Club ZY MAG Vol035 - Aoi

The GazettE Aoi

Decision to have the 15^th anniversary live in Yoyogi Gymnasium on the 10^th of March!!

It's been nearly 2 years since the GazettE released the album 'DOGMA' back in August 2015 and in September they ended with the free live.

On the 10th of March they'll welcome the 15th anniversary since their formation, in this magazine Aoi will talk about 2016 and his ambitions for the 15^th anniversary.

In the end I felt that being in a band is great.

I think being in a band for 10 years and still be able to worry about so many things is great.

For the Gazette, 2016 was accompanied with “DOGMA” and full of lives like the oversea tour, the standing tour and the live in Makuhari Messe. Directly after the beginning of the sale of “DOGMA”, the lives with a dark worldview changed to something higher and from there on they reflected on their repeated trial and error method. What we wanted to ask Aoi most of all was what they felt within all of this.

I: The activities of the Gazette's 14^th year started with the WOLRD TOUR 16 from April to June.

Aoi: We experienced quite some oversea tours until now, but this time it was the first time we went to North America and China. As expected, that left an impression. We were told that for North America you have to tour continuously to around 100 live houses or it won't be worth it, that's why we thought that it's better to not go. But as we went there, the halls were quite big, the external sound was good too and the reactions of the fans were good too. That's why everyone was in high spirits (lol). Just if I think about it now, Dallas, where we went first, was super hot, wasn't it?

I: Oh really?

Aoi: Yes. After that I really saw the truth. With lives piling up, every member felt different about the Dallas live. But we still don't know what went wrong! Because we were in high spirits, right? (lol). And around the 4^th live in San Francisco, it seemed we finally started to notice (lol). San Francisco was quite severe, wasn't it? Not just the reaction from the fans, also the atmosphere from the staff member. After the live ended and we went to our hotel by bus, a strange guy threw me to the right. San Francisco was really severe. But even though there were things like that, I think we made some good experiences.

I: I think, it's great to be in a band for 14 years and still be able to have new experiences.

Aoi: I think so too. We were also able to visit China for the first time. We heard that it was forbidden for fans to stand and as we arrived we got a notification that „the government is constantly watching us“! But as the live started there really weren't any regulations, and everyone could enjoy themselves. Even in China we were able to have had a great live.

I: Because it's a world tour, depending on the country you can feel the differences with your own skin, right? After you came back from the world tour you had the STANDING LIVE TOUR 16 DOGMATIC – ANOTHER FATE in July and August.

Aoi: This tour was, how should I say this... It was „DOGMA“, but different or better said, we had really high expectations for „DOGMA“ and at the time of „UN“ and „DUE“ that we did right after releasing the album, we had the strong impression that we weren't done with the things we wanted to show and convey until that time! After that we went overseas, performed our older songs and figured that these were after all also The GazettE! As we mixed them with the songs from “DOGMA”, I thought that there was no strange feeling about doing so. It was the tour after we confirmed this, that's why we didn't have things we were troubled about in “ANOTHER FATE” and it was a tour where we got the feeling we can continue playing “DOGMA” even from now on.

Even while you let it flow in some ways, you're able to work, right?

But, The GazettE can't do something like this.

I'm glad that I could experience this again.

I: 'Shikkoku' which was held in Yoyogi Gymnasium in February was the end, but you succeeded in progressing from there on, right? How was the the live in Makuhari Messe international exhibition hall on the 27^th of September, which was the last chapter of “DOGMA”?

Aoi: For Makuhari the other member and I differed in our degree of enthusiasm. I thought that we should leave “DOGMA” out for Makuhari! Let's just bury it here! (lol) It was something like that kind of enthusiasm, but for the other members, they said something like, because of the Yoyogi live they were able to have rough feelings. And I was like: “eh? Such feelings?” (lol). Even though we went oversea and had a live house tour..., everyone definitely thought that it was over with Yoyogi. I remember that I felt like that (lol).

