http://www.jrockrevolution.com/index.php/interviews/1720-pre-tour-interview-with-yoshiki.html YOSHIKI granted us some of his precious time for a phone interview from his Los Angeles recording studio. From the recording of upcoming new single JADE and its release on the 28th, to their first European tour as part of their 2011 world tour, X JAPAN leader give us his impressions and thoughts about the band future and his fans. Jrock Revolution, Xplosion and YOSHIKI.FR have the pleasure to share with this exclusive interview with you. Thank you for your time YOSHIKI, I know it is a bit late in Los Angeles, really thank you. YOSHIKI: Oh you know I am kind of nocturnal so my pleasure. Q: On the 28th you will finally be performing in Europe at the sold out London show, how do you feel? YOSHIKI: I feel like finally we can be there, we’ve been planning on doing this for a long time, especially France? We wanted to do this but we’ve got a lot of problems with our [old] management. The show was cancelled a couple of time, so finally we can be there. Q: The first announced dates of the European tour sold out pretty fast, what was your reaction when you heard the news? Y: I was like "Wow!", we are so happy and kind of shocked because our management said that to go to Europe we would have to start from the ground up, we would have to start promoting so people would know X JAPAN then we could do a bigger tour later. So we were kind of talking about, almost like clubs, a couple of hundred people venues. Except for France, we knew we had great French fans but we didn’t know about anywhere else, London or even Netherlands. So we wanted to do really small clubs then plan changed a little bit. We booked smaller places for London and Berlin first. They sold out the day they were announced [and] then we moved to a bigger venue the next day. It was really great. We are really excited and happy about it. Q: The 28th will also see the worldwide release of your new single JADE, can you tell us a bit more about this song? Y: Well, it’s pretty much like 'X JAPAN serious worldwide debut single'. We put so much energy into it; our blood, our tears, our love - everything is in this song. It’s the best way to describe this song. JADE has every single element of X JAPAN. Q: Last year during an interview, you had said JADE was your most complicated song to record, can you tell us what this song means to you? Y: A lot of X JAPAN songs are complicated, but JADE is kind of easy to listen to, however if you listen to it carefully you will notice that the first riff and second riff after the second chorus is a half step lower key so it’s really hard to play but easy to listen to. I mean, SUGIZO had once said "X JAPAN songs are very simple", at this time he hadn’t joined X JAPAN yet, then he joined the band and he started playing X JAPAN songs he said "Oh my god it is so complicated!" It’s the same thing with JADE because the key is constantly changing. The drums as well, it’s kind of hard to play but as the same time, I wouldn’t say simple but I really love to play JADE drums, but guitar must be pretty hard to play, especially in the solo area. Also, I had tons of pressure writing