ItalianoWhy has GACKT shined thus far? Unravel the reason why GACKT can be GACKT
GACKT’s new single 「Tsumi no Keisho ~ORIGINAL SIN~」was released on March 22. The song was written to be the ending theme song for the TV anime 『TRICKSTER – Edogawa Ranpo 「Shonen Tanteidan」 Yori-』 but at first glance, it’s a dark, intense and heavy song that does not seem to fit that of an anime theme song.
Even now, in a music industry that has been stricken by the inability to sell music, GACKT still clearly shows the path that must be taken, and improves himself as an artiste who does not pander to anyone. Why has he shined until now? What’s the difference between him and other artistes? To explore the reason why GACKT can be GACKT, we went to GACKT himself and spoke to him.
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■ If we’re supposed to be living our life as we carry our sins
■ Is there something that we’re supposed to do
──Was your new work, 「Tsumi no Keisho ~ORIGINAL SIN~」, created because you received an offer for the anime ending theme song?
GACKT: The reason that set me off on writing this song was the request from them that they wanted me to write an ending song from them. They requested for something like 「 a song that is happy and makes a person see the future」 though, but I thought, 「I’m not a commercial writer anyway so I don’t do that kind of stuff…」 (laughs).
──And you brilliantly did just that(laughs).
GACKT: Because I currently have the world view of the ＜LAST VISUALIVE Saigo no Tsuki＞, my concept tour, it ends up dark after all (laughs). Since I have my own label now too, I figured that it would be better if worked hard on songs that bring my core to the front more, so I wrote this song. I don’t care about「releasing a song that is saleable」or「what the general public will think about it」at all too, so now, when I’m asked for a song that I would like to listen to or perform, something like the darkness inside my heart will come out one way or another. When that happens, this is the kind of song that it’ll become.
──Even for GACKT, the dark parts of your heart has not been cleared yet?
GACKT: It won’t be. In order to survive, trauma or the things that are originally in yourself will not change throughout your life. To try and pierce through that and emerge from it is one of the things that I do. That’s why, the song that was created is the direct opposite of what was requested, and if I’m told that「This is wrong」, then it would just mean that it’s already “not fated”. But the director liked it. Even before this, I’ve often received requests but there hasn’t been a single attempt where sticking to what the request was worked well (laughs). I somehow can’t follow requests and for the main theme of『Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-』,「REDEMPTION」, and for the insert song「LONGING」too, I was told to make them「ballads」but they became intense songs (laughs). At that time I could only write what I came up with, so I had no choice but to decide, if they didn’t like it then it’s not fated.
──But, until now, times when things were not fated to be…
GACKT: Never happened (laughs).
──Why do you think they’ll give an OK to something that’s a complete opposite from what they requested for?
GACKT: Because whether or not you feel moved when you hear it is important. When they hear it and feel their chests tighten or find that I delivered something that’s cooler than they expected, they’ll end up saying「This is good」, and after that, this time, the other party adjusted the image of it for me too. This song, too, focuses on the darkness in the Fiend with Twenty Faces… and also on the scars that made him the way he is. I think that “the existence of humans is a sin”, and that what we pass on from ourselves to the next generation that we birth is an “inheritance of sin”. In terms of the global human nature, I think that this is what is synchronised with the character of the Fiend with Twenty Faces, and when I spoke of that to the director, he felt it, and said to me「I’ll create an ending that fits that world」.
──That is existing itself being sinful right.
GACKT: It’s the tragedy that humans bring. Like the history of tragedy that only humans have, and why humans are the only ones repeating this. Despite having the ability to create, we seek to destroy, we’re exceptionally odd creatures. When you look at this earth as a large living organism, the existence of humans becomes akin to a cancer, and I’m of the opinion that “the world will turn into it’s natural form if there are no humans” but that, again, is an extreme opinion, and if we’re living while being burdened by our own sins, we have to recognise that, and think「what do we have to do」.
