Transcript of an interview with Naoto Shibata of ANTHEM - 8/04/19. Full article here. MAL-
Can you tell us about the beginning of the band back in the early 80s. NAOTO- First of all, I myself had his other band called BLACK HOLE, which was a semi professional band, ended up breaking up after a few years and then I was actually almost quitting music at that point to work with my family, and then a friend of mine who was a guitar player asked me to be a part of his band and I actually was the last one to be added in that lineup of the band as official member not too seriously was more or less like having fun with the rest of the guys. Well I just happened to have a bit of you know knowledge about how to put bands together, how to make it work. So I ended up being a leader-ish, sort of figure of the band and that's how we ended up and yeah, and then that band kept on working to the point of being professional, to be a band to open up the shows for professional bands, started touring around the country. And then there was 1985 we got signed up with a major label. MAL- Was it difficult in those early years? NAOTO- Looking back the 80s would probably be the same around the world but in Japan there was a time when all these domestic heavy metal bands came out making major debuts and everything so I mean not too many of them have survived this long but anyhow our 80s looking back was not that hard for a band like us to really be active in Japan. MAL- Why did the band split up? NAOTO- From the end of the 80s and the beginning of the 90s in Japan and probably around the world as well, that kind of music especially in the rock field has changed quite drastically and for us as being a typical heavy metal band was quite hard to keep it going and up until 91 we actually kept on fighting against the sort of climate yet it was very tiresome, tiring mentally as well as sales wise and we basically got worn out at the point and decided to break up at the point but now when we look back on that decision I kind of feel very good about it. We could probably (have) put in put it on hold so to speak rather than breaking the band MAL- You reformed in 2000 with Graham Bonnet on vocals. What was the arrangement there? Was it like a one-off invitation to him and you decided to stay together after that? What was the arrangement? NAOTO- First of all that project with Graham was something that came out of all these wishes, can we say all requests that I got from my friends especially the ones in the music business, who wishes me to our come back to the heavy metal area and then play that kind of music once again. And some of them actually knew that I was a big fan of Graham and came up with this idea to have him sing ANTHEM songs and make an album and the record company came out to our help that pushed up our possibility to the point of actually offering Graham and who actually took that offer and the album itself is quite successful, but to continue doing it with him in the band was physically difficult almost impossible. But with that CD out and the tour that followed lots of fans in Japan and the people who are working in the music business came to me saying that 'You're not going to quit this right?' at this point and it's totally going to do some more and that led me to put ANTHEM back together again. MAL- Okay, let's talk about the new album 'Nucleus'. When was the decision made to redo these songs in English? NAOTO- That goes back a year or more actually? I mean we started working on this project more than than year ago and the reason is that I'm particularly happy about this current lineup and so confident about it so we just wanted to for the first time ever deliver the name card so to speak of the band to the world in a real proper way and if that's what it is, I thought it should be done in English. MAL- I absolutely love it, now what's the reaction been so far? NAOTO- Thank you for liking it first and then I you know as far as what I can hear is all positive and we actually hear a lot from abroad on the surprisingly high points been given to all these reviews to the album and I have to tell you I am honestly surprised with the reaction. MAL- Did it make a make you wish that there were more albums in English sooner? NAOTO- I personally Yes definitely. But before anything I have to persuade the singer. MAL- Now when you selected the songs were there any songs that you've wanted to put on the album but they just didn't work in English? NAOTO- It actually didn't happen that way because all of the songs were chosen on the criteria that it fits best, this current lineup and I think I chose the songs that really describes and express what's so great about this current lineup so there was no particular song that didn't work because it was done in English. MAL- What is the plan now? The album has just come out over there. Are you touring Japan? Are you touring Asia? What's going on? NAOTO- At this point there's one festival in Germany has been fixed in April. And then in May we are going to tour a lot in Japan with this album. And some dates have already been fixed and announced. And it seems like it just keeps going on and on until mid November this year. And then in 2020, next year, hopefully we'd like to travel over to the rest of the world and do as many performances as possible. MAL- I think you're going to be very busy. NAOTO- I wish that it has to be busy. I mean, we have to be busy. Yeah. I just want to say, that as the title suggests, it's called 'Nucleus'. It's the nucleus of ANTHEM as the band. So I'm going to say this is the band, this is what we are. And so who are those who have never heard this before? Please just you know, give it a chance to this album and come on and experience this world of ANTHEM music through this album. Give it a chance, please. MAL- Absolutely. I wish you every success. Thank you very much for talking to me. NAOTO- It was nice talking with you. Thank you. Comments are closed.
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AuthorMetalhead who hates bad parking. |