平沢進のBack Space Pass 「会然TREK 2K20編」/Susumu Hirasawa's Back Space Pass on Ethical Trek 2K20 concerts (Streamed on july 4, 2020)

(Translation in English)

[01:14]

Susumu Hirasawa: Hello, everyone. I am Hirasawa. I am going to start "Back Space Pass on 'Ethical Trek 2K20' shows" now.

[01:31]

[01:51]

I talked about Fuji Rock and the opening acts for the Battles' shows in my last BSP already, so, I will talk about the anecdotes in the shows in Osaka, Tokyo, and Tokyo again today.

[02:14]

I'm sure you guys are starting to google and trying to find my shirt I'm wearing today. But you won't find it. This shirt is not an off-the-shelf product. Eh, Okay.

[02:33]

.

Now, I am going to talk about some anecdotes in the concerts in Osaka [in February]. But I don't remember them clearly because it happened some time ago. Anyway, first of all, I asked Mr. [Toshifumi] Nakai to create the general stage set design this time to have a new style of the set different from my previous shows. Mr. Nakai is a graphic designer who has created my CD cover designs and other works of mine so far. Looking at other bands' shows' stage set designs and video images, they looked all similar. Especially the videos created by video-making specialists were boring. I wanted to use a different touch in the stage set and the video design from the works by Mr. [Masaru] Owaku, who had created the computer graphics for my many Interactive Live Shows. So, I asked Mr. Nakai to create the stage set and the videos. The video was displayed on a small and narrow display. And the movies were made with geometric and somehow 2-dimensional designs with a few numbers of colors only. I think his videos were in very good taste and cool.

[04:28]

We, the performers, [I, Ssho, and Tazz] could move around a lot in a large space on the stage in Grand Cube Osaka, around the huge tent-like object ,"Pyramid" which I call so. "How would Hirasawa make use of the big stage space like that in his performance? " was the question. Having the big tent on the stage, I thought we could move around a lot in and out of and around it.  I thought of riding Segways to make use of the big stage in an effective manner. Also, three platforms for us, three performers, were standing on were used, which were portable to be carried into the stage and out to change the features of the stage set frequently. I thought of the usage of Segways relatively at the last minute. Many people asked, "Who thought of the idea?", "Who came up the the idea to use Segways?" and "Whose idea was the chainsaws?" I think, "Why do you want to know such things?" But anyway, I thought of using the Segways and the chainsaws.

[06:03]

By the way, I thought of the idea to use the Segways at the last minute, just a few days before the generalprobe[dress rehearsal] when all the PA system staff, lighting staff, stage director and the stage flymen worked together with us to do exactly the same performance as the real show. I was worried if we could actually ride them when I thought of the idea. But I thought, "I should do it because it looks fun." and I called and asked the two Ejins to go to a store where Segways were sold to have a test drive right away on the same day. They called me and said to me, "It's easy. We'll be able to ride them with the necessary techniques in a few days if we practice". So I asked them to purchase them right away. After that, each person, I , Ssho and Tazz, practiced riding them individually for the few days before the generalprobe. We could acquire the necessary techniques during that time. It was an easy to ride vehicle.   

[07:25]

Eh, talking about the Segway, I am sure you remember there was a big accident with it. It was seen by all of us and the audience. Ejin, Tazz, was supposed to stop at a designated spot after appearing into the stage first, but he didn't stop and ended up falling off the Segway and off the stage. I have to tell you, for Tazz's reputation's sake, that it was not his fault. Actually, the stage was very dark, and the floor of the stage was in total black, having no mark to rely on. And especially for the Ejins having small fields of view, a marked spot was needed to know where to stop at when riding a Segway. And Tazz was supposed to stop in front of the lever arm switch for the laser harp. But the staff forgot to place it on the stage before he came out by mistake. So he couldn't find it no matter how far he went. "Oh? Where is the lever switch? Where is it?" and whump! He fell. That's how it happened.

[08:59]

Also, a Segway can run as fast as 20 and something Kilometers per hour, though it cannot run faster than 30 Kilos per hour. But it is limited to run slower than that in the beginner's mode. If you try to run at the full speed in the beginner's mode, it warns the rider by tilting itself toward the rear, as if saying "No", making the rider fall over backward, like wham! I actually think this function in its beginner's mode is more dangerous than the normal mode. To cancel the beginner's mode, you have to ride it for the designated hours  and cancel the beginner's mode on the setting of the vehicle by using your total riding hours recorded in it. After that, your Segway won't tilt backwards no matter how fast you ride it. However, we rode the Segways still in the beginners' mode, so we were riding them in a kind of dangerous condition. But fortunately, no one fell over backward.    

