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RAISE A SUILEN (RAS) is a band from BanG Dream! (BanDori), a project aimed at the next generation of girl bands. 

They released their 15th single, "WHAT AN EXPLOSION", on June 10th. The title song returns to their starting point with a brand new "mode"; it features a lot more electronic parts in comparison to their usual sound, and adds many unique verses with a complex song structure that highlights the band's essence once again. Kohara Riko (Gt. LOCK) and Natsume (Dr. MASKING) talk about the single, the ways the band has developed their strong bond, and much more.

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Raychell-san's "meow"… it was a special one (Natsume)

― From what I heard, you two are quite a rare duo for interviews! So, I'd first like to ask, what were your first impressions of each other?

Natsume: I think we met for the first time when our group was formed, 9 years ago!

Kohara Riko: I'll start! Well, my impression of Natsume-san hasn't really changed a lot since then. She loves magic girls and has very feminine mannerisms so she's the most "damsel"-like member of RAS! And also… the most laid-back member as well (Laugh).

Natsume: Really? I never noticed that… Maybe it's because I'm a type B*? (*People with Type B blood are believed to be creative and passionate but can also be forgetful and selfish)

Kohara: I feel like you're very aware of everything around you at about 1 meter radius but beyond that, you don't really pay attention (Laugh). 

Natsume: That seems right, but… Wow, it's kind of scary to think about!

Kohara: Hold on, it sounds like you just had a conversation with a fortune teller~! "Oh, that's right…"

Natsume: And now I'll say "That's true but, what should I do next~?!" (Laugh).

— Well, let's give Natsume-san the chance to be a fortune teller now.

Natsume: I'll predict your future~! Hmm, to me, Riko-chan is a healthy person who is always very thorough about everything she's involved in, but I also think she has a laid-back side, just like me! She also may look serious but she loves to make jokes, so when we're joking around, she'll talk nonstop~.

Kohara: I'm the type of person who makes a lot of sarcastic remarks in my head… I usually never say them out loud but, sometimes, something slips out and I just end up using up all of the stock I had been saving up.

— It's like a dam breaking…

Kohara: Pretty much (Laugh).

Natsume: She has witty comebacks for all sorts of things but Raychell-san (Ba. & Vo. LAYER) is her favorite member to mess with.

Kohara: Well, Raychell-san loves it when I tease her! (Laugh).

Natsume: I guess it can be surprisingly fun to get teased… (Laugh).

— It seems like you're both laid-back people, so, would you say you have similar personalities?

Natsume: We have some things in common but I don't think we're that similar. Every member of RAS has a very distinct personality, in the best way possible.

— Could you please tell us what sort of activities you usually do to maintain and develop a strong bond in the band?

Natsume: We like to play UNO while waiting.

Kohara: Raychell-san always wants to play so there's really no way out (Laugh).

Natsume: It's kind of interesting to see who ends up being first or last. Riko-chan is really good, she basically never loses! Tsumugi Risa-san (DJ CHU²) ends up right in the middle, Kurachi Reo-chan (Key. PAREO) and Raychell-san are the same. I always wait to see who's gonna have the most absurd amount of cards in the end (Laugh).

— I can picture it clearly, somehow.

Natsume: We also make up rules sometimes, like "no Japanese" or "no English", and one time, we ended up with a rule to always end sentences with "meow~". Raychell-san's "meow"… it was a special one.

— Ah, I'm so jealous! Maybe you all could do a live stream some time… Well, let's talk about your new single "WHAT AN EXPLOSION" now. I was drawn to the artwork of the back jacket right away. What even is that highway-like place…?

Kohara: It looks like it's in the future but now that you mention it, I do wonder where it is.

Natsume: I think the BanG Dreamers (Fans of the project) had a field day when this artwork was revealed (Laugh). CHU² looks so cute just strolling by while the other members run, doesn't she? The RAS logo on the sign above them also looks really cool.

— I'd like to quickly mention the key visual art for your upcoming show, "Boot IGNITION", starting on June 18th in Tokyo, which looks very nice as well. The composition with the members sitting down gives it that old band feeling.

Kohara: That’s true! Well, if I'm not mistaken, we have used gold and silver outfits before for "Heaven and Earth" back in July of 2019 too. It's a nice homage to our old days if that's the case.

"Maybe RAISE A SUILEN is the best representation of this recent era" (Kohara)

— The lyrics of the title song, "WHAT AN EXPLOSION", were very striking to me, with many powerful phrases that really say "This is RAS".

Natsume: They're very cool, right? They reinforce the message we've been carrying this whole time with lines like "We really are the best of the best" and "With full firepower/Change the world". And also, LAYER's vocals are the reliable core of our songs. Even when we're just having fun and playing around in the chorus, she remains unwavering which is reassuring.

