Interview with girugamesh

On January 20th 2016, rock band girugamesh released their latest mini-album chimera in Japan and digitally in Europe, followed by a special CD version on February 5th. Meanwhile, the band announced a new tour throughout Europe for May. JaME used the chance to ask girugamesh some questions regarding chimera, their latest gigs in foreign countries, and future plans.

Though this isn't your first interview with JaME, could you please introduce yourselves once more to our readers, maybe with a funny fact about you this time?

Satoshi: I’m Satoshi, vocals, was about to die the other day from a 40-degree fever.
Nii: I’m Nii, guitar. I wanna see you guys soon.
ShuU: I’m ShuU, bass, I met with a traffic accident lately.
Яyo: I’m Яyo, I can speak English to some extent now.

You released a new mini-album, chimera, on January 20th. What kind of message do you want to convey to your fans through this mini-album?

Satoshi: Anger, sadness, an inferiority complex and despair.

What inspired the writing on this latest album?

Яyo: Anger and an inferiority complex.

The digest preview of chimera is reminiscent of your older, heavier sound that some fans are missing. Will this mini-album revive the image of the 'old girugamesh'?

ShuU: Well, we weren’t especially aware of it, but we are sure that this new album could form girugamesh’s new foundation.

Which song from chimera is your personal favourite? What do you like about it?

Nii: M6, END. I enjoyed making this dark and heavy song for the first time in a while.

On chimera, the bonus track Big Bear Remix from gravitation is featured. What can you tell us about this special track?

Яyo: That’s a work by our programmer. We’ve never had an EDM remix before so we just tried.

Your new album will also be released in Europe. What are your feelings about it and what do your European fans mean to you?

ShuU: We are very happy about it, and hope they like the physical CD too. They can enjoy the CD jacket. We’ve been to Europe many times and Europe is very important to us, just like our home country.

Of all your releases, which is the one you liked the most and which has been the hardest one to do?

Яyo: I choose Monster. That song was our first work after a hiatus. Every time I listen to it, it reminds me of those days. That is our best work.

girugamesh has been active for more than ten years. How do you think the group has matured musically throughout your career?

Nii: Well, of course we could develop our musical technique, and our thoughts about music developed, too.

What do you think is the greatest achievement of your career so far?

Satoshi: The feeling of gratitude to our fans. We can keep playing music because there are people who need our music. We really appreciate that they made us our place to live.

You were pretty active in 2015 with live performances with other artists, at festivals and even overseas performances. What did 2015 leave you with?

Satoshi: 2015 left us a power which we obtained by performing with other artists.

Could you please share with us your most cherished memory from your overseas performances?

Nii: My most cherished memory is when I saw our fans smiling and enjoying our show.

Last year you performed in Asia and Mexico. Are you planning on visiting more countries this year?

Nii: Unfortunately we have no plans yet at this moment, but we’d love to do.

What country that you have visited has left you with the biggest impression and why?

Nii: Mexico, because the cheers of the fans are huge.

Some bands don't much enjoy being far away from Japan, so how do you feel like when you are abroad? What is the most complicated thing and what do you enjoy the most when you go overseas?

ShuU: It’s true that we experienced a tough situation when we went on the first European tour because of our inexperience. However, we enjoyed the situation, and just felt the joy of having our shows in countries we’d never been before, so it was not that bad. Of course, there are some times that we feel stress because four adult men live together everyday, but actually that brings a sense of unity, you know.

What is one thing you would like to achieve this year?

Яyo: Answering interviews in English without translator.

You're going to perform with MUCC and AKi at MAVERICK DC presents DOUBLE HEADLINE TOUR 2016 「M.A.D」 in February. What are your thoughts about this?

Satoshi: We will rock our sempai with full force!

You have collaborated with producers like TAKUYA. However, you haven't done anything with guest artists in your songs. Is there someone you would like to record with sometime?

Яyo: I would like to work with guitarist Misha from my favorite band Periphery.

And what do your plans for the near and far future look like?

ShuU: We wanna go back to Europe soon, so please wait for that expectantly. Hopefully we can have a lot of shows around the world, just like in Japan.

If you could describe girugamesh with one word, what would it be?

ShuU: It’s just ‘chimera’ because a chimera is a chimera, not a goat, lion, or snake but a chimera. It’s like us not being rock, metal, or pop but girugamesh is girugamesh.

Besides your activities as musicians, do you have some other artistic sides that you would like to develop or try, like drawing? Dubbing? Design?

Яyo: I’d like to form a band on the internet by myself. Also, I want to be a sound engineering teacher.

And lastly, could you please leave a message for the JaME readers?

Satoshi: girugamesh will keep working vigorously overseas this year, so please keep supporting us!



JaME would like to thank girugamesh and Gan-Shin Records for making this interview possible.