Interview with LM.C at Anime Expo

Having already performed overseas in Taiwan, LM.C made their US debut at Anime Expo 2008's Battle of the Bands with a follow up one-man performance at Los Angeles' Crash Mansion. With plans for a European tour starting in the winter, JaME talked with LM.C to better understand the meaning of this driven band's music


How are you doing? How was the trip here?

maya: It was great.
Aiji: There's not too much else to say about it...
maya: Hopefully we've got some time to do some other things during the trip.

Have you had any culture shocks thus far?

Aiji: When we got here, there was a bomb scare going on at the LAX airport!

I heard!

Aiji: We were there for that! We thought, "so this is Los Angeles" and it seemed like Jack Bauer was there! (laughs)
maya: We got to meet some interesting people to say the least. (laughs)

In an interview we had with you last winter, you said you were unsure of your overseas fan base and how you are received by them. Now that you've been able to see your fan base for yourselves, would you say you've got a better idea of your overseas popularity?

Aiji: At the moment, we're really still not sure about our popularity, but when we actually go in front of the fans we can feel their support. We truly appreciate being able to feel that support, but the concept of our popularity hasn't registered up here yet. (motions to head)

At the end of the month, LM.C is playing at the FORMOZ FESTIVAL in Taipei. Last time you played in Taiwan, it seemed to have left a big impression on you. What have you gained from these overseas performances?

maya: Ten years ago, we would never have thought we'd be where we are right now. People say that music can't go overseas easily, but it's actually happening for us right now. We are getting a lot of letters from fans overseas. It still doesn't feel like it's real, but we're really here. Everything is real. The fan base is here, it's all real. It's this kind of knowledge that we've gained from these performances.

Several songs of yours have been used as theme songs for different animes. By having these anime tie-ins, do you feel you've managed to appeal to a larger audience?

maya: In Japan, because of our anime tie-ins, little boys and girls now sing our songs. When we hear those children singing our songs, children who are ten-years-old and even younger than that, we can see the variety of our audience. In that sense, it really does feel like we've gained a larger audience.

For a bit of fun since we are at an anime convention, if you were an anime character, who would you be and why?

maya: Hmm... any character?

Any.

LM.C: (discuss amongst themselves)
maya: We're going to be characters from "Dragon Ball".
LM.C: Who would we be?
Aiji: maya would be...
maya: Yajirobe!
Aiji: Yajirobe, huh? Well, maybe.
maya: When I'm in a tight situation, I run away from it and do whatever I want to do. (laughs)
Aiji: Yeah, maya is that kind of person. (laughs) What about me?
maya: For you... (thinks) Kame Sennin.
Aiji: Eh?! Kame Sennin?! I don't know. I like Kame but...
maya: (Imitates Kame Sennin)
Aiji: I'm not bald!
maya: Yet! (laughs)
Aiji: Yet! (laughs)

You've often referred to yourselves as a "unit" and not a "band". By being a unit, what advantage do you feel this gives you over being a band? What do you feel each of you brings to this unit that's unique?

Aiji: We do feel that it is a band,
maya: The term itself doesn't matter. If there are attractive people around us that want to come into the group, then we would make it a whole band, but there aren't. That’s why we formed a unit.
Aiji: It's just a unit because there is nobody else other than us. This way, when we make decisions, it's easier (laughs). It's easier to move on and to get around. That's the advantage of being a unit. Coming to the US to Anime expo is one thing, but we decided to do another show at Crash Mansion. We were able to make that decision really quickly because it's just the two of us. That's the big advantage; we can make decisions really quickly and do whatever we want.

LM.C has a very versatile style. Having dabbled in several different genres, is there one you don't particularly care for that you wouldn't want to try?

maya: Basically, we don't do anything that we don't like. We don't want to limit ourselves, so we just do everything that we want to do. We don't avoid certain things because when you set limitations, you can only do small things. That's why we've left ourselves open to do everything we want to do.

The topics of LM.C's music are very broad and has a variety of messages from political ones to love. If you could sum up all those messages into one, what would it be?

maya: One message? (thinks) There's a lot of songs with messages like politics and love, but the message we want to give is just to be positive. Everything you get is a result of what you do, so just be positive about it. Even if the song itself is in a minor key it's not negative, it always has a positive message.

maya, as the one who writes the lyrics, has there ever been a song that you found it hard to convey what you wanted through words?

maya: I put the words on the melody and sometimes I just can't think of any lyrics. I never think that it's going to be really hard but when it turns out that way and I can't think of any words to say, I can't sleep. (laughs)

Aiji, has there ever been an instance where after writing the music, the lyrics maya wrote surprised you because they painted a different image from the one you had imagined?

Aiji: Yes, it's happened before. If that happens, I have Maya rework the lyrics. It's only happened for one song, though.

Which song?

Aiji: -SORA namida iro-. It's not that the lyrics were bad, it's that they weren't maya's style. Rather than having him rewrite them, I asked him to rework the lyrics and put more of himself into the lyrics. Other than that, maya always gives me what he thinks is right to match the music, that's how maya writes. Sometimes, he surprises me with even more than what I expected.

You've been working with the same video director for a while now. Do you convey what you want to portray to him, or does he form his own concepts for the videos from each song?

Aiji: It's a group effort. First, we decide what we would like to make and discuss it, making the base. The base is what we want to make, so then we meet with the director and add his thoughts. After that, we get together to think about budgets and that type of thing, then we film.

Are there any plans for a full album soon?

Aiji: Yes, we would like to make one.
maya: No! (laughs)
Aiji: No? (laughs) It's really hard to make one, there's a lot of steps involved, but...
maya: We want to make one!
Aiji: We really do. (laughs)

Lastly, please give a message to your fans.

maya: I'll be back!
Aiji: Eh? (laughs)
maya: To the rest of the world, I want to go to every country. So, if there's anyone who wants to see us, we want to come. Just wait for us to come to your country!
Aiji: It's been a while since I started music. Now there are better opportunities in music than when I first started, so I want to go around the world and see it all. With our music, I want to make a lot of fans and I want to do more new things with LM.C, so please look forward to that. Please don't download illegally! (laughs) Please buy our CDs or download legally! (laughs) Thank you!


JaME would like to thank Motomi Oiwa, Pony Canyon, Maru Music, Anime Expo and LM.C for making this interview possible.