Interview with 9GOATS BLACK OUT in Paris

9GOATS BLACK OUT is one of the bands stretching the boundaries of visual kei with their creativity and mature sound. We met up with the trio to talk about their time in France, their first full album and some of the ideas behind their music.


Hello, could you introduce yourselves to our readers who may not know you yet?

hati: I am the bassist, hati.
utA: I’m guitarist utA.
ryo: I am the vocalist, ryo. Nice to meet you.

You’re actually in France to shoot a video. Why did you choose France?

ryo: We didn’t come to shoot a PV but to take photos for the illustrations in the next album. We want to do photos for the promotion, and the video will be shot in Japan. The choice of France is due to the title TANATOS, which refers to Greek mythology which is linked to Europe and we chose Paris for that reason.

Can you tell us about the pictures you took and your impressions of France?

ryo: We were really surprised by the architecture and the ambiance, which is very different from what you find in Japan. For the moment, we can’t tell you our impressions of Paris, because we've just arrived and haven’t had time to visit around.

What would you like to see in Paris?

hati: The Louvre, but we won’t have time to visit everything in a day. I would also like to see the Eiffel Tower!

So it’s your first time in France?

hati: That’s right.

Do you know any words in French?

hati: Bonjour (hello), bonsoir (good evening), au revoir (goodbye), merci (thank you), qu’est-ce que c’est (what is it)? (laugh)

Could you tell us a little about the video for sink? Its look is very polished and also very particular.

utA: Actually for sink, the members didn’t really participate in the shooting because the clip mainly represents an image of a goat bone. We decided to use this kind of simple imagery but with a deep meaning that we wanted to be at the forefront. At first, we thought a video without the band’s members wasn’t necessarily our style, but ultimately that was the first PV we released in the end.

Do you already know if your next video will be in the same style or completely different? And can you tell us which song from TANATOS you will use for the PV?

ryo: Actually, the director will be different and we have left the directing completely to him. The song will be Negai, the last one on the album.

A lot of people are waiting for you to play in Europe. Will we have the chance to see you do a European tour soon?

utA: Not right away, but if that ever comes into our schedule, we’d really love to come.
hati: We’re waiting patiently to do a concert. We’ve come to Europe for the first time, and the architecture and atmosphere are different. We have some concerns about the language barrier and we wonder if we’ll be able to be one with the public. It will be a challenge for us!

Do you already have ideas about what country you’d like to come to?

ryo: As many as possible! (laughs)

You’ve signed with CLJ Records for the European release of Black Rain. What can we expect now from this collaboration?

hati: Until now we've been working a lot by ourselves. We’ve been selling our CDs internationally through our site. Since joining CLJ Records, our CDs are in stores and that brings us closer to our audience.

You chose Black Rain to be the title of the mini-album, why is that? Is it related to the atomic bomb that fell on Hiroshima? (Note: At around 9 in the morning, after the fall of the bomb at 8:16, a black rain containing radioactive soot fell over the city.)

ryo: We chose the title for two reasons. One is that there’s a movie with that title. It’s a term that’s already well-known. It’s understood that it is referring to the bomb that fell on Hiroshima. We wanted to work on that tragedy that touched humanity and has been so memorable in Japan. We also chose it because we wanted people to ask questions about the title.

Regarding that, do you have a particular message behind the title and symbol?

ryo: Yes, absolutely. It’s a message that points at where people live. It’s also to say that in real life, you can’t always avoid things. We find obstacles all the time that block our way. But as we move forward, the rain has to clear up inevitably to allow us to see a beautiful blue sky and a rainbow. It remains a message of hope, with the rainbow being the theme.

Could you tell us about your collaboration with közi during the concert UNKNOWN LUCK at HARAJUKU ASTRO HALL? You made a photobook where you were dressed in the style of közi. How did that collaboration come about?

utA: We’re from the same region, Niigata. We’d said before it would be great to do something with him.
ryo: It was getting close to Halloween and that went well with the spirit of this, so we thought it would be a good opportunity.

According to your official site, you have three official members. Do you plan to remain a trio?

ryo: We feel just fine with three.