[10:24]

Also, on the day of the concert, the platform was moved by the staff in red jumpsuits and white masks called "Akago"[meaning "children in red"]. They were dressed in red because we wanted the flymen on the stage not in all black for they were going to be seen by the audience anyway [Notes: Flymen who move the stage props are usually dressed in black from head to toe in Japan and they are called "Kuroko" meaning "children in black"]. They couldn't carry my platform into the center of the stage in time for me to start singing [World Turbine] on it. It happened because a part of the cloth spread all over the stage like a carpeting as a slip resistance was  snaggled into a wheel under the platform, which made the platform stuck in one spot. Consequently, they couldn't place the platform in the center of the stage in time for me to start singing on it. For lack of a better alternative, I thought I should sing without climbing on the platform. I was singing walking around on the stage. [Notes: Hirasawa's platform was placed in the center later in the same song.] Like this, the first day of Osaka concerts was with a lot of troubles [Notes: The accident with the platform happened on the second day in Osaka, actually.], but I thought we did a good job over all. 

[11:54]

By the way, I realized in Osaka that I was going to have only about 2 weeks before the upcoming concerts in Tokyo. But I had been tied up with the preparation for the concerts in Osaka, including making the music tracks and arrangements of the songs, leaving no time for me to prepare for Tokyo which was only 2 weeks away. Therefore, I had to decide on the song list for Tokyo in a hurry while I was staying at the hotel in Osaka. I was supposed to give the song list to the drummer, Rerure[Yuji Rerure Kawaguchi]. So I selected the songs and sent the song list to Rerure and my staff working for the Tokyo shows. I didn't have time to send Rerure the actual song tracks, so I told him to find and listen to the same songs on Youtube, which was not like a professional musician, though. And while I was deciding on the songs for Tokyo, I got motivated and I wanted to add a few songs. One of them was "Looping Opposition", which Tazz had wanted me to choose. So we decided that we want to play the song in Tokyo especially having the drummer Rerure, and I was rewriting the lyrics for it a little at the hotel in Osaka.   

[13:27]

The reason why I changed the lyrics for it. I have to explain how the song "Looping Opposition" was made and released. There was an album called "Fu-kyoka Kyoku-shu/不許可曲集" [meaning "Unpermitted Songs", released in 1983] long time ago. It was released in cassette tapes. My brother [Yuichi Hirasawa] found and picked up some songs from the box I had put the songs I had discarded in, and asked me, "Why aren't you releasing these songs?" I said, "Well, I don't think they are good, so I've thrown them away." And Yuichi said, "No way. I'm going to release these songs even if you don't give me a permission." That was the album in a cassette tape called "Fu-kyoka Kyoku-shu". "Looping Opposition" was one of the songs in it. So, the song was in the state in which I had left halfway in the sketch making.

[14:34]

And if I trace back through my career, the song was first in the tape I made when I was in the band Mandrake [1973-1978], which I made some songs on my own by overdubbing the tracks by killing the recording head and the erasing head of the cassette tape recorder by putting Sellotape over them because a multitrack tape recorders were too expensive for common people at that time. I made something like a solo album on a tape by using that tricksome method back then. The song was originally in it. I had thrown that old song away because I didn't like it so much. But it was released in a cassette tape through some situation. So, I wanted to change a part of the lyrics of it because I thought it was kind of rough. As it turned out, the new lyrics I wrote was not with much difference from the original one. In addition, I was making a new arrangement for the song "Oyasumi Dog" [meaning "Good-Night Dog"] as well as rewriting the lyrics for Looping Opposition on the night before Osaka show's first day and on the night after the second day of the show at the hotel in Osaka.

[16:04]

By the way, being a Pythagorean[vegan], it is hard for me to get what I want to eat if I just sit there, which is not the case with non-vegetarians. What I did to look for my food this time was going to the restaurant called "Paprika Restaurant" in Osaka on the night before the first show. However, I got the information that a group of people had a reservation in the restaurant, which changed my mind, thinking "That's not preferable", and I hastily decided to go to a different restaurant. I am not going to tell you the name of the restaurant nor to give even a tip to look for it. After that, the backstage food in Osaka was wonderful. They provided a lot of salad and tortilla chips served with a lot of avocado dip sauce[guacamole] and salsa sauce. I and Mr. Chinzei [recording and sound engineer] whom I invited in my backstage room and who had been trying to take more vegetables [after his illness] had them together.   

[17:31]

.

That's how the concerts in Osaka went. Next,  I did concerts at Zepp Tokyo. My plan was to play the songs from my solo albums at Osaka [in February] and at Tokyo NHK Hall [in April and rescheduled in June], and the songs from my solo albums as well as those from Kaku-P-MODEL albums, which I called Hybrid form, at Zepp Tokyo [in March] between them. I call the concerts performing both solo songs and Kaku P-MODEL songs "Hybrid concerts". Therefore, having the all standing venue at Zepp Tokyo, I chose to play Kaku P-MODEL songs as well because I thought I wanted to have a show with a more lively feeling and the songs you can dance to. Also, that's why I employed a guest drummer to the concert.

