Interview with Ling tosite sigure at JAPAN NIGHT in London

Although progressive rock and post-hardcore trio Ling tosite sigure doesn't make media appearances very often, their unique brand of music that features whispers, soft male and female vocals, screams, rapid changes in tempo, vivid guitar riffs and mysterious lyrics has already drawn a considerable amount of attention to themselves.

Since their formation in 2002, Ling tosite sigure has toured actively in their home country and performed several overseas gigs, including one at The Great Escape in the UK and a one night show in Taiwan. Showing no signs of slowing down, the trio returned to the UK in July this year to perform at JAPAN NIGHT at HYPER JAPAN in London. A couple of hours before their show on July 11th was due, Ling tosite sigure chatted with JaME about their habits, best-of album and more.


First of all, I would like to thank you on behalf of JaME for agreeing to this interview. I hope that your time in London has been going well. As this is JaME's very first interview with you, can you introduce yourselves and tell us about one interesting habit you have?

Pierre Nakano: I’m Pierre Nakano, on drums. When I'm drunk, I go to the supermarket, grab a basket and then start buying things for my friends.
345: I’m 345 (editor’s note: pronounced as Miyoko) , on bass and vocals.
Pierre Nakano: 345’s habit is lying.
345: No! Not lying! (laughs)
Ling tosite sigure: (laugh)
345: Hmm … (thinks)
Interpreter: She’s struggling to find her habit. Shall we come back to her later?
345: Yes!
TK: I’m TK, on vocals and guitar. I spend most of my time making music, but my habit is disappearing overseas every time we take a break.

Your JAPAN NIGHT performance is due in just a few hours. What is going through your mind right now?

TK: We had two off days before today, so I’m feeling quite relaxed and stress-free. It’s almost the same as how I feel before we do a show in Tokyo, and I’m very excited to play tonight.

Your latest single Who What Who What was used as the theme song of "PSYCHO PASS: The Movie". What is the song about? And can you tell us more about the creation process of the song?

TK: When I write music, it’s quite difficult to express the feeling verbally. Of course I try to convey the feeling and image of this anime, but the reason I make music is to express the feeling through music rather than just words. That’s the process, so it’s difficult to explain the actual meaning of the words.

Your best-of album, Best of Tornado, was released digitally in the UK and Europe through iTunes and Amazon a few days ago, and will be available on CD worldwide from August 7th via JPU Records. Please tell us about the highlights of the album.

TK: Highlight ... hmm, having a best album is the highlight itself (laughs). I was working with the engineer on all the remixing and stuff again, and the finalisation of the album took place in the UK. So that’s another interesting fact of the album.

Can you tell me more about the title of the album, Best of Tornado?

TK: For Japanese people, “tornado” is a difficult word to pronounce, so “tornado” became “tonalu”. “Tonalu” is actually an evolved word from “tornado”. It’s kind of like a secret word between us and our fans, and our fans started using it as well. So it doesn’t really mean the best of “tornado”, but we just have some sort of attachment to the word “tonalu”.

What can we expect from Ling tosite sigure in the future?

TK: We don’t exactly know what’s going to happen in the near future as we tend to work without any plan, but hopefully tonight’s show will bring something new. We hope to come back to do more shows.

To wrap up our interview, please say a few words to all JaME readers.

TK: We hope that you will keep on supporting us until the day we come to play for you.

JaME would like to thank the JAPAN NIGHT Executive Committee and Ling tosite sigure for making this interview possible.