Dir en grey's KAORU is Interviewed by PLANET-LOUD.com!

It's taken them 10 years to hit these shores, but Dir En Grey have finally made it over this year. Planet Loud caught up with guitarist Kaoru before they headlined this year's Fuse festival, held at the Shepherd's Bush Empire, in support of new album 'Marrow To The Bone' and recent single 'Dozing Green'.









Planet Loud - Welcome back to the UK. It hasn't been long since you were last here, so why the decision to come back so quickly?
Dir En Grey - We didn't expect to be back quite so soon, but we received a number of offers to do some shows both here in the UK and other parts of Europe. It was supposed to be a longer tour, but in the end we had to cut out some shows so it ended up as just three dates here in the UK, including Sheffield and Oxford for the first time. Not sure it's really such a great idea to come back this quickly, but there are lots of fans here who want to see us; we've been really surprised by the number of fans that are over here and want to see us, it's great.

Planet Loud - How do you think you managed to gather such a following without ever playing here before?
Dir En Grey - It's a complete mystery to the band; of course, with the internet people can hear bands like Dir En Grey from around the world without any sort of promotion or such like, but what's more a mystery is why they listen to Dir En Grey specifically. Once the albums became available outside Japan, even though we weren't touring at least there was some help from the labels, but there have been fans in Europe since we started 10 years ago which is a real surprise to us; we were making music for the Japanese market, not the overseas. We are very happy that we are now able to come over to Europe and tour and play to all our fans at last.

Planet Loud - Talk us through the new album.
Dir En Grey - The album was written and recorded over a period of about a year whilst we were touring Japan, America and Europe. The only time we got to write songs was on tour in between shows. Instead of spending two months in the studios writing and rehearsing non-stop as before, we'd be writing for a bit then going and playing a show; new places, new environments and new sources of inspiration every day. We were also able to revisit songs later and change bits, listen with a fresh ear and take out bits we didn't like and rewrite different sections. It was a mixed process, some of it went really well, but some of it went really badly.

Planet Loud - There's such a marked difference in styles across the albums, what's the thought process behind such stylistic leaps?
Dir En Grey - It's a mixture of a conscious decision not to make the same album twice, and getting a bit bored with a particular style and wanting to try something different. There is a natural process, we always want to release something different to before, not wanting to get fed up with any one style. It's also a test, a challenge, to see how far we have improved and where we can go with the music. We do not like to release the same thing over and over again, and neither do the fans, we want to keep it fresh and keep the fans excited.

Planet Loud - What are some of the more influential bands on you that have helped to shape the sound of Dir En Grey?
Dir En Grey - X Japan were really the reason all the guys in the band wanted to start a career in music, and we still respect them 20 years on; there are also a lot of other underground Japanese bands from back in the day that have been a huge influence on the band. With overseas bands, personally I'm more influenced by industrial and hardcore style bands, and not just some of the more metal orientated ones.

Planet Loud - There are two compilations on the way, ultimately covering the band's entire career; why now, and why divide it into two separate releases?
Dir En Grey - There is no real reason behind the timing of these, we just wanted to release some sort of compilation now, felt the time was right. We decided to separate it into two to please both the old and the new fans – give new fans a chance to listen to the old material, and also for the older fans who don't like what the band are doing now and who won't want to get the new one and visa versa. We weren't really sure where to divide it into two; it was a difficult decision and in the end was a bit arbitrary.

Planet Loud - Any plans to get more of the older material released in Europe and America?
Dir En Grey - If the record labels want to put it out, then we would definitely be behind that.

Planet Loud - There's generally been a massive decline in the sale of singles worldwide, yet you quite happily release and sell loads of singles – what's different about Dir En Grey so that you've avoided the fate of so many others?
Dir En Grey - The system and perception of singles is totally different in Japan; over there they are used more to keep fans interested and excited in the band between albums, a means to let them know that we are still busy and writing new songs, or at least as a teaser prior to an album coming out. They aren't available anywhere else at the time of release, although they may eventually end up on later albums, where as elsewhere around the world, singles tend to follow the album and be the radio hit, making them less appealing to actually buy.

Planet Loud - What's the next step for Dir En Grey, and your immediate goals for the band?
Dir En Grey - At the beginning of next year we are going to start recording the new album, and I hope, I think, it will be the best Dir En Grey album yet. And of course, after that we'll tour lots, Japan and Europe and America again.

Planet Loud - Thanks for your time Kaoru, and good luck for tonight's show.
Dir En Grey - Thank you.

Interviewer Dominic Hemy



Credit for this interview goes to planet-loud.com