[18:20]

Thankfully, Rerure learned how to play my songs in a very short period. If I were him, I wouldn't want to learn how to play all those songs in that short period. I hadn't realized that I had selected all different songs for Zepp Tokyo from  the songs from Osaka until Rerure pointed it out. Not even a single song was the same. I thought, "Is that really?" Normally, a band or musician would keep the similar setlist throughout their same concert tour, having slightly changing the sequence of the songs and adding or skipping only one or two songs. But I had completely different song lists between Osaka and Zepp Tokyo without thinking. Resure was also surprised that he had never heard of the songs from the Box Set CDs I had given him as a present. He asked me, "How many songs do you have?" and I thought about it. I remember I had about 300 songs that were registered with me about 20 years ago, and I have made a lot of songs after that including my albums, the music created for some projects, soundtracks and so on that would sum up to well over 400 songs. I don't remember most of them actually. But it means that I have plenty of songs as a resource to choose from.   

[19:58]

Now, we have a little anecdote to tell you  here, which happened at Zepp Tokyo, which I could call one of the little incidents happened because it was in the beginning of the golden 10-year cycle. As you all have noticed, at the NHK Hall, I mean, the guitar used in Zepp Tokyo, I mean, Osaka, I mean, (hitting the palm with his folded fan) at Zepp Tokyo, the red bass guitar manufactured by Playtech used at Osaka was not used. It happened because of a reason. When we were having the final rehearsal at Zepp Tokyo before the first show, the red Playtech bass guitar broke suddenly. We were thinking, "It broke now. What shall we do? There is no extra bass guitar." At that moment, there was a man who took out a EVO bass guitar in the audience's seat. He was the manufacturing engineer that created the EVO guitar himself observing the rehearsal who happened to have a EVO bass guitar. He said, "Please use this." as if he had known that our red bass guitar would break. He kindly offered to lend his EVO bass guitar to us. Luckily, we could replace the bass guitar.

[21:47]

That was lucky. But a Playtech bass guitar costs less than 10 thousand yen, while a EVO bass guitar cost more than 300 thousand yen. Its body is made of aluminum, and it is manufactured in the philosophy that it can produce the sounds equivalent to a synthesizer bass guitar, which can be tuned to be played with computer made music. I was surprised to hear its strong sound just like that made by a synthesizer. Thankfully, we had the EVO bass guitar. And we thought, "Now, why don't we replace Ssho's [Fender] Jazzmaster guitar with an EVO guitar, too." Consequently, we ended up making the nice scene on the stage in which all three of us were playing EVO guitars and an EVO bass guitar.

[22:35]

About the drums. The drums were placed on the side of my platform which was higher than other platforms used by the Ejins. Normally, the drums in a concert are placed in the center of the stage for a rational reason. Where the drums are placed has a great impact on how and to which direction the rhythm section's sound is conveyed, especially the low frequency sound, which affects how comfortably other musicians would be able to play listening to it. At Zepp Tokyo, I wanted to have an unusual layout, and placed the drums sideways, having Rerure facing me. That made the bass drum's sound coming to me directly. The pulse directly from the skins of the bass drum would attack me. Even normally, the speakers for the audience make a big sound, which vibrates the platform where I stand, which vibrates the bones of my body, which vibrates my skull, which may prevent me from singing in tune at times. In addition to this, when Rerure's bass drum's strong vibration comes directly from the side, I could not stand it. I said, "Please do something to change the direction of the bass drum sound" and we blocked it by surrounding the drum set with acrylic walls. It is a trend to surround the drummers with transparent acrylic walls to block the excess noise. We followed that conduct. That was why the acrylic walls surrounded Rerure's drums.

[24:39]

The stage design and the movie on the screen were created by Mr. [Toshifumi] Nakai again. The LED movie screen was placed horizontally, which was different from how it was placed in Osaka [It was placed vertically].  A different, horizontal version of the movies this time was projected on it. Again, the geometrical and somehow 2-dimensional movies were very refreshing.

.

[25:15]

That's how the Zepp Tokyo show was done. The question was how to carry out the concert at NHK Hall next. We were not sure if we would be able to carry out the concert there [on April 19 , which had been postponed to June 7, then postponed again to June 20] because of the very unstable situation surrounding the implementation of the actual concert [because of COVID-19 spreading and the government's guidelines concerning it]. We were hearing the words "It's possible." "It's not possible." "NHK Hall will open the facility." "NHK Hall won't be open." and so on. Therefore, we decided on the method of concert that might conform to the worst possible case that should be the most certain way, and decided to carry out the concert in that policy which we would stick to even if the situation changes to the good direction or to the bad one. It was going to be a concert with "Home audience".

