Interview with MinxZone in Sweden

The main act of this year's UppCon (the largest Japanese culture event in Sweden) was the pop band MinxZone, and JaME took the opportunity to see the performances and talk a little to the artists themselves in order to better understand this previously rather unknown band. The joyful pop trio MinxZone consists of singer Yukari, drummer Ayuha and guitarist Waio, who is also the only male band member. All of them originally from Osaka, they have been based in Tokyo since 2002, where their catchy pop tunes and imaginative costumes have since cheered up passers-by in the Shinjuku, Shibuya and Yoyogi areas. However, in the past few years the little street-band has started to attract more and more attention, and they have among other things participated in a TV commercial in Australia and performed at an anime convention in Canada. This year, they have already released three digital singles, and they are at the moment on a long tour across the whole of Japan.

As a little break in the tour, the band flew to Sweden for their first ever gig on European soil, at UppCon in Uppsala. MinxZone performed the first time already on Friday, a half an hour "mini-concert" on the outdoor stage, drawing a considerable crowd despite the cold and rainy weather. The main performance took place in the Great hall at UKK on Saturday and lasted for an hour. The Great hall was nearly entirely full and the young, enthusiastic audience clapped and sang along as much as they could. Yukari, for the day dressed in a school uniform-inspired checkered skirt and a pink cape, had the audience totally in her hands and got everybody to perform coordinated dance movements to the music. When she read out a message halfway through the concert in fully understandable Swedish, the cheering knew no limits. That MinxZone had made themselves popular at UppCon could also be seen by the number of convention-goers who took the chance to get an autograph afterwards. Despite the attention, the band still managed to slip away unnoticed to play an unannounced impromptu performance on the street in Uppsala city on Sunday, as the true street performers they are.

On Sunday, JaME also got the chance to ask the band a few questions, and we present the interview here.


How did the concerts go? What did you think of the audience at UppCon?

All: It was fantastic!

Waio: People were honest and open with their feelings. It was also fantastic to see the audience do the hand movements to our songs. We were all touched, especially Yukari, she cried so much that her make-up became smudged.

Yukari: Yes, it was so wonderful.

Your latest tour is called Minx wa shi ga ii'n desu tour, which means "Minx's lyrics are good". Who is writing these good lyrics, or do you all contribute to them?

Waio: We all write them together. Everybody contributes with their own perspective. For example, Yukari might write about a woman's feelings, which is something I can't do.

The lyrics to your latest song, Ja, seem quite optimistic although the song deals with breaking up. Are you all such optimists in real life, or do you just wish to be?

Waio: We want to be!

Yukari: When bad things happen it is impossible to avoid getting angry. I write lyrics to improve my way of handling such situations.

This is your first time in Sweden. What impressions did you have of the country before you came here?

Waio: That it would be cold!

Yukari: Yeah, cold, and a lot of mountains.

What are your impressions now when you're here?

Waio: It is cold, but not as cold as we expected. And above all, the people are so warm!

You have previously performed in Australia and Canada. How did you communicate with the fans there? Do you think they understood what you wanted to say despite the language barrier?

Waio: We tried to learn as much English as we could before going. But during the actual concerts, I think body language becomes more important. The language of music knows no borders!

During the concert at UppCon, you used a sign with printed text to communicate with the audience. Where did this idea come from?

Yukari: We tried it before, in Canada.

Waio: We wanted to teach the audience something in Japanese, and we thought if you're just going to know one single word in Japanese, the word "waraou" (let's smile) is perfect. That's why we wrote it on the sign.

At UppCon you are, together with just one other artist, representing the Japanese music scene. Do you think that you, as a Japanese group, have a cultural message to convey to your fans?

Waio: There are lots of differences between the Japanese and the Swedes, but when it comes to feelings we are actually quite similar. We would like everybody to be able to understand the meaning of our lyrics, despite the language barrier. It was really exciting to see that so many in the audience sang along to our songs though they are in Japanese.

How has your life as a band changed after you joined Avex Group? Do you feel that you have more opportunities now?

Waio: Yes, now we could meet you! We have already performed a lot on our own, but through Avex our music can reach many more people.

You will perform as opening act for AAA in May. Do you think that people who like AAA will also like you? Do you like AAA yourselves?

Yukari: Yes, we think they will like us.

Waio: Everybody might not like our sound, but we think they will like our lyrics. AAA are very popular in Japan, you here them a lot on radio and such. Their music is much more towards dance than ours.

If you were to become really famous and get to play in the big concert halls, would you miss the street concerts?

Yukari: Even if we were to become really famous, we'd like to do street performances. I know it might not be possible to arrange that, but I think that if we stopped playing on the streets we would lose our ground as a band.

Waio: Yeah, even if it would be nice to play in large arenas, we would still like to continue with the street concerts.

Where do you see yourselves in ten years? What are your dreams as a band?

Waio: In ten years we will have sold lots of records! We hope that we will have reached many more people than today.

Would you like to return to Europe on a regular basis?

All: Yes, definitely!

Lastly, do you have a message for your European fans?

Waio: Europe is very far away for us, so we might not be able to play here all the time, but we hope that we can still reach out to people in Europe and that you will continue supporting us.

Ayuha: Before we play for the next time in Sweden, I would like to learn more Swedish so that I will be able to speak to people here. I was so impressed that so many of you speak a little Japanese!

Yukari: We may speak different languages, but I still feel we understand each other. Let us meet again!



JaME would like to thank MinxZone, Avex Entertainment and New Nippon for making this interview possible.