Hyde remains oddly elusive for someone who's been a star for years, so I was a little surprised to find him to be so open and willing to answer questions. K.A.Z was a little quieter, but charmingly appreciative of the reception that VAMPS have been getting in the US so far.
I sat down with the two of them backstage at the Regency Center on a recent Saturday afternoon, a few hours before their show, to ask them what the whole VAMPS project is about and how they feel about touring the US.
(Random side note - VAMPS should be congratulated for coming up with just about the best promotional idea ever for a fanbase full of women - VAMPS themed makeup. I've been presented with some interesting freebies over the years, but lip-gloss and a cute little tub of sparkly eyeshadow? Now that's a new one.)
How did the two of you end up working together?
(Hyde) K.A.Z came to a L'Arc en Ciel concert and that's how we met.
What's the whole VAMPS project about? I notice that this is a theme you keep coming back to...
(Hyde) I always liked horror movies, so I picked the band's name based on that, but I'm not fixated on the idea of playing a vampire. At the beginning of the VAMPS project I wanted to play with the image of the vampire and have fun with it. We're not a horror band and I don't want to be one. I don't intend for us to be scary. What I wanted to do was play with the word "vampire" and have fun with it. In other words, I don't want my band to come across like Death Metal characters.
So you want it to be fun scary instead of seriously scary?
(Hyde laughs) Yeah, fun scary
I saw in one of your videos that you were wearing fangs. Are you going to wear those during the concerts too? Can you sing with those on?
(Hyde laughs again) No, I can't sing.
Are you intending VAMPS to be a permanent project or is this just a one-off?
(Hyde) If I don't get into a fight with my family about it I will continue doing it.
How is this tour going compared to your first solo tour in the US? Is it the same kind of people showing up?
(Hyde) Last time it was a lot shorter, we did the West Coast only, this time we went to the East Coast too. This time it seems like crazier fans are showing up than on the last tour so I'm happy.
Actually I was going to ask about that. It seems like in Japan usually audiences are a lot calmer and more polite, and also not quite so close to the stage. Is it weird for you when you're here having them right in your face or is it fun?
(Hyde) No, I like the crazy fans. They're so loud that if we play at the same volume as we play in Japan sometimes they can't hear very well, so sometimes we have to play louder.
I noticed that you played a couple of dates on the Warped tour. How did you get involved with that and is it something you might try to do again?
(Hyde) I don't know! (Laughs) (In English, pointing) My manager...
What have you been doing with yourselves between shows? Have you had time to sightsee?
(K.A.Z.) Shopping!
Are you comfortable enough in America now to be able to wander around by yourselves or do you still feel like you need a staff person or a translator with you all the time?
(Hyde) He goes off by himself a lot
When you go shopping, what are you shopping for?
(K.A.Z) Clothes.
Are there any plans for a European tour?
(Hyde) I'm planning to do a big European tour next year, if possible. I'm thinking about it but we're still planning.
So I found your cover of the song "Trouble" on YouTube, the old 80s girl band song. How did you end up doing that? It's so fun and cute and different from everything else you're doing.
I was offered a project in which this company wanted to use a song for a commercial. When we were thinking of the promotional strategy, that song is very popular in Japan, and we thought if we rearrange the song to more of a rock version it would be very effective for the commercial.
The stuff that you're doing now, it doesn't really sound like what either of you were doing with your old bands. What kind of music are you both into, and what were you into when you were growing up?
(English) British New Wave and LA Metal
And K.A.Z.?
(English) The same
How are you handling the songwriting for VAMPS? Are you both writing music and you (Hyde) are writing the lyrics?
(Hyde) I write the lyrics but both of us write music
When you (Hyde) first came here with you said that you had no idea you had so many fans here. Are you starting to get a sense now of who your audience is in the USA and how many of them there are? Is it starting to seem more concrete to you in your own mind that there really is an audience for you here?
As I go to each place, including tonight's show, I notice a lot of fans lined up long before the show starts, sometime even from the night before, so I feel so secure and I'm so thankful for them. With this tour I've truly understood the importance of knowing that fans are waiting for me, in that it makes me feel more secure and comfortable when I play.
So you're starting to feel more at home here.
Yeah. Sometimes I worry about how many people will show up, and if they'll have fun listening to my songs, but this time I could see that the fans were already hyped up for the shows before they even started. That makes me feel confident that I can really grab the audience during the show, too.
Are you getting a chance to meet any of your fans? Are you doing signings or anything like that?
Two days ago we had a signing at Kinokuniya bookstore.
Are you going to do that in LA too?
(Manager) We're working on it, maybe.
As far as the future direction of VAMPS, what do you have in mind over the next few years?
We both have our own bands, so with VAMPS we want to do something fun that we can't do with our other bands. I want VAMPS to be a unit within which we can create things that are different to what we do with our other bands. Even three years from now, I can see us doing something that we think is fun. I want to keep on finding projects that make me feel excited, I want to always be doing something inspiring and challenging.
Is it hard to work out the schedules for the two of you to get together and work?
I have to decide which band is the priority at any given time. It can't be 50/50.
And for you (K.A.Z.) it's the same thing?
Yes (English)
Now that you guys have a sense of how things are here and your tour has been doing pretty well, are you planning to come back?
(Hyde) Well we have the large European tour that we're planning for next year, but at the same time we wish that we could come back here.
Since you both grew up with British New Wave and LA metal, do you have certain clubs or certain venues that you'd love to play at, just because the bands that you were into when you were young played there?
(Everyone laughs) Madison Square Garden
I think you have to be Led Zeppelin for that.
(Laughs)
If you were to describe yourselves to people who're reading who aren't familiar with your prior work or with VAMPS, what impression of you do you want them to take away?
I grew up listening to American rock ever since I was a child and I still listen to it a lot. So, I think that I'm playing and creating my songs on the same level as American musicians. My ultimate goal is to build my band to have the same status as America bands. We're often classified as a JRock band, but that's not how we see ourselves. We think we're comparable to an American band, and we want to be seen as being on an equal level with them. That's why we're here and that's why we're doing our project.
Do you have any sort of a marketing plan? Is anyone working on trying that? Because there have been lots of Japanese bands coming over here recently but so far no one has quite been able to make that jump.
(PR Manager) I'm working on it! The band are aware of everything that we're doing.
(Note - the manager and I talked about this later, and suffice it to say that this particular band has LOTS of plans in the works as far as marketing themselves in the US is concerned)
To wrap up, is there anything that you would like to say to your fans here?
(Hyde) I'm very happy and I feel so appreciated that so many people showed up to our shows this time. We will continue creating music that we think is cool, so please wait for more fun from us in the future!
(K.A.Z.) This time we visited the East Coast and the West Coast, and we had a great time playing there, but we weren't able to cover other areas like the Midwest. Next time I'd like to go there and make more fans and have more fun, and I'm looking forward to it.
Do you have any idea when that might be?
(Laughs) Not yet!
OK, well thank you very much.
Thank you.
