We were very much inspired by hip-hop, but we insisted on using live music.
Speaking of instinct, Fishmans changes the arrangement of its songs at each live performance as if they were living creatures. In the film, there is a line that goes something like, "I've come to ask everyone to do things that happen by chance. I thought it must be very difficult.
Mogi:. especially in the later years, you changed it up for every gig. We rehearsed a lot until we got it just right. For studio recordings, we would try to find the best arrangement for listening at home or in the car, and for live performances, we would try to find an arrangement that would be comfortable at the venue. It was natural, or at least natural, for the arrangements to be completely different.
. The introduction of the members at the live show is also good, isn't it? I like the introduction of the members in the first song "Oh Smile" of "December 28, 1998: Otoko-tachi no Farewell". It gives me a sense of excitement that an interesting story is about to begin.
MIU:We sing together, don't we, the one where you call out the name part (laughs). Did you practice that too?
Mogi:My sampler says, "Motegi kin'ichi! Yuzuru Kashiwabara! Sato! Sato! I had a sample on my sampler that would read out the names of all the members. That was a gradual process.
At the time, you were using the "AKAI" sampler, right? Somewhere when I saw Mr. Sato's record shelf list, I thought there were a lot of hip-hop records, and I wondered if that was where the "Akai" sampler came from.
Mogi:There were a lot of hip-hop records, and the influence on Sato was especially great. When "Just Thing" was being made, we were all listening to Arrested Development and De La Soul for inspiration, and I can't imagine what the songs would have been like without them. Sato really loved Arrested Development, and when we played at the "Osaka Quattro" when we came to Japan, I met the vocalist's speech at the Shin-Osaka station.
MIU:Wow, that's great!
Mogi:Sato-kun happened to have a 12" record and we went to get him to sign it. I wrote "Stay Thirsty" under his signature, and I remember him saying, "He told me to stay dry and keep going. I remember he told us to "stay dry and keep going." We took a lot of cues from hip-hop, but we insisted on playing live.
I felt the influence of hip-hop in the smallest details, such as the "Make some noise, make some noise" in "Oh Crime". On the other hand, Fishmans is very particular about playing live with a band, and I think Mr. Sato wanted to do it with everyone. ......
Mogi:Yes, it is! It's so physical. We all went to see the Far Side live together. The DJ spinning the turntables was cool, but we said to ourselves, "I wish they had a drum set. We couldn't help but think that having live instruments there would really get the crowd fired up. So, we decided to go for it, or rather, we wanted to play it live (laughs). (Laughs.) But everyone gets fired up by that, don't they?
MIU:Is it to think about something like creativity?
Mogi:Yes, yes. We want to continue to play our own music. The fact that we are still playing the music is part of our desire to bring it to people who did not have the opportunity to experience it in the 90's. We want people to be able to hear what the Fishmans were all about with the pressure of the sound. We want people to be able to hear the groove of the Fishmans, and we want them to be able to enjoy it with the sound pressure.
Speaking of hip-hop, didn't Fishmans once open for De La Soul when he performed in Japan? I heard an urban legend that they played only one song, "Long Season," which was over 30 minutes long, and the audience was stunned (laughs).
Mogi:Now I think it's a mess (laughs). Actually, when we were in front of De La Soul, it was the first performance of "LONG SEASON". We were the opening act, and the show started around 11:30 p.m. There was no audience at all. There was no audience at all. There were really only about 5 people, and they didn't come because they all wanted to see De La Soul.
. It's like, "I'll be here by the last train or so," right?
Mogi:Yes, yes. So, from our point of view, we had a chance to perform "LONG SEASON" for the first time there. I don't know if it would work, but we were given a chance to try it out. I don't think most people saw that one. But I was told earlier in another interview, "I was there" (laughs). I was really surprised .
. The urban legend continues at ....... I heard a rumor that Kenji Ozawa was there and somehow got angry when he saw the performance of "LONG SEASON".
Mogi:I've heard that Ozawa-kun was there, but I'm not sure. ...... I'll ask him next time I see him. But over here, Ozawa-kun released "LIFE" in 1994, and I was so jealous of that.
Were there any bands at that time that you were jealous of or saw as rivals?
Mogi:. I think Sato probably considered Cornelius to be his rival. I think Sato-kun tried to avoid listening to bands from the same period as much as possible, probably because he would be influenced by them. . If it was a different feeling, like Blankie (Jet City), then it was different, and I liked listening to them. But I think he tried to avoid listening to Spitz and others.
MIU:I remember singing it as a chorus song in elementary school. But at the time, Blue Hearts, which my music-loving teacher taught me, sounded better. ...... It has a different quality. . If I had known about the Fishmans back then, maybe I would have taken to the music in a different way.
I can sing in a chorus with the Spitz and the Blue Hearts, but the Fishman's seems a bit difficult. ...... (laughs)
Mogi:It doesn't feel like a chorus. ...... , I can't imagine it. . like singing "Night Cruising" in a chorus.
We're singing "Night Cruising" at karaoke ...... (laughs)
