Susumu Hirasawa's Back Space Pass on Fuji Rock '19 and Sempo STS
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The streaming is archived at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuWOXFx3CD0

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・BSP(Back Space Pass) is a streaming talk show in which Susumu Hirasawa talks about the previous live shows and other events of his.

・Today's program is a review on Fuji Rock Festival '19 and Sempo STS. Because I have two main topics, I may not have time to answer a lot of questions this time.

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・The reasons why Hirasawa participated in Fuji Rock '19 in July:

2019 is the first year of the Golden Ten-year cycle. Some big changes have happened in Hirasawa's musical career every 10 years since 1979. In these changing phases, it has been the best to go with the flow no matter whatever happens.

 

・The idea to participate in Fuji Rock Festival was presented by the Two Ejin, Ssho and Tazz. First, Hirasawa presented a plan that Ejin participating in Fuji Rock as "Ejin + Susumu Hirasawa", with Hirasawa as a guest musician, having the idea in mind that they would perform on a small stage with about 100 audience or so. But Fuji Rock office requested that the show should be titled as "Susumu Hirasawa + Ejin" and they said they would give Hirasawa and Ejin a larger stage.

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・Meanwhile, there had been an offer to do an opening act for the Battles in November, too. So, I decided that I would have the same set list (song list) for Fuji Rock and Battles' opening act.

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・I thought I needed a drummer in the opening act for Battles' concerts to have a similar touch to Battles' music. I looked for one and found a person and named him "Han-Ejin/Anti-Ejin". I did a few rehearsals and meetings with Anti-Ejin on drums, but Anti-Ejin suddenly disappeared. So, I decided to use the Tesla Coil instead of a drummer at Fuji Rock.

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・Since we announced that "Susumu Hirasawa + Ejin" would perform at Fuji Rock, it had become big news in the Japanese pop music scene. Because Susumu Hirasawa participating in Fuji Rock was being talked about more than Ejin was, who were unknown musicians, of course, We had to have the ordinary Susumu Hirasawa gig at Fuji Rock finally. By that time, Fuji Rock office had decided that Hirasawa +Ejin would perform at Red Marquee, which was a tent venue with a capacity of 5000 audience.

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・We did a thorough rehearsal having the sound system, the stage set, lighting, and so on, exactly the same as the stage at fuji Rock.

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・I had little knowledge about Fuji Rock. I learned that both the musicians and the audience usually attend Fuji Rock in mountain trekking outfit and equipment. I and Ejin had no rain suits or rain boots, which were the “must” items for Fuji Rock.

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・On the second day of Fuji Rock when we arrived, we had a very heavy rain. The parking lot was flooded with the water from the stream beside it. The water level of the stream went over the ground level of the parking lot. I was afraid that there would not be the concerts including ours the next day. However, all the musicians carried out their performances even in heavy rain, having all the audience soaking wet, to my surprise.

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・I usually have a hard time finding food at a concert, but it was easy for me to find vegan food at Fuji Rock because they had a huge variety of both non-vegan and vegan food for the musicians and the staff at the hotel there.

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・At Fuji Rock Festival, they provided us a very comfortable, nice and large waiting room with sofas and couches, a refrigerator with beer and other refreshments, besides our hotel rooms.

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・It was a very nice hotel, but they had a flood in their basement about two-inches deep or so, because of the heavy rain.

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・On the third day of Fuji Rock, when our gig was scheduled, a big van was provided to travel from our hotel to Red Marquee so we didn't have to walk in the rain.

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・At first, most Hirasawa fans were surprised to hear that Hirasawa was going to perform at Fuji Rock Festival because He had not participated at open-air rock festivals with a lot of other musicians for a long time. Few Hirasawa fans were prepared for it.

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・On the other hand, I didn't know what a lot of other audience who did not know Hirasawa and who were very familiar with Fuji Rock Festival, however, may think of us as a new band in the event. I was even prepared in my mind if someone threw a beer can at us because they didn't like our performance.

