Rock the LM.C

Having formed in 2006, LM.C is still a rather young band. However, from the very beginning they've become very popular not only because of the interesting line-up and their colorful looks, but simply because of their music. Their sound is an incredibly catchy mix of rock, pop, some rap mixed with electronic and techno elements.

JaME received the opportunity in Tokyo to interview the band allowing us to get to know this duo a little better for our readers.


Could you introduce yourselves please?

Aiji: I'm Aiji. I play guitar.
Maya: I'm vocalist, Maya. Nice to see you.

How did you create the name "Lovely Moco Chang?" Your band name LM.C is the abbreviation of "Lovely Moco Chang," isn't it?

Maya: There are many reasons (laugh), but we didn't decide our band's name especially at first, and we thought about making the band's name like a sign which doesn't have any special meaning. The origin is 'Lovely Moco Chang' but now it isn't.
Aiji: No, it's not from these initial letters. 'C' is from '.com' of 'Lovely Moco-chang. com.' On French TV, we were introduced as 'Lovely Moco Chang' and I thought, "What's that!?" (laughs)
Maya: Yeah, it was like, "What are they like?" (laughs)
Aiji: It's made by 'L' of 'Lovely' and 'M' of 'Moco-chang' and 'C' of '.com.'

Now I understand. So, 'C' is not 'chang.'

Maya: About the period, we did not just put it in for looks. (laughs) Our band's name originates from there. I didn't say especially "it means this" when we started our activities either.

So the name of 'Lovely Moco-chang' doesn't have a special meaning either?

Maya: A long time ago, when I had to sing by myself for the first time and we did a practice live, we just put in any name that came to mind. 'Moco' is my dog. But that story isn't so interesting. (laughs)

This time, how did Maya and Aiji come to make a unit together?

Aiji: Well, it was about five or six years ago. I happened to listen to Maya's demo tape. Then I thought he made interesting sounds and started thinking that I wanted to help him somehow in the music scene. I didn't think that it would include me. I had been telling him to let me listen to his arrangements and songs, and then we started to work together in a way.

Maya, did you know Aiji before?

Maya: Yes. I've known him since he was about nineteen years old. (laughs) I was from Nagano prefecture, the same area as Aiji, and he had been quite famous for a while there. He had a great influence on the locals. (laughs)
Aiji: That sounds strange. People get the wrong idea.(laughs)
Maya: Well, he is quite like that. (laughs) Nagano is mostly mountains, so he was like a boss of bandits. (laughs)

So, almost everyone in Nagano prefecture knew Aiji?

Maya: Yes. (laughs) Then my band followed Aiji's previous band PIERROT, and I started to get along with him. (laughs) So it's about ten years since I first met Aiji.

Have you been doing your present music style, rap and electronic techno pop mix since before you started working together?

Maya: When I played in my former band, I didn't make that many songs; I didn't even join the band, really. After the band ended and I started to make songs by myself, I realized that I didn't know how to make songs, so I tried to make various songs with pop. Basically, I don't have any favorite genre, so I tried to take good things from different genres. I still try to do that now.

Aiji, you seem to be doing totally different music from the hard style music of PIERROT. When you listened to Maya's music for the first time, did you think, "He is interesting?"

Aiji: Yes. Well, I thought he could do various things. Maya's voice was different from any other voice ever in the history of the visual kei scene, so I thought if I made good use of his voice, he could develop into something even more.

Maya, how did you find the transition between going from guitarist to vocalist? Was being a vocalist always your original intention?

Aiji: It was almost like he was forced to sing. (laughs)
Maya: We just didn't have a vocalist! (laughs)

So you took vocals for the first time. How was that?

Maya: Well, it was a total surprise! (bursts out laughing) I think there are many people who did other parts or played instruments before they did vocals. Most of the time they wanted to be a vocalist themselves, but in my case, it was just an accident (laughs), and we really searched for someone but we couldn't find a good person, so that only left me.

Did you write lyrics by yourself?

Maya: Yes. That's why my senior said, "Why don't you sing by yourself?" I answered like "I'll see what I can do!"

Usually vocalists want to sing the lyrics that they write.

Maya: Yes, vocalists generally do, but I wasn't a vocalist. (laughs) However, when I think objectively, I think it's better that a person who writes the lyrics sings the songs in general, because it's easier to convey the lyrics and is more persuasive. So it became like, "I'll do it."

