VOL.173 封面interview“Doing all right”(second half)

●○○From music freak magazine Vol.173

Okamoto: Since the phrase is bluesy, people from the generation above me may hear it and go, “Wow!!”

●Are there any other parts that are unique to this song besides the guitar solo?

Nakamura: The chorus at the beginning of the chorus section. I asked Okamoto and Shinichiro Ohta from doa to join me, and the harmonies of all three of us are included, so it might be fun to listen and guess who is singing which part. It was actually the first time we had used a chorus at the start of the chorus. At first, we connected the chorus with only the lead vocal. Then, to bring out more pop, we separated it and gave the chorus more thickness, which I think created a sense of unity in the song.

Okamoto: That chorus was high (wry laugh).

Nakamura: And we repeat the title in the chorus (laughs). I thought that if we said it this many times, people would remember the title (laughs). Bringing it out clearly in the chorus made it very easy to understand, which I think worked well.

Okamoto: Come to think of it, an English title is unusual for a GARNET CROW single, isn’t it?

●That is true. Japanese titles are the norm for your singles. In recent years, you have had the Japanese-English combination “風とRAINBOW” and “涙のイエスタデー,” which uses English written in katakana……

Okamoto: I was a little surprised when I saw this song’s title for that reason too.

Nakamura: For a single with a completely English title, this may be the first since “Timeless Sleep.”

●Then “Doing all right” becomes even more symbolic.

Nakamura: Yes. I think it took this form precisely because it was a single. If it had not been a single, it might have been included on an album in the style of the acoustic version of “Doing all right” found as the third track.

●What kind of finished version is the acoustic arrangement?

Nakamura: It is really simple, and it even includes Okamoto’s “one, two, three” count-in. The main “Doing all right” is a song that makes you picture a live in a large venue, while the acoustic version sounds as if the four of us went into a studio and played in a small, intimate setting. It feels like singing lightly with one acoustic guitar, and rather than layering my voice into the chorus, it only has Okamoto’s harmony. I think it has a simple style with a strong band feel. Both versions share a sense of live energy, but they are different types. I would like people to compare them and hear how much the same song can change.

●You said that you wrote “Doing all right” with early summer in mind. Is there anything you associate with that time of year?

Nakamura: Around May, people have started getting used to their new lives, and new students and employees may be feeling the blues on Mondays. I would be happy if they listened to “Doing all right” at times like that and thought, “Let’s do our best this week too!!”

●Is there anything you associate with this season, Okamoto?

Okamoto: When your life centers on production work, you do not often feel the seasons, so when I see new employees whose suits still do not fit them, I think, “This is how the seasons go around,” and feel a little envious (laughs).

Nakamura: People may also come to remember around May when they hear this song. I think people who are feeling down or have had something unpleasant happen may become more positive when they listen to it. I plan to use it that way myself too (laughs).

●I hear that “Nora” was used in a drama first and was suddenly included this time in response to the reaction it received.

Nakamura: After the song aired on television, the staff told us that they had received many inquiries through messages and so on, such as “What song is this?” We were surprised because we never expected such a response, but when we learned that so many people liked it, we wondered whether we could include it on this single. It was not originally planned, but it was added suddenly.

●Was “Nora” a song you had already had for some time?

Nakamura: We made “Nora” before “Doing all right.” The members said it was a good song, and the staff liked it too. We thought we would include it on an album if we released one, but it came to be included this time through these circumstances.

●It is a very gentle and poignant song overall.

Nakamura: It is extremely poignant. The moment I read the lyrics, I thought, “Wow, this is sad……” and I was also a little surprised that it was not a happy ending.

●Did you expect AZUKI to come up with lyrics like these?

Nakamura: The overall image of the song is not very different from the demo, but if you separate out only the lyrical world, I did not expect something this poignant to emerge. Every time I read a line, I thought, “What?! What happens next?”…… When I read the second verse’s line about “coming while holding hands with a stranger,” I thought, “Seriously?!” (laughs)

●Were you conscious of the poignancy when writing the song?

Nakamura: I wanted to make it a song with that kind of scent, so perhaps AZUKI sensed that and the lyrics came out this way. Still, I was surprised that they became lyrics filled with such a poignant, realistic world that grips your heart so strongly.

●Was there anything you paid attention to while performing, Okamoto?

Okamoto: The impression I received from the song was gentle, so I played it with a gentle feeling.

●Were lyrics written from a cat’s point of view a refreshing experience?

Nakamura: When I read the beginning, I thought the protagonist might be someone who “lives like a stray cat,” but when I saw the final line, I was surprised to realize, “It really was from a stray cat’s point of view.” In the initial demo, the final section did not modulate and simply ended as it was. We tried raising it by a semitone, and that increased the poignancy, so we settled on this form. Quite a few of my songs seem not to modulate but actually do, yet this one is almost a textbook example of modulation. It is easy to hear and works dramatically, doubling the poignancy, so I like it personally.

