OWN INTERVIEW CONTENTS Vol.18 Inoue (The Erexionals)

OWN (hereinafter O): First, please introduce yourself, Mr. Inoue!

Inoue (hereinafter referred to as I): I'm Inoue, and I'm in charge of vocals, tin whistle, and melodica in a band called The Erexionals. I'm from Setagaya, and originally lived in Shimokitazawa until I was six years old, after which I moved to Hanegi, which is about a five-minute bike ride away.

What was your childhood like?

When I was in elementary school, I was an active kid who always played outside. There was a motorcycle gang at the junior high school I went to, and it was a common course for delinquents to join the gang after graduating. The older kids would take me out running and teach me all about the street, so I guess they kind of liked me. That's how it was, but the kids from the junior high school next door laughed at the way I dressed at the time. They said I was some kind of anachronistic, uncool delinquent (laughs).

O (laughs) What were they wearing?

I wanted to wear a bunch of Goro's shoes, Vanson boots, and engineer boots. That's what they call "chimera" fashion, American casual. But at the time, my casual clothes were baggy pants, and I had this weird patterned shirt with English written all over it (lol). Influenced by those around me, I was a delinquent, and I ended up joining a bosozoku (motorcycle gang). I saw them riding Steeds and wearing engineer boots, and I thought, "Cool!" I was like, "I have to go to Shibuya!" That was around '90 or '91.

OWas that the heyday of the gangsters?

That 's right, there were a lot of teams. Then, when I entered high school, a friend I became close with invited me to join a team, so I joined. But the team's activities were things like group dates and surfing, and it felt like a fun Shibuya life. But at the time, I was looking for something a little more intense. How can I put it, more of a fighting style...

O fight (lol).

My classmates also had another team called ●●● in Shibuya at the same time, but their activities seemed more interesting. They were like an affiliated team of ex-bōsōzoku (motorcycle gang) members, but they disbanded and formed a new team called ○○○, and I ended up joining them. After I joined, the violent activities increased, and I finally felt like I fit in.

O Were you a high school student at that time?

I think I was still attending school at the very end. I was around 16 years old. After that, I got fired from high school right away. I got into cigarettes, alcohol, and XX.

Isn't that a full combo?

That 's right (laughs).

OAt that time, Mr. Inoue, was your life unrelated to music?

No , my source of income at the time was ●● and parties. You need a DJ for a party, right? Hip-hop was just starting to become popular at the time, so I listened to a lot of music. I think it was around the time that Body Count and House of Pain were becoming popular.

When and why did you start to like music ?

That was when I was younger. My dad loved music, and he'd play records by the Beatles and Yosui Inoue at home. Dvorág and stuff (laughs). Also, the middle school I went to accepted returnees, and a friend of mine who'd returned from LA introduced me to NWA. I was totally blown away. I only knew MC Hammer, and gangsta rap hadn't really come to Japan at the time. I played it for my dancer friend who was knowledgeable about music, but he said he didn't understand it, so maybe I was able to hear NWA at a time when it was right for me. I also remember a guy who'd returned from New York introducing me to Metallica.

Along with your activities with Team O , you also loved music.

I agree. But I never went back to my parents' house, I moved around a lot. I even got fired from high school.

What kind of life were you living at that time?

I (gestures with hands) This, this and this...

O: You can't include everything! I'd like to know why you decided to continue your band activities after that.

From the age of 17 to 21, I was busy helping out my senior with club activities at night. But he kept asking for money, and he started treating us juniors more and more roughly, so it became less fun and I left him. So I tried working as a scaffolder or carpenter, but I couldn't last. I wanted to play, I couldn't wake up in the morning, and I couldn't sleep at night so I couldn't wake up in the morning either (laughs).

O (laughs).

I couldn't keep the job like that, so I went back to that senior. Or rather, I was dragged back. And then, somehow I finally managed to get away, so I decided to stop hanging out with older people. I was tired of doing things I didn't like, and it was getting too much of a hassle. But even so, there were still some older people who would say all sorts of things to me, but I decided to not back down and live my life. I think that's it.

