[Interview] VAMPS on New Single, Zepp Tour, Oversea Shows, and Best Album vol.2

VAMPS had a very unique way kicking off a tour for 2013 ＜VAMPS LIVE 2013＞, by taking over ZEPP venues nationwide and putting themselves in ‘rock-n-roll all night’ confinement. With a crazy start of the tour, BARKS received a new double A side single「ⒶHEAD／REPLAY」from VAMPS. The new single comes with two songs that are completely different styles by HYDE and K.A.Z, like the opposite magnetic poles. BARKS interviewed them on the very day of the single release, July 3, asking them about the songs. VAMPS also plans to release an English version of their best album in addition to the overseas tour dates finalized.

This is the second half of the interview. You can read the first part HERE. 

- VAMPS Photo

■Hoping fans from overseas like it──HYDE
■They’ve reached ‘a quality’ as of today──K.A.Z

──Not to mention it doesn’t necessarily apply to these two songs alone. As we watched your live show, we thought your sound was so much better, like it was powerful and yet each sound was so clear and standing out. 

K.A.Z：Almost all of the band instruments are new this time. We had some problems or tasks we wanted to clear last year, we took care of that by changing instruments. 

──That acrylic board set up in front of ARIMATSU and JIN, that was pretty impressive. Is that to separate their sounds? 

HYDE：To project sound better. It blocks noise going to the microphones with it, that helps good sound getting out. I couldn’t have done this before. I used to like sing with “loud and crazy sounds together, otherwise I won’t sing!” (laugh). 

──Like it has to be loud for you to get hyper. 

HYDE：Yup (laugh). Now that’s nothing. 

──In that aspect, you were definitely aware of creating audio sound. 

HYDE：I was trying from before, but this time I wanted to be serious about it. If it does’t work, I just won’t do it again. That’s how I did it. 

──The stage setting was very stylish. 

HYDE：Yes, like higher quality added to the previous stage setting. We did all the tricks with elaborate decorations and stuff already, so pursuing quality is much more refreshing. Maybe the use of acrylic board and things left a different impression. 

──Does that affect your performance? 

K.A.Z：I absolutely worry that members hitting the acrylic board (laugh). A person with the name spell starting J, for example, could hit the board anytime and that’s dangerous…

HYDE：Have you seen a bird slamming himself on a glassdoor because he couldn’t see it..(laugh) 

K.A.Z：That is so not cool if he did that in a concert..(laugh). Like I worry more about the live becoming a comedy act than him getting injured! 

──You finished four concerts so far. How do you feel about that? 

K.A.Z：Only 4 concerts? I thought we’ve done more. 

HYDE：We just started, so there is much to think about and I don’t feel it is all good to go yet. It’s all good, of course, but feels like there is so much we have to do and can’t catch up. Normally there are bands who would think, four concerts and we are done! but VAMPS needs more runs. Then we finally get to finish something. Four isn’t even close to that. But maybe ten shows would be too much to settle with.. (laugh). 

──Hard to balance there, right? 

HYDE：So we are nervous in a good way for now. 

──You have 10DAYS at ZEPP TOKYO just announced. We look forward to VAMPS evolution. 

K.A.Z：We’ve reached ‘a quality’ at this point. The question is to keep it and do it over to build up. And take it all to the live performances. With sound effect and all, we continue to try new things. 

──In the fall, you will release a best album, re-recorded in English for international audience, plus you have world tour coming up. 

HYDE：We hope to bring with us, the best of what we will have accomplished through local concerts. 

──Are you exporting VAMPS almost? 

HYDE：Uh- Yeah. We are proud of the product (laugh). I hope fans from overseas like it. Previously when touring worldwide, we performed with works that were made for Japanese market. This time we are bringing songs we’ve customized for international market. Hopefully it will make a difference. 

──Your official Facebook started. It looks like the world is coming close to you. Do you feel that way also? 

HYDE：We were really hectic since moving to a new label so we had no time to feel how we were doing. I want to believe we’ve done the best we could so far. Fans may not give us the full approval yet (laugh). We’ve been working hard seriously, like no one else in Japan works that much, so I am excited about the outcome. 

K.A.Z：We won’t know what it’s like unless we get there anyway. You know real world takes experience, not like the internet world where you can just see everything. We absolutely appreciate and get excited to receive comments and likes on Facebook, but we cannot always experience all of that. We are very excited about the concert in overseas in that aspect. 

Credit to Barks English site! Interview・Text◎Yuko Honma　Photo◎Kazuko Tanaka