Maya, do you play guitar in LM.C?

Aiji: Yes, he does. While he doesn't play in our lives, he plays guitar in our recordings. Well, we don't really decide who is the guitarist and who is the vocalist at all between us.

So, Aiji may one day take vocal?

Maya: There are times where he sings.
Aiji: The chorus. Maya and I do it all together, and it's not a unit of guitarist: Aiji and vocalist: Maya, between us.
Maya: Yes. When we come out in the scene and do our lives, we do such a style that we are often seen like that, but when we make the music, it doesn't matter.

How do you create sounds? Do you create them progressing them together? Or do you make all of your demos separately and then put them together?

Aiji: We do it the latter way. We make songs respectively, collect the demos and then we share our ideas at recording.

Aiji, as you changed from the differently styled PIERROT to LM.C, your music and looks changed totally. Did you have any confusion while doing this?

Aiji: I had no trouble. Basically, when I was in PIERROT, I tried to make music that fit to PIERROT. Now, I make music without thinking about anything. I don't have any restrictions about genre either, so I have a lot of freedom.

Aiji, what kind of music were you into when you were in Nagano prefecture?

Aiji: Um, I don't know ~
Maya: Well, I think that I would be better to explain that. (laughs)
Aiji: Oh no, thanks. (laughs) I don't know really. I listen to a wide array of music. Maybe fans would think I listen to rock music, but my favorite artists are unexpectedly more pop. I like Britney Spears and Michael Jackson, and I also listen to JAY-Z, so I listen to any music.

Though you are not quite a 'normal' visual kei band, you do pay a lot of attention to your appearance. Lately you look very colorful, why is this?

Aiji: That's because of our tastes. We think of the Aiji and Maya that do LM.C, and it's currently like this.

Do you design things by yourselves?

Aiji: We work with a designer together.

Is that with everything, such as your costumes, CD jackets and live staging?

Aiji: Well, we don't leave everything to others. We can't be satisfied unless we let everything go through our filters somewhere to put our tastes into it.

Aiji, from the viewpoint of your fans, your big change is surprising.

Aiji: Really? I don't feel like I changed so much. Not so much on an individual level, anyway. I think that PIERROT's image was really strong so it may seem like that, but I don't feel like I changed so much personally.

You have coined the term "New Century Electro-Rock," what exactly does this mean?

Aiji: Nothing really. Well, the word was made by the producer. (laughs) When I was arranging my songs into my iTunes, I put songs into a genre of 'electro-rock' subconsciously, and the producer became interested in it and broadened the idea.

About your songs, you have various types, including: pop, ballads, electro techno pop, rap and hard rock/heavy metal. Your music can't be put into ordinary genres.

Aiji: well, there aren't so many bands doing what we do. We are not a band but a unit, so we can do anything that goes beyond genres, and it's to our advantage, I think. For example, if all of the band's members like rock, the band couldn't be the way it is. It's a good point of LM.C, and one of our charm points, I think.

Maya, do you write the lyrics?

Aiji: Yes, he writes all of our lyrics.

Do the lyrics have any specific messages, any returning themes?

Maya: I don't have a set message for all of our songs, but I think there is a theme in each song. At first, I thought I had nothing to say, but as we started and debuted and our supporters increased, I began to feel that I wanted to cheer them on in life. Before, I didn't think that much about them and wrote messages for people who I didn't see often, but recently I changed a little bit. But I don't mean that I'll be like that about everything; I don't know how I will change in the future. Basically, I change themes for each song.

Your lyrics cover love, sad love stories, cheerful feelings to yelling at general people, irony that exists in society, and solutions to social problems. Do you write about what you think at the time?

Maya: Yes, I do. As I listen to the music, I feel like 'the lyrics fall into or out of me.'
Aiji: Oh, you are a musician. (laughs)

How do you make music? Do you use a PC, like you have a guitar and input the sound into it, then add the lyrics last?

Maya: With my songs, I often think about both at the same time, because I don't want to do it twice. With Aiji's songs, after I get demo tapes in which the melodies are already made, I decide a theme and put lyrics on them.

In your lives, you throw things to the audience, such as candy, balloons, and so on. Where did you get this idea?

Aiji: Only Maya throws candy. He prefers candy. (laughs)

Candy is good for your throat.