Oh no, tell me what prompted you to start a band!

I see, I see, it's a long story (laughs). At the time, I was helping out my senior with a perm and a suit-like outfit, but my friends around me were always worried, saying, "If you go any further, you'll get into trouble, why don't you just quit?" Then they invited me, saying, "Live houses are really popular right now, let's go and have some fun together." They said, "At a live house, you can go wild!" I thought, "Wow!" and went. I think it was Huskin (HUSKING BEE) or something, around '95.

Was this around the time before melodic hardcore became popular?

That 's right. At the time, there were a lot of events in Shimokitazawa that you could get into for 1,000 yen or so. So I joined the mosh pit and punched someone, and my friend got mad at me and said, "That's not right!" (laughs). Anyway, after going to live music venues like that a few times, the band members on stage were so dazzling, and I started to vaguely think, "I want to be on stage too."

OOh , we're finally talking about band members (laughs).

I had a junior who was one year younger than me who could play guitar, so I asked my friends around me if we should start a band. We quickly gathered members, but the guitar part was taken and only the drummer and bassist were left, so I somehow ended up playing bass. I went to Ishibashi Music to buy a bass guitar, and after practicing a lot on my own, I was able to cover three or four songs. So we went to a studio in a community center with the other members. I was having fun just making the bass boom at a loud volume, but the other guitarist and drummer hadn't practiced at all, and they were getting bored of it by that point.

There was a difference in their feelings.

That 's how it was. In the end, I think the remaining guitar and bass player and I practiced for about two years. We did songs like SEPTIC DEATH (laughs).

O : Wow! So you trained really hard during that time.

It was simply fun. But he was argumentative, and we gradually started to not get along. If he said anything to me, I'd be like, "I'm gonna punch you, you bastard!", so I think he didn't like it either. So I left him and became alone. I think I was around 21.

So you're taking a break from music for a while?

That's right. Around the time I was just doing random things like ●● and making money, I went snowboarding with Aihara (master) from 9SARI GROUP and some friends from Shinjuku. Aihara couldn't snowboard at all, but we were chilling out at ○○ and riding the lift, and we got into a good mood and went all the way to the top. It was a heavy snowstorm with poor visibility, and we both got lost. We somehow managed to get over the mountain and finally made it onto what looked like a national highway, but we were exhausted. I was shocked at how little stamina I had. So I started kickboxing to get stronger. A friend introduced me to the Ihara Dojo.

O Ihara Dojo?! It's a prestigious school.

When the facility was under renovation and located at Tokyo Metropolitan University, I was practicing kicks in front of the mirror on my first day at the institute when Chairman Ihara came in. He suddenly delivered a low kick. "What's that?! That's completely different from what I taught you!" he said angrily. It was our first meeting. When I told him I'd just joined today, he said, "I see, do your best!" I thought he was crazy (laughs).

OThe best episode ever (lol).

I (laughs). Anyway, I continued kickboxing from the age of 21 to about 26, when a mean-looking old man came to visit the gym and asked me, "If you don't have a job, why don't you come work for us?" He was the president of a building materials store near the gym. I was able to continue working there for a long time, and that's how I was able to say goodbye to that world. It's a good story, isn't it? That's all.

Oh no, that's why we didn't even get to the point of forming Erexionals!

I see (laughs). Anyway, I couldn't continue kickboxing because it made my back worse, so I was working hard at that job, and a friend I introduced to was a band member, and one after another he started getting part-time jobs, and they were also in bands. Each of them was a member of a band that was about to make its major debut, but each band had its own issues and broke up one after another. Around the time I quit kickboxing, I wanted to get back into a band. So I scouted out the guys from the companies whose bands had broken up, one by one, and we formed The Erexionals.

Now we're finally talking about The Erexionals (laughs). By the way, did you have a Celtic sound from the beginning?

IThat 's right.

O I have a simple question: I imagine that for people of your generation, if you were to start a band, it would probably be a punk or hardcore band, so I was wondering why you chose that style.

