Interview with Jean-Ken Johnny from MAN WITH A MISSION

Your current WOLVES ON PARADE tour kicked off in North America in May, and you've been in Europe since mid-June. How has it been so far?

Jean-Ken Johnny: It’s been really amazing. Every venue and every city we’ve visited was a lot of fun. The audience reaction was so fabulous. It was really energetic, really enthusiastic. It's been four or five years since our last world tour. So, I guess they were expecting a lot, but it was more than great for us, amazing for us, visiting all these cities all over the word. It’s been such an amazing tour so far.

At your recent London show, Tomoyasu Hotei appeared as a surprise special guest. How did that come about, and how did he feel about being surrounded by wolves on stage?

Jean-Ken Johnny: We've done collaborations with him on a couple of songs and he’s been on stage with us before, so I guess he’s getting used to it. And he is a tall guy, so I actually assume that the audience is not astonished only by the wolves but also by how large he is. And he is a living legend in Japan, so it’s such an honor and pleasure to perform with him. He’s living in London; it was a lot of fun playing with him.

While many Japanese bands seem reluctant or indifferent to building an international audience, MAN WITH A MISSION have been touring overseas pretty much since you started, even though it can be an expensive and complicated business. What motivates you so strongly to share your music with the world?

Jean-Ken Johnny: Well, it’s true that it costs a lot. You have to spend a lot of money traveling all over the world with a lot of crew, but I believe ever since we formed a band, or I started music, it was all about performing in front of a lot of people all over the world. All the videos that I was watching, such big festivals: Woodstock, Glastonbury, things like that. It was really great to see how the audience watched every band. It didn’t matter which country they came from or what kind of music they played. That was a true crossing over of music. A lot of people say, music crosses over countries and borders...without a doubt, that was it, you know. Ever since I saw that, I was like, I have definitely gotta do this, all over the world. And that motive hasn't changed since that moment. Now, these days, we have the chance to travel all over the world and it’s a great pleasure and a lot of fun.

Especially now after the pandemic kind of stopped everything for a while.

Jean-Ken Johnny: Yeah, it’s good to finally be back on the road.

Many fans abroad love your music even though they don’t speak Japanese. Do you hear fans sing along the lyrics at shows? How does that feel?

Jean-Ken Johnny: Yes we do! It’s amazing! They’re probably not really learning Japanese, they’re probably only watching anime or listening to the songs, trying to interpret or translate them by themselves. It’s really amazing. I mean, 10 years ago, it wasn't that common that people would sing in Japanese. But these days, with the internet it’s so easy to connect the world, a lot easier then 10 or 15 years ago. I guess people are really catching what they really want, and they’re able to do what they want, singing in Japanese. I guess that’s making a closer world.


You’ve played in many different venues all around Japan, from small livehouses to sports stadiums to ski resorts, and all around the world. Are there any venues on your 'bucket list' that you’d want to play at?

Jean-Ken Johnny: Just like the festivals I’ve been talking about, like Glastonbury and stuff like that. I just really love to feel the air, the atmosphere where everybody is just waiting for their headliners. I mean, we’ve had a chance to travel all over the world to such a lot of venues, a lot of people gathering in one place just to watch the music they like… I really like the culture, the festival kind of stuff and that would be a great thing if it happens.

Wolves are known for their healthy appetite. From your Twitter feed, it seems that sampling the local food and drink is a big highlight for you when on tour. Which city on this tour wins the prize for best meal so far?

Jean-Ken Johnny: Umm...I’ve been enjoying everything. We definitely tried having some local food from each country. And everything is really amazing there, because we can’t really get that much in Japan. Japan is a diverse country where you can see a lot of culture going on. One thing I tried during my stay in England. England is pretty famous for Indian curry. But I hadn't had Sri Lankan-style curry. It was pretty different from the Indian curry and that was my first time trying it and I’m definitely gonna find a store back in Japan. It was really good!

Nice, I’m going to try that, too!

Jean-Ken Johnny: Yeah, it’s spicy but at the same time it’s really light! I guess you can dig in as much as you want. (laughs)

In your 2015 interview with JaME, you spoke to us about your collaboration with a Georgian vodka brand. Recently, there was a collaboration with Brewdog, a Scottish IPA brand, which even has a pop-up shop at Miyashita Park in Tokyo. Do wolves have a high alcohol tolerance?

Jean-Ken Johnny: Well I’m not sure about other wolves, but this team drinks a lot. (laughs) This team really drinks a lot so I’m really glad this collaboration happened.

You also tweeted that you went to an international football match England vs. North Macedonia. Did you enjoy the game?

