Kaoru is the guitarist for the Japanese rock band Dir En Grey. The group has a new DVD out titled “Tour 12-13 In Situ Tabula Rasa” and in November will be touring the United States for the first time in two years. With the help of Kaoru’s translator Media Mikes was able to talk with him about the bands new DVD, the upcoming tour and the groups plans for a new album.
Adam Lawton: What can you tell us about the bands new concert DVD?
Kaoru: The DVD is really a documentary about the band returning from a hiatus we took due to our singer having some vocal issues. The film covers everything from then up until the last date of our most recent European tour which concluded this past summer.
AL: Having filmed a few other DVD’s how does the new one differ from previous ones the band has been involved in.
Kaoru: We have in the past released a number of live concert DVD’s. The main focus of this one was to show the process of what the band had to go through and what we had to do to overcome our singers vocal problems. There was a period for the band after returning that everything was going well but then our singer was hit with more health problems. We didn’t know what to do as a band and this DVD shows all of that.
AL: What does the band enjoy most about releasing DVD’s as they do require quite a bit of work?
Kaoru: Every show that we do as a band is different. Even though the songs may be the same we still might do something different from night to night. Some of our previous releases are from one night of a tour while others are made up multiple shows edited together. We like to release a lot of different things which is something we as a band just realized.
AL: Can you tell us about the bands upcoming tour?
Kaoru: We are staring of with some shows in Japan and in November we will be touring the United States. This will be our first time there in quite some time. Having been two years since our last trip to the United States I am sure our fans there are waiting for us and we are all looking forward to meeting everyone again. This band is now at the point where we want to see just how far we take this so now is the time for us to do that. We are currently working on our stage set for the show and we are hoping that we can bring some of what we do at our shows in Japan over to the States. We will definitely be bringing something different for everyone to see.
AL: What do you feel is the biggest challenge when touring outside of your country?
Kaoru: Definitely the language barrier. Not so much when it comes to performing our songs but when it comes to interacting with people on a daily basis. If we all just spoke the same language things would be so much easier. (Laughs) You can actually one instance where we are on stage at a festival in Europe and some trouble occurs and because we don’t speak English this turned into a bigger trouble. We have the textbook knowledge of a lot of different places but we are missing some things due to the language barrier.
AL: Has the band begun talking about starting work on any new material?
Kaoru: We have been talking about starting work on some new songs. Nothing is concrete yet but after this tour concludes we will be starting work on a new album.
