What is Hedigans' idea of a good band?
-What do you think are the requirements for a "good band"?
Honmura:Sometimes I think it would be a good band if the relationships were reflected very honestly. It doesn't have to be the worst kind of friendship. There may be some tingling in their relationship, but they trust each other in some way. When I can sense this in their music, I often think that they are a good band. They don't lie in their sound, or there is no false pretense.
Ouchi:I might consider a band to be good if I feel that music is fundamentally needed by the people themselves.
Yusuke:There are areas where I can express my opinions, but at the same time trust the members and leave the work to them. It is also very important to know if the members are interested in things that are not their own ideas and the chemical reactions that are born from them.
-In this day and age when it is so easy for a single person to make music, if the goal is simply to make music, then a band is, to put it simply, an inefficient method.
Ouchi:It's the worst, it's so much more convenient (laughs). Make everyone unexpected.
YONCE:It's like they go out of their way to get together and do something. But I think it is important to be open as a community, or to have an open atmosphere, although it may not be limited to bands.
Ouchi:I think it is a good band or "the band is good".
-I see. You said that playing in a band is good in itself to begin with.
Ouchi:Yes, I know. I'm talking about a different friend's band, but there are a couple of members who were lovers within the band who have broken up, but the band is still together. Because of the band, the relationship continues in a healthy way. I don't think Kawanishi and I would have hung out as much as we did without music. I think the same is true for the five of us. I feel that a band is a convenient unit where people with quite different characteristics can work well together.
Shoji:One of the things I simply love about bands is that they are cool. It makes me want to do it too, I guess.
YONCE:As long as you are in a band, you have that feeling. If we can get people to start a band through us, I think that means we are good as a band.
Honmura:I'd be crazy happy with that.
No, I'm sure there will be.
YONCE:Also, I want to sell instruments, right? I want to contribute to sales.
Ouchi:That's right. Like, I'm going to see a live show and I'm going to buy a guitar and go home. I think that's the best kind of live show, and it's the best kind of band.
-Do you usually talk about music among the members?
YONCE:No, it may not be a conversation, as we usually really only exchange something like a beast's cry (laughs).
Ouchi:We cook and eat together, play kendama, and so on.
YONCE:The premise of the project is that the Kurita brothers run a studio in Saitama, where they have an engineer who is a childhood friend of theirs. We watch YouTube, cook dinner, and spend time together, which is totally different from what you would find in a studio in the city.
Honmura:It really feels like home, and I feel safe. I am allowed to work in an outside studio with no restrictions, such as worrying about the time. I am grateful for that.
YONCE:To the rest of the band, I really am sorry.
Yusuke:The fact that there is no one in a hurry is something I really like about this group and may be the reason why I feel at home here.
Honmura:Hedigans take a lot of breaks (laughs). During production, we chat about every little thing and take one break to unwind before resuming again. It's that kind of process that makes me feel very comfortable.
Yusuke:I feel that having a similar sense of time is very important, not only in performance, but also in how we spend our time in everyday life.
YONCE:In terms of personalities, that may be a commonality.
Shoji:I have an ideal that we would like to continue like this for a long time, but since we have only been working together for about a year, we are not at a loss. Of course, there are times when the way to make music is so bogged down that you end up in a limbo, and what finally comes out is good. At this stage, Hediguns has a lot of fresh ideas, and we want to bring them out without stress, and that's how we felt during the production of this album.
-I was in such a mood when I listened to the album. I would rather say that there are too many things that we want to do. I could really feel the joy of working with the five of us. Did the production of the album go quite smoothly?
Honmura:Yes, I wanted to do more, but there just wasn't enough time.
YONCE:Yes, I have to meet a set deadline or someone will get in trouble. I am usually late, though.
Ouchi:Within the members, we are a band that is not guilty of being late (laughs). The people around us who help us are speedy, though. If it was just us, it might not be finished yet.
YONCE:It's not that we are trying to behave badly, but we are laid-back people at heart, so we are asking you to tolerate us somehow.
Shoji:If you ask me if this relationship can work in other bands, it often doesn't.
YONCE:If I get fined for being late, I'll have to start working part-time.
Ouchi:So you're late for that part-time job too, right? (Laughs).
YONCE:Too bad (laughs). I can see it in your eyes.
- (laughs). Did you ever imagine a future where you would all be in your 30's with a band with such great chemistry?
YONCE:I never imagined it at all.
Shoji:On the other hand, I feel that many people quit in their 30s, so they sometimes meet back up with the ones who keep going. Those who did not quit are getting more and more advanced.
Ouchi:I certainly felt that way last year and this year.
Honmura:I am also fortunate that I happened to be in an environment where I did not have to quit. It sounds like a noble thing to say, but I may be able to do it while truly appreciating every moment.
All members:Oh! (Applause).
YONCE:There are people who quit for various reasons, and I feel frustrated when I see them.
-Does the album title "Chance" also mean a chance in a band that began with this kind of fate?
Honmura:We had talked about using a title that is not too restrictive in meaning, and now that you mention it, I think that is certainly one good answer.
YONCE:We were looking for an auspicious word that wasn't too strong, and when we were all thinking about it, it was like we came up with it in a flash.
Shoji:We are having a good time doing this among our own people now, but if I were to ask whether we are positive people who would fit in anywhere, I would say that we are the exact opposite of that. I think you can sense this in our work, and I feel that we chose a simple, positive title to sum it all up.
Yusuke:As an afterthought, if people who are in a weak position or feeling down after listening to this can feel a chance, that would really make me happy.
Shoji:The previous EP was titled "2000JPY," which was a bit cynical, but this one has a lot of gentle parts.
YONCE:It might be a chance for people to understand small, difficult people like us, and vice versa. In that sense, I like the title "Chance.
- Finally, please tell us what you want to convey through "Chance" and what we should listen to.
YONCE:Although this is our first album as a band, we are five people who have come together from different walks of life. We brought together what we could do and what we wanted to challenge ourselves with, and I think we created something beautiful that we never imagined.
I hope you will also enjoy how the songs from the album will be transformed on the tour.