Jean-Ken Johnny: It was amazing, especially for England as it was 7:0, so it was great.

One of our team members recommended that you should go to Birmingham next time you’re in the UK so you can catch a “Wolves” (Wolverhampton Wanderers) game!

Jean-Ken Johnny: Yeah, that they have really famous players in that team as well, so yeah, definitely Birmingham if that happens!

What's been the most surprising thing you've seen since arriving in Europe?

Jean-Ken Johnny: The weirdest thing, umm...nothing weird but actually when I went to the English national team's game in Manchester, it was really a lot of fun, it was 7:0. That was my first time watching a national team, another national team besides Japan, in their home country.

The fans must have been loud!

Jean-Ken Johnny: Yeah, I think there were like 70,000 people watching the game and the stadium was fully packed. Everybody was just watching football and actually it was invented there so that was really amazing.


On the other hand, what're you looking forward to the most about returning to Japan?

Jean-Ken Johnny: Well, to tell you the truth, I’m really homesick for Japanese food right now. That happens every time. When we travel overseas, we try to eat local food and stuff like that but we were raised on Japanese food so... (laughs)

What would you eat if you could go somewhere straight away right now?

Jean-Ken Johnny: If I go back to Japan? I guess, the first thing I’m gonna have is in the airport in Japan you know, Gyuu-Don, a beef bowl. It’s really different from what you can get overseas, so I’ll probably try that one. A very cheap but very delicious beef bowl.

Smells Like Teen Spirit is a regular highlight of your live shows, and you’ve also covered Lithium by Nirvana. What do these songs in particular mean to you, and the '90s grunge era in general, even though you were still frozen in the Antarctic ice by a mad scientist at the time?

Jean-Ken Johnny: I mean the '90s alternative scene was a huge inspiration to me. I believe it was a huge inspiration to everyone in our band, especially Nirvana. They were one of the top bands that was really in the middle of that scene and we decided to cover those two songs because of the popularity and because we admire the band a lot. It’s pretty hard for us to name one band that we like a lot because we're big fans of that whole era.

The term “alternative” is really awesome because it really means that the music itself was really experimental, a lot of mixture and a lot of hybrid stuff was happening and I really love that musical culture. I guess I’m just a really big fan of that era and what we’re trying to do is just inheriting that music. We have the heritage of the '90s but at the same time, we try to blend it with a modern kind of vibe, kind of rock'n'roll. That’s what MAN WITH A MISSION is trying to do right now.

You’ve worked with international artists like ZEBRAHEAD and Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy. Are you planning more international collaborations?

Jean-Ken Johnny: Umm, those two actually happened by coincidence. Especially with ZEBRAHEAD, we were just hanging out at their studio. And they were like, would you like to write a song? (laughs) And Patrick Stump, he was on top of the list of people we wanted to collaborate with and it just happened. It’s always a pleasure working with another artist because it’s always inspiring and stimulating at the same time and especially ZEBRAHEAD and Fall Out Boy, they are definitely on the playlist of what we have listened to.


The artwork for the WOLVES ON PARADE tour shows you all in space suits. Did you want to be an astronaut when you were a cub? If you could visit anywhere in the universe, where would you want to go most of all?

Jean-Ken Johnny: I’m not really that much of a fan of outer space. (laughs) It’s pretty scary, but I admire scientists because they’re trying to figure out the never-discovered so I really admire their spirit. If I had a chance to go to outer space, well, just because it’s the closest, it’s not a planet, but the Moon. I’ve always imagined about going out there and taking a look at the earth. We human beings have done a lot, but there’s a lot more out there, and now technology is catching up, I guess probably the first one’s who’s gonna live on the Moon will be Elon Musk or somebody like that. (laughs) If we had a chance I would definitely fly to the Moon.

Your latest single Kizuna no Kiseki, the opening theme to anime “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Swordsmith Village Arc”, is a collaboration with milet. She has a very different music style from MAN WITH A MISSION. What was it like working with her, and what did she bring to the song?

Jean-Ken Johnny: First of all, those two songs. Before we took the opportunity, it was already meant to be a collaboration with a female and a male artist and we were luckily chosen. When I heard that we were working with milet, it was really great because I am a big fan of her artistic style and her way of singing, her voice, it’s really amazing. I believe she’s one of the most important divas in Japan's music scene right now and it was a pleasure working with her.

Since I was a big fan of her, I just wrote that song to match her voice, especially the bridge and chorus parts. I imagined what kind of melody, or what kind of lyrics would fit her. She is a very bright girl and has a positive vibe, but she has a kind of a dark side in her voice. Not just positive, not just great, she has a slight dark side, and that really pushes the emotion in her music. I really admire that a lot. Guess I imagined that writing that song and really I enjoyed it when she was singing it.

