Interviewer: The theme of this issue of quarterly S’s special feature is 'the supernatural'. Iro-san, you’ve mentioned in a previous interview that you enjoyed both Japanese and western horror, folklore, and nursery rhymes. What made you take a liking to them? As for Aida-san, you saw something that had “Hanako-san of the Toilet” as its focus. We’d love to know what other works or images left an impression on you both.

Iro (writer): Fear is something universal and familiar to us. Even in daily life dark places somehow scare us, it makes you feel as if something might be there. If you take that sense of fear and put it together with stories of ‘monsters lurking in the dark’, it strengthens your imagination. It makes you think, “The things written here might be true.” I like how it gives a realistic feel to things in fiction. Also, part of me considers horror entertaining, like riding a roller coaster.

Aida (artist): There was an anime segment called ‘The Scary School Rumor Hanako-san’s Appeared!’ in a TV show I watched called “Ponkickies”*. The Hanako-san in the show was someone that helped the characters so I probably thought “Hanako-san’s a good guy!”. The episodes ‘Sacchan’s Rumor’ and ‘The Monster Tonkaraton’ were particularly scary.

Iro: Mine was the song called ‘The Girl Who Trod on the Loaf’ on NHK’s “Kids’ Doll Theater”*. They were just silhouettes but she really sank in that puddle didn’t she…

Interviewer: There are lessons to be learned from ‘The Girl Who Trod on the Loaf’, but the storytelling and how things unfold are quite harsh so I understand that it might be traumatic to see it as a child. As for ‘Sacchan’s Rumor’ and ‘The Monster Tonkaraton’ they seem to lean more to being urban legends, did the two of you know of any strange rumors at your schools?

Aida: The horror boom happened during my student years, so when we could buy photos during school trips and days out everyone would frantically start looking for ghosts in theirs. But obviously, there wouldn’t be any ghost photos from a professional’s work.  Iro: At the school I went to there weren’t any ghost stories or anything like that at all. I tried and looked around but sadly my search came to nothing…

Interviewer: They frequently featured ghost photography on TV during that time, didn’t they? Now we’d also like to ask about settings and motifs you liked.

Aida: I prefer older things to brand new stuff. Like those illustrated commercial posters that came out in the 1910s with actors striking poses, I think those are cool. From the furniture to the clothes, there are plenty I find cute even today. I also like the retro future concept that people thought up about the near-future during the 60s. Iro: Whether it’s reading or writing it I enjoy fantasy settings. Like those in children's books...recently I've been reading the third book in Howl's Moving Castle, the "House of Many Ways".* I like horror and mystery too, but I think I prefer watching those.

Interviewer: I see, the time period you’re interested in is pretty close to the setting of “Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun”, Aida-san. On that note, there’s something about manga that we’d like to ask, what got the two of you start working on manga together?

Iro: Initially I was writing short stories on my own, I wrote scripts for plays as a student, and the experience of working together on something with a handful of people made me want to create more projects with others. I liked manga so when I met Aida-san in college and saw their work, I fell for their art at first sight and just asked them, “Would you draw for me?” Aida: When I read Iro-san’s work I thought “It seems like it’d be fun to work together.” and agreed right away. But then after that I worried over how it’d be to actually do that (lol). Ultimately, the manga “BAKUMAN.” had a large influence in how Iro-san and I work. That was the first time I truly understood how it was for a writer and artist to work on a comic together… It was the thing that pushed me to work when I was wondering how I should go about things while just starting out. Another reason is that I didn’t want to be the only reader to the worlds Iro-san wrote about, I wanted more people to read them and have that same experience too.

Interviewer: That’s a wonderful story. Have there been any changes to how you work on things from between early on and now?

Iro: We used to meet up a lot, but nowadays we tend to talk on the phone more. I live within a stone’s throw* from Aida-san so when there’s something going on nearby we head there together. When we see each other we just naturally start talking about work, so I guess that's a sign that we're pretty close.

Interviewer: Thank you for telling us. We also wanted to wind things back and ask about your debut work, “Dear My Living Dead” (seen in “Toilet-bound Hanako-kun Vol. 0”). Lilia’s irreversible fate and the choice Cult decided to make were truly crushing.

Iro: I just like stuff with zombies in it. Aida: Lilia’s character design was made to be soft and filled with happiness and Cult's design was, simply put, made to look totally exhausted. When I’d draw the important scenes, I wouldn’t rest until the weight of the lines and the adjustments on the angles on their faces were just right that I’d spent 5 hours just on one panel. This isn’t limited to Cult or Lilia but I keep the movements of their lower eyelids in mind when I draw.