[26:17]

Well, I had already used the word "home audience" because I had done the concerts having [both the audience at the venue and] the home audience for many years because of my usual concert styles. So, having the home audience didn't change the way of my concert a lot. One of the difference we made was we decided to make use of the camerawork more with different kinds of angles, having all the audience at their homes. We had decided that the concert at NHK Hall, Tokyo, was going to have the same stage set and with the same setlist as the one in Osaka. So we would have more emphasis on the camerawork, and that was about the only change we made.

[27:19]

By the way, I have seen your comments about Ethical Trek 2K20 shows found among your questions that "The selections of the songs and the song sequence were exquisite this time." "Every word corresponds to what is happening in the world right now." "The lyrics are synchronized with the world and are easy to understand. I could understand a lot of lyrics which I didn't understand previously. They started to make sense." They gave me such delightful comments to me. I was happy to see these comments after having a long career as a musician. But it is not that my selection of the songs this time was especially wonderful. Several songs were picked from the album "Blue Limbo", which had the theme about dystopia. Dystopia is a world in which the malicious authority controls the people with false information, threatening and giving insecurity. "Blue Limbo" was made 17 years ago. The situation in the world back then looked the same way as the present for me. But the present situation in the world looks more obviously in that direction. That's all. And some fans are saying they have started to understand the lyrics and the concept of the songs. Well, I only did the same thing I have been doing for many years. So, it is not like I had a wonderful sense of selecting the songs especially this time or something. I hope you understand it though I have spoken a little long on this topic.

[29:30]

So, I decided to carry out the concert with the home audience, and the concert date was postponed twice and it was decided on June 20. I found after the concert that june 20 was a special day on the Japanese calendar having two lucky days at once by a coincidence. This coincidence happened unintentionally gave me the impression that another happy happening came in the beginning of the golden 10-year cycle. It gave me a spine-chilling sensation with excitement. And on that lucky day, ... that reminds me that I hadn't thought of the idea how to end the series of the shows at NHK Hall until a certain point. I wanted to take down the tent I called Pyramid at the end of the show. But I didn't know how. The tent had a steel frame and was hung from the  ceiling. I didn't know if we should destroy it by cutting the frame with iron cutting saws, or if we should cut the cloth material into pieces. I wanted to have an eye catching and shocking trick at the end of the show because I was sure there would be the audience who were going to see my show for the first time.

[31:13]

Then, I thought, "What if we use chainsaws to cut the tent?" I thought it would also mean that "I was going to cut the curtains of the show down" at the end of the last show of Ethical Trek if we cut the cloth material of the tent into pieces, which would have a kind of ritual meaning at the same time, which was the idea only I was thinking though. But the chainsaws. They are very dangerous. When I said that I wanted to use chainsaws on the stage, Mr. Matsumura, the stage director, said, "Oh, Okay." because he had been used to such surprising idea of mine, and he submitted the forms to clear the Fire Defense Law and to get the permission from MHK Hall administration immediately. He also rented the chainsaws. We tried cutting the same cloth material as the tent on the stage with a chainsaw during the generalprobe[dress rehearsal].  "Here we go." said a staff, and he tried cutting the material with a chainsaw, but we found it was extremely dangerous because the cloth got tangled into the chain in a second and the staff's body got almost drawn into the saw by the strong force. We thought it was very, very dangerous. So, we decided to take the chain off the saw, put a cutter knife on the tip of the saw, and to cut the tent material with the cutter knife actually while the engine of the chainsaw is on. I think it looked like we were actually cutting the tent with chainsaws on the stage. I think the knives cut the tent really well, probably better than using actual chainsaws.     

[33:28]

＜360 degrees Cameras and Other Cameras＞　

About the cameras. The audience were going to watch the concert online at their homes, not that they were going to sit at one place. The cameras were like the audience's eyes. To use that advantage, I said, "I want to use 360 degrees cameras." And the video shooting staff said, "Oh, Okay" "Okay. Is that what you would like to do?" and we could use a 360 degrees camera for professional use offered by the Insta 360 Company. Also, to my surprise, we could use seven other 360 degrees cameras, so 8 of them in total. They were installed on the crane camera, the movable cameras on the rails, 2 cameras on the stage on stands, and the one held by me. By the way, the walking robot cameras were not used because the robot camera engineer declined to use them so that the white guiding lines for the robots to walk along wouldn't be in the way for the 360 degrees cameras this time. So only one robot camera fixed to one spot to follow the movement of Hirasawa was used. So we had a lot of cameras. The eight 360 degrees cameras, as well as regular cameras on the rails, on the crane, the ones held by the photographers, and so on. 