Maya: Yes, yes yes. (laughs)
Aiji: About balloons, when we discussed with the tour manager "is there anything interesting?", he said that "using balloons is interesting," and we said, "Let's do it!"

It's like you have fun with the audience, right?

Aiji: Yes. We want them to join in together, after all. If balloons come to them, they have to join in whether they like it or not. (laughs) I think it's interesting to have a style where the audience can join us.

You have a mascot that comes on stage during your live concerts. Where did you get this idea and who decides what he does during the concert?

Aiji: All of them are spur of the moment.

Are they ever pre-planned?

Aiji: Yes.

You started LM.C Club Circuit '07~'08 tour from November 2007, and it's scheduled to have three parts - autumn, winter and spring - until it finishes in March 2008. How do you feel now as you have finished the autumn part of the tour?

Aiji: Since LM.C started in October 2006, we haven't done many live concerts yet, so we find new things every time in our lives. So during the autumn tour, I really felt like we made each concert with fans, one by one, as there were fans who saw us for the first time, and I feel like we were making the character of LM.C together.

So have you changed in your later lives from your earlier lives?

Aiji: Yes, I think so. We change every time on every tour. I think we are getting used to lives more and more.

From now, you'll do a winter and spring tour until March. Do you have something you want to do, new ideas you want to try?

Aiji: I haven't thought about it yet. (laughs) I really think it's all right just to do it on the spur of the moment. Basically I don't think about MCs in our lives either. (laughs) I only try to make a good live with fans at each venue, and I think that it's all right to continue doing it like that. I do a good live one by one and experience more and more, which I think is better.

Have you ever failed in your endeavors?

Aiji: Ah, we do every time. (laughs) We have both successes and failures. But we don't have big failures.

Have you ever experienced a time where you just fell flat on the stage?

Maya: Wahahaha! (laughs)
Aiji: I don't think it's a failure. I make good use of everything, so everything is successful in a way.

It's fun if something happens. Fans expect that too.

Aiji: Yes. It's like a real live.

In July 2007, you appeared in the biggest rock festival in Taiwan, FORMOZ FESTIVAL. What did you think about it?

Aiji: It was our first live overseas. Even though I heard from some of my friends who had played concerts overseas about how it is, I did not really understand what they said. So when I actually performed there, I realized that there is no language wall with music. I really felt that as long as we play pleasantly, the audience will follow us. In Japan, there are still quite a lot people who have prejudice against visual kei.

Do you think so? Even though it has become so popular!?

Aiji: Well, it might be alien to them. I think it's different from a situation where David Bowie ranks high in the music chart in overseas. So when we performed in Taiwan, I could feel what I couldn't feel in Japan. They don't care whether we wear make up or not, as long as we do good music.
Maya: As Aiji said, we were the first act on stage on July 28th and much of the audience was already there, but as we performed, the audience increased rapidly, so it was worthwhile. There were also many guys getting excited, getting into our music and I felt no barriers. And there are many LM.C fans there who study Japanese hard and send us fan letters. I thank them for their eagerness to study Japanese and send us mail.
Aiji: As I played in Taiwan I thought, as Maya said now, I'm happy to see they tried to study Japanese and to know about Japanese culture. Whatever the prompt is, we are really happy that people want to know about Japanese culture, so I'm very happy to communicate with them.

You released a new single, Bell the Cat, on December 12th, and the two songs on the single are fairly different, which is good. I like maple leaf a lot, because it seems to gently encourage you.

Aiji: That's great that you feel that way. We wanted to achieve that, without being too in your face.

Your PV is cheerful. Street performers and various people appeared.

Aiji: It's chaos. (laughs)

How was that?

Aiji: Well, every time we go to shoot, we are eager to do something new. Since we debuted, we have worked with the same director, and we enjoy shooting with him every time.

You have achieved notable popularity overseas quite rapidly, what are your views on this?

Aiji: Is that true? It hasn't reached us yet. As we started to do lives in Asia, there is some response there, but from further away, we haven't had much of a reaction. (laughs)

Don't you have letters or fan mails?

Aiji: Ah, we have letters. But we have about three letters at the most a month from overseas, so we don't think we are so popular. (laughs)
Maya: I wonder what do they think of us...
Aiji: For example, I'm a friend of Dir en grey, and they seem very popular overseas. I know that, so I don't think we are so popular.
Maya: I want to ask them through fan mail to rate our popularity if their popularity was 100. (laughs)

You released an album, GLITTER LOUD BOX, with the French Label soundlicious on November 5th, 2007. What do you expect from your activities overseas from now on?