Interviewer: Five hours…that’s amazing! Your focus on their lower eyelids is also quite interesting. You also had another work published in the magazine even before “Dear My Living Dead” called “The Delinquent, the Nerd, Love, and War” (seen in Volume 5 of "Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun") that was rather comedic while still fitting the purpose of the project. Akane-kun and Yamabuki-kun who are both in “Toilet-bound Hanako-kun” also make an appearance in it.

Iro: The both of them were actually made before Hanako-kun. They were pretty popular then so rather than set them aside I had them appear in “Toilet-bound Hanako-kun”.

Interviewer: So that’s why! Then after that the pilot run (seen in Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Vol. 0) was released, and made way for “Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun” to begin publication. With a familiar theme like the “Seven School Mysteries”, that unique touch of Hanako-san of the Toilet being a boy as well as the retro-style setting really pull you in. We’d also like to know your process in making a story that explores both comedic and dark ideas. Iro: Initially, it was supposed to be a manga adaptation of a short story I’d written for an assignment. It was a story about Hanako-kun’s living counterpart, Yugi Amane, and the eventual No. 4 of the mysteries, Shijima Mei. There were no ghost story or romcom elements in the story at all, it was just about Amane and Mei living their lives as high schoolers and showing their interactions with each other. When the seven school mysteries idea got added into that, “Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun” was born. The ghost story and retro style came later, the darker central theme of the story was made first. Aida: There’s times we’d brainstorm ideas over a meal, but you’d hardly make solid decisions on the spot right? It's either Iro-san would get an idea, or sometimes I think up something based on a character I’d designed; Tsuchigomori and No. 6 of the Seven Mysteries had their designs set in advance for example. As for the seasonal events we have on social media, Iro-san creates the story based on the character’s costumes and the setting they’re in from illustrations I drew prior.

Interviewer: I see, so your approach is not being too rigid with your creation process. I was quite impressed with the way the ‘Picture Perfect Arc’—where Shijima Mei and Yugi Amane make their appearance—started not with the usual rumors of one of the Mysteries but with blending the normal with the abnormal, where they don’t even realize they’d already been captured by a supernatural.

Iro: It was a part of the story I started out of a desire to create something that could be read standalone, something you'd want to see as a movie. With a movie adaptation you'd think of a story with a grand scale and a dramatic ending, so I kept that in mind while writing. Shijima-san already made an appearance during the pilot chapters and during then she had feelings for Honorable No.7 (Hanako-kun), but this was something that got lost in the serial publication version. When you make stories about school ghosts, spirits in the art room are pretty common so I wanted to include them.

Interviewer: I was drawn in by how dramatic it turned out to be. The scope of No.6’s (Hakubo’s) arc was also quite significant, wasn’t it? The bone mask he wears also has a lasting visual impact.

Aida: We decided on having someone covered with bones from the early stages… Then from there thought up that No.6 would be a god of death and later on had him be an oni. He might have the fresh look of a baseball player, but his personality is a far cry from that of a sportsman. We were able to delve more into Aoi during this arc too so that was really fun. Iro: The Picture Perfect arc had a refreshing story to it, so in contrast I wanted to write the No.6 arc as something more murky and unpleasant when I started it. With things like the selfish traditions that they used to have and misunderstandings between the characters. The emotional developments for some of the characters was nice, but I had a hard time writing the scenes for it.

Interviewer: Seeing a side of Aoi-chan that she’s never shown to Aoi-kun, as well as seeing her grow worse was painful. You can really feel that the changes in the characters is one of the series’ highlights. I also felt that Kou and Mitsuba had a good relationship from how they were shown in the ‘Nightlife’ arc. Iro: It’s fun writing what happens between them, though the whole aquarium scene was quite difficult to plot out… Aida: We came up with that while we were at karaoke, while looking at the monitor there were clownfish and coral reefs on the screen so it went like, “Should we go with the aquarium?” “That sounds nice.” and that was that. Iro: After that I went to an actual aquarium with Aida-san too, we had a great time.

Interviewer: So that’s how things were decided! We also had a question about the spin-off “After School Hanako-kun”, the amusing chapters and unexpected plot lines are super enjoyable! So we’d like to know which chapters were written thanks to it being in "After School Hanako-kun" and which scenes you enjoyed creating most.

Iro: We try to keep the character appearances balanced so that everyone is able to show up, but there are some that do appear more than the rest at times. I was able to write the chapter where Nene turned into a mokke since it was for ‘After School’, that chapter (Day 9: Truth of Mokke) is my favorite.

