AREA51 Interview

"I was holding auditions in search of the ideal singer. After about 100 auditions, Kate came along… I knew she was the one immediately." - Yoichiro Ishino

For fans of the group AREA51 there can no doubt that Yoichiro made the right choice. Yoichiro Ishino and Kate Cain play a style of music that Yoichirio describes as "Melodic/Neoclassical metal meets catchy female vocals." Their first album, "Ankh," was released in 2005 to good reviews. In 2008 they released "Daemonicus," expanding on the sounds of their earlier work.

With another album on the way and a growing international fan base its time to say hello to the band who chose their name because "the mysterious nature of the place seemed to fit my philosophy of wanting to produce constantly changing music."

On August 19, 2009 the members of AREA51 were kind enough to give an interview to Andrew from J-Pop World. All photos courtesy of AREA51 with studio credits to Fuji Hirayama and concert credits to YueSue.

Let's start with your latest CD, "Daemonicus." How can fans purchase the music?

Yoichiro: You can download our album digitally, through iTunes Store or Amazon MP3 (USA), and can purchase the album through CD Baby.

Kate: We absolutely recommend the CD with the additional booklet, which has many pages with gothic images and pictures. I personally produced both the album cover and this booklet, all details included. The images and pictures portray the worldviews of each song's lyrics.

How would you describe the album's sound and style?

Yoichiro: Melodic/Neoclassical metal meets catchy female vocals and technical guitars.

Your keyboardist Takeshi worked on the music, but has since left the band due to an illness?

Yoichiro: We are very grateful for the many contributions he made to the band. It's very unfortunate that he had to leave due to health reasons.

Please give him our best wishes. Can you tell us about the recording sessions for Daemonicus? What was a typical day like?

Yoichiro: Thanks, we are all praying for his recovery. The Daemonicus recording sessions took very long, because we started out recording without making any demos in advance. All decisions were made as the recording process progressed, which we think worked very well. On the other hand, we've decided to make a demo beforehand for the next album.

Kate: As Yoichiro said, we made the album without first making any demos, which was like creating a pyramid from scratch. All vocal expressions were decided in the recording process itself, searching for the best match with the song's images. For example, in Les Anges I tried out singing rather emotionlessly, which really helped give a nihilistic feel to the song. I'm very happy with the way it came out.

Can you describe your song writing process?

Yoichiro: I write the music, and Kate writes the lyrics. All songs start off with a melody, and the lyrics follow. Whether it be a heavy song or a ballad, I usually follow the same process of making a vague scenery or image into a song with rhythm and harmonies. It's like working on jigsaw puzzles.

Kate: Compared to the first album, where the previous singer wrote most of the lyrics, Daemonics really started from scratch for me. You can't imagine how much I enjoyed creating lyrics and singing methods, while listening to the newly created music. When listening to each song, I was really able to picture the background of each song, and the produced lyrics were the means to express the worldviews respectively.

Do you have a favorite song to play live?

Yoichiro: Of course, all of them! The new album has very intense songs, heavy songs, slow ballads, all of them are exciting to play. Of course, we enjoy playing songs from the first album as well, since the fans know them very well.

Kate: My favorite songs to perform live would be Crimson, because I can really act and sing in a rather sluggish tone, unlike other songs. I am very much an actress when I sing, and Crimson allows me to express that side of my performing characteristics. People in the audience seem surprised when they hear this song, even if they don't know it.

Let's learn more about the band's history. First, can each of you tell us about the hometown you grew up in?

Yoichiro: My hometown is Kobe. There's a very large port, but there are also mountains. The town is very unique in that we're surrounded by the blue ocean and green mountains.

Kate: I grew up in the suburbs of Tokyo. There are many people, and we all pretty much know each other. I was always surrounded by nature and friends.

What type of kids were you?

Yoichiro: I probably wasn't much of a good boy, always enjoyed joking around and pulling pranks with friends. Our teachers always had a reason to get angry with us. We'd bike down mountains at full speed for fun. I'd say I was pretty active and mischievous.

Kate: Our neighbor was a picture book author, and his house was like a library of my favorite picture books. I spent much time reading indoors, rather than playing outside. I remember being extremely shy when I was in elementary school. As a student I was more into chorus singing and drum and fife bands, rather than sports. I did practice cheerleading when I was in kindergarten, though. That's probably why I still like dancing.

How did you each first get into music?

Yoichiro: I was completely taken away when I heard John Lennon's Imagine while skiing. The melody was so beautiful, it was the first time music had touched my heart so deeply. Back then I filled a sixty minute cassette tape only with Imagine so I could listen to it over and over again!

Kate: My father was a vocalist, so it was quite natural that I loved music and singing at a very young age. My first song was Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. I remember singing the song in English. After that, I got into pops, and used to sing and dance in front of the TV all the time. I would listen to Japanese male idols, and my friend's sister got me into Madonna and Cindy Lauper. I was very shy, and would only sing in front of my family (lol).

What other artists or bands have inspired you?

Yoichiro: First, I would say John Lennon and The Beatles without a doubt. Then when I heard Cheap Trick, I thought distorted guitars sounded extremely cool. That's how I became attracted to the guitar in the first place, and why I eventually got into metal. I was also immensely influenced by Yngwie Malmsteen, Impellitteri and Stratovarius. Of course I shouldn't forget X Japan, they were also influential.

Kate: My favorite artists were Madonna and Gwen Stefani, and Japanese groups like Dreams Come True and globe. My brother also got me into X Japan after their split up.