I bought a computer when I was 25 or 26. Around that time, music videos I'd seen on VHS tapes started popping up all over YouTube. I saw the Pogues' music video and thought it was really cool. I realized there weren't any bands around that had flutes in them. Also, all my acquaintances and friends were into punk, hardcore, and hip-hop. So I thought it would be more interesting to try something different rather than continuing to do the same thing. From there, I started practicing the flute seriously, got a junior colleague at work to buy a mandolin, and we started just the two of us. From there, the number of members gradually increased, and we ended up with the current lineup.

Oh , that's right!

That 's right. So, for our first live show we performed as an instrumental band, but when we actually did it, it somehow felt lacking. None of the members sang, so I ended up singing. I had written a notebook full of lyrics for the first band I was in, so when I tried writing again, it came out pretty smoothly. I wrote about things I feel in my everyday life, deliberately incorporating metaphors, and I think the first song I came up with was "sabaku."

The lyrics that Inoue writes are unique. They are like spoken language, but also like prose poetry.

Thankfully , there are certainly people who comment on my lyrics. But even though they give me all sorts of opinions, I'm an idiot so it doesn't really resonate with me. Even when I read the lyrics I've written, all I can think is that they're weird.

How do you go about writing lyrics ?

I always write lyrics while I'm working. I just write quickly without any sound. Then, once the sound is ready, I put it in.

OWhat influenced you when writing the lyrics?

No (laughs). But since I started writing lyrics, I hardly listen to Japanese songs anymore. I speak and sing in Japanese myself, so it just gets into my head. I listen to them at live music venues, but I try not to check them out myself.

But Inoue -san, you have a lot of rapper friends.

Unlike band lyrics, rap has a lot of text, and the way it's inflected and has a great beginning, development, twist and conclusion is amazing. So I wonder if I can listen to Japanese rap.

O You're quite connected with other rappers too.

That 's true. I've been friends with Keisuke, the president of Libra Records, since we were teenagers. We've known each other for a long time. He used to say, "There are some crazy guys in my junior class, and I'm going to release something about them soon," and that was MSC. Also, Gen (565) from Mousouzoku was my junior at the junior high school next door, so we've been good friends for a long time. He came to my birthday party the other day and said, "We're finally at the halfway point of our lives. We're going to live until we're 92!" (laughs).

So that's the connection.

I Libra would hang out at the agency and would also be invited to end-of-year and New Year's parties, so I got to know a lot of rappers and DJs. "Thank you." Also, the event "HOT POT SPOT" hosted by Libra at Ebisu Milk was a big hit. Keisuke even dove off the stage to break up a fight (laughs). Mercy (WDsounds/payback boys) also came to hang out. Mercy introduced me to a lot of different people.

O　Speaking of which, last year your video production team, Kook Film , produced the music video for The Erexionals' "SMOKE TONGUE." Why did they offer you the job?

When I heard that Ochiai had started this kind of movement, I thought it might be better to offer it to someone I knew. It would be a hassle to make it with someone I didn't know and end up with arguments because we couldn't communicate well, so it would be easier to communicate if I made it with someone I knew well. The first music video that Kook Film made, Mercy, was also good.

The finish has also improved a lot.

Yes . It's been getting really good reviews. It's not been forever because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but we haven't been able to do live shows or get into the studio, and it's come up here and there, and I've been feeling stressed, and I remember Hama-san (TRASMUNDO) saying that this song "hits me really hard when I listen to it now during the COVID-19 pandemic." So I think the timing was perfect in many ways.

We were shooting while playing tag with the police (laughs).

Those guys were really persistent. Anyway, I think we created something really good as an expression/piece of work.

The COVID-19 pandemic is dragging on, but what are your plans for the band's future?

I 'll do it anytime, anywhere, as long as the timing is right.

Do you have any plans to release any new works?

I think I'm working on my first full-length album. I've finished a few songs. It's been stopped many times due to COVID-19, but I'd like to work hard on album production next year.

I 'm looking forward to it! Finally, if you have any information, please share it with us.

I have two secret live shows in December, but since they're secret I can't tell you the details (laughs). I'm planning something with YAMAZIN in the new year, so look forward to it!

[INFO]
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