this song, because at that time we were already aiming worldwide, not only the Japanese market so, I really had to think about it, 'what kind of song should be the first song of our worldwide album'? We are going to finish recording the new album very soon so this is our first single from this album. Q: The lyrics of JADE are really meaningful and filled with feelings. What did you want to express in this song? Y: I would say the pain I went through, X JAPAN went through. At the same time we are not trying to deny what pain is, the lyrics say "Your scars are beautiful, your blood was beautiful" so you know it’s like you should just accept it and be positive about it, that’s the kind of message I put into this song. Q: The cover art of Jade is a photograph done by you according to your Twitter. What were some of the concepts you played with before deciding on this image? Y: Yes, I took this photo. I really wanted to hide the eyes. Since we can not see her eyes we can not see what she is thinking, what she is feeling. Is she in pain? I just wanted to make it somehow mysterious. That was the concept. Q: What kind of imagery can we look forward on the new album? Y: I will probably do the photos for X JAPAN next album very soon. You know sometimes feelings are hard to describe with words so I use music to express them sometimes. Then I kind of discovered that I can express my feelings through taking photos so I started liking it. The next single imagery will be part two of JADE's art then the album will be related to JADE image-wise, music-wise it will have a lot of different sounds as well. Q: On JADE’s recording you collaborated with Andy Wallace, who produced among many others the legendary song from Aerosmith and Run DMC "Walk this way", how did you come up working together? Y: He was my first choice for the mixer. He is so well known and so huge, I didn’t even think it would be possible to get to him but my management approached him saying X JAPAN wanted to mix that song call JADE. He listened to it and said "I have to do it!" He was really happy to mix this song, that’s how our relationship started. He is going to mix a few more song for X JAPAN as well. Q: JADE will be part of your upcoming much anticipated new album. Can you give us some details about the album? Are you planning to make a digital only release or a physical release as well? Y: When it comes to the album, I think we are going to make a physical release, but when it comes to singles, we are releasing through digital distribution only. Q: Will it be composed of only new songs or old songs as well? Y: I would say 50% come from our old hit songs and 50% completely new songs. JADE is one of them and then there will be some that you ’ve never heard. Q: Last year, TOSHI and you came to Paris for a showcase during Japan Expo, what are your impressions about this visit? Y: it was very emotional because we [originally] canceled the show. We didn’t want to, but the management [at the time] canceled the show three times in the past so we really wanted to go there and meet fans and express our feelings. We've always wanted to come here. This really emotional moment led us to do this