Did you always think music would play such a large part of your lives?

Yoichiro: Of course! All my energy is used for music without a doubt!

Kate: I consider music to be the only gift given to me from God. My life is not as blessed as it may seem, and I believe this is God's way of giving me hope.

What groups or projects had you done before forming the band?

Yoichiro: This is the only band I've been active in, other than bands I formed with friends back when I started playing the guitar. The band AREA51 was already active before Kate joined. However, since I was never satisfied with the quality of our activities, in the true sense, the real start of this band is after she joined.

Kate: I only took part in rather casual cover bands.

How did the two of you first meet?

Yoichiro: I was holding auditions in search of the ideal singer. After about 100 auditions, Kate came along. Finding the right vocalist was a very difficult, time consuming challenge, but with her it only took about 15 seconds to decide. I knew she was the one immediately. After talking through various things, I was absolutely sure that this would work. In addition to the music itself, she had so many cool ideas to help the band.

Kate: I thought there were millions of singers who could sing like me, so I was really surprised when I heard I was chosen. Really, I thought I wouldn't be given the offer.

Tell us the story of how the band first got started.

Yoichiro: I started AREA51 two to three years before we released the first album. There were no official members back then, and it was just the former singer and myself making demos. After the former drummer and keyboard player joined, we developed into a band. After Kate joined, I was finally able to create the sound I was hoping to realize, which led to our first album "Ankh."

Why did you choose the name AREA51?

Yoichiro: I got the hint from a song by one of my favorite bands, Artension. You must have heard about the US military facility AREA 51, right? I named the band AREA51 because the mysterious nature of the place seemed to fit my philosophy of wanting to produce constantly changing music. I also thought the combination of alphabetical letters and numbers was cool, too.

What type of music did you want to create?

Yoichiro: Exactly what we're doing right now, which is having catchy female vocals full of expression, without changing the fundamental metal style that I love. I wanted to accomplish something different from the majority of metal bands out there. Shouting and screaming are definitely cool, but I also wanted to reach out to listeners who don't usually listen to metal, with a much more elegant sound.

What were the first few years like together?

Yoichiro: I was very happy, finally being able to create music the way I always envisioned. I still feel the same way even today. We always have new goals, and are constantly challenging ourselves. We feel great satisfaction in our achievements, and always grow through repetitions of such experiences. The last thing we want to do is to stop moving, or feeling satisfied with where we are. In this respect Kate and I are completely in line, and are always able to work together to move forward.

Do you still keep in contact with former band members?

Yoichiro: Some I still keep in touch with, some I don't at all.

Tell us more about your 2005 album, "Ankh." How big of a moment was its release for you? What was that year like?

Yoichiro: The first goal for most musicians is to release his or her music to the world, right? Being able to release Ankh was a huge accomplishment for us, and we were fortunate to receive lots of positive reviews. You may not believe it, but after 4 years this album is still constantly selling. We're very excited, since we worked so hard on this album. As a band we've grown in the 4 years after the release, so we can't compare our current selves to what we were back then. However, it's a memorable piece of work, full of our best efforts from back then.

Kate: I always wanted to have a CD, even if it were released independently, as proof of my existence. My musical expectations were rather humble, and I was only considering moderately sized live shows. Although lots of energy went into creating Ankh, never did I expect it to lead to an interview like this. This album really changed my life.

Do you have any favorite performances the band had done?

Yoichiro: The solo show we did after releasing the second album was certainly memorable.

Kate: Before joining AREA51, I had never performed at clubs when bands like ours play. I remember thinking "wow this place is really tiny" during my first show. During the rehearsal, I couldn't hear myself among the very loud instruments, which caused lots of anxiety. I can't forget how I felt back then, and would say our first show left a strong impression. It's funny how I didn't get nervous, though.

The two of you have a distinct look together. Where do you get your fashion from?

Kate: I always start with "I want to try this on." When I started dressing the way I do, female singers in Japanese metal bands would wear T-shirts and leather pants. Gothic punk with lots of frills was not necessarily accepted back then. However, I considered such typical fashion wouldn't fit the sound of AREA51, and decided to choose costumes with angels and devil type images. Of course I still check and try different approaches all the time, never being restricted to one particular direction.

What are your thoughts on the music industry today? What changes would you like to see?

Yoichiro: I think there's less and less opportunities to do the old fashioned "spend lots of money, repeat low quality music on prime time TV so it sells" method. It's a good thing for bands like us. The listeners out there are looking for quality music, and are searching through the internet and MySpace much more proactively than before. I'd really like to see more and more musicians and listeners connecting like this, and less and less people who think music is a means to make money.

Any plans or hopes of touring overseas this year or next?

Yoichiro: Unfortunately no solid plans right now, but with the increasing fan base overseas, we'd really like to tour the world in the future.

Kate: I'm also looking forward to the day we can meet our fans abroad.

Do you have anything else you want to bring up or comment on?

Yoichiro: Thanks to the internet, many people around the world have access to our music, and we can send out lots of information relatively easily. I think this is increasing opportunities for Japanese bands to promote themselves and tour internationally. That's exactly why we would really appreciate your support. If you think our music is cool, please tell your friends! The bigger the fan base, the bigger the chance for us to play in front of many different audiences around the world.

Do you have a final message to all your fans?

Yoichiro: We're working on our third album now, which should be released early next year. Until then, please enjoy the two albums that are already out there!

Kate: Our third album will be different for the first two, AREA51 is evolving. We won't have as long a wait as last time, so please look forward with just a little more patience!