GARNET CROW Best Album “THE BEST History of GARNET CROW at the crest...” Interview (MUSICSHELF)
February 2010MUSICSHELFAdded on July 8, 2026
—Your best album will be released on February 10, just before your tenth anniversary. Listening through it, you can really understand the changes you’ve gone through so far.
Yuri Nakamura:Around the time of our debut, we released many songs that put neo-acoustic sounds or very natural acoustic guitar sounds at the front. In the middle period, we gradually became able to release things with more of a band sound, and recently we’ve become able to sing heavier rock ballads... At each point in time, our own sound preferences came out very strongly. It’s embarrassing for us, but I feel that our movements are easy to understand. You can clearly tell how our drawers increased year by year.
—Disc 1 contains songs from your debut to around 2004, while Disc 2 contains songs from around 2005 to the present. Are there memories from each period that stand out?
Yuri Nakamura:From debut to 2004, first of all, our debut was a simultaneous release of two singles, so I strongly remember being shut in the studio at that time and recording until dawn. Also, we were making and releasing all kinds of songs, then making and releasing more, so I think it may be more varied than people expect. There were ballads, uptempo songs, bright songs... In the early period, there was a strong feeling that we were recklessly challenging all different kinds of songs. From 2005 onward, we had found our production pace, and we became able to say, “Let’s try singing a fairly heavy rock ballad.” We also became able to make many songs that incorporated Latin elements, very percussive and groovy songs, so you can listen to them with a calm feeling. On top of that sound, there are also parts where we challenge something each time. I feel that area is very interesting.
—This time, the first-press limited edition includes a premium disc. Please tell us what you especially want people to pay attention to.
Yuri Nakamura:We simply chose mainly the songs we like and the songs that are very popular among the fans, so it has become a truly dense disc. If you want to touch the core part of us, or the worldview at our nucleus, I think you’ll understand it by listening to the premium disc. But the flavor is a little strong, so I think it may be easier to understand if you listen in order starting from Disc 1. Still, it’s a very connoisseur-like selection, and I don’t think there is any other disc that would gather this lineup of songs into one disc. In that sense, it has become a valuable disc, so please give it a listen.
—Disc 2 includes a new song. What kind of finish does it have?
Yuri Nakamura:It has finished as a cool, stylish number. It’s a very groovy song, one that suits a shaker more than a tambourine, and it gives glimpses here and there of GARNET CROW’s cooler side, or darker side. It has become a stylish finish. It is a very urban song, so I hope everyone enjoys listening to it too.
—Over these ten years, what has changed and what has not changed?
Yuri Nakamura:Our attitude toward music production has not changed. We have always made songs with the belief that we want to keep creating songs that can become eternal standards for everyone, and that has stayed the same. What changed is that we began doing live shows. For several years after debut, we didn’t do live shows and focused on production. Once we started doing lives, we were able to spend time directly with the fans, and we received a lot of power from that. I think one turning point was that our music style became established with two pillars: production and live performance. From the time we began doing live shows, our world really expanded.
—What event has left the strongest impression on you in these ten years?
Yuri Nakamura:I was incredibly nervous the first time we appeared on TV. It wasn’t a live show, and of course it wasn’t production work either. In the sense of creating something with people from a completely different world and having a place where people could hear our music, it remains very memorable. I could really feel the seriousness of each moment, and I think it was a good experience. In 2005, we held our first invitation-only live at Osaka City Central Public Hall. It was an antique cultural heritage site, and being able to perform there, and also experience our first invitation-only live, was valuable. Then in 2007, being able to do a live show at Ninna-ji, a World Heritage site in Kyoto, also remains a strong memory. It was our first outdoor live at a World Heritage site, and it was a very cold day, but even the wind blowing outdoors became part of the staging of our live and helped create a good stage. In the sense of a live show truly integrated with nature, it left a deep impression. And I was genuinely happy that we were able to do it at a World Heritage site.
—The tour carrying this best album will begin in February. What kind of stage will it be?
Yuri Nakamura:We want to perform many nostalgic single songs we haven’t done in a while. I think it will have surprise-like staging and plenty of content that only a best tour can have, so please come and enjoy it.
—Your tenth anniversary begins with the countdown, the release of the best album, and then the best tour. Please tell us your enthusiasm going forward.
Yuri Nakamura:For us too, this is the opening of our tenth anniversary, so we’re very fired up. I want to keep this momentum going until the end and make the tenth anniversary exciting together with everyone. First of all, I’m full of the desire to make the best tour exciting.
—Please give a message to everyone.
Yuri Nakamura:This year, thanks to all of you, we were able to enter our tenth year since debut. Thank you very much. After the best album release, the best tour is waiting, and I want to make it a live show that becomes very exciting together with everyone. I strongly feel that it will become an exciting live. I want to share that time with all of you, so please come to the tour! Thank you very much.
☆★☆ Particular Care in the Jacket ☆★☆
—Unlike your previous works, this jacket does not include a photo of the members. What particular idea led you to decide on this jacket?
Yuri Nakamura:Since it is a best album, we wanted many people to pick it up without preconceptions, so we deliberately did that. We were also very particular about the choice of colors, and tried to bring out something garnet-like.
—Could you share one or two episodes from jacket photo shoots or production for past works that you can talk about now?
Yuri Nakamura:During the shoot for “籟・来・也,” we were taken deep into freezing mountains to shoot. Every part of our bodies froze, and everyone was moving in slow motion.