European tour. We got confident: "Ok we can do it in Europe, so let’s go back to France again then let’s go to Europe for our fans!" That’s how everything started because of that show we are doing this European tour. Q: During this show, TOSHI sand a French version of one of your most beloved song "Endless Rain". How did you come with this idea of translating this song into French? Y: Well, I’ve been taking French lessons, then I was thinking since we are going to France why don’t we do a French version? I asked my French teacher how should we say "Endless Rain" in French, she said it should song like this (note: Une pluie sans fin). It sounded really beautiful, I asked TOSHI if he wanted to do it, he agreed so everything started. Q: You are pretty active on Twitter announcing shows and releases dates. You recently revealed you were planning to tour Asia this fall, it seems countries, Indonesia for example, hope to see you. What are you plans? Y: I think we will announce these tours pretty soon but our agents talked to the promoters in each country so they can give us information, if we should do this, if we shouldn’t do this. Our agent is constantly talking to countries throughout the world pretty much, then they are making a plan. Because of so many message I get on Twitter, even on Facebook, I try to answer, I mean if it’s possible I’d like to go to every single countries if there are fans but it really doesn’t make sense to perform for fifteen thousands people one day and the next day for one thousand, there would be staff issues, tour budget and everything, so we have to do some kind of consistent tour. Our South-east Asia tour will be a little bigger size, about the capacity, maybe ten thousand people venue or more. I mean we would love to go everywhere but we have to adjust that with world crew, some of those decisions aren’t under my control, but I’m trying to answers to all of my fans questions. Everything will be announced very soon. Q: Are you planning to tour North America again? Y: Yes, we are planning on doing that, actually we are already talking about next year's schedule. Pretty much entire world is considered, depending on the reaction in Europe, in South America, South-East Asia as well. Q: You care a lot about your fans, you used to be active on Myspace, now you are on Twitter sharing directly with them. Why are your fans so important to you? Y: Because without my fans I don’t think I’d have existed. I went through hard times so, because of my fans, I’m here. They love to communicate but I’m not really good at communications sometimes but I’m trying because I love spending times with my fans, I love talking to them directly. Fans are like my god, it’s really important to me. Q: Are there memories about them that you treasure? Y: Always at the concerts, like during Endless Rain, they are singing. Even at Tokyo Dome which is a fifty thousands venue, I feel like I can hear every single person’s voice singing. I’m not talking about fifty thousands voices as one, I hear each one of them. It makes me emotional, it’s a really special feeling, a really special relationship we love my band and our fans. When I’m nearby them, it