[35:29]

And the problem with the sound engineering. There was a question, "What effect did having no audience at the Hall have in the sound tuning?" In an ordinary concert, the audience is considered to be the sound absorbing material acoustically. We adjust the sound tuning so that it would be in the best condition when the concert hall has the audience. If there is no audience, the low sound would run around in the hall and make the noise like "waaaam", the screeching high noise would hurt your ears, which would be reflected on the wall in the back of the audience's floor, which would be reflected on the stage back wall, which would be reflected on the side walls, which would come to me, being in delayed rhythms. The sound engineers normally tune the sound in that condition, and it will work in the perfect balance when the concert hall is filled with the audience as the sound absorbing material.

[36:35]

However, this time, we had no audience in the hall. So, we had no sound absorbing material. So, we tried to tune the sound by predicting and measuring everything, but we didn't know how the sound turns out until we actually carry out the concert at the hall. And we tried to adjust the balance between the sound heard from my ear monitors and the sound reflected from outside, but it was a very difficult condition of the sound for me to sing in it. In every song, the platform I was standing on started to resonate with the sound from the speakers. And the platform this time had wheels underneath, which made the platform raised from the floor a little, all of which was vibrated by the low sound, which made my bones vibrate, which vibrated my ear drums. That was a kind of acoustic distortion that I didn't want which I was forced to hear. In addition, the high sound reflected from the back wall reached me in a delayed rhythm than the high sound coming from my ear monitors. Surrounded by all that, I was in a very difficult situation to sing. In fact, I had difficulty in singing in tune several times during the concert.

[38:16]

So, I have to tell you. On the streaming, the music including my vocals was streamed as it was because it was streamed live, so you must have heard some parts I was not singing in the perfect tune. I will adjust all that in the upcoming video shot with 360 degrees camera to be released soon. Please remember that I will make adjustments. I may record my vocals for some parts again, and I will adjust some parts mechanically if I can. I confess that it will happen.

[28:49]

And anyway, I always make some adjustments when I make a DVD of my concert. So, the unstable parts of my vocals will be roughly adjusted for the 360 degrees video.

[39:06]

So, so much for the anecdotes from the concerts by me. It is already at 8:40 PM now. After this, I will have a Q and A time. And after that, there will be a surprising release of something. That means tonight's program will last for more than an hour. It will probably take an hour and a half or a little less than two hours possibly. Therefore, I think we need an intermission. Okay, I should have a break now because it's between the two parts of the program. Then, let's have a 5-minute intermission now. See you in 5 minutes.

＜Intermission for 5 Minutes＞[40:22-45:40]

[45:46]

Now the program is resumed. Now, I will answer to your questions. First of all, I have to tell you that I won't read your questions word by word because I have received some questions in the same sense. So, I will read the questions in summary. The first question.

That's the question. It's a good one. I've been thinking why. But I don't know. And if I pursue the exact cause of it, it's obvious that I must reach a sad conclusion, which is "the defeat of music". I think a lot of fans have come to like me not because they like my music at first, but they started to be interested in me because I am connected to other contents or someone else, or because they find how my career is established interesting, or because they like how I look, and so on. That's what I think because otherwise I can't explain why those fans can listen to the music that corresponds to the view of the world and the sense that Hirasawa Music is trying to destroy and Hirasawa's music at the same time. However, let's say that's okay.

[47:30]

Because I have had this kind of situation since long time ago. This is the theory that I understand. It is said that people are divided into three groups in the ratio of 4, 4 and 6. I mean, 2, 2 and 6. They are 20 percent of independent group, 20 percent of agitational group, and the 60 percent of fence-sitting group. The fence-sitting group are waiting to see which of the other groups will be in more power and they may change their opinion. That's what people do usually. At present, we have twitter and other internet means that enable everybody to express their feeling as it is in the public place easily, which are displayed together on the same shelves with the thoughts coming from more thorough discretion and the conclusions from deeper observations. Therefore, I am seeing more people's opinions that would disappoint me nowadays, but actually those people have been around but they have the chance to express their opinions on the public stage now. That's all.

[49:09]

However, are those fence-sitting group of people sitting on the fence forever? Actually, I don't think so. They will join one of the other groups, the independent group or the agitating group, whichever is more powerful. So the people who have become Hirasawa's fans because "Hirasawa seems to be popular lately" and "He seems interesting" and "Let's see what's happening with him though I don't listen to his music much because its sick" and so on may have their sensibility and intellect trained and may grow to be attractive audience from my point of view some day. That's my hope. So, I think I will take the approach that "who come are welcome" "And I will make them not want to leave". Some people sometimes disappoint me a lot, but on the other hand, some fans make me feel "very lucky being a musician", too. It was not my intention to become this popular, but I haven't become popular for the same purpose as other popular people in the world have become famous for. So, nothing in me has changed. Okay?

[20:53]

And the next question. This is about the sound tuning. I have talked about it already, so let me skip it.

(Sipping some drink from a mug.)