──I guess it’s like your reason for existing.
GACKT: In a scene from a certain movie, there was a line that said「I became a police officer to rid this city of bad guys」, following which, the character’s superior replied with 「If you really wanted to get rid of all bad people then you should be a doctor. Kill all the children who are born. If you do that, the bad in this city will disappear」… This is the essence of an extreme opinion. In the past, I too lived with the opinion that「Things are better off if all humans died」. But, that opinion is too sad and lonely.
──I suppose that was something that changed as you gained more experience.
GACKT: My mindset changed. In the past, I hated humans but, I thought,「People can’t be discarded either」. Just that, by saying such a localised thing, I’ll quickly be seen as negative so in addition to understanding that, unless I chose to move forward, problems will arise one after another.
──What do you mean?
GACKT: For example, there are people who are declaring things about the rights of the Middle Eastern women so when they ask me,「What do you think of the statement “fight with me to protect women’s rights”?」, I replied「No interest」. They’ll then say things like「Why?」or「Are you not interested in women’s entitlement to having rights?」but, I replied「That’s something that has to be done in their own country, people from other countries should not interfere」. How they were born / how they were brought up / what is their history / what religious views they have… It’s like, without knowing anything about those in relation to them, do they have any idea how dangerous it is to judge women from other countries using your own ideas and identity? They would say 「Well that’s because those remarks are globally accepted」, and I think that’s an exceptionally dangerous statement. Like, don’t you think that this is linked to how wars start? What I think is, the problems that a country has have to be cleared by the people of that country, and others should not be getting involved.
──I see.
GACKT: The differences in culture, differences in mindsets, differences in religion, isn’t the act of imposing your own way of thinking on them, and invading them from there, wrong as well? After the war, Japan was also influenced by America, and women’s rights… gender equality got brought up. The number of people involved in social movements regarding equality between men and women have dramatically increased as well. But are men and women really equal? They aren’t.
──I think, in the first place, they can’t be compared with each other.
GACKT: Exactly. It’s like talking about equality for both dogs and cats, so even if we’re call categorised in the same group as humans, in terms of what we’re made of inside, and even our structures, we are different beings. Rights that are naturally given are considered as “fairness”. It’s not “equality”. The modern Japanese don’t know the difference between equality and fairness.
──Which is?
GACKT: For example, if you say 「Men and women have to have a weight of 60kg」, in terms of equality, you have to do this regardless of whether you’re male or female. If you say 「You have to work for 30 days」, then you have to work for 30 days. That’s equality. No matter how much you work, or how little you work, you can only receive the same amount of money. So my point is, is this the equality that you’re looking for?
──That’s wrong.
GACKT: At present, the society should be “fair” in its original form. 「To be evaluated for what you’ve done」… that’s fair. However, there are so many people who get the meanings of fairness and equality wrong, that they mistake privileges indeed being fairly distributed as gender equality instead. If we have gender equality, we do we not recognise marriages between gays and lesbians. Even America, which always boasts about their high level of equality, has states that don’t recognise that, so if men and women are truly equal regardless of gender, it would be alright for anyone to love anyone and marry whoever they wish but unfortunately, this can be said to be a religious problem.
──And when you bring up religion right there, it become a transgression.
GACKT: In the first place, it’s something that deviates from logic.
■The original state of music
■has the cornerstones of performing in front of people / letting people listen to it / moving people
──GACKT is an artiste so, in such a modern society, what should youths who are aspiring to become musicians work hard on?
GACKT: They need to know “what kind of musician they are”. Even before that, a leader of a certain band said 「The members are sloppy, and they don’t respect time so I can’t work with them」. I said to him 「No no no, in the first place, what do you think a musician is? To you」. For musicians, majority of them are a gathering of people who aren’t suited for life in the general society, who then perform together because “if we do music, it’s the only place where we can express ourselves by chance”. If you think about it calmly, those who can become successful in music, are of a very very small percentage, and it’s a rather unrealistic activity.