makes me want to live more. Q: I really think X JAPAN fans are unique, their passion and their will to share their love for their band is incredibly strong. Do you think it is part of what make X JAPAN? Y: Yeah, I love that it is great, I mean like at our concerts we are sometimes very straightforward, we say, even on Twitter sometimes, "Love you" some things like that, they respond "I love you, I love X JAPAN", there is something like, I don’t know, pure feelings about it. It is great, we can just go straight with it. I love my fans spreading love. Q: At Anime Central, you mentioned that X JAPAN goes all out during tours and concerts, and that the performances will be memorable. Can you give us a hint as to what we can look forward to? Y: 'All out' means we put all our energy into it! That has been X JAPAN good side and bad side too. Even a long time ago when we were touring across Japan, because... let’s see if we had twenty shows, usually people allocate their energy like, "Oh we shouldn’t do this hard because think about tomorrow or next shows". For 15 shows you would have to allocate your energy for each remaining lives. With X JAPAN, we don’t do that. We just put our entire energy into every single shows, every single note, every single moment, that’s X JAPAN style. Q: Reckless style. Y: Yeah, exactly! Q: What does "We are X!" mean to you? Y: We are X... X has a really interesting meaning, like unlimited possibilities, that’s what you will read in the dictionaries, also at the same time we are saying, you are not alone, we are together. That kind of feeling. Q: Do you have a pre-tour message for your fans?: Y: Finally we can be there in Europe, we have been waiting for that moment for a long time, a very, very, very long time. Please come see us, let’s make history together. Thank you so much for supporting us, always. Let’s rock the world together! WE ARE X! -- 在欧洲巡回前夕看到这篇，有些地方又再次被感动到了，所以想试着翻看看， 下面是不成熟的翻译，不嫌弃的话请看（汗），也请高手不吝指教。 -- 在百忙之余，YOSHIKI抽空让我们在电话中访谈了他对於即将到来的新单曲（ JADE）发行、欧洲巡回，以及X JAPAN未来走向的相关想法。 Q：感谢你抽空接受我们的访问，我知道现在在LA已经有点晚了。 YO：喔，我很乐意，你知道我一向是夜行动物。 Q：在28号你们终於要在伦敦展开你们的欧洲巡回，你的感想如何？ YO：我觉得就像是我们终於办到了，我们一直计画了这件事计画很久，特别是 法国。 在整个过程中我们和前经纪公司产生了一些问题，LIVE也因此取消了好几次， 但现在我们终於能够成行了。 Q：首先宣布的LIVE门票以非常快的速度完售，当你听到这个消息时你有什麽 感想？ YO：有点像是”Wow！”因为我们的经纪公司说，我们在欧洲必须从头开始， 必须从宣传做起，让大家知道X这个乐团，这样我们之後才能进行更大型的巡 回，所以在听到完售的消息时，我们是既高兴又有点惊讶的。 我们一开始的时候原本是打算在CLUB办，大约几千人的场地，除了法国之外。 我们知道X在法国有很多FANS，但我们不确定在其他地方—像是伦敦或者荷兰 —之类的情况，所以起先我们只打算作小型的LIVE，但之後稍微有了一些改变 。 所以我们本来在伦敦和柏林是预定了比较小的场地，但售票消息公布後隔天就 完售了，所以我们又搬到了更大的场地。那实在很棒，我们都非常兴奋、也非 常开心。 Q：在6/28这天同时也会在全球发行你们的新单曲JADE，你能稍微跟我们谈一 下这首曲子吗？ YO：嗯，这有点像是「X JAPAN全球首发单曲」，我们花了很多心力在这上面 ，可以说所有的一切都包含在里面。如果要用最恰当的方式来描述的话，JADE 包含了X JAPAN的每一个部分。 Q：在去年的访谈中，你告诉我们JADE是你录制过最复杂的曲子，你能跟我们 说一下这首曲子对你的意义吗？ YO：X JAPAN有很多很复杂的曲子，不过JADE它听起来比较容易，但如果你仔 细听的话，你会发现在第二段副歌之後的第一个和第二个riff有降半个调，所 以那弹起来很难，但很容易听。 我的意思是，SUGIZO以前曾经说过「X JAPAN的歌都很简单」，但那是在他还 没有加入X的时候，在他加入X、开始演奏X的歌之後，他说「天哪！这真是太 复杂了！」 JADE的情况也一样，因为它的调总是一直在换。 鼓的部分也是，那有点难度，我不会说很简单，但我真的很喜欢JADE的鼓。不 过吉他部分真的很难，特别是SOLO部分。 在创作这首曲子的时候我的压力也很大，因为这不单只是一首针对日本市场， 而是要全球发行的曲子。也因此我必须想「什麽样的曲子适合作为我们全球专 辑的首波主打？」 我们很快就会完成这张新专辑，而这也是我们新专辑的第一首单曲。 Q：JADE的歌词寓意很深，而且充满感情。可以跟我们谈谈你想在这首歌里表 达什麽吗？ YO：我会说是那些我和X JAPAN经历过的伤痛。