And, eh, now, next. The next question is...

[51:18]

It is a very simple system. Any laser beam generator can do it. The laser beams are not generated directly from the generator, but they are reflected by the small mirrors once and you can change the directions of the laser beam to here and there and also make it look like shaping a picture by moving it rapidly using the afterimage. You can make the laser beam's moves change by making the mirror's program scan a certain shape. And luckily, these mirrors can be controlled by MIDI signals. MIDI signals are the signals to control a digital music instrument's sound source. So we can send MIDI signals to the laser harps mirrors to control their movements. The long laser beam that was running across the stage was generated by a commercially sold laser harp placed at the side of the stage, which is the same laser harp that I use before the alteration. So the optical receiver of the laser harp was set on the stage side, which generated the laser beam controlled by the MIDI signals sent to it.

[53:06]

That reminds me, someone pointed out, "How is it possible that the sound changes when you plunk the laser once and when you plunk it twice?" Yes, it changes. This is how it works. There are several different modes in the laser harp's settings. There is a mode that makes it play the phrase until the end when you plunk it once, another mode makes it play the sound only while you are blocking the beam with your hand, and other mode makes it play the several different short phrases in a certain sequence when you plunk the laser once, twice, three times, four times, and so on. These different modes are used to play my laser harp and Ejins' laser harp to produce the music.

[54:13]

Oh, there was a mistake that you can see how it works obviously. I am sure you noticed that the music of "World Turbine" was played again when the next song started. It happened because of my setting mistake on the laser harp. My movement to play laser harp includes false movements, too, in order to make it look more interesting...

[54:50]

Here is an example. When I play "World Turbine", when I plunk the laser once [on the left], the sound of the strings is played, Da[A3], Da[G3#], Da[E3]. And when I plunk the laser next to it [on the right], the theme is played, Ta la la La la la la until the end of the phrase. And I plunk the both sides of the laser at once, and after that, I put my [left] hand on the laser beams on this side[left] a few times which have no function to make sound. So, I could only plunk the first beam once and do nothing but hearing the scale going down on its own, but I do the actions to plunk the beams a few times following the first plunk to make it look like each plunk is making those different notes, which is an acting actually. This kind of performance is used frequently. For example, I could plunk only once[on the left hand], but I actually plunk the beam once[on the left hand], twice[on the left hand] and three times[on the eight hand], to make it look like the second and the third false strokes are producing sound. There is another kind of setting in which when the first stroke is made[on the right hand], the actual phrase will start a few bars later. I combine these different settings of the laser harp. Therefore, I could do different actions when I play the same song sometimes. So, the different parts of the movements are done to make them look, I think, most interesting, not for the purpose to make the actual notes on the musical instrument.

[56:43]

And about "World Turbine". I had the setting on the song "World Turbine" in the mode in which the phrase was played until the end when I plunk the laser beam once[on both hands] at Ghost Venue concert at NHK Hall. And that triggers for it to send the signal to the sequencer, the software to control the music. I accidentally selected two songs at the same time when I switched to the next song. In the technical term, I made the two tracks on the solo mode at the same time. Consequently, what was the next song after that? It was not "Caravan". I think it was "Blue Limbo" [Note: It was actually "Grandfatherly Wind"]. So, the music of "World Turbine" and "Blue Limbo" started at the same time. I noticed my mistake, and I stopped the music I didn't want at once. I am sure you noticed it. But I am not going to adjust it in the next video, so it may be interesting to look at the scene, thinking "This is when that accident happened".　

[58:01]

Eh, next. This is a difficult question, but a very good one.

This is very good. But it's kind of hard to come up with a phrase. How about this? "The people surrounded by happiness within a 2-meter radius" or "The people filled with happiness within last 48 hours". How about that? I'm sorry, I can't give a high mark to these answers. Well, let's go to the next one.

[58:42]

I've already answered to this one. I thought of the idea.

[58:47]

I've also answered to this question, too. It makes a very hard, metallic, strong and thick rasping sound. When Tazz played it during the show and it sounded like "Booommmm", and I said to myself "Wow!" in surprise. I am not advertising the instrument, but it has a tremendous sound.

[59:18]

The "Kyaku-Ire" music. We call it "Kyaku-Ire"[meaning "When the audience enter". Background music to play before the show] in the music industry jargon. Those songs were selected by one of Chaos Union's staff. I think he has a very good taste in music. I am sure a lot of people want to ask, "The selection of the songs were so good. Can you tell me the names of the songs and the artists?" I actually asked him once to do a DJ event to play the songs he chose at Cafe GAZIO when it was in business [2013-2014] even in a remote operation, but he just said, "No way" because he hates to be in front of people. But he has a good taste in selecting the background music. He always finds great songs that no one has heard of. The background music for the future shows of mine will be selected by him. I hope you will enjoy the shows including the time before the shows.

