| |
Q&A with NOISM from
Japan. (August 7 2001)
I
get your concept about nothingness, but it's
tricky... Do you think ever taking a next step
and not even have song titles?
Y.(Yoshiro,
guitar of NOISM)We actually named our songs as 17,
18, 19 in numbers; that didn't work out as
titles; We simply couldn't remember all and tell
them apart.
You
say you play music for yourself, yet you promote
the band and try to spread your name as much as
possible... (I've seen alot of Noism reviews and
interviews!) Doesn't that prove that, above all,
you exist if people listen to your music? And do
you have a purpose other than that... like, would
you like a label to sign you and release Noism
albums?
Y. Your indication is very poignant but let me
explain this more clearly to you. We yearn for
autonomy because we are not autonomous. This is
just like slaves yearning for freedom because
they are not free. Proletariats yearning for
equality because they are not equal. Poor people
yearning to be rich because they are not rich.
People yearning for peace because the world is
not at all peaceful. Bands yearning for
popularity because they are not popular. NOISM is
yearning for autonomy because we are not
autonomous. The lack calls the needs.
Off course we want appraisal and fame, who
doesn't? But we are not making music to get
appraisal and fame, and many people forget that.
As a result they lose their independence and
autonomy. They start blending in trendy elements
such as hiphop, groove, turntables, melody etc,,,
things they didn't even care in the first place,
to get popularity among people. We have to keep
this in mind, people's recognition is not the
goal. So I think it's all clear now. We are not
making music to please people. This is not
voluntary charity. But in reality, my desire for
recognition is very big. So that's why I've
noticed the whole thing. If I didn't be careful,
I'd easily be overwhelmed by the desire for fame.
I can easily be judging the riffs I create by
whether they will be accepted by the listeners,
not whether I except it or not. NOISM is yearning
for autonomy because we are not autonomous. Now,
I don't have to even hide the music I create for
pure autonomy, people can listen to them for free.
If they don't like the songs, that's their
problem, if they liked the songs, I'm happy, but
so what. I don't intentionally make songs that
people will like. If I were already autonomous in
the first place, I would not be making music, I
would be making music in my brain. I would not be
answering this interview. I would not even know
the notion of autonomy. I would not even be
speaking any languages because I wouldn't have to
communicate with anyone. Why a word "autonomy"
exists is because it "doesn't exist"(it's
not in the reality). The word "Autonomy"
is like "hope" or "utopia".
When "hope" turns in to reality, it's
no longer a "hope". When "utopia"
realizes, it's no longer "utopia". When
"autonomy" becomes real, it's no more
"autonomy".
Don't
you think not using vocals anymore is gonna
reduce the number of listeners alot? Will you not
use vocals ever again?
A.This was a tough decision and we still haven't
come to our final conclusion yet. The fact is
that I've noticed the vocals are not essential to
create musical brutality and our vocals were not
one hundred percent original; but they sometimes
helped. Vocals can at times, take a big part as
an instrument in creating brutality in their
music. We'll have to take more time to come up
with a really brutal vocal instead of the
ordinary guttural we used to have. But once
again, whether not using vocals is gonna reduce
the number of listeners or not is not at all our
problem.
Do
you think being close to a scene in particular?
Probably Brutal Death Metal scene? Are you into
Grindcore? Noisecore?
I think we came out from Brutal Death but I won't
say we are a Brutal Death Metal band now. No
drummer, no vocalist, no bassist,,, that proves
we are not even a band. I don't listen to
Grindcore or Noisecore. I find some bands quite
good, but overall, they are not my cup of tea
because most of their riffs and structures are
dumb boring simple. Some people say we're a bit
Noisecore but we're not. We're more down tuned
and faster.
Noism
is a mix of violence and keen technicity, but I
personally think the 2 can't co-exist that well.
Technicity will spoil the brutality, or the other
way around, and then, you can't fully achieve any
of them. Or... am I wrong?
Y.No, I totally have an opposite view. You have
to evolve to create brutality. I can clearly
explain this. If you didn't grow up and kept on
producing the same old worn out stuffs on and on,
you will get so used to and familiar with the
stuffs. You will eventually feel nothing from
them. And that tendency is particularly seen on
ordinary people. They keep on listening to the
same old pop songs that have been produced a
thousand of times and think they are listening to
good music. On the other hand, there are
revolutionary people looking for more excitement
and brutality in music, and they are the forces
of revolution in music.
So, you just can't stick with the same old things
you've done a hundred times. You can't just keep
on playing power chords and sixteenth beats,
those simple things. Soon, you will get bored
with that sort of style and you won't feel any
brutality in such ways. So you have to come up
with something you've never heard before. If you
have to come up with something you have never
heard before, you have to think hard and practice
hard because off course, most of the styles,
techniques and ideas have been put out already by
many other bands, and so you just cannot imitate
other bands. You have to be original. It's a big
competition. You have to squeeze out your brain
to come up with new eccentric ideas and practice
your guitar very hard to be able to play riffs
that no one has been able to play. You have to
make innovating inventions and break the limits
to create revolutional brutality. So training
your technicity is the way to pursue brutality;
unless you are dull and insensitive and were able
to sense brutality and excitement in the same old
songs you've heard a thousand of times. If you
were that kind of person, you would rather be
listening to a primitive man hitting rocks and
sticks, or at least The Beatles or Elvis Presley.
