Aural Vampire in Tokyo Dance Night

JaME interviewed electronic band Aural Vampire a couple of hours before their performance at the Tokyo Dance Night event held in Finland. DJ Raveman and EXO-CHIKA appeared a bit tired before the last concert of the tour, but nevertheless were happy to discuss their music and the European tour.

Could you please introduce yourselves to our readers who may not be familiar with you yet?

EXO-CHIKA: We are Aural Vampire. The man behind the machines is RAVEMAN and I am the singer, EXO-CHIKA.

Are you happy with the way your tour has been so far?

RAVEMAN: We're extremely satisfied. On tour we've seen a different kind of audience because in Japan, our audience consists almost entirely of women. That's why we're happy to see that there are also men in the audience here. All in all, we're glad to know there are people interested in us also outside Japan.

What kind of expectations do you have about tonight's gig, as it is the last performance of the tour?

EXO-CHIKA: Naturally we're a bit melancholic now that we're playing our last gig, but at the same time, there's excitement in the air. We want to do our best in tonight's performance and put in everything we have.

How has it been being on tour and what has it been like to work with other artists on tour?

EXO-CHIKA: Working together has been fun, of course.
RAVEMAN: A large part in our performances usually deals with fire. This time we won't be able to use fire due to the regulations, but we want to create a good atmosphere in other ways and find new ways to succeed despite this.

What do you think about the fact that Japanese music has been growing increasingly popular overseas in recent years?

RAVEMAN: We find it strange that people overseas connect us to visual kei bands. It's funny that we're popular here because of visual kei. The Japanese would never see us in the same event as a visual kei band, but in Europe that could well be possible. But of course we're happy that we have fans.

Do you have any idols? Have you been influenced by a certain musical style?

RAVEMAN: Our musical style has mainly been influenced by early European techno music. It influenced my taste of music since I was a teenager.

What's the meaning of lyrics in Aural Vampire's music? Usually people listen this kind of music when they dance, but do you also want to communicate something with your lyrics?

EXO-CHIKA: I mainly want to express myself by singing. Our songs have messages of course, but nothing very deep. Most of our songs are sad or slightly depressing, but many songs have meaningless lyrics on purpose. There are all kinds of pieces. I like the melancholic ones the best, however.

Would you like to bring your music to the European market?

RAVEMAN & EXO-CHIKA: We'll try our best!

What goals do you have for the rest of the year and next year?

RAVEMAN: First we'll cover our bases; we want to make Aural Vampire famous. Next year we'll be aiming even higher!

Thank you for the interview.

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Special thanks to Niklas Nyman for interpreting. Pictures by Heikki Mitikka.