X JAPAN MySpace Interview by JRR

YOSHIKI: Thank you so much.

JRR: Now that you’ve done that, how do you feel?

YOSHIKI: Well. Well. I don’t know. Hm. Like, you know, about five or six months ago, I didn’t think I was gonna do it. But that’s been an issue, like, pretty much the last ten years, it’s just been… It’s always on my mind. Yeah, like whatever I was doing. So… instead of thinking about it all the time I just [thought,] why don’t I just do it. So it’s basically… that I just do it.

YOSHIKI: So… also I got so many messages, from all over the world, about this issue. Also, I started talking to TOSHI, more than a year ago. Then, I don’t know, sometimes it’s just time. So. Yeah. But also, there was the SAW IV movie soundtrack offer. I could have done that with a different project such as Violet UK or something else, but… I don’t know, then I just thought, if I do this with X JAPAN, that’d be so interesting. So I happened to–I had to go to Japan that time, so then Heath and Pata, I asked them, what do you think, and they said, it’s very interesting. So then I talked to TOSHI. Then we agreed, we’ll just do it. So that’s how it happened.

JRR: Now that you’ve started again with X JAPAN, would you like to do something worldwide as well? Everybody wants to see you in Europe and the U.S….

YOSHIKI: I would love to. But yeah, again, it’s like… I don’t how, you know, how it’s gonna go with X JAPAN at Tokyo Dome. We haven’t even started practicing yet. We’re just talking about it. So, from February, we wanna start recording X JAPAN‘s new song, in Los Angeles. So we’re gonna know more about it but there is a big possibility we may perform outside of Japan. Yeah, I’m thinking about it, like Europe, America and South East Asia.

YOSHIKI: It’s really interesting but we’ve never performed outside of Japan, at all. We only performed in Japan. We’re so fortunate, because, people outside of Japan know of our name. I don’t know, just… Yeah, I think we should do it. I’m still debating in my head. (laughs)

YOSHIKI: Because, you know, at the same time, to bring those huge productions, or just more like a naked stage, I’m not sure, I’m just… yeah, I’d love to. I went to several conventions, like a couple of years ago I went to Baltimore for Otakon, then I performed at the Anime Convention at Long Beach with S.K.I.N. and then went to Japan Expo in Paris. I saw very beautiful and amazing passionate fans. I’d love to go back. I realized we have some some kind of fan base outside of Japan, so I’d love to do it.

JRR: Is your foreign fans the reason you’re releasing I.V. worldwide on iTunes?

YOSHIKI: Yeah, yeah, also when I decided to do Saw IV, I thought so, yeah, that was for that reason, yeah, we want to do [it] as X JAPAN. Because it’s going to be a worldwide release. Yeah.

JRR: And it seems I.V. has already made it to the top pages…

YOSHIKI: That’s so cool. Thank you so much, though. I think you guys supported—without you guys’ support, I couldn’t have done it. That’s so cool. I love it.

JRR: I think you’re the first Asian artist to achieve that.

YOSHIKI: Hm, HIDE must be proud of us.

JRR: Yes, I think so.

YOSHIKI: Yeah.

JRR: On YOSHIKI Mobile, there is the presale of the Dome tickets. It seems things have gone crazy there, since the announcement. So, what foreign fans want to know is: are you planning to take YOSHIKI Mobile international sometime?

YOSHIKI: I’d love to, if there is demand, if we can, I think… yeah, I’d love to. Because it’s such a nice tool, to, you know, I’ve… how do you say, like… Because I’ve been communicating with my fans in Japan through YOSHIKI Mobile a lot, I just send messages there. Also I get messages out through YOSHIKI Mobile, so I love to do that. Also, there are a lot of staff members helping me, to go out by YOSHIKI Mobile. I’m doing MySpace, but it’s so hard for me to do it, because I’m doing it all myself, so far. Because it’s kind of my personal thing so, my management, also my people in America ask me, we can help you, but, I’m still debating. Should I just have like, a team do this or just continue doing it by myself. It’s almost impossible, to, you know, read all the messages, and it’s just, I don’t know.

JRR: Well, I think everybody wants you to continue that personally!

YOSHIKI: Okay. Okay, I’ll try. I’ll try, but, you know, sometimes there are messages … like this is, like last November, I’m still reading it. Then, you know… (laughs)

JRR: Once more overseas, you’ve started Jrock Revolution there. Where would you like that to go?

YOSHIKI: You mean the site Jrock Revolution or the movement Jrock Revolution?

JRR: Both.

YOSHIKI: I don’t know, I, you know, I have a lot of friends in Jrock bands and then, the reason I started the Jrock Revolution site was the event—was, you know, I wanted to give them some kind of opportunity to perform. I mean, they’ve been touring some places in Europe or America, but something like one step bigger than, you know, more like, a bigger scale. So I am kind of involved with the Taste of Chaos tour. I, you know, personally picked MUCC and D’espairsRay for that, because they are great, they came to Jrock Revolution for the second night, so it means they are willing to do it, that’s great.

YOSHIKI: So, I don’t know, I just feel like, kind of responsible. I’ve been doing this like pretty much my entire life, so first I started doing X JAPAN, then I started Extasy Records and then I signed some bands… It’s kind of like, you know, I do it as a hobby or whatever I don’t know, I just like to help new bands.