●That modulation makes it hit even harder, doesn’t it?

Nakamura: I think this song has many things to listen for. The sound and the vocals do many different things in many places…… There is the modulation, and at the end the backing disappears and only the voice remains. It is easy to listen to casually, but when you examine each individual part, there are many elaborate touches, so “Nora” may convey the GARNET CROW quality more strongly.

●Did the production go smoothly?

Nakamura: This song came together relatively quickly. While singing it, I wondered what would happen if we gave it a string arrangement, so I asked Furui something like, “I would like to sing this song with a full string score,” and he made one for us. It turned out wonderfully, and that version is included separately this time. It became something that would not sound out of place in an RPG (role-playing game).

Okamoto: It has a world like [Final Fantasy].

Nakamura: The tempo is relaxed too, so it is enjoyable as a different version. Both “Doing all right” and “Nora” are songs where various ideas came to me while I was singing them.

●Until now, you had songs that grew through live performances and became different versions, but it seems uncommon for another version to be born during production, doesn’t it?

Nakamura: We had arrangements in mind for playing songs live, but it is unusual for us to be making a single and decide to try another version as well. It is especially rare to take such clearly defined sound approaches this time, with one song acoustic and the other using strings.

●Personally, I wonder what happened to the stray cat in “Nora” after that (laughs).

Nakamura: I really want to know too! I want to know what happened next (laughs). Did it meet someone, or did it remain unable to meet anyone……

Okamoto: Maybe it became incredibly strong…… (laughs)

Nakamura: (Laughs.) I want to know what happens next in “Nora,” so I will ask AZUKI (laughs).

●Would you write a new song based on this story?

Nakamura: That could work too. If there is demand, perhaps I will consider it (laughs).

●By the way, are the members divided into dog people and cat people?

Nakamura: I am a dog person. I like large dogs.

Okamoto: I am a dog person too. My ideal is Kai, the dog who plays the father in a mobile phone company’s commercials (laughs).

Nakamura: Furui keeps a cat, so maybe he is a cat person? AZUKI likes cats, but she is allergic to them (laughs).

●What kind of work do you think this single has become for GARNET CROW?

Nakamura: “Doing all right” is a positive song that I think gives you a lot of energy, while “Nora” expresses our own world and has become a signature song that says, “This is GARNET CROW.” I feel it has become a well-balanced release, containing a song that takes on something new alongside a song that does not lose our identity.

●If you had to compare the two songs on this release to colors, what colors would they be?

Nakamura: “Doing all right” would be a tricolor of red, blue, and white.

Okamoto: I imagine orange or yellow.

●What color do you imagine for “Nora”?

Nakamura: Beige (laughs).

Okamoto: Beige for me too (laughs).

Nakamura: When you think of a cat’s color, you know. The cat in these lyrics is not a Persian cat or anything like that (laughs).

Okamoto: That is true. It feels like an ordinary cat you would see on a street corner.

●The live DVD “Are You Ready To Lock On!? ～livescope at the JCB Hall～” is also being released on the same day as the single. What is the highlight?

Nakamura: This one is especially moving. The previous live DVDs had scenes that moved me and brought tears to my eyes, but this time I got teary from the intro of the first song after the opening video ended, and I cried at the intro of the third song (laughs). It is not ballads or subdued songs that make me tear up; it is actually the bright songs…… You can really feel the sense of unity. The members, support musicians, and staff all worked through the nights for this live and kept making adjustments right up until just before the performance. The footage conveys how everyone pressed forward toward one goal and worked so hard, and that is what makes me cry…… The presence of the audience created an even stronger sense of unity, which moved me. I heard that the video staff were also crying from the opening during the live, so it was a performance everyone felt deeply about. After all the rehearsals, we finally reached the actual show and burst free all at once; you can feel that from the footage too. That is why I think you will be able to watch it and feel that the ending arrives in no time.

●Does it feel different to watch the footage from how it feels when you are actually onstage performing?

Nakamura: You can dance along while watching the footage, so it is fun (laughs).

Okamoto: To be honest, when I first saw the choreography we were going to do at the live, I thought, “We are doing this at a live?” (laughs). But when I actually saw the audience dancing perfectly in unison, it looked like so much fun, and I realized it worked perfectly well at a live. The first impression and what I saw at the live were completely different, which surprised me a little.

Nakamura: That was also a first attempt, and we did not know how it would turn out. Everyone learned the moves quickly and got excited, so that section ran longer than it had during rehearsals (laughs). It was supposed to move along a little more simply, but it was so much fun that the section ended up becoming one of the highlights (laughs). This live DVD is a two-disc set that you can enjoy at length. You can see active GARNET CROW, as well as performances that carefully preserve the world of the quieter songs, so there are plenty of highlights. I would like to do this live once more. On the final day, it felt sad that it was coming to an end. I wanted to perform that lineup and staging at many more venues. That is how enjoyable the live was.

■OFFICIAL WEBSITE www.garnetcrow.com