Interviewer: “Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun”, a series that's been filled with activity from the anime to the in-person events, is soon celebrating its tenth anniversary, congratulations! We’re all super excited for the commemorative event that’s starting soon. Aida: Thank you so much! As the theme is ‘celebration’, there’s quite a lot of festive merch so please look forward to them!

Interviewer: By January 2025 “Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun 2” is also starting soon! Please tell us what you’re looking forward to seeing on the show. Iro: There’s so much happening that it’s hard to choose… I’m also excited for the opening and ending themes. Interviewer: You’re keeping an eye out for the things that’ll try to condense everything about the series in a short clip then, I see. Now lastly, and not limited to "Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun", we’d like to know what things the two of you have been thinking about, things you've gotten hooked on, or even things you’d like to challenge yourself to do in the future. Iro: I love escape rooms so I’d like to have a collaboration with SCRAP* one day, I also enjoy haunted houses so a collab with one would be nice too. I also want a mokke alarm clock. And I’d like to make a horror game for Hanako-kun, I'm a game lover so the want to make my own game will always be there. I feel like my list could just keep going. Aida: I love rail transport so I’d like to ride the Jungfrau railway in Switzerland, there are a lot of local railway lines that I want to try too. Interviewer: Thank you for taking the time to answer all our questions!

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Notes: - Ponkickies (originally called Super Kids Show Ponkickies) was a children’s TV program that was a rebrand of the earlier “Hirake! Ponkikki” (1973-1993) that ran in three seasons on Fuji TV from October 1993 to March 2018. The segment Aida talks about is a short form anime that aired during the first season of the show in the late 90s. - Kids’ Doll Theater was a children’s program shown in a puppet show format that ran on NHK’s educational content focused channel NHK Education (currently known as E-TV) from 1990 to 2011. - The Girl Who Trod on the Loaf is a story by Hans Christian Andersen about a beautiful, yet prideful and arrogant girl who, in her vanity, used a loaf of bread that was meant as a gift to her mother as a step to avoid soiling her shoes. - This particular volume's title is localized to 'Charmain and the Witch's House' in japanese. - The actual term used was "a distance where miso soup won't get cold", some sites have roughly estimated this to be about 30 minutes.

Sam Spruell photo from his interview in the Yonkers Observer (San Francisco) published on May 27, 2024. This interview discusses his role as Ole Munch in Fargo Season 5.

October 1975, Beat Instrumental magazine. Interview with Roger & Brian focused on studio work & music development.

"HELLO DEARS!" Freddie Mercury breezes into London's Olympic Studios with the traditional Queen words of greeting. It's 8 p.m. on a Friday evening and Queen are just getting down to work on the night shift for their next album. This is the second week of recording and so far they have the backing tracks laid down (no mean feat in the time taken). Freddie has turned up first to work on vocal backing tracks—the other members are expected later.

Olympic is an unlikely looking studio. It shares that factory image that some of London's older studios have — all long corridors and massive studios that are a far cry from the more modern 'inside of a spaceship' types we're beginning to see nowadays. Nevertheless, not only Queen use this studio; it has become a regular venue for many of our top bands. The reason is it has a damn good sound.

Queen's co-producer Roy Thomas Baker relaxes back in one of the chairs behind the not too modern mixing desk. Freddie waits for tea to arrive, downs a cup and and slinks off into the studio where he sits at a piano working out lines. Gradually things come together and the band drifts in one after another as Freddie gets down to work.

Gymnasium

I've often stood in studio control rooms and watched musicians at work — but seeing Freddie Mercury in action is something of a revelation about how good he really is. There he sits, alone in a studio the size of a school gymnasium laying down backing vocals in tight and difficult harmonies before the main vocal line has even been recorded! Freddie knows exactly what he is going to sing and simply picks out the notes on the piano before laying them over the drum and piano track. He works very quickly and with astonishing accuracy, checking back with Roy to see that all is coming through on each take before the tape spins back for him to double or triple track the harmony.

Apart from having a high vocal range, Freddie seems to have a fine ear, hitting those Queen registered trade-mark "oohs" and "aahs" with no apparent effort. He's a star, make no mistake about it.

After a while guitarist extraordinaire Brian May mooches through the door. Brian is a tall gaunt figure whose quiet sensitive manner belies the raw aggression that he pumps out of his guitar. As well as being one of our better guitarists (see Player Of The Month in Beat's July feature), Brian can speak with rare good sense about the music business so I make my farewells to the control room ensemble and exit studio left to a quieter environment with him and drummer Roger Taylor in tow.

