Interview with MONO

Before their concert in London, we had a chance to have a small interview with MONO's guitarist and leader Takaakira "Taka" Goto. It is noteable that concert was completely sold out and even at the door there were no tickets left.
After a short introduction, we have begun the interview.

How would you introduce MONO to someone who has never heard of you?
Taka: Basically we want to control this band ourselves.
What we want to do is not excessively promote our music. We want to release new CDs and to give great concerts, which is the fundamental function of a musician, rather than do excessive music promotion.
We hold many concerts every year around the world, particularly in North America, Europe, and Japan... Half of the year we spend with giving concerts and we have been doing this for six years already. So we became well known because our name was passed by word of mouth by the fans who came to our lives. So we trust our fans because we met them through lives.

What are main ideas behind MONO?
Taka: It is not to create a perfect song but to express ourselves and for people to see it and get something out of it.
For instance, I would not stop and would continue to play guitar for six weeks during the tour even if I had a fever around 40 degrees (Celsius) every day. I think that playing songs and instruments are the best ways to establish a relationship with fans.

Why have you chosen to make instrumental music?
Taka: Because the band had started when I met the other members, which play bass, guitar and drums and myself I am a guitarist, so I can't sing. When I was child, I grew up with "foreign music" and of course, I couldn't understand the lyrics. But I could guess what they meant by myself and it was important for me to imagine that music's atmosphere. I like that kind of relationships to the music. So, we prefer to give the room to feel or understand something from our music itself. If there is no specific information (lyrics or that sort of thing), we can imagine it. And so what the audience feels and imagines really depends on them.

When did you become interested in music?
Taka: Since I was a pupil, I always have listened to Western music. So I have been interested in music when I was an elementary school student.

Do you consider yourself a Japanese band or more like a band with no nationality, because ever since 2004 you've been giving more concerts in Europe and America than in Japan?
Taka: We feel like both a Japanese band and a band with no nationality. We changed our record company from 2001 to 2002 to find someone who can strongly support us. There are many fans waiting for us all over the world. Therefore, we can travel over the world and hold the concerts now. I think that Japanese culture can be introduced to the world using our position. Though our music tends to be Japanese, our performance is not. The Japanese culture is very conservative and I criticize it because of that.

What countries haven't you visited that you would like to perform in?
Taka: Definitely South America!! And Iceland. Next year we are going to go to Australia for a live tour, so we are looking forward to going there as well. We basically want to meet a variety of people from all over the world... In South America, I think there are many people who have a problem with their lives and by meeting those people, we will be able to recognize these social problem and to consider what kind of help we could do for the people... We think that this experience will lead us to the next step to create new songs.

Do you have a message to your European fans?
Taka: First of all, I would like to thank our fans as usual. If you have a possibility to come to the concert, please come and enjoy it.

After all the questions were asked, Taka added some words.

Taka: I've never really liked Jrock-style interviews before, so I was hesitant to get interviewed this time.
Bands that belong to big companies and are promoted on a large scale often come to Europe, especially to London, and many fans from Japan come as well. It seems that everything relies on capitalism. I hate that sort of thing although I don't mean to say likes and dislikes about bands by name at all. I don't want to depend on such a way. There are people who are interested in my band and Japanese culture. Some of interviewers ask about Japanese bands but my stance on music differs from theirs. That's why I was refusing to do interviews.

However, I accepted this time because i think if I feel unpleasant in an interview, I could just say what I think honestly. As the worst tendency of Japan, a large amount of money are put into sales promotion, and also bands are happy with it. That's a pity. My friends in North American and European bands whom I respect are all independent. They control themselves and have independent minds. I don't believe that music should depend on such a method (capitalism). Indeed, the clumsy music created by those who bear up and strive is better to move people with.

Thank you for talking to us today!
Taka: Thank you!


Thanks to MONO, Matski and Reiko Kudo.
Thanks to Mari and Yuki for the translation.