#fuki commune

----- The guitar solos are quite aggressive. You’re playing masculine solos that are borderline grim.

TOMO-ZO: Thank you very much. During the composition, I tried creating different timbres, using effector pedals, I really obsessed over it. Not only the guitar solos, I also spent a lot of time creating the phrases in the middle of the songs.

----- What about the bass?

KOGA: I changed from a four-string to a five-string, and also I strove for lower sounds. Because of that, I think the bass is heavier than last time.

----- Overall, what is the arrangement process like?

Fuki: I usually don’t use any electro sounds in my songs, so including those kinds of sounds, it ends up feeling like “Gacharic Spin wrote this song!”

TOMO-ZO: That’s true. DOLL$BOXX does use sequencers, but we tried to use them in such a way as to minimize the electro sounds as much as possible, so that the band sound comes across first.

KOGA: I guess since Fuki doesn’t ordinarily use those sounds, it makes it fresh, huh?

Fuki: Fresh, and also a lot of fun.

KOGA: But this time, I feel like it’s all about the guitar. It’s more aggressive than when we’re in Gacharic Spin. In Gacharic Spin, from start to finish there are places where the bass part shines, but it in DOLL$BOXX there’s a feeling that stands out like TOMO-ZO, as the guitarist, is the hero.... Speaking of which, since Fuki and TOMO-ZO are out front like “BAM!”, I played the bass with an image of being one step behind them.

----- The drums are also more amazing than they are in Gacharic Spin.

KOGA: That’s right. Because of these aspects, I think that Gacharic Spin has Gacharic Spin’s own style, just as DOLL$BOXX has DOLL$BOXX’s own.

----- I’d also like to touch on the songs a bit. “Shout Down” is a hard number that starts abruptly with death voice, I think it’s the song that most carries the “DOLL$BOXX Revival” style. Because of the paired vocals it’s a song that only DOLL$BOXX could do, and it’s quite aggressive.

TOMO-ZO: We created it like this because we wanted the appeal of the triple vocals, with Fuki’s high-tone vocals singing one part while Hana and Oreo are singing a different melody entirely.

KOGA: It’s a self-introduction song, right, or more like we were expressing, “This is what kind of band DOLL$BOXX is.”

----- In the second song, “Sub-liminal,” the guitar solo that follows the rap seems like the highlight of the song.

TOMO-ZO: It’s a pretty long solo for DOLL$BOXX, isn’t it. I played it relentlessly.

Fuki: Which song’s guitar solo was the most fun for you?

TOMO-ZO: Even now I’m not sure, but maybe it’s “Sekai wa kitto ai wo shitteru nda.” Because I made some interesting sounds using the whammy, and overlapping that with the original sounds turned it into a synth-like tone.

----- When you were creating “Sub-liminal,” what kind of song did you want to make?

TOMO-ZO: When we’re creating any song, we take Fuki’s vocals into account, but to me, this song seems like the best fit.

Fuki: “Sub-liminal” was the most fun for me to sing.

----- The melody has a flowing feeling, and the parts of the lyrics in English seem to have a nice feeling.

Fuki: That’s right. Also, the song has a good atmosphere. In metal bands I tend to use a gallant singing style, but in this song it feels like I was singing to suit the rhythm, so that was fresh and fun for me.

----- What about the bass that creates that atmosphere? There’s also a feeling that the slap bass is influencing it.

KOGA: But I don’t do slap in the intro or the B-melody. At first I was going to do slap all the way through, but.... maybe in Gacharic Spin I can do all slap, but since I started using a five-string, you get lower sounds when using a pick, so I changed my mind and decided to leverage that.  I think that some variety came out of that.

----- What kind of song did you want to create with “HERO”? That sound gives an impression of melancholy feelings.

TOMO-ZO: It’s a song  we made wanting each section’s story to be easy to understand.

KOGA: It’s mid-tempo, but it’s the slowest out of all of the songs this time.

Fuki: It’s the most dramatic out of the five songs, and we wanted to make a song with a story. One other thing on my mind was that I wanted to write lyrics similar to "fragrance” from last time. Not because it’s about love, but because, just by looking at the lyrics, you’ll understand the song’s story... There isn’t any indirect wording, and it has a story arc, so it’s easy to understand. But I didn’t want “HERO" to be love song, "fantasy” is more like it, but I tried to write it from the viewpoint of a person seeing off a departing hero. The melody made me cry a bit, I thought it was a heartbreaking song so I wrote sorrowful lyrics for it. From a lyrical standpoint, it’s my favorite song.

TOMO-ZO: They’re lyrics that really make you think.

----- How profound. You can see both the burdens the hero is carrying, along with the mental state of the person seeing him off, it’s like the skies will never be clear.

Fuki: That’s right. Like it’s cloudy all the time.

----- And then, “Sekai wa kitto ai wo shitteru nda.” This is a good song.

Fuki: It is a good song, isn’t it!

TOMO-ZO: When writing it, we wanted it to have a dramatic buildup, and for me personally it might be the song where you can most see how much I’ve grown.

---- Not just in DOLL$BOXX, but this is a type of song that you’ve never done before as Gacharic Spin or in any of Fuki’s projects. It also has some of Fuki’s anison singing style in it.

Fuki: There’s good reason for it to have anison-like parts. It’s bright and refreshing, the melody is good, and the build-up comes in twice at the last chorus and ends the song with a powerful rush. It’s a very feel-good song.

TOMO-ZO: The lyrics also ended up being really positive.

Fuki: Like anison or idol songs, I thought that kind of positive, un-cloudy lyrics would fit the song, and they came out so straightforward that it’s a little embarrassing.