We find a battered room and sit down to talk. The obvious questions come first. What's the album like and how is it going?

"We've got all our backing tracks down at Rockfield without any trouble" Roger answers. "The good thing about being down there is that the people are really pleasant and they've got a lot of rooms which you can use for different sounds." He goes on to add that this next album will be one of extremes. The material will contain numbers ranging from some of the heaviest things they've ever done to some of the softest. Perhaps this is why some people find Queen hard to take, I conjecture. The band have the ability to play so many different styles that you never yet get one to groove along in.

"I think that heavy rock is the closest thing to our group mentality, but then we're always attracted to different avenues which we get a sudden desire to try out. We’ve even got a vaguely skiffle sounding track on this one,” Brian adds with a smile, as if relishing in the confusion that sudden changed could cause in the brains of narrow-minded listeners.

Naturally, we get onto the subject of Queen's amazing production. Sheer Heart Attack was certainly one of the best produced albums in recent years. I tell them that many musicians I've spoken to are envious of the sound they get and both Roger and Brian seem surprised and gratified. I ask how they get their sound.

"I don't know really," Roger asserts, "I think it's just a matter of getting everything right at every stage. This is why Roy and Mike Stone are so good because they know all the technical details. We provide them with the aesthetics and get some ideas from a technical viewpoint."

Much of their ability is due to the intensity with which they approach each album. They immerse themselves in every detail, knowing what they want down to the finest point, even what studio equipment is consulted.

"We only really like 3M 24 track machine," Roger continues. "In our experience they're the most reliable and they also benefit from having the tape heads close together so that you can do very close drop-ins." Their love of 3M's machine is born of a bitter experience on Sheer Heart Attack when a complete 24 track master was ripped-up by a rogue machine of another make. Fortunately, the tape was recoverable (just) because its loss would have cost a fortune and literally brought about heart attacks all round.

"We're also very fussy about monitors. Generally we reckon that Cadac give us the best sound, but it does depend where you are."

There is, though, still no secret that has crept out about Queen's sound. What we can discover is that each track has a hell of a lot more going on in it than may at first meet the eye. Drum sounds for example may have been recorded in many different rooms, even different studios, but may all go on one track. Giving a complex pattern of sounds which just are not obtainable in any one studio.

The next album will be mixed at Sarm studios. That much I did learn, because they know the equipment well (and it meets their high standards) and because they can relax with the people with whom they'll be working.

The Trident management days are of course over, the band now having split with them over "differences of opinion". With a degree of trepidation I ask Roger and Brian whether they'd be prepared to talk about the split. They were.

"A lot of bands have had management problems recently and some of them have let it go a lot further than we did. We broke with Trident because we foresaw problems. Ever since we came back from Japan we've had problems coming and so we've engineered the best manager we could." That's Roger's view on the matter and the manager he's referring to is none other than John Reid, manager of Elton John.

Naturally, Queen aren't at all happy about their break with Trident. Brian admits that he feels particularly hurt by it as the band were very close to the company. Now they've left, and things are much more under their control — but not without some sacrifices as Roger points out.

"It does prove that we do believe in ourselves when we've been prepared to part with the amount that we have parted with to get with somebody we're happy with."

It's far too early in the life of the new album for any sort of preview, ideas are still being added as Brian works his way around lead solos. Queen are now preparing for the inevitable arguments about a title. Although they'd almost agreed on one when I was there, they are aware that their usual fights will take place before a final decision. On a cover, though, they seem remarkably unified, knowing exactly what they are looking for — as Roger pointed out when we spoke about the hideously bad taste cover of Sheer Heart Attack.

"That one was successfully vulgar — the idea being to get the best of bad taste. Perhaps it went too far but it didn't half get noticed! I think that we might go back into good taste this time."

Intelligent

Roger is by far the more forthcoming of the two Queen members (how can one say two Queens???) he's talkative, friendly, and like the rest of the band seems uncommonly intelligent and aware of what the band are doing to your average drummer in a band. While he talks, Brian may sit quietly in the corner adding the occasional comment (you have to tackle Brian on his own to really get him talking I've discovered) and John Deacon (bass player, as if you didn't already know) utters one sentence during the whole interview.

When we head back to the control room before aiming in the direction of a local hostelry I see that Freddie is still hard at it. The track is progressing nicely and plans are afoot to break-up around 4 a.m.

Queen's music is a combination of different intensities. They approach their lyrics with a lot of intense subjectivity and tackle the recording side in a complex way, bouncing tracks down to get as much as possible to mix with and experimenting with as many different studios as they can book into to get as wide a sound range as they can. The result is astounding.