但在这同时我们并不是要试着 去否定这些伤痛，就像在歌词中说的「Your scars are beautiful, your blood was beautiful」，你必须接受它、并正面对待它，这是我试着在这首 歌里面传达的讯息。 Q：根据你的推特，JADE的单曲封面是你负责摄影的，那你又是根据什麽概念 来决定它的封面的呢？ YO：是，这是我拍的照片。我想要蒙住她的眼睛，因为我们都看不到她的眼睛 ，我们就不能知道她在想什麽、或感觉到了什麽。她痛苦吗？我就是想要造成 一些神秘感，这就是我的想法。 Q：那我们可以期待在新专辑中看到什麽样的意象？ YO：我应该很快就会开始进行X JAPAN新专辑的封面摄影。你知道有时候很难 直接把感觉文字化，所以我有时候会用音乐来表达。然後我发现我好像也可以 选择用摄影这种方式，所以我也渐渐开始喜欢上它了。 接下来的新单曲将会承续JADE，是它的的第二部分。整张专辑也是，不管是在 意象或者音乐方面，当然，也会有许多其他不同的声音。 Q：你和Andy Wallace合作录制了JADE这首曲子，我们知道他曾经制作过 Aerosmith/Run DMC合作的"Walk this way"这类传奇性的曲子，你们是怎麽会 一起合作的？ YO：他原本就是我在选择混音师时的首选，他非常有名，我没想到我们真的可 以请到他来帮我们，但我的经纪公司找到他，说X JAPAN希望他帮我们的一首 歌JADE作混音。他听了这首歌之後就说「我非作这个不可！」他很高兴能为这 首曲子混音，而这也是我们关系的开始。他还会帮X JAPAN处理接下来的几首 曲子。 Q：我们知道JADE会出现在你们备受期待的新专辑之中，你能再给我们一些关 於新专辑的讯息吗？你们计画会发行数位版，或者也会出实体专辑呢？ YO：如果是专辑的话，我想我们会出实体，但是单曲的话我们只会发行数位版 。 Q：这张专辑会只有新歌吗，或者也包含了旧歌？ YO：我会说大概有一半是旧歌，一半是新歌。JADE是新歌的其中之一，但也有 一些是你还没听过的。 Q：去年你和TOSHI到巴黎在Japan Expo进行了一个小型演出，你对那次印象如 何？ YO：那实在是很让人感慨。因为我们前经纪公司的关系，我们很遗憾地取消了 三次原本预定的演出，但我们真的很想到那里去看看我们的FANS，告诉他们我 们的心情。 我们一直都很想到那里去。 也可以说，那个感人的时刻造就了这次的欧洲巡回。我们有了信心：「嗯，我 们办的到，让我们再回到法国、然後到欧洲去看看我们的FANS！」这就是欧洲 巡回的起点。 Q：在那场表演，TOSHI唱了法语版的Endless Rain，你们想要把这首歌翻译成 法语的想法是怎麽来的？ YO：因为我一直都有在上法语课，所以我就想，既然我们要去法国，那为什麽 不来个法语版呢？ 於是我问我的法语老师，该怎麽用法文说"Endless Rain"，她说应该这样唱 (Une pluie sans fin)，那听起来真的很美，於是我问TOSHI他想不想唱，他 答应了，於是就这麽开始了。 Q：你常在推特上公布关於LIVE和相关日期等的资讯。你最近也提到了秋天的 亚洲巡回，看来有一些国家—像是印尼之类—很希望能见到你们，你的计画是 ？ YO：我想我们应该很快就会公布巡回的内容，不过我们的经纪公司要先和当地 的承办人协调好，他们才能给我们相关资讯。 我们的经纪公司一直有在和世界各地洽谈演出的事情，然後我们才能做相关计 画。 因为在推特或FACEBOOK上我一直有收到很多讯息，我有试着去回应。我是说， 如果可能的话，我希望能到世界各国去表演，只要那里有我们的FANS。但如果 说前一天要为一万五千人演出、隔天又变成只有一千人，那也是不可能的，那 会给SATFF造成很大的负担，也有预算和其他各方面的问题，所以我们希望能 作一些持续性的巡回演出。 我们在东南亚的巡回会有比较大的规模，大概是一万人左右或是更多。 我的意思是，我们很希望能到所有地方，但也要考量各地不同的情况，有些决 定不是我能掌控的，但我会试着去回应我所有的FANS。 一切都会很快宣布。 Q：你有考虑再次的北美巡回吗？ YO：是的，我们正在计画，实际上我们已经谈到明年的行程。全球的也有，但 要看欧洲、南美和东南亚巡回的反应如何。 Q：你很在乎你的FANS，而且之前在MySpace也很活跃，现在你在推特上也直接 和他们互动。FANS对你为什麽那麽重要？ YO：要不是我的FANS，我不认为我现在还会存在这世界上。我曾有一段痛苦的 经历，是因为有我的FANS，我现在才在这里。 他们很希望能和我交流，但我实在不怎麽擅长这一方面。但我还是会试着去作 ，我喜欢花时间和我的FANS相处、直接和他们说话。 FANS就像是我的神一样，对我来说非常重要。 Q：有什麽和他们相处的回忆是你特别珍惜的吗？ YO：都是在LIVE的时候，像是在Endless Rain，他们会一起唱。即使在东京巨 蛋五万人的场地，我还是觉得我能听到每一个人的歌声。 我不是说把五万人的歌声当作一个人，我能听到每一个人。那总是让我很激动 ，那是非常特别的感动，一种非常特别的关系。 当我接近他们的时候，那总是会让我想要活的更久一点。 Q：我觉得X FAN真的是非常特别，他们的热情、还有他们想要把爱分享给这个 乐团的意志都是令人难以置信的强烈。你觉得这也是造就了X JAPAN的原因之 一吗？ YO：是啊，我很喜欢，这真的很棒。我是说像是在我们的LIVE上、甚至是推特 ，我们有时是很坦率的，像是「Love you」这样，而他们也会回「I love you, I love X JAPAN」，就有点像是，我不知道，很纯粹的感情。那真的很 棒，我们可以这样很直接地表达，我喜欢我的FANS把爱传达出去。 Q：在Anime Central，你提到X JAPAN总是在巡回和演出时全力以赴，也因此 总是有令人难忘的表现。你能给我们一些接下来可以期待的暗示吗？ YO：「全力以赴」代表我们会用尽全力去作！这是X JAPAN好也是不好的地方 。 即使是很早之前，我们还在日本巡回的时候，因为…我看看我们有没有到二十 场LIVE。一般人通常会这样安排「喔，我们不要太累，因为我们明天还要表演 」。如果有十五场表演，你会把精力分配到接下来的每场LIVE。 但X不是这样，我们在每场LIVE都竭尽全力，每一个音符、每一分一秒，这就是 X JAPAN的风格。 Q：不顾一切（蛮干、鲁莽）的风格。 YO：对，就是这样！ Q：「We Are X」对你来说表示什麽？ YO：We are X... X的意思很有趣，像是无限的可能性，这是你在字典可以看到的，同时也就像 我们说的，你不是一个人，我们在一起。这样的感觉。 Q：在巡回开始之前，你有什麽话想要跟FANS说的吗？ YO：终於，我们来到欧洲，我们已经等这一刻等了很久，非常、非常、非常久。 请一定要来看我们，让我们一起创造历史。 谢谢你们一直这麽支持我们。 让我们一起Rock the World！ WE ARE X! --

※ 发信站: 批踢踢实业坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 140.119.150.53 ※ 编辑: Lemonism 来自: 140.119.150.53 (06/26 22:40) 请转，附上ID和出处就可以了。 ※ 编辑: Lemonism 来自: 140.119.150.53 (06/27 14:20) 谢谢，真的是受宠若惊^^;; 啊…其实翻译就是祈求欧巡顺利的贡品啊～(≧<>≦) ※ 编辑: Lemonism 来自: 140.119.150.53 (07/01 01:29)