That’s so wholesome! You performed Kizuna no Kiseki with milet on the YouTube channel THE FIRST TAKE. She’s a THE FIRST TAKE veteran by now. How was it, making your debut alongside her, and also performing Raise Your Flag?

Jean-Ken Johnny: THE FIRST TAKE is a huge program in Japan and a lot of artists and bands are taking part. We never thought that we would take part in that of kind of thing. (laughs) I believe a lot of people have trouble with shooting us, you know.

It was really interesting to watch!

Jean-Ken Johnny: It was interesting, right? It was a lot of fun. I was a little nervous but it was a pleasure to take part in that.


How does it feel knowing your music has been used in some of the most popular anime series in the world right now? There is barely an anime fan who doesn’t know “Demon Slayer” and “Boku no Hero Academia”!

Jean-Ken Johnny: It’s really amazing because we’ve known the comic book from the beginning and “Demon Slayer” was in one of the biggest kids’ magazines in Japan. And it got a lot of attention. When they started the anime, it just exploded so massively. And I believe it’s one of the biggest anime series of the decade in Japan. And a lot for fans from overseas react a lot to our songs. It was amazing but at the same time, it's such a big series, I was a bit nervous, you know. (laughs) But I’m really proud of what we made out of it. The balance of joining the anime, the story itself, but it also has the philosophy of the band that we already had so I guess what we made out of it was… I’m pretty satisfied with it.

Is there a certain process for how an anime theme song is picked? Or are the songs written specifically for certain animes?

Jean-Ken Johnny: Usually, the directors select it. They have ideas of maybe this band, maybe this artist. We write a lot of songs, and they pick one song, something like that. They just say "Let’s go with this one."

What is your personal favorite anime?

Jean-Ken Johnny: My personal favorite anime… That’s pretty hard… If I’m talking about geeky stuff (laughs), I am a huge fan of the sci-fi kind of stuff in Japan. The “Gundam” series, I’m a big fan of that. It’s not just about robots, you know, it has a philosophy about war and peace and it’s really amazing. Definitely not a program for kids to watch, truly, but it’s a lot of fun. Um… “Ghost in the Shell”! And all the creations that Katsuhiro Otomo has made, I’m a huge fan of what he’s making. I guess with the sci-fi stuff in Japan, it really catches me.

After making so many anime theme songs, have you ever thought you’d like to go a step further and compose a whole soundtrack, like RADWIMPS has for Makoto Shinkai’s anime movies?

Jean-Ken Johnny: Like in “Your Name.”? That was amazing! I mean I’d love to do that. Since we're talking about that, I had a chance to watch the pre-movie before the movie started and I heard the main theme song with the commercial of that movie and I was like: this is gonna explode! The song was great and Makoto Shinkai, the director, was well known for beautiful sceneries like that, but he never did a long-term, catchy love kind-of story, and when I saw that pre-movie with the amazing RADWIMPS song, I was like this is gonna explode and boom! It happened! I really admire and envy the way they collaborated because Shinkai and RADWIMPS are big fans of each other. I guess that helped a lot, because the love of them was pure.

If that happens, I would love to write all the music for an anime, but at the same time, I would really love to have the director love the band as well. That makes the magic more pure.

What is the wolves’ next mission?

Jean-Ken Johnny: Right now, we’re doing a world tour that will probably take us to the end of this year. To be honest, I’m not thinking of anything at the moment right now. It’s really great to be back on the road. Not only us, but everybody was suffering during these 3 years, especially Japan, where the audience still have to wear masks right now. Touring around the world, we see you guys are totally back to normal again. I hope that happens back in Japan soon.

But are they allowed to sing along again? It was forbidden during the pandemic.

Jean-Ken Johnny: They are finally allowed to sing again, or say what they want, but they still have to wear masks.

Last but not least, do you have a message for your fans?

Jean-Ken Johnny: First of all, thank you very much for having us back for our European tour. It was such a pleasure, such an honor meeting all you guys. It’s been quite a while since we last came here but are really amazed and so thankful for each and every reaction you guys give us. Thank you all so much for your support and the love that you give to us. I hope that we give it back to you enough as well. Next time, hopefully, we won’t take 4 or 5 years. Let’s meet soon!

Thank you very much, this was Jean-Ken Johnny from MAN WITH A MISSION.

JaME would like to thank Jean-Ken Johnny, MAN WITH A MISSION and Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) for making this interview possible.