──Because statistically, it’s an entry that’s even narrower than that of Tokyo University’s, right.
GACKT: I chose to live in such areas because there are a very rare breed of people there. In the first place, those people are the complete opposite of being punctual, or keeping promises, or working hard. You don’t know the nature of musicians. Despite that musicians are such a breed of people, they’re amazing in the sense that when they get up on stage, they shine endlessly. In a way, the might even be exceptionally similar to people with Asperger’s syndrome. That’s why, even when musicians are interacting with other musicians, their communication skills are abnormally low… In other words, there’s a large number of them with communication disabilities. That’s why they are musicians. They are people who think 「I can express myself」 or 「this is the only place where I can live」. These people will think, “am I classified under this side, or am I someone who can think of business in that difficult world, or firstly, which side is this?”.
──There are 2 different types of musicians as well right. The musician who uses themselves to release music, as opposed to the artiste who uses music to express themselves.
GACKT: If all you have is music, then firstly, you have to push forward with the kind of music that you can make. You have to push through with that music, and turn it into something that is of high quality. In this era, CDs can’t really be sold, and if you think that you can make sales through download sales, that doesn’t really happen either. But this is the circumstances of what musicians originally are. Be it Chopin or Debussy, if they had no patrons the couldn’t have made it. The only way to get patrons is to create something outstanding in music. It’s a question of whether we’re in that region. Even in an era when CDs sell a lot, those who can’t sell any won’t sell any.
──The essence right.
GACKT: Simply put, the era of selling CDs was special. The selling of CDs and records is just a period of time that happened when we entered into an age of production, and if you look at it while considering the long history of music, this is a very short period of time. Instead, right now, we are returning to an ideal situation, where the original state of music has the cornerstones of performing in front of people / letting people listen to it / moving people. So 「create good music and hold lives」.
──Musicians in the Edo period were like this too, weren’t they.
GACKT: That’s right. Historically, most musicians couldn’t make a living. Upon accepting that reality, it’s a question of 「are you still going to be a musician?」. But isn’t it alright if you say 「I have nothing but music in me」? Since it’s a path that you’ve chosen for yourself.
──Rather, I also get the feeling that we’re now in an era where only the people who were essentially born to be musicians are being sieved out and left in the industry.
GACKT: I think so.
──In the middle ages, the royal court was the patron but ever since the invention of recording, the civilians have become the patrons. As the civilians are now saying 「I quit being the patron」, I think from here on, the country has to become the patron and make music common property of the people though.
GACKT: Actually, the country should preserve music as it is a precious part of culture.
──I would like businesses to support muscians like how they support sports athletes. Though without competition it’s difficult to evaluate them.
GACKT: I think that that line of thought is correct in a sense too. In this current Japan, the only way is to have a business as a patron. As to why it has become like this… the cause is obvious.
──Please tell me.
GACKT: For example, historically, “band booms” have occurred a few times but at that time, we spontaneously create our own music, and there were many musicians who then leapt into this competitive society. They were tossed around in that vortex, and they won fans over from other bands by letting people listen to their own songs. The intense competition was repeated over and over in the live scene, and after eliminations, those who finally remain in the end have become sold musicians. But this takes a very long time.
──That’s true.
GACKT: Recording companies were started for the sake of selling CDs but for recording companies to produce and sell lots of CDs, they have to groom musicians. But instead of looking for musicians to groom, they gather people who can fit each role; like someone who can create, someone who can advertise, someone who can go on stage, someone who can only sing. And organising them as a project takes only half a year to create them as compared to originally grooming musicians, that can take around 5 years. If you’re talking about who has a higher productivity level, of course its this one. We’re merely talking about their productivity but when you take out that that productivity, in other words, if the producer produces a variety of musicians, the recording company will then experience huge profits.
──He~h.