Kohara: Raychell-san has told me herself that her voice shifts and changes a lot depending on the song. For a ballad, she sounds very gentle and soft but for a song like this one, she has a fiery energy that works well for a show. She truly has a distinct voice for each and every song and I think that's amazing. To me, the vocals in "WHAT AN EXPLOSION" carry the perfect mixture of the lyrics and the sound!

— I felt like the song features a lot more electronic parts in comparison to  your usual sound, with elements of euro-beat and hardcore techno. It somewhat felt like a "return to start".

Natsume: I really get that! Hidaka Yuki-san (Elements Garden) composed and arranged this song and he's the creator of some other high energy performance songs like "V.I.P MONSTER" and "Shakunetsu Bonfire!".  His specialty sound, combined with our experience of playing against other bands and joining festivals throughout the years, have made for a brand new charm. This song showcases the new RAS "mode" that has been born out of those two factors.

Kohara: I'm very thankful for being able to perform at many festivals and meet with all sorts of artists. I feel like our staff team is also able to take inspiration from those moments as well when it comes to our music. You can definitely see the influence of Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas-san lately, right? "WHAT AN EXPLOSION" has a few changes in tempo which is something found in Vegas-san's songs as well.

Natsume: The song goes from fast to slow to fast again… It's like a rollercoaster. I even wrote down on the lyric sheet "There's a 5th verse*?!" because I was so surprised at how many different sections the song has (Laugh). (*Usually, songs have a maximum of 4 verses)

Kohara: Nowadays, people have very low attention spans, watching videos at double speed and just swiping if something doesn't catch their attention right away. So, this song has so many different parts that will definitely keep you hooked until the end — the aim of it is to be a song that you won't get tired of.

— With the popularization of TikTok, it seems like there's a trend of people not being able to fully concentrate and appreciate music and movies anymore. 

Natsume: Speaking of TikTok, Hidaka-san's songs usually have dances, huh? Maybe this one needs a dance too! It could do well online and it would be fun to see everyone dancing during shows.

Kohara: We should ask Reo-chan again, then!

— Going back to the tempo of the song, this time, the chorus has a BPM of 190 and the other parts have a BPM of 150, making it a difference of 40… It really goes up and down.

Kohara: These big tempo changes make it difficult to keep up with the rhythm. If we have a chance to play this song live, keeping the groove of the members during those parts will be very important.

— I've heard that, usually, the simplest dances have a BPM of 128…

Kohara: We usually get close to 200 for our songs (Laugh). But we also think "Is this even normal?!" every time we perform.

Natsume: We don't have a lot of ballads and even the songs with slower tempos are still pretty intense… and these songs aren't slow at all if you compare them with others (Laugh). I think "Shakunetsu Bonfire!" is just the right speed to dance, right? With those 190 BPM songs, people are usually focused on spinning their towels as hard as they can, so it could be interesting to have more dances for our next festivals. I'd like for people who are coming for the first time to be able to dance too!

Kohara: Ah, that sounds really fun! Though, with the way our songs go, everyone would probably end up dancing really fast… I guess we could be the "double speed" band after all. Maybe RAISE A SUILEN is the best representation of this recent era (Laugh).

"RUNAWAY STAR" reminded me of my student days (Kohara)

— Now, I'd like to talk about the b-side of the single, "RUNAWAY STAR". This song originally goes with the event "Radiance and Eclipse" from the game BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! (GaRuPa). Natsume-san, could you please explain the story to us?

Natsume: In the stories leading up to "Radiance and Eclipse", LAYER had a rapid growth as a vocalist and seeing that, my character MASKING, felt like she was being left behind. And so, LAYER became worried about her. The moment LAYER decided to fully face that uncertain feeling, she had a realization about something — and with that she decided that she wouldn't worry anymore and would move forward in her own path. Her feelings are very clear in both the lyrics and the sound of this song.

— The line "Goodbye, my unnecessary side, I'll See you again" caught my attention. The song has a very strong message as a whole, but the words "unnecessary side" end up carrying some negative intonation, right?

Natsume: That "unnecessary side" would be LAYER's real persona, Wakana Rei. The story has a moment where she shakes off her feelings as she realizes that the one who was always by MASKING's side was "Wakana Rei" but, she is LAYER now, RAISE A SUILEN's front-woman. So, to me, she is referring to herself on this part.

Kohara: This whole song has really wonderful lyrics. I'm glad both songs have cheering parts with the other members as well. That stood out to me when I listened to them and I'm really excited to hear our BanG Dreamers shout along during a show. I'm able to enjoy the song even more with that in mind.