KOGA: I like the guitar in the intro of this song. During the demo phase I was thinking, “Ehh? Can she really play this!?” But there’s nothing TOMO-ZO can’t do, she’s an amazing guitarist. When we restarted DOLL$BOXX, with Fuki included, I once again thought, “I’m doing this with some amazing people!”

Fuki: It’s high spec, isn’t it.

----- Definitely (laughs). This song is bright, and it’s also the catchiest song this time, isn’t it.

Fuki: The overall impression of the album greatly changes depending whether if this song is here or not. It clears up the gloomy, overcast feeling.

TOMO-ZO: When “HERO” flows right into this song, it opens your eyes.

----- But the next song, “Dragonet,” goes back into the depths again.

TOMO-ZO: The bewitching ambience of this song makes you feel, “This is the adult DOLL$BOXX.” I also spent a lot of time writing the guitar phrases for this one, while taking into account the rather heavy bass.

----- The bass is also aggressive with the slap.

KOGA: That’s true. But it has a more mature vibe than in Gacharic Spin.

----- What about the vocals?

Fuki: This song’s lyrics are also based in fantasy, so my singing style starts higher, I thought it would fit better as I’m singing not from the point of view of a human but of a godlike being. In Fuki Commune I have a song called “Mirai” (from the album “Welcome!”) whose theme is an alternate ending of Tezuka Osamu’s “Phoenix,” but this song’s melody made me want to do “Phoenix” again. But I controlled my own selfishness and decided, “DOLL$BOXX isn’t going to use motifs from existing manga or novels.” That’s how it was last time too, but at any rate, I decided to keep the original version to myself. To that end, for this song’s lyrics,  I wrote the protagonist as a dragon who has watched over the ages for tens of thousands of years.

----- The high-tone in this song is amazing.

Fuki: You think so? Personally I think “Sekai wa kitto ai wo shitteru nda” is much higher, this song isn’t like that. I’m singing it in a metal style, so I didn’t feel like it was that high.

----- It’s true. I thought both “Sekai wa kitto ai wo shitteru nda” and “Dragonet” had amazing high-tone.

Fuki: I tried to sing “Sekai wa kitto ai wo shitteru nda” in a cute way, like a pop singer, such as the “kizuita yo~” part which is really high and drawn out, but that was per Hana’s direction. She said that, since there weren’t any other cheerful songs, I’d better sing this one it in a Fuki-like way, bright and carefree. I thought so too, so that’s how I sing it, but it’s harsh on my throat. Cuter voices are harder on your throat, so because of the difficulty of the high-tone, this song is the hardest. However, I think both of the songs have some of that Fuki-style high-tone, so I think it will be fun to listen to them and compare.

----- So, out of this body of work, which song are each of you most attached to?

KOGA: For me it’s “Shout Down.” To me it’s the song that most feels like our “revival,” or rather, I remember the background of this song... I think back to  Gacharic Spin’s Yaon live (6/24 at Hibiya Outdoor Amphitheater) when Fuki came and we performed this song.

TOMO-ZO: It’s “Sekai wa kitto ai wo shitteru nda” for me. Because, from a guitar standpoint, I was obsessive over it, and I think it’s a different worldview of DOLL$BOXX than what we’ve shown you up to now.

Fuki: From a lyrics standpoint I think “Hero” was the one I wrote best... but the singing isn’t very Fuki-like, it’s kind of a downer singing style, so it has a high degree of difficulty. I hope I can convey the ambience of the CD recording when I perform it live. On the other hand, I had the hardest time writing the lyrics for “Sub-liminal.” There’s a rap section and a gimmick section, so I tried really hard at writing them, and I had a great sense of accomplishment when I finished. Moreover, it’s a fun song where I can be spontaneous and energetic, so these are the two songs I like the most. Of course, I like all the songs, though.

TOMO-ZO: Because “they’re all top-tier songs,” right?

----- It turned out to be a work that could perfectly capture the new DOLL$BOXX's style.

TOMO-ZO: We were able to show you our path forward from here as DOLL$BOXX.

Fuki: This time it’s cool, isn’t it. Last time we even had member colors in our outfits, but this time we paid no heed to that. Idol-like aspects, such as in last time’s “Take My Chance,” might not be a part of the new DOLL$BOXX.

KOGA: To that extent, I think we were able to make a distinction between this and Gacharic Spin/Fuki Commune, more so than last time. We’re able to express that “DOLL$BOXX is a band called DOLL$BOXX.”

----- What is the tour in support of this album going to be like?

KOGA: I want to do lives where I turn off the Gacharic Spin side of me. Of course the album is packed with things we’ve each picked up along the way, but I want you to see that DOLL$BOXX is DOLL$BOXX, it’s one band. I know that there will be a lot of guests there who like Fuki or Gacharic Spin, but I want our lives to make them say, “That was something completely separate.”

Fuki: ....Now that I hear KOGA say that, I feel like I want to change my own performance as well. We’re also going to play our cheerful songs from last time, so I wonder how that would go? However, I don’t have a vision yet personally, but I'm sure you’ll enjoy it.

TOMO-ZO: Fuki and Gacharic Spin both created a work that’s completely different for us, so I’d also like our lives to be something different. We took that into account during the shooting of the MV’s, so I’d like for that to be reflected in the staging as well.

KOGA: Also, I want to go overseas this time. Gacharic Spin goes overseas frequently, but when we’re there they tell us things like “Could you play a DOLL$BOXX song?” or “Please come back as DOLL$BOXX!”

Fuki: When the MV for “Shout Down” was released, the comment section was nothing but English comments.... they wrote things like, “Is this a dream?” So this time I’d like to go overseas too. Last time, we were only active in Japan.