[1:00:30]

I explained it when I talked about the laser harp.

[1:00:38]

ock Rasgueado technique. It's used in "Immortal Man", too. It's something like a parody of Rasgueado technique in Spanish guitar. It's a mocking. This is how I play it. You usually play the guitar strings like "zam!" with a stroke moving all of your fingers at the same time, but what I did was opening one finger at a time [opening the outside finger to the inside one by one] to make the sound, "Drrrrun!" Yes. This technique was used right before the sabi part of "Switched-On Lotus" like "Zam! Drrrrun!" It is mock Rasgueado technique. Next. Well, I've answered this one, too.

[1:01:40]

First of all, the image that other people want to have about you and your own image about yourself always differ. Don't pay attention to it. I pay no attention to it. I don't care what other people want me to be like. I am what I am. This may sound like a most robust way to answer. I don't care what other people think. I don't want to conform to other people's expectation. I will only try to realize my own image. It sounds like an egoistic person who doesn't listen to other people. But this is the ultimate weapon for you to have. There is no way to make other people happy except you choose to do this. Please be proud of you. Keep your own image about yourself confidently. Next.

[1:03:00]

I've answered to this question, too.

[1:03:03]

Question 8:The laser harp played by Ejin... I've answered to this one, too.

[1:03:08]

If you want me to choose my favorite composers in classical music, I say, Ravel, and well, Oh, Master Akira Ifukube. Ifukube-sensei composed the soundtrack for the film Godzilla. Yes. Mr. Ifukube. Now, next.

[1:03:51]

I've answered to this question, too. It is not that those songs fit to 2020, but the things I was thinking to be happening in the world when I created the album "Blue Limbo" [released in 2003] are being developed in the world more severely now. Back then, some people said the comments about me like "Hirasawa is a conspiriologist" when they mention the opinion I expressed when I released the album. Even among those people, there are people who have to admit that kind of view of the world is true now. What's happening in the world is more obvious now than back then. Well, next.

[1:04:41]

Well, this is a kind of trick. I want to make the audience think, "What? What song is it? What song is starting?" to make them have an anticipation to hear a new song, and I want to show them a surprising changeover suddenly. The musician gets a lot of fun doing this. At the same time, one of the fun parts of Hirasawa's music is similar to the feeling you have when you don't know where you are, and in the next minute, you find yourself in the place you know well suddenly. The feeling you have when you are made to walk around blindfolded and the blindfold is suddenly removed. Something like that. Through that kind of experience, you will become used to enjoy the sudden changeovers. I want the audience to enjoy that kind of pleasant sensation many, many times. If you become tolerant of the situation that might have a surprise in the end, you will reach the state that you can enjoy those surprises by having the thinking like "That's also possible" "That kind of view is possible, too". That may help you to have a breakthrough in something when you have to take a different view from the already-existing points of view. I think it would be fun. I mean, I have always had that kind of fun all my life. So, I want to share it with you. That's why I put those tricks in my songs and the setlist as well.

.

[1:07:11]

Now, so much for the stories about "Ethical Trek" concerts. Now, The Surprise Release. Let me disclose it.

By the way, I have to talk about the guitar album first. Before talking about that, I must talk about the event going on [my official website] on the internet called "170帰路の1分間/Hayku-nanaju-kkiro no I-ppunkan/1 minute of 170 ways to go home". If you are a new listener who don't know what the event is about, please ask old fans.

[1:07:55]

It is a long time event to share how I am recording the guitar album on the internet. There is a story developed in the scene on an imaginary island where I am travelling. There are a lot of flags standing to indicate where I am on the island. I am supposed to travel toward certain destination to achieve my tasks in the recording. The fans can see the short videos showing how I am recording which is done in the spare time between my main jobs. I have started this event with the assumption that it would take a long time because recording the guitar album is not one of the main work, but it is a small job to be done between the main jobs. I can only use my spare time for it. I usually make my schedule for the year at the beginning with a lot of extra days. However, those extra days are taken by the new projects that arrive later. And the days and the time I have saved for the guitar album will be taken by those new jobs. Anyway, the "1 minute of 170 ways to go home" is an event like that to share my experience to record the guitar album with you.

[1:09:40]

[The flags on the island map indicate the names of the concert and events.] Among them, some concerts and events have been already decided on my schedule, or sometimes the content of the offer has not been finalized yet. In either cases, the details of the events cannot be disclosed beforehand in many cases. In that case, I use some code names to indicate some events. Let me explain you about an example code name.

I used to have a flag with a name "OLIVE" on the map, as you know. I am sure everybody was wondering, "What does it mean?", but I have never seen a person who has guessed the correct meaning right. And please don't think it too difficult. Eh, what does Olive remind you? Oil, right? Oil is O, I, L, right? O, I, L means Osaka Interactive Live show. Please try to solve other code names on the map, too. By the way, Osaka Interactive Live show has turned out to be impossible in the present period in the year because of various reasons, so the flag by that name has been replaced by a different flag.