Maya: When I see other musicians doing lives overseas, they seem just awesome, however, when LM.C goes there it might be so quiet like a bird is singing unexpectedly...that's rather fresh! (bursts out laughing) It's like, "What's this?"

Quite a few visual kei bands have gone overseas, but LM.C is a new type among them?

Maya: So I wonder if it would turn better or worse.
Aiji: We think foreign people like the world viewed closely and with heavy makeup. We think they like more decorated and beautiful styles.

It might be so before, but now the pattern of visual kei is branching, such as with oshare kei, conceptual type and idle kei, so people are searching for various new styles.

Aiji: It's strange. Even in Japan we sometimes get letters written asking, "Is LM.C visual kei?" How shall I answer if I'm asked like that?

Do you feel you are visual kei?

Aiji: Maybe so. But our appearance and style haven't been in the scene until now, so my impression is that some people who like visual kei have a question mark about us, even in Japan.

Visual kei itself has various music styles, such as pop rock, hard rock/ heavy metal and rap music.

Aiji: Even so, there are still many people who look at LM.C with different eyes.

On the other hand, I think there are people who don't like visual kei but like LM.C, right?

Maya: Ah, there are some people who listen to our music and start to like us, but then they are surprised to see our photographs.
Aiji: They say "are you visual kei?" (laughs)
Maya: Then some of them say "good-bye." (laughs)
Aiji: We did a theme song for an anime, so there are people who liked us after that. They didn't know our appearance at first, then there are people who say "you are Visual kei" and "I'm shocked a little bit" (laughs). There are various people though who say, no matter what our appearance is, that they came to like visual kei for the first time.

I don't think there are such borders overseas as much.

Aiji: Ah, nice and peaceful. (laughs)
Maya: I want to be invited overseas! (laughs)

When I listen to your music, I think that it will be well accepted all over the world, whether in America or in Europe.

Maya: Well, we are a kind of halfway there, or not there. We are told "where do you want to go?" (laughs) Even in Japan we are told "what do you want to do?" We are not a band, we do various music, so we are often asked "what are you?" (laughs) People want to categorize us.
Aiji: Especially in Japan, people like to categorize things, like "this is visual kei" or "this is hard rock," to sell music.
Maya: It's easy to understand, I suppose. Like "this is a visual kei band and their line is like this," or "they are like idols." We aren't like that, so people are like "what are they?"

In CD shops, where are your CDs put?

Aiji: I don't know exactly, but I think we are put in visual kei.

You have a kind of idol like feeling to you.

Maya: I hope so. (laughs)
Aiji: Eh!? No way. (laughs) Are we idols? Maybe it's better that we don't know. If it is easier for sales people to categorize our CDs, well, we have no problem with it. The first time we stood on stage we wore make-up so that really puts us in the category from the start.

Do you want to go overseas more and more?

Aiji: If we have the opportunity, we want to go more and more. However, we aren't eager to enlarge our activities that much, we hope that happens naturally.

Please give your messages to JaME readers.

Maya: But I still can't imagine anyone out there! (laugh)
Aiji: Well, we can't see how we are seen by overseas fans, and how we are received. So it is hard to get a focus.(laugh)

So how about saying, "Please send us more letters?"

Aiji: Yes, that sounds good. I'm simply happy if I get letters, and if our music is sent not only to the Japanese but also to people all over the world, I'm very lucky as a musician, and I'm very happy if more people were to listen to our music. If we have the chance, I want to go all of the continents and do lives.

Your lives seem to be getting more and more fun.

Aiji: I think so. But I can't imagine actually doing that. Well, if the mood that I felt in Taiwan follows us to other places, the audience will follow too, I think that it would be fun. I would be very happy.
Maya: Anyway, I want people to listen to our music. Our CD is released in France, so please buy our CD!
Aiji: Don't do illegal downloads. (laughs) Especially in the case of LM.C, we make good use of Japanese colors in the jackets and artwork, so I want you to buy CDs. If you download, you can't see inside the jackets. (laughs)
Maya: A famous anime creator designed them. When you come here, please come to see our lives!