GACKT: By ignoring the structure of elimination, they’ve created the top of a pyramid structure, so to speak. So what happened because of this? The originally wide base at the bottom… the people who enter the competition before getting weeded out, this part also becomes the layers of listening to music, and if this part disappears while they only build up the top area, the pyramid itself will shrink, the people who would think of creating music along with the people who enthusiastically listen to music will gradually disappear. In the end, the market itself will shrink. The guys from the recording companies of those times all know about this.
──I wonder if they really did know.
GACKT: They did. But they can get ahead much quicker if they overproduce hits instead of work on broadening the base. This is similar to politics at present. We don’t have policies that were worked on for 20 years, instead politicians now can only go with propaganda to get elected. It’s difficult to keep at being a politician for 20 years straight. The term in office is too short, and they can’t launch long-term policies.
──This is a high-growth era where there are growth and stretches in events, at the same time, it’s an era of consumption where dreams exist. However, in the current economy, things are built on how we control consumption and reduce wastage, so we see the justification of “how do we survive without working hard”. I think the role and meaning of music has changed quite a lot.
GACKT: 20 years ago, when I first came to Tokyo, it was right after the bubble burst but Tokyo was amazing. When I went to Roppongi for the first time, I was sincerely moved, thinking「Such a town actually exists!」. Just going there gave me great dreams, it was amazing. What I wanted to become was right there, and what I wanted was there too. That’s why I could have the thought「Anyway, I’ll do my best」. However, now, because of more and more regulations, the energy in Japan is gradually disappearing. The average age is going up, and the rich aren’t using their money. The vicious cycle of the city being completely unenergetic and the youths disappearing continues. In such a Japan, it’s impossible to feel「I’ll do my best, feel my energy」.
──…
GACKT: As to why I’m living in South East Asia (SEA), it’s because SEA is filled with a lot of energy. When you go into the city, there’s such an overwhelming amount of life energy that it’s completely different. The energy that I felt in Tokyo back then is all over SEA. A piece of advice that I can give to the musicians in Japan now, is「First, at the very least, learn English」. Can you continue to make music and only stick to the shrinking market in Japan, that is said to shrink to a population of 70 million in 2050? Or are you really going to deliver music to people who are swelling with the energy of wanting music? The meanings behind those are completely different in the end.
──I see.
GACKT: Those who have never left Japan will not know of this reality. The current SEA is very hungry. I’m moving around SEA though, like Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines… Everyone is starving for entertainment. There are very young kids there, and a lot of countries have an average of around 26 to 28 years. All the kids there are seeking music, at a level that even Europe and America can’t compare with. That’s why, we should try to deliver music that solidifies our own identity. Maybe change the songs that are sung entirely in Japanese to English, that they can understand. It doesn’t matter if you’re bad at it, it’s about whether you try or not. Isn’t it far more meaningful plunge into that market? The moment we say that your music can only be accepted by Japanese people, that, to begin with, is wrong.
──Somehow, hope has emerged.
GACKT: I’ve already come to this age too so, I think that if there’s something that the younger generation can do, it’s to build that bridge. The creativity that the Japanese is actually exceptionally high. But they don’t have to courage to do it overseas. Those who are connected to the main continent have no resistance to performing in other countries. There are those who are of the opinion who think that it’s enough to just post on YouTube. But since people are originally most moved by other people themselves, I think that the moment you actually stand before those people and sing to the live, it gives them the「Wooow」moment. In that case, the question is, how do you capture the market when you have to leap into that?
──I get the feeling that musicians or artists will be able to hear of lots of hints and hope from this. Thank you.
This time, to celebrate the release of「Tsumi no Keisho ~ORIGINAL SIN~」, we will be giving away a polaroid with GACKT-san’s autograph to one winner, picked through a random draw. Interested parties can fill in the required information and apply through the ◆present form. Instead of announcing a winner, you will know that you’ve won if you receive the gift. Deadline for applications is on April 30 (Sun), 23:59.
Source: barks.jp
Translation: GACKT ITALIA Team
Translation © GACKT ITALIA