[1:11:00]

Therefore, I realized that I had to change my course of the recording of the guitar album to a very different direction. Otherwise, the recording would never be finished. That was my reality. I thought so because the present style of the songs in the guitar album has a certain structure, which I have to keep my attention to until the end once I start composing. With that type of songs, If I take a long break in the middle of composing a song, I would forget the feeling I initially had and I cannot continue making the song. On the other hand, there is a type of songs that is suitable to the composing method in which I can make a part of the song today and resume composing it three months later. That type of songs are already created in the album "Ice-9". Those songs didn't have concrete structures, and more in ambient style. I realized that I should shift to that kind of music style to create the guitar album.

[1:12:28]

So, here comes the question. What will I do with the songs I have already made? During these several months since I started Ethical Trek tour starting with the concert in summer 2019 [at Fuji Rock], I faced a lot of things as well as changes in the schedule and obstacles[concerning the spread of COVID-19 and the government's policy changes around it]. However, I haven't got a big damage from it because of your continuous support, compared to other musicians. To thank your support, I mean, to express my feeling like "I will never fail to return your favor", I have decided to release the three songs I have made for the guitar album so far.

[1:13:41]

Now, I will play those three songs now. Today's program is a streaming, but it is okay to record them in any form. You don't have to pay for it. And for the "Wicked" Green Nerve Club members, I will release the same songs in a better sound quality to be downloaded later. It will be in a better quality than tonight. So you will be able to download them freely. After releasing these three songs, I will change the direction of the composition of the guitar album to a different way. Now, let me disclose the three new songs.

[1:14:37]

Now the first song. It was first played at Fuji Rock Festival. It has a surf sound like structure. I made this song especially for Ejin. I have told this story already, but I started to think I wanted to perform at Fuji Rock because I wanted Ejin to perform there first. I wrote a project plan to submit to the Fuji Rock board to carry it out, I added my name and I said, "I will appear in Ejin's show as a guest" to make it easier to be granted. And they requested us to change places of the main artist and the guest. That is why the concert was done by "Susumu Hirasawa + Ejin".

So this song is called "牛人/gyujin", meaning "bull man", which was first made for Ejin to perform at Fuji Rock. I will play this song first. Wait a moment.

(He tried to prepare to play the song on the streaming, but it took a few minutes to do so.)

.

By the way, the songs I am going to play after "Gyujin" will be two songs, but they don't have titles yet. Also, these songs were in the halfway in the composition. So, I made a little adjustments. When I did it, I intentionally threw the idea that the songs had been made for the guitar album to focus on making them well-structured songs.

...... Now, let me play "Gyujin".

.

[1:18:00-1:21:03](3'3'')

.

[1:21:30]

Eh, was the sound a little too small? Anyway, the song "Gyujin" is a straight kind of song, like a shooting device. And the second and the third songs are so to speak, perverse. It is hard for me to continue making the songs in the perverse style, having no long time to focus on it. That's one of the reasons I will change the styles of the album. Next, I don't know what I am looking at now [looking at the computer screen]... this, yes, eh, this. Okay, next song.

.

[1:22:28-1:26:16](3'48'')

.

[1:26:17]

Okay. (The beginning of the previous song is played again by mistake.) Oops. No, dear. Eh, next song now. The third song may be even more perverse than the previous one. I mean, I am too used to them, so I don't feel that way any more, though. This one. Okay, next.

.

[1:26:50-1:29:55](3'05)

.

[1:30:04]

(The beginning of the previous song is played again by mistake.) Oops again... Oaky. These three songs are... (The beginning of the previous song is played again by mistake.) Oops, Just a moment. Oh well, let me continue with no background music now. These songs are the songs I have recorded, taking the long time at last. So, it would have taken even a longer time if I continued the same style of the songs. Now that I have released the songs, I will change my steering to a different direction and continue the recording of the guitar album in a new style.

[1:30:49]

Eh, that's about it. And for the Green Nerve members, "Wicked" Green Nerve club members, I am the only one calling it so though, and the official name is "Green Nerve", which is the fan club of mine. For the fan club members, the three songs will be available to download for free in better sound qualities later. Please look forward to it. And the viewers of this streaming is over 9000 people, to my surprise. How can it be possible? I didn't want to be ranked in the twitter trend, so I didn't ask you to use the hashtag this time. But having more than 9000 viewers is an accident for me. I have to tell you that I am not a major artist. Now, thank you very much for watching this program today. Now, Back Space Pass on Ethical Trek 2K20 concerts is over. See you on the next BSP. Have a good night. Good bye. (Upsy-daisy.)　

[1:33:10]

(End)