JRR: Everybody is grateful for that.

JRR: This is not about X JAPAN, I read your last message on YOSHIKI Mobile last night and in that, you wrote about Violet UK. Can you or do you want to say something about that?

YOSHIKI: Sure! As I said I didn’t think I was gonna do X JAPAN a year or six months ago, so I already have a lot of plans, like, you know, as Violet UK or as YOSHIKI. So right now I’m working on a movie project called "Repo." I’m a music producer – first I’m working on the theme song, for the ending title, for "Repo." I’m working two of them, one of them happening in Germany, actually. I think Sarah Brightman, she’s singing for this – I’m not sure all the songs are going to make it into the end title – but, so I’m recording Violet UK in Los Angeles at the same time. I even asked them, like, you know, can we do the press conference like next month, but, if you do Tokyo Dome in March, you’ll have to announce it now. Like, really? Also, [there was] iTunes, the worldwide debut issues, so I just came here for one day. I’m leaving tomorrow. Um, what was the question? Sorry.

JRR: Violet UK.

YOSHIKI: Oh yeah, Violet UK. Yeah, yeah.

JRR: Is there a new song?

YOSHIKI: Yes. Yeah, I just created – I don’t know, I usually don’t like my compositions, but I like the new one. I’m very excited, so I’m gonna go back to Los Angeles tomorrow and I’m gonna keep recording till X JAPAN‘s new recording starts in February but, yes, I’m going to be working on Violet UK at the same time. So I don’t know how I should priortize, but I’ll do my best, you know.

JRR: For X JAPAN, you’ve announced "I.V." and "WITHOUT You" as new songs. Will there be any others?

YOSHIKI: That’s a very interesting question. Yes, I would say fifty-fifty, but… yeah, also I have now been writing "I.V.’s" Japanese lyrics version, also "Without You" English lyrics version – because "Without You," originally I wrote it in Japanese and then "I.V." I wrote in English. So, yes, we would like to finish those songs first.

YOSHIKI: But then TOSHI and I were actually talking about… he said something, about one of my songs, from "Eternal Melody" – which I released under "YOSHIKI" as a classic album – "Can we do this as X JAPAN?" Like, "Hm, that’s interesting, let me think about it." Also, I said, because I was writing the new Violet UK song about "Repo," the "Repo" theme song, I just happened to write something different from Violet UK‘s direction, then oh, this sounds like it could be good for X Japan. I’m not sure, it’s, you know, if we have more, I’m not sure, I may release a couple more new songs or just "I.V." and "Without You." At this point, fifty-fifty.

JRR: Everybody’s hoping for more, you know that.

JRR: And you said that your original "I.V." was much longer than this one…

YOSHIKI: Yes, it’s like, you know, it’s, I think it’s good, because I tend to write something very long – I’m not talking about something like "Art of Life," that’s thirty minutes, but – because it’s the end title for SAW IV, I had some kind of restriction, a limit. It’s like, "YOSHIKI, make it four minutes, five minutes." So I went to make it, like, seven minutes or eight minutes, but, you know, when I was talking to the production side, the title should be like four minutes or five minutes, you know. When I wrote the song for the Japanese Emperor’s ten year anniversary I was originally writing a classical tune like about twenty minutes long, but they just said it should go down to five or seven or ten, then, I, you know, I made that one shorter, so it ended up like seven minutes or something.

JRR: Would you consider releasing the original I.V. as an X JAPAN song?

YOSHIKI: No. (laughs)

YOSHIKI: Because I, it would take a long time to… I don’t know. Maybe, you know…

JRR: Maybe in the future?

YOSHIKI: Yeah, for the future, but right this moment, I just wanna to keep going… I just, I need to have some kind of like, time limit or some kind of like, you know, "YOSHIKI, that’s it," or otherwise I can keep going with the same recording again and again and again. That’s what happened for Violet UK. I never stopped. I have three hundred songs with Violet UK. So, I don’t know what to do.

JRR: Last question, what do you expect the Tokyo Dome lives to be?What do you think it will be like, performing in Tokyo Dome again?

YOSHIKI: So, yeah, as I said in the press conference, we just, I just don’t wanna do it, just like, okay, nostalgic, like, you know, we’re gonna have all of the old songs, and we had a great day, you know, I don’t wanna just redo that. I want to do something very shocking, something very, I don’t know, like, an unpredictable thing, so… that Tokyo Dome may bring us to the next step as X JAPAN. I’m not sure. A couple of month ago, at an interview on some TV show I’ve said, "X JAPAN, I only just want to do that for a certain period." I’m still thinking that way, but it depends, it depends on if we find something new or something meaningful, I may… we may do X JAPAN longer than what we thought about at the beginning, but… I don’t know. I want to do something really exciting there. Something crazy. Something you can’t even think about, that you can’t even imagine. I don’t know, I’m just trying to think of some interesting thing.

YOSHIKI: I don’t know how to say it, but just, you guys made me realize what I should do. So this Tokyo Dome is happening because… because of you. So, I mean, it’s very touching. I just have to say, I really truly appreciate your support, from all over the world. I’m not let you get disappointed, you know. So… thank you very much.