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・To my surprise, the news on the internet about Hirasawa and Ejin performing at Fuji Rock for the first time as well as the brochure of Fuji Rock had written something like "Susumu Hirasawa performing at Fuji Rock is a miraculous and huge event." Those articles and the brochure were filled with praising comments.

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・I thought I had to fulfill their expectations. But I thought, "Maybe the audience will give a huge applause after the first song, but I don't know how the audience would react listening the second song and after."

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・When we arrived at the big back stage of Red Marquee, I had the same good sensation as that I felt back in 1979 when we, P-MODEL, arrived in Kyoto as an opening act band for XTC's tour in Japan. When we arrived at the backstage of Red Marquee, I felt that a lot of staff were looking at me, not in the way they look at me as a stranger or someone weird, but they looked at me like, "Wow, that's Hirasawa! I finally get to see him!"

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・That made me feel that this gig would be a success for sure somehow. After that, I was not afraid any more that the audience might not like our performance. Also, peeking at the audience from the side of the stage before the show, I knew that the show was going to be a great one.

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・The whole audience loved our performance, and we enjoyed the show as you know. Thank you very much.

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Q: ”Your stage action in the song 'Dreaming Machine/Yume Miru Kikai', the action to raise your hand, looked like the posture of Neo-Nazis' hailing their leader. What kind of reactions did you think you might get for doing such a performance?"

A: I have never thought my posture in the song would be thought to remind Neo-Nazi or Nazi or something. If I do this kind of action (posing like holding a rifle) during the performance, would people say, "Hirasawa encourages the audience to murder other people"? Or with this action (posing like holding a pistol and pulling a trigger)? They wouldn't. However, if I do this action (raising the right arm forward with the palm open, sticking all fingers out), why are people reminded of Neo-Nazi, Nazi or hailing Hitler? Because you are conditioned to think that way. If you are not conditioned to think this posture is connected with certain political groups, you wouldn't be reminded of them. If you are interested in this topic, please study the history. But you won't find out how things work in this kind of matter if you study just the superficial history. You should look at the history in a different way and reveal the world at two layers down from the surface.

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Q: Did you have a different stage setting than usual because Fuji Rock Festival took place outdoors?

A: Of course, we had a different situation from indoor concert hall. We did the dress rehearsal with exactly the same stage settings, sound system, the lighting system and so on, and brought the whole thing to Fuji Rock Red Marquee without changing anything. However, the situation changed because of having the open-air environment and the audience in the tent. So, we adjusted a few settings at Red marquee.

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Q: Did Mr. Toshifumi Nakai did the stage artwork?

A: Yes. Mr. Nakai did the all the stage art, mainly the computer graphics projected on the screen. He created a very unique artwork for our stage. I have always liked his graphic design style.

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Q: How did you spend your time before and after your own gig at Naeba, the Fuji Rock venue?

A: We had to check the sound and our schedule and so on before the show, so I mostly stayed at our waiting room at the hotel, sometimes drinking something. One of the Ejin had a lot of energy and went to see a few gigs by other bands.

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Q: Will the songs performed at Fuji rock be released or available as CD or downloadable content in the future?

A: Yes. I plan to release the few new songs and the songs with new arrangement played at Fuji Rock in a certain method in the future.

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Q: Will a DVD be released of your movie recorded at Fuji Rock?

A: Our show at Fuji Rock [was streamed on Youtube at the same time, but] it won't be possible for us to release the recording/video of our show itself at Fuji Rock because Fuji Rock office has all the rights.

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Q: How does the instrument to control Tesla Coil that one of the Ejin was playing work?

A: Ejin(Tazz) had a pad to control the notes, the notes were sent to Tesla Coil as signals, and Tesla Coil played certain notes, changing the electric voltage to discharge electric current. The system is called Zeusaphone.

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Q: Which song of yours should I recommend to a person who doesn't know your music?

A: There is no song to recommend. And don't recommend my songs to the people who has never heard of me or my music. I want people to find my music on their own. I hate Japanese pop music. It will make me sick if someone recommends a song like that to me. But there are people who love it. To those people, my music would be weird and sick. So please don't recommend my music to them.

