Interview with D'espairsRay in Madrid

In July 2007, JaME met with ZERO and HIZUMI of D'espairsRay in Madrid, the day of their first and only show in Spain.


If you could introduce D'espairsRay using one of your songs, which song would you choose?

ZERO: MIRROR!
HIZUMI: MIRROR!

How did each of you meet one another? How did the band form?

ZERO: Basically, Karyu was the one who formed the band, so he picked the members. We went to a studio, had some jam sessions and after some time, we really liked each other so we decided to become a real band.

How did you choose the band name D'espairsRay? Does it have a particular meaning? Who came up with the name?

ZERO: It's nothing special.
HIZUMI: It can mean whatever you want (laughs).

HIZUMI, when you write lyrics for the music the other band members have written, what is your thought process? Do you try to match the person's original idea for the song or do you create your own ideas?

HIZUMI: Of course I try to match the original concept. When I listen to the new song I write my own thoughts because sometimes it's really difficult if I try to change what I want to write just so I can match the original idea that the band member has.

Your album Coll:set has a much darker sound than MIRROR, in fact you have a lot of new fans who like songs such as Squall and Kogoeru yoru ni saita hana; what is the difference in the composition process of both albums?

HIZUMI: I really don't think that there was a huge difference in the composition process, but actually after we made Coll:set we had visited a lot of places and we incorporated a lot of that into MIRROR. Even now D'espairsRay is changing; when we finished Coll:set we tried new things. Actually, just because MIRROR doesn't sound as dark as Coll:set it doesn't mean we are not D'espairsRay anymore. In MIRROR we finally could show our feelings and everything that we are. That's why it's called "mirror" because it reflects us; it wasn't intentional, it just happened that way.

In your new album, all the songs have fast rhythm except Squall; before making the music for the album was this your intention to make this track different from the others?

HIZUMI: Hmmm, I don't think it is slow.
ZERO: Also SCREEN is slow isn't it?

So you made those two songs slow intentionally?

HIZUMI: We really don't care about tempo when we make songs.

Do you think that touring outside Japan has become an influence for your music? Why or why not?

HIZUMI: Yes, of course.

Your sound becomes more defined with each of your releases, where do you see the future sound of D'espairsRay going?

HIZUMI: Hmmm...
ZERO: I don't know how we are going to sound in the future, but we will be the best rock band in the world. (laughs)

On August 19th, you are going to perform in an event called "Dark Sanctuary" with Moi dix Mois; can you tell us more about this event?

HIZUMI: For a while now, we've wanted to have an event like this so we really can't wait for that day to come!

Do you like Moi dix Mois?

HIZUMI: ZERO should answer that question.
ZERO: Yes I do.

How was your performance at Jrock Revolution?

HIZUMI: I really didn't feel like we were in the USA...

How come?

HIZUMI: The people who went to that event seemed like they were influenced by Japanese fans. I felt like they were Japanese and we were in Japan.

So American fans are different from European fans

HIZUMI: It was just that event, I really felt like we were at a Japanese fest.

Before coming to Spain, did you know some things about this country?

HIZUMI: Bull fighting or however it's called and Sagrada Familia (a church in Barcelona).

You were one of the first visual bands to perform throughout Europe; we could even say that your shows started the "VK boom" in Europe. How do you feel about being something similar to pioneers in this scene?

HIZUMI: Is that true? (laughs) Well we really feel good about that and we will try to make new songs and come again and again.

Before performing in Europe the first time, were you aware of the fans you had here? Was it hard to take the decision about going overseas?

HIZUMI: Before coming to Europe a lot of fans wrote comments of us in our BBS so we knew we had fans overseas. That's why we made that decision. Before going somewhere we really like to know we have fans.

HIZUMI, is there any particular artist that inspires your vocal style?

HIZUMI: I really like a lot of vocalists, but I don't think there is any particular which I really prefer over the other.

For example...

HIZUMI: Jonathan Davis from KoЯn.

How about you, ZERO, do you have any particular artist that inspires you?

ZERO: No, I don't have any particular influence.

Now that the band has had several successful performances overseas are you trying to improve your skills in any foreign language? If so, which ones?

HIZUMI: Hmmm, I guess not.
ZERO: I don't understand even a bit of English. I'm okay with only Japanese.

ZERO, you introduced yourself to our American team as "Band Manager ZERO". If you were the band manager, how would you run things?

ZERO: This band would become the worst. (laughs) I would quit because it's really difficult to be a manager.

Where do you see the band going in the immediate future? How about ten years from now?

ZERO: Hmmm, my sons will be in high school and we will be the best rock band in the world (laughs).
HIZUMI: Actually, I don't think in ten years your sons will be in high school since first, you have to have sons. (laughs)
ZERO: Ten years are really a lot of years, but I think we will be the best rock band in the world for sure. (laughs)

Thank you for taking your time for the interview, can each of you give a final message to your overseas fans?

ZERO: Probably when you read this interview the tour will be over, but we really would like to say thank you. We will try to come again.
HIZUMI: The same!


JaME would like to thank D'espairsRay for taking time to answer our questions and to thank NAIZO and Gan-Shin for making the interview possible.