INTERVIEW ~ Sugar: December 21, 2008
Oni-con ~ Houston, TX
The morning following their first ever US live at Oni-con, the members of Sugar took some time from their busy schedules to sit down with us for an interview.
First of all, could you all introduce yourselves for the fans at JRock Events USA?
Loki: Loki, vocals.
Sizna: Sizna, guitar.
Shingo: Shingo, bass.
Atsuto: Atsuto, drums.
A lot of artists find that the fans in the US are very different from the fans in Japan. Did you find this to be the case and, if so, how are the fans different?
Loki: Fans in Japan come to the live, and they have this feeling that they radiate out, but they don't really show it the same way American fans do. It's like they take it in and then let it go through themselves. I don't know if it's just the culture, but they take it in and it just goes through them. But, in America, everyone’s trying to jump into the stage, they're really going for it (he reaches out, almost coming out of his seat in imitation of the fans from the previous night's live). So, there's definitely a difference.
I guess it's like...the Japanese fans, they just take it. They're the takers. But the American fans, they want more. They're the wanters.
Were there any differences between last night’s live and your lives in Japan besides the fan reaction?
Atsuto: Screaming would be reaction too, so...
Unlike a lot of bands that would be considered visual kei, your music combines jazz, and rock, and a lot of different styles. What kinds of musical influences do you have?
Atsuto: Well, it's really just the music that we've heard, and then we put it out there in our own way.
Sizna-san, you play the electric guitar when you're playing with Sugar; but you've also played acoustic lives. Which do you prefer, playing electric or playing acoustic?
Sizna: If I were to be playing alone, like a solo performance, I would prefer the acoustic. But in an ensemble like the band, I prefer electric.
You feel the electric fits better into the band's music, or...?
Sizna: Well, it depends on the song, but I learned to play originally on the electric guitar, so for me there's a broader range of expression using that.
Shingo-san, I noticed you play an Ibanez Soundgear...
(everyone laughs)
Translator: You're the second person to ask about that.
I'm actually a bassist, so part of it is my own curiosity.
Shingo: Oooooh!
Why did you choose that particular bass to play with Sugar? Generally, the most common brand amongst Japanese bassists is ESP, and then there are a few other brands that show up fairly often, but there aren't a lot of people playing the Ibanez.
Shingo: I feel really bad saying this, but I think the tone on the ESP is awful.
(everyone laughs)
Shingo: With the Ibanez you can get this thing called active type...
Pickups? As opposed to passive?
Shingo: Yes, and you can make all different kinds of sounds with active pickups, there's a broader range of tone. And also, this kind of question came earlier, and my hands are quite small, and the Ibanez has a narrower neck than most basses, so...
[ed note: Bass pickups are either active or passive. Active pickups use a 9-volt battery, and have built in pre-amplifiers. These pickups give a wider range of tone and higher output than passive pickups, which require no external power. Active pickups are rarely found in electric guitars, but are more common in electric basses. Many high end basses feature active pickups.]
I actually play an Ibanez for the same reason. (laughter)
Shingo: I've customized different parts of my bass too, so even in Sugar, I can get exactly the sound I want out of it.
Atsuto-san, I believe Sugar is your first band, how did you come to join Sugar?
Atsuto: Actually, it's not my first band, but it is the first visual kei band that I have been in. I joined because Sizna and I were going to the same music school when Sugar was first forming, and that's how we found each other.
Since you’ve used jazz saxophone players on recordings, do you have interest in incorporating any jazz musicians actually into a live show ever?
Sizna: Actually, we have before. On August 31st we had a live at Shibuya O-East, and at that time we had a keyboardist and a saxophonist play with us. If we are able to have more musicians play with us at other one-mans, that would be great.
As musicians, what do you think is more important—heart or just natural talent?
Sizna: Given the choice between your talent and your heart, it's more important for you to have heart.
Shingo: It has to be the heart, because you can always improve technique, and keep getting better and better as time goes on, even if you don't start out with lots of natural talent. But without heart, you can't go anywhere.
Atsuto: Well, technique is something that helps to make the heart stronger. So, obviously, there's no way that technique could ever be more important than heart.
Many Japanese artists consider the visual part of visual kei to be sort of an outgrowth of the music. How do you define visual kei?
Loki: For me, it's something that's tied together with the music. To be able to express what I want to, everything is on a level field. Basically, both the fashion and the music have to be on the same level. It's not as if one thing is higher or lower, or anything like that. But, I finally realized, for what we wanted to express with your music, the shape it was embedded into was visual kei.
What're you future goals for Sugar? Now that you've gone overseas, you've done lives overseas, what do you want to do next?
Loki: All American tour.
I'm sure the fans would love that!
(everyone laughs)
Alright, do you have any final message for the fans in the US?
For this time, we only came to Houston, and obviously that's only one part of America. We want to do an all American tour, and be able to meet all the fans all over the place. We want to make Sugar a bigger band from here, so please cheer us on.
interview by Jerusha; photos copyright Sugar
Thank you to Sugar for taking the time to answer our questions. Thanks to Carmilla (CURE USA, AnimeFood) and Oni-Con for arranging this interview. Thanks to Midori Maejima for translating.
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