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・I got to know about the band Battles when I was looking for an electric guitarist who holds their guitar high on their chest who looks cool. For many years, holding the electric guitar very low with a long strap has been supposed to be cool, which represented the idea that rock music was a music for bad boys. So, the positions to hold the guitar may represent the musician's idea and policies, I thought, and I was looking for a guitarist who plays the guitar at a high position. And I found the Battles was playing their guitars in a high position, and their music was so cool.

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・Battles is a new type of musician, who creates the kind of music that has never been explored. Ian is very different from other guitarists.

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・When I was amazed by the music by Battles, the promoter of Battles' tour in Japan offered me a job to do an opening act for them by some amazing coincidence. And it was decided very quickly.

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・To have the similar touch to the music my Battles, I had been looking for a drummer for our opening acts for Battles. I had been looking for a good drummer on Youtube, but I hadn't found one yet. Then I started to look for street musicians on Youtube, and found a drummer who was playing the drums on an underground train in London one day. To my surprise, the drummer was a Japanese young man. I really wanted this drummer to play with us and contacted him and offered the job. He is Yuji Rerure Kawaguchi.

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・I wanted a drummer who was not just a drummer but was someone who had a unique character. Yuji Rerure Kawaguchi fit my ideal because he was a unique performer who was playing the drums on a subway.

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・There was a little fear that my music might not be liked by the the Battles' fans. But I was feeling less stressed because we were just an opening act, so whether the audience would like us or not was not a big problem anyway.

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・I was also being careful not to be loved too much by the Battles' audience, being an opening act band. That is why I chose "The Immortal man/Shi no Nai Otoko" as our first song, which is not a super popular song, but which I thought would be kind of liked by the Battles' audience, too, because of the style of the song.

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・The second song and later songs were also selected so my gig wouldn't be too sensational. I wanted the Battles to bring the most excitement at the concert. And I think we did the job successfully.

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・After the concert tour, we and Battles took photos together, and they agreed that we post those photos in our fanclub magazine. I also asked them, "Will you come to Japan again?" and they said, "Of course we will."

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・After the concert tour in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya, we arrived in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Unfortunately, the train to go back to Tsukuba City was suspended because of an accident. However, I looked for a Rent-a-car shop in Shinagawa right away because I was familiar with using the Rent-a-car apps on the phone which I had been using in my trips to Okinawa, and I could go home with no problem in the end.

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Q: What made you decide to employ Mr. Yuji Rerure Kawaguchi as your drummer this time?

A: Though Yuji is a young man, he likes rock music from late 1960s such as King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, and so on. He was wearing those artists' T-shirts all the time. Rock music from late 1960s represented by King Crimson is in the roots of my musical career, too. And it was easy for me to tell him what to do on the drums because we shared the similar musical background. I liked him because he had a simple and humble personality, and also unique and aggressive character to perform on an underground train and on the streets in foreign countries.

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Q: What do you like about Battles?

A: Everything they do is new. What is unique about Battles is that Ian is a guitarist in the first place, though he uses the computer and synthesizer generated music. Techno pop and synthesizer music have been mostly created by keyboard players, and there have been few guitar players in that genre. I have also created synthesizer and computer music, using the keyboards as the basis of the songs. Ian creates his music from the guitarist's standpoint, which is totally new and unique. Generally, computer music has the beats strictly kept in time. But Battles' music has some kind of fluctuation, but it keeps time overall. Ian also uses his right hand for controlling the keyboard and other equipment while playing the guitar only with his left hand with the hammering method on the guitar frets. This kind of performance is totally new and unique. It is a kind of music created after the age of techno pop. I admire Battles very much.

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Q: What do you think about the musicians who cover their faces like Ejin and Yuji Rerure Kawaguchi, who was playing the drums with a black hood on?

A: If the audience don't see the performers' faces, it would be easier for them to project their feeling and thought on the performers. I try to create the kind of music on which the listeners can project their own feeling and thought. So my music and the performers without individual faces play the similar roles.

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Thank you very much for watching. Sayonara.