— I'm sure they will! Well, it's very clear that "RUNAWAY STAR" has a big contrast with "WHAT AN EXPLOSION", with a more straight-forward rock sound.

Natsume: It has that "band" sound, right? From the perspective of the drums, when it comes to "WHAT AN EXPLOSION"'s short repetitive sounds, I hit a four-on-the-floor hi-hat rhythm repeatedly, while "RUNAWAY STAR" has 8th note beats at its core, with hardly any four-on-the-floor. But, I still think the song has a strong "rock" feel to it.

Kohara: The guitar is pretty simple with fairly easy melodies as well. I'd say this is a classic-sounding rock song.

— Regarding the guitar, you only really use distortion as an effect, right?

Kohara: That's right. The tone color changes only during the guitar solo so I find the song to be a pretty easy listen as a whole. And, on a more personal note, this song just feels really nostalgic to me.

— What do you mean?

Kohara: It just has that tone color that feels very '90s to me. I was reminded of my student days when I listened to "RUNAWAY STAR"… It felt like I had listened to it before, somehow.

— I was reminded of GLAY when I listened to it.

Kohara: Ah, maybe that's it! I used to love Visual Kei back then and I feel like this is the closest RAS has gotten to it. Our songs in minor key get pretty close to that genre, like "STRAY CERBERUS" for example. In fact, that's the coolest RAS song, in my opinion.

Natsume: I love Visual Kei too! We don't get to perform "STRAY CERBERUS" that much, though~ (Laugh).

No performance is ever the same (Natsume)

— I'd like to ask something in regard to the characteristic RAS sound. I've said before that "WHAT AN EXPLOSION" felt like a song that said "This is RAS". So, in that same vein, what would you say are the phrases or rhythms that only RAS can make?

Natsume: Well, something that makes me very happy is when people decide to start playing the drums because of me or MASKING. I often get asked what is the easiest RAS song to learn and I always say that, if you know how to do four-on-the-floor, then you can cover about half of our songs. So, to me, I'd say the four-on-the-floor rhythm is the answer.

Kohara: She says it like it's easy but it's not easy at all, huh? (Laugh). This is hard for the guitar… You often play similar phrases in the same position so it's difficult to show the difference to the listeners.

— It's very different for each part, isn't it?

Kohara: That's right. When I try to think of a simple, starting riff… it's just difficult since that can mean so many things for the guitar. Other bands usually have a starting obbligato (Note: secondary melody that assists the main melody) in octaves, but we usually don't have that.

Natsume: There's not that many RAS songs that start with only the guitar, huh? But, songs like "SOUL SOLDIER" and "Domination to world" sound really cool with that rock-n-roll guitar intro!

—  I find that your difficulty in answering only shows how extensive the band can be. Well, on another note, this single's Blu-ray includes footage of your performance in Tokyo in November of 2025 for "RUMBLEHEADZ" at TACHIKAWA STAGE GARDEN. The 2nd day is fully included and the 1st day includes four songs that were not played on the 2nd day. Would you like to point out anything from either day?

Kohara: I would love for everyone to watch "BIBIBABI BRAVER"! Not only because we debuted this song on this show but, the guitar has a very cutting sound which is pretty rare. There's also an intro with the guitar and keyboard that was made just for this show! Make sure to listen to it if you haven't already~.

Natsume:  We also debuted "'FIGHT' ADDICT" and "FIVE AS ONE" on that day. Well, "FIVE AS ONE" is an especially emotional song, which I'm sure will touch everyone when you watch it. When you're at a show, you have to deal with that feeling of calmness but also passion — you want to get excited but also pay attention to the stage, am I right? In a song like "HELL! or HELL?" for example, you might miss some small details, like some parts of the performance or the member's expressions while you headbang. So, that's where these recordings come in to help!

— That's true. I've watched recordings of shows that I've been to in person and I had the feeling I was watching them for the first time, since I was having too much fun in the show itself… I'm sure other fans can relate.

Natsume: We really value the feeling of being there, watching us on stage, the most. No performance is ever the same. And so, this is something you can only understand by listening to the songs and also watching the performances, even if just the recording.

— Lastly, I'd like to hear some words of enthusiasm for your upcoming show, "Boot IGNITION"!

Kohara: Our shows are made not only by our members, but also by every single BanG Dreamer in the audience. RAISE A SUILEN is a band where you can have fun with your body and your soul. So, I want to use everything I have to make the most fun show ever!

Natsume: We always plan a very strong setlist and this time, there's also some extra songs that'll mess with your feelings. We've prepared  an equal amount of new and older songs, and as I said before, even though we may already have performed some of them, we don't want any performance to be the same, even by a millisecond. That's the very core of a live show. If you're in Tokyo, Hyogo, or Hong Kong… please come play with us if you can!