I: It wasn't the end, but a small break, wasn't it? (lol) And as I saw the Makuhari live, I felt that you completely sublimated “DOGMA”

Aoi: Yeah. Until we went overseas every member had many things he was troubled about, though! But in the end I felt that being in a band is great. I think being in a band for 10 years and still be able to worry about so many things is great. Because there are achievements from many years, even while you let it flow in some ways, you're able to work right? But the GazettE can't do something like this. I'm glad that I could experience this again. Until now there where many things I left to the other members, but for “DOGMA” I gave my everything and faced it. I'm not the type to give their everything to the band! I just think that it makes a difference when people who want to keep going on create something, and when they put so much effort in their work it's just not right, when you can't realize it. That's why I was the type to leave things to others and within this, I indirectly included myself. But this time I wanted to include myself and gathered with other people who usually don't say their opinion, and because I talked with them, it became natural for me to do this before I even realized it. That, too, was something important that the band received because of „DOGMA“ I think.

I: When you face things seriously, you can feel yourself and many things you gained once again. After that the GazettE had their first Halloween live „SPOOKY BOX“ at Zepp Tokyo on the 28^th of October.

Aoi: The most important reason for having our first Halloween live this year was probably because we overdid „DOGMA“ (lol). For us it was like this, and we thought that our fans wanted to listen to other songs by now too. That's why we changed our plan and because we were changing it anyway, it was decided that we should go for something we hadn't done until now. Even though I think that the amplitude is too wide, isn't it? (lol) It's not like we never talked about 'event lives', you know? Christmas lives or Valentine's lives, for example. We always suggest them, but everyone is always hesitant (lol). It surprised me a little that this time we went through with it.

I: It was really fun. Everyone's cosplay was worth to be seen too.

Aoi: Well, that wasn't a cosplay, though.

I: eh? What does that mean?

Aoi: As it was decided that we'll do the Halloween live, we needed to talk about what to wear, right? If you do it like that, I'm saying that it's not a cosplay! If you ask me 'What do you mean?' it's not as if we dressed like a specific character, but we gave a shape to the image from movies or attractions! I thought I understood, but it wasn't as was shown a concrete example, what I'm talking about is the shade of the clothes, right? (lol) A little bit fading, here a little deeper there... something like that (lol). And also while I thought that I didn't know anything, somehow everyone decided for their clothes at a meeting where we showed drawings to the others.

I: Aoi-san made me think about his old clothes: you often wore slightly gothic-like clothes.

Aoi: Ah, it wasn't like that. While I said that it's not a cosplay, everyone had a motive they thought of. A character from a movie or a tale, for example. Then we thought 'Eh? This isn't cosplay, right?' and ' Tell us about this atmosphere' (lol) That's why I'm saying that with doing so we thought about an original character that looked like it could appear in our favorite movie or such. I was in a situation that I didn't have a character I could choose as a motive and had to think from the beginning, that's why I was really troubled. That's why it became Visual Kei (lol). If you wear such clothes, you're movements look flashy right? Because all kind of things are attached to it, just moving makes it 'baaaam'. I thought that Visual Kei is really comfortable (lol).

I: I- I see (lol). I really would like you to do another Halloween live. Nevertheless, the 14^th year of the GazettE had an oversea tour, a standing tour, the special live at Makuhari Messe and the Halloween live- it was a diverse year, right?

Aoi: We were able to move like I envisioned. We released the album, had a tour in Japan, had a tour oversea, took part in festivals and also were able to have big lives... Something like this makes it seem like an ideal band. I always wanted to do these things. The oversea lives until now never were album tours, we always went there to show the GazettE, but this time we stuck with a tour with just the worldview of　“DOGMA“ and raised the mood right? That we were able to make such movements left us with a sense of accomplishment. It was really a great year I think.

I: You can say that the long-lasting effort was worth it, right? Well, in 2017 the GazettE are welcoming their 15^th anniversary. On the 10^th of March they'll mark their anniversary live with the title 'Dainippon itan Geisha „District of riots – the Stupidity of the Sakura“ in Yoyogi Gymnasium.

Aoi: This will be a live like the title already says. I think it's not far from what everyone is imagining. Just, the 5 of us have just roughly talked about it! We have just talked about the most basis things.. Like what kind of clothes we should wear, what the stage should look like, how we should select the songs. Therefore we don't have a clear image yet, but I definitely want to make it even better than everyone's expectations.

Edited by golden_kimono (Twitter)
Thank you darling <3