This year is the 10th anniversary of
Nightmare. Now that they’ve got a natural, real presence with the same aggressive sound they have had since they formed the band, what’s the next thing they are aiming for? To look into the future of this great band, we explored multiple aspects from their desires for marriage, to even the possible future of the group disbanding, using I-X Tarot cards (of The Major Arcana) as a guide!
Origin (The Magician Card)
Do you remember Nightmare's first live performance?
HITSUGI: Was it in Sendai Birdland?
SAKITO: No, it was in Big Boss. The shields became like a big dumpling. (laugh)
HITSUGI: True! All of us used the shields so as we moved around too much they got entangled. We ended up in a ridiculous situation. (laugh)
Ni~ya: That was a disaster. (laugh)
SAKITO: But it was fun.
YOMI: I don’t remember at all.
SAKITO: Because you didn’t play in the next live performance, or the one after that,
YOMI.
YOMI: I couldn’t because I had school or something.
That's how much you cared about Nightmare, YOMI? (laugh)
YOMI: No, no, no, no!
Ni~ya: But you left school and came to us eventually.
YOMI: A talented guitarist told me to quit school. (laugh)
HITSUGI: I didn’t say that! I said, “It would be no problem to quit school. I don’t go to school either.” (laugh)
You can joke about it now.
HITSUGI: Yes. If he had kept going to school, he might not be here now.
YOMI: I wouldn’t, definitely.
HITSUGI: Would you have become a boiler engineer?
RUKA: Ah, he said that he would get a license for boiler engineering! I wondered why he wanted to be a boiler engineer.
YOMI: My home town has hot springs, so it could help me to get a job if I had the license.
SAKITO: So you could have been working at a hot spring spa in your home town now?
YOMI: Yeah, maybe. Ah, that was the time when I was scolded by
Ni~ya!
SAKITO: I remember
Ni~ya said angrily to
YOMI, “Why do you say that in the MC?”(laugh)
YOMI: Was that because I didn’t MC seriously?
HITSUGI: No, you said something funny that made us chuckle. And
Ni~ya didn’t like it, right?
Ni~ya: I didn’t expect the band to be like that back then. I mean I wanted the band to be cool.
But now, Nightmare always says something funny when MCing. (laugh)
Ni~ya: Things have changed since
RUKA joined us.(laugh)
YOMI: You think so too? It’s
RUKA who is responsible for it?
Ni~ya: Before that, I felt
YOMI was a little bit strange, but his strangeness has escalated since
RUKA came.
RUKA: I don’t know about that that. I think
Ni~ya changed because of me, since during the tours we were together all the time and shared hotel rooms. But I don’t think it was because of me that
YOMI changed.
YOMI: No, it was definitely because of
RUKA.
HITSUGI: However, after
RUKA joined, we all became cheerful.
Before RUKA joined the band, were you guys less bright and cheerful?
SAKITO: I don’t know… we joked around sometimes…..
HITSUGI: But we didn’t behave that way on stage, did we?
SAKITO: No. But we do like to joke around though.
HITSUGI: We like to laugh. I think it’s a good thing for us to be able to show that part of us on the stage..
Serenity (The High Priestess Card)
Who in the band feels most tense before and during live performances?
RUKA: It’s always
HITSUGI.
HITSUGI: When my mind is calm while performing, I sometimes forget things so, basically it’s better that I stay tense and be psyched up for the performance.
SAKITO: That goes for me too. If my mind remains as usual, I go quite flat, which is the worst. You can’t play while you think. Once you think “Where should I play the next fret?”, it becomes a disaster.
HITSUGI: That makes you slip on the phrases?
Ni~ya: Yes, it happens!
SAKITO: I get confused as to how I have been playing.
Ni~ya: My body should remember how, but then I think “What’s going on!?”
YOMI: I mostly make mistakes because of that.
HITSUGI: Which means you are your usual self while performing! (laugh)
YOMI: Ahahahaha! (laugh)
Ni~ya: I feel really nervous when I’m in the dressing room, but once I get on the stage and hold my bass, I’m alright.
HITSUGI: That is why
Ni~ya is the fastest to go on standby at the stage wing.
Ni~ya: Yes! I feel like I don’t want to stay in the dressing room. I want to go to the wing and know the atmosphere of the venue as soon as I can.
RUKA: I don’t tense up.
Have you ever felt your mind go blank?
RUKA: I have many times, especially when I was in trouble. The last performance in Saitama Super Arena was like that.
In that sense, RUKA had better keep his cool when performing.
RUKA: That's right.
For the full interview, please refer to Zy 51.
© 2010 Zy.connection Inc. All Rights Reserved.