That would be enough if you were not looking for
new excitement and brutality. You wouldn't be
listening to Rock music in the first place. Now,
I know what you were thinking, you meant
technicity often seen in Heavy Metal bands such
as Dream Theatre and Yngwie Malmsteen. They are
pursuing technicity, not brutality(excitement).
Those people mistake means for ends in my opinion.
Technicity is the means to create brutality(excitement),
not the end, the goal. I find this tendency in
many bands such as Messhugah, Cynic, Plan etc,,,
By any means, NOISM is setting technicity for its
end, technicity is just the means for pursuing
the ultimate end, and that is Brutality.
How
long have you practiced guitar? How often do you
practice? Do you play other instruments? Have you
ever and/or do you play in other bands than
Noism?
Y. I've started the guitar two years ago. The
only time I practice is when I make new riffs. I
always try to make the most extreme and most
unprecedented riffs, and that is when my guitar
technique gets better. I hardly play the guitar
for fun or practice in my spare time. I can play
the bass a bit. Now I am practicing the drums
though we won't use it in NOISM. No, I am not
involved in any other bands. All I believe in is
sheer brutality, brutality is the ultimate goal
in music and I devote everything on NOISM. Why
should I waste time doing something other than
that when I am so confirmed?
Do
you listen to your demos/songs alot after you
finished and released them? What do you think of
everything you composed so far, are you mostly
satisfied or do you think you can still progress?
Y. We keep on evolving dialectically so once a
song is produced, it's history. We get bored very
easily and we rather get on with putting out new
ideas for creating more and more brutality, we
rather get on with building the future than
looking on to the past. Sometimes we get so
confirmed that we've reached to the very end of
brutality, but there are always possibilities for
more brutality. This brutal dialectic revolution
never ends. Counter-revolutionary bourgeois (capitalistic
and commercial pops), revisionists (Mainstream
Death Metal, Deathrash Metal), conformists (Metalcore,
Mixture Hardcore), right winged nationalists (Black
Metal, Melodious death metal). restorationists (Thrash
Metal revival, Speed Metal, Heavy Metal), and
fascists shall all be overthrown by the laws of
dialectic materialism. Long live the perpetual
revolution of Brutality. You know this is just an
exaggerating metaphor, don't take it too
seriously.
You
compose and record your music with the help of a
computer right? Can you explain how you procede?
Are you always working on more new songs?
Y. Yeah, we do everything by the computer by
ourselves at home. We use Cubase VST as our
software. I come up with tons of riffs, place
them in nice order, and Tomoyuki puts the drums
and arrange them more in shape. In deed, this
software can do everything we ask. Even the
mixing and the mastering is pro-notch. No, we
only make one song at a time. We put in one
hundred percent of what we can do at the very
moment on one particular target to carry on with
the dialectic evolution. We are not two timers.
So each song shows a phase of NOISM's evolution.
There must at least be some developments in each
song or else there's no meaning in NOSM. We shall
never be stagnant and keep on making progress in
pursuing Brutality.
I
hear you performed some live shows... How does it
sound and look like? Are you only 2 on stage? Do
you use real drums or a drum machine? So far,
have you played in front of people who get brutal
music? How was their reaction?
Y. We've played more than about ten gigs now. I
sing and Tomoyuki plays the sampler. Every sound
is in the sampler. The reactions depend on
occasions. We are always invited by Defiled.
Do
you know what you will release next? Will you
still make all your songs available on Mp3 format
from your site?
A. No, I don't know what we will release next.
Yes, I would like to keep NOISM's songs free of
charge.
Are
you interested in other art forms than music? Any
movie you're really into? Do you watch TV?
Y. No, I am not a cultivated person so I am not
interested in any form of art other than NOISM.
No, I don't have a TV at home because it's a
tremendous waste of time.
Can
you say something about Japan? How's life out
there? Some pretty intense bands from Japan:
Clotted Symmetric Sexual Organ, Vampiric Motives,
Bathtub Shitter, Nikudorei, Unholy Grave, Gore
Beyond Necropsy... Crazy Gore flicks also... Are
you into any of that?
Y.Right now two big infectious diseases are
spreading all over the islands of Japan. Those
diseases are Darktranquiflamessection Syndrome
and Slimpnotbizkorn Syndrome.
Darktranquiflamessecion Syndrome particularly
occur among unmanly nerdy people and its symptoms
are hallucinations of knights, castles, forests,
medieval times, and addictions to black and slim
outfits, guitar brand, etc$B!D(B
Slimpnotbizkorn syindrome is one type of
narcissistic paranoia that appears among boys and
girls in their puberty. Once one is infected by
this epidemic, he or she will become very rough
and will not be able to distinguish between
reality and fantasy. One can even reach to
believing he or she can break out a Cultural
Revolution by blaming the society or the state or
the major labels for his or her frustration in
school or daily lives. Yes, I know most of the
people in underground in Japan. You might be
thinking we have bunch of underground people in
Japan but you rarely come across with them
actually. Have you heard of Japanese pop culture?
It's so sickening. As far as art and culture is
concerned, I think the majority of Asians are
herds. Individualism and freedom has never been
established in this part of the world. No, I am
not into gore flicks except I found Braindead
quite extraordinarily humorous.
And...
That's about it... Any closing comment?
Let me just put this.
http://go.to/noism
noism@hotmail.com
Thank you for this great interview, Pierre. The
questions were quite unordinary, not like those
we've been asked a thousand of times already, so
I really enjoyed answering this interview a lot.
Keep up your great job, I think the scene needs
Braindead a lot.
|
|
