Royz
Interview by Ku (Shattered Tranquility)
June 7, 2012
Royz is a colorful indies band which has made quite an impact since its formation in 2009. Even though they’re still small in Japan, they’ve gained a steady following overseas – without ever having performed abroad. This time, I was able to meet with the band shortly before their April 18th performance in Aomori City to ask a few questions about the band, their latest single, and their thoughts on their overseas following.
First, can each member give us an introduction?
Subaru: Hi, I’m Subaru, on vocals.
Kuina: I’m Kuina, on guitar.
Kazuki: I’m Kazuki, on guitar.
Koudai: I’m Koudai, on bass.
Tomoya: I’m Tomoya, on drums.
Do you have a particular concept as a band, or theme to your music?
Subaru: Our concept would be “catchy,” I think. Young people, older people, boys or girls, we basically just want to make music which appeals to all different kinds of people.
How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard it before?
Subaru: Umm… “catchy” again (laughs). Music that gets stuck in your head right away.
In March, you released your latest single, “NOAH”. What can you tell us about the inspiration and creative process behind it?
Subaru: For inspiration, well, the idea and concept behind NOAH were actually born during our one-man tour, “Evolution to New Age”. As we drove around the country during the tour and felt all the love from our fans, we created the music from the emotions we were feeling at that time, and they became a central part of my lyrics as well.
What is one good listening point for “NOAH”?
Koudai: All of it.
Subaru: Yep, all of it (laughs)
Koudai: Well, if you combine the versions there are 4 songs in total this time, and each of them has a sort of different color to it. Even for people that haven’t really liked our music up until now, I think that NOAH has a lot of variety and will be really easy to get into. I think you’ll have a lot of fun with it.
If you could play a live anywhere in the world, where would you like to go?
Kuina: London.
Koudai: Brazil.
Kuina: London! (laughs)
Subaru: Yeah, I wanna try playing in Europe.
Tomoya: Like maybe Germany.
Kazuki: I really don’t know anything about foreign countries (laughs). Umm… a cool place! Vatican City! (laugh!)
Can you say a few words to your overseas fans and the readers at Shattered-Tranquility.net?
Subaru: Hmm.. there’s definitely border there, isn’t there.. but!
Everyone: (laughs)
Subaru: But, we’re gonna do our best and try really hard to go over and perform in other countries as soon as we can! It might take us a little while to get there, but we hope you’ll be there waiting for us!
Koudai: I’m gonna study English before we go.
Kuina: Then let’s try and say something today.
Koudai: Let’s go and see them…
Kuina: (In English) “How are you?”
Koudai: (In English)“I’m fine, thank you. And you?”
Everyone: (laughs)
Originally published by Shattered Tranquility. Reprinted with permission.