think there were any big changes between the first and second tours. Of course we changed the set list, because of the new album. We also didn't want to play the same set list at every live – it would be boring – so we changed it. It's true that this tour was more relaxed. We didn't decide on every little detail this time. It's okay for this tour, I thought. The first time in Europe, we only played four shows and we didn't know what we could do yet. So we cut it down. But this time, it was a long tour; there were so many dates, so we wanted to grow from our first show until our tour final. Therefore, we could use our experiences from our first tour, but we could also learn more during the tour this year. Like, concerning our first tour, if we played – for example – Boku no Sei and everybody didn't like it, we still played it the next day. On our second tour, if we played Boku no Sei and everybody didn't like it, we changed the set list. We also considered when to play a song like Boku no Sei – at the beginning, in the middle, at the end – which is better? How can we create the right mood? Something like that.

Did something important happen during your second European tour?

Shota: Yes.

What was it?

Shota: Well, for me it's the human drama. It was a long tour. So sometimes there were fights, also in the team, like "I cannot work with him anymore!" (He laughs) But finally, there was a happy ending and everybody was fine. The team became stronger than before.

So, in contrast to this, can you tell us a funny tour story?

Shota: I don't remember where, but I was about to remove Adam's clothes. But I couldn’t remove them. (He laughs) This t-shirt! He usually wears a shirt and my game is to unbutton it, but Adam put on a t-shirt and I was like: "Huh?!"

It was in Munich, I saw this!

Shota: Oh, right! He had this red coat and the skull t-shirt on, and it got stuck.

Also, I remember during your Berlin live, you broke the playback when you undressed Adam and threw his shirt on your iPhone.

Shota: Ah, yes, yes! (He laughs) I learned: usually an iPhone or something is fine with clothes on them, but if the clothes are sweaty, they react to it. I didn't know that.

What was your biggest challenge on tour?

Shota: Well, so many shows! This was my challenge. Also Russia, of course.

So, Russia ... was it about the show, what you could do or how far you could go?

Shota: Russia was very good, the audience was super good. But before our show could start, we had a lot of stress. Because we couldn't sell our merchandise, and there were also problems with the tickets. We had to promote the concert as 18+, because of the law, but our Russian promoter didn't follow this rule and also sold tickets to minors. So, there were young people at the show. Therefore, the promoter came backstage and checked the merchandise booth beforehand. And you know the cover of SIXNINE, it shows nudity ... so they told us "You could not sell this!" – but how? Also, you know about the cover of Bittersweet, we kiss and stuff. The promoter said "This – absolutely no!" We could remove this single from the merchandise, but we couldn’t do this for the new album SIXNINE. In the end, we put 18+ stickers on everything and had to check each customer's passport, so it took a very long time.

Concerning the show, I couldn’t interact so much with Adam, and we had to focus very much on the musical part of the performance. This was because we didn't know if the venue would be checked by officials or not. The show was great though, but it was very new to us, that we couldn't do a very ADAMS-like performance. I only really played the guitar, it was almost just music, music, music. But the audience ... all the fans were super great. And finally, we were invited back for next year.

You’ll be going to South America in November this year. It’s been your dream for a long time, right? How do you feel about performing in South America for the first time? What can your EVES expect from ADAMS?

Shota: We don't know the audience yet, because it's our first time there. So maybe, it will be a performance like on our first European tour. I want to show them "ADAMS is like this!" So, it may be a rather strong performance, a little bit shocking. (Here, manager Aurélie reminds him to be careful as ADAMS's show will be at the convention J'Fest, so a lot of teenagers will be present) Ah, yes, if we were to do a super-strong performance on the first day, we might get told "Please stop", so we would probably have only one show. This means we have to be professional. (He laughs) We have to be careful, because there might be children present; maybe no super-strong performance after all. But we’ve already had shows at some conventions, so we know what we’re doing.

In our first interview, you said you would like to play a live in New York. What about this dream?

Shota: I still want to go to New York.

Right now?

Shota: No. Someday, not so far in the future, I want to go there.

On your tour in March and April 2014, fans got to experience how approachable ADAMS are. You always stress how you want your EVES to go crazy and come close to you, but where do you draw the line that fans shouldn’t cross? Where’s the limit?

Shota: It means distance, doesn't it? I think among ADAMS's fans, there are no bad girls, only very good girls. They have manners, right? I mean, maybe 98%. But I think: no limit. It's okay because I'm a fan sometimes, too. I have a lot of favorite artists. Sometimes I send them mail like "I'm your fan! I'm such a super fan!!" It's a very natural thing, I guess, so it's okay. WE should care. Fans shouldn’t care, that's okay. The artist should care about this – they’re responsible. For example, if Adam is contacted by some fans and meets them outside – in private – after the show, it's a private matter and that's a bad thing, I think. Because it's all about ADAMS' world. But if we tell our fans "Please don't contact us, please don't send personal messages" and things like that, it would be super-boring. Because we are musicians, we are artists. We sell dreams.

Talking about dreams, your cover of Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics was very popular during your European tour. Are you planning to release it on CD in future? Do you want to do more cover versions like this?

Shota: I think we’ll do some new cover songs. Right now, though, we have absolutely no plans about that. Still, I want to do another cover like Sweet Dreams, but we did not make a CD of this song.

Not at all or not yet? Might you release it on a CD later, or never?

Shota: Never. But this song helped us a lot on this tour. For example, when a customer like a big convention contacts us for the first time, he doesn't know us and our songs yet. But if we send them Sweet Dreams, he can get to know us better. So this is a very important cover song for us.

For promotion, you also filmed PVs in many different locations with various concepts. What was the biggest challenge? Which PV shooting were you most excited about?

Shota: Every time we are shooting a promotional video, we are excited. The most difficult was Boku no Sei. It was very difficult, because it was so cold outside!

White Caress was cold, too!

Shota: White Caress, too, yes. I hate the cold! For Boku no Sei, we didn't wear many clothes, and when we had a take and it was super cold, I was like “katakatakatakata” (He simulates teeth clattering from the cold) It was super hard, and when I played the acoustic guitar, it was almost frozen It was so hard.

About Adam and me, when we had to shoot the first very close and touching scenes during Dizzy Love ... when Adam and me were very close, the mood was a little bit shy, because of the shooting situation. And about this photoshoot (he points to a copy of FeelJapan magazine, which has a promotional picture for Dizzy Love on the cover) ... at that time, he was laughing! And I was laughing, too! So we were told "Hey, don‘t laugh!" But now it's easier for us to do this, but I don't want to shoot PV's outside anymore!

Which is your favorite PV?

Shota: Boku no Sei – because it was so hard! And, well, it's weird, but I like that song.

Except everything music-related, what is most important for you in life?

Shota: L.O.V.E.!

Imagine you were an EVE for one day. What would you like to say to ADAMS?

Shota: "You're very cool, I think! Why're you so cool?! Why so stylish?! Why so good at music?! That picture is also so cool! It's so revolutionary! I love you!"

Aurélie: Stop killing this vocalist!

Why does Adam have to die so many times?

Shota: Actually, I don’t know! Every time he dies – why?! I don‘t know. Maybe he's very weak? I don't know why. In the next PV, I’ll try not to kill him!

Thank you very much for this interesting interview! Finally, would you please give a message to our readers?

Shota: Thank you for reading JaME, and thank you for supporting us. We will try to make great music and will do amazing things from now on, too. So we hope you enjoy our music.


JaME would like to thank Shota, Aurélie and Mono for making this interview possible.