Which groups have inspired you or inspire you now?

utA: Tokyo Jihen.
ryo: The shock period of visual kei, with groups like X JAPAN, BUCK-TICK, L’Arc~en~Ciel and Kuroyume. All the great bands. I listened to them when I started the band so they inspired me a lot.
hati: Demon Kogure.

Do you want to touch on a lot of different styles?

ryo: We’re not particularly influenced by the style but more by the way they are as people. We don’t make commercial music. We create our own style as it comes to us.

Do you know some European artists, any who are French?

ryo: We know a lot of painters but for musicians we never pay attention to their nationality. It's more Japanese music, and then other people.

Are you interested in a music collaboration with another artist that isn’t foreseen at the moment?

ryo: When we speak of a collaboration with an artist, we think more of an actor or painter. That would be more like us.

Concerning your future, how about your next album TANATOS?

hati: Until now, we’ve been putting the theme little by little as the composition process progresses. This time, ryo laid the foundations from the beginning. From that we composed the melody and the lyrics. That's a change compared to what we have the habit of doing but I think the sound of the album will be very like us.

What will the message of this album be?

ryo: TANATOS is based on the theme of death. We wanted something with impact. The goal was not to sing about death itself, but something approaching it. We wanted to put these opposing things in the same album mainly to make the people who hear it reflect and think about life.

Do you have some other musical projects or are you concentrating on the album for now?

hati: The album will come out on March 24th, and in April we’ll do a tour with another group.

In July you released a live DVD, Bright Garden. Could you talk about that a bit more?

hati: Last year, we had to to release our album but our delayed schedule prevented us from releasing anything else. We didn’t want to have a long period where we didn’t release anything, so we decided to release our first concert DVD. We did an arrangement of songs different from what’s on the CD. We’d like for people who know our CD to listen to and watch the live DVD as well.

In a previous interview, you said you wanted to recreate your universe for lives. What do you think of that remark today and what have you done towards that goal?

hati: In the pieces on Sleeping Beauty for example, we added words during the lives. We don’t necessarily recreate the songs entirely but we have a different approach live and we don’t play them like they are on the CD. For example, we accelerated the rhythm for certain songs. We don’t think playing the songs on the CD reflects the spirit of a live. To take advantage of the atmosphere when we are performing live in front of an audience, we prefer to show different sentiments from those in the CD.

How do you imagine yourselves in ten years?

utA: I would like to become an artist capable of bringing out a sound that's in my head and have it be as close as possible to the original idea.
Ryo: When we created the group, our objective was to make something we enjoyed. We would like our audience to grow but we want to always remain the same group we are.
hati: I make music because I like doing it. There are lots of difficulties anyway. In ten years, I would like to have conquered them with the same people and the same group, so I think we can achieve anything we like.

Now let’s imagine each of you is an element or a thing, what would you be and why? We’ll start with: If you were an animal?

utA: A wolf.
ryo: A tiger.
hati: A cat.

If you were food?

utA: Ramen.
ryo: Wasabi.

If you were a city?

utA: London, because I’d really love to go there.
ryo: I wouldn’t be a particular place, but it would be somewhere mostly rural.
hati: A city in Greece.

If you were a manga?

utA: “Dragon Ball.”
hati: “Doraemon.”

If you were a video game character?

utA: Luigi.
ryo: Solid Snake.
hati: Doraemon. (laugh)

If you were a film?

hati: “Doraemon.” (laugh) "Usual Suspects" because everything is just a lie. (laugh)

If you were a song? It could be one of your own songs, of course.

utA: TANATOS.
ryo: TANATOS and Negai.
hati: Negai.

If you were a female celebrity?

Ryo: Professor Sareba.
hati: The lady who does Doraemon’s voice. (laugh)

What CD are you listening to now?

ryo: Since we actually mix our CD, we’re listening to that, mostly.

Could you leave a final message for our readers?

utA: On March 24, our album TANATOS will be out. I would like our fans to listen actively to it. As for now, I hope we’ll get a chance to visit Europe and have fun together.
ryo: I think the songs on the new album are very strong and deep. Despite the fact that Japanese is difficult to understand, I hope people will come to understand the lyrics. If we get a chance to tour in Europe, don’t hesitate to come see us!
hati: This is our first full album, and I hope it conveys our songs and our style.


JaME thanks all the members of 9GOATS BLACKOUT for their generosity during this interview as well as all the staff.