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Asking the members of SCANDAL
「What was the moment you decided to become an artist?」
【Interviews with KOYABU SONIC 2017 performers, Vol. 2】Text: "Street lives in Osaka Castle Park"
KOYABU SONIC 2017, specially sponsored by Townwork, was held over the course of 3 days from 11/3 - 5 at Intex Osaka. A variety of artists and performers gathered on stage each day and gave us passionate performances.
Those performers who are active on the front lines used to be boys and girls who once were dreamers. This time, Townwork Magazine had them speak about the moment the discovered their dreams as well as their stories so far. The second guests of this series are the four members of SCANDAL, who gave us a passionate performance.
＜Dreams as children＞
(The professions we wanted to be as children)
| 「I'll become Sailor Moon!」 was the only thing I thought of
TOMOMI: When I was little I loved the anime 『Sailor Moon』. 「I'll become Sailor Moon!」 was the only thing I thought of (laughs).
MAMI: When I was in nursery school I wanted to be an architect. Rather, including planning and design, of course, as well as civil engineering, I wanted to build a house all by myself in the future.
TOMOMI: Liking to make things by hand from early on is a very MAMI-like dream.
HARUNA: I've looked up to Namie Amuro from the time I was in kindergarten. I wanted to be an artist that sung and danced.
RINA: Since I was young I too wanted to be someone who performed on stage. I joined a theatrical company from the time I was in kindergarten and took lessons. When I became an elementary student I went to auditions while longing for a gorgeous world like that.
＜The moment we discovered our dreams＞
(The cue where it was seemed like we were aiming for our current occupation)
| A dance school teacher suddenly said to us one day. 「How about trying out instruments?」
HARUNA: All four of us originally attended an Osakan dance & vocal school.
RINA: For HARUNA and I, we attended in order to fulfill the dreams we had since we were little.
TOMOMI: For me, I liked dance and learned it as a hobby.
MAMI: I too went to learn.
RINA: So, a dance school teacher suddenly said to us one day. 「How about trying out instruments?」, and the four of us formed the band.
――What an absolutely rapid development!
RINA: I was surprised, but wanting to fulfill my fream no matter what, I wholeheartedly jumped at that proposal.
TOMOMI: It's just that...it's not like we started the band knowing how to play instruments to begin with, so at first we felt like we were inferior.
MAMI: I went along feeling like, "When I think of a band, I guess a guitar comes to mind?", and I started guitar as recommended by a teacher at the school, so there were a ton of things I didn't understand.
RINA: But, since we debuted two years later and had decided to do a US tour, the four of us really felt that we needed to level up every day in order to catch up.
HARUNA: We decided for ourselves that we were going to play at Osaka-Jo Hall.
RINA: After that we began playing street lives on Shiroten Street in Osaka Castle Park where you can see Osaka-Jo Hall.＜The road to our dreams＞
(Endeavoring and strategizing in order to get to our current occupation)
| Since we had no money when we first started, school uniforms were our outfits
HARUNA: When we first started we met up together in our school uniforms, headed like that to the studio, and would play a live show like that.
MAMI: We didn't have money to buy outfits.
RINA: We decided, "So, wouldn't it be okay to play in our uniforms?", and the staff who saw that said to us, 「Wouldn't it be okay to make your debut like that?」. However, we didn't really have any friends in rock bands, and we had always been a group that didn't fit in to the idol scene, band scene, nor dance scene. Our feelings of wanting to become a proper band grew bigger and bigger. At the first the four of us passively started the band by being told to by teachers at our school, but it became fun to create SCANDAL ourselves, and even a sense of purpose sprouted forth.
TOMOMI: We had been alone as a band when we first formed, but the number of friends we have has grown during these past 11 years. We had no access to festivals or music radio programs for a long time, but I think we've become like a band while opportunities like those have gradually increased.＜Imaginative and original work＞
(What we've devised in order to become popular)
| We passed out handwritten flyers at our street lives
TOMOMI: When we had street lives, we'd make handwritten flyers and pass them out to people walking by.
HARUNA: Because we were playing lives right next to Osaka-Jo Hall, we'd cover songs of artists that we playing shows at Osaka-Jo Hall. We were having people listen to our songs and sounds.
MAMI: We'd cover 「JOY」 when YUKI was playing.
RINA: We really had people watching us then.＜Blood, sweat, and tears＞
(Tough and frustrating things through our current occupation. Memories of working hard)
| I truly think that the band has won mentally
MAMI: At first not many people were stopping to watch our street lives, nor were they taking the flyers we were handing out......
RINA: That was quite a mental blow for us (laughs bitterly).
TOMOMI: But, while we were doing it every week, the amount of people watching us truly grew a little at a time.
RINA: Playing street lives really trained us mentally.
TOMOMI: Yeah. I'm glad we played street lives. If they didn't train us mentally, the band might have continued until now.
RINA: I truly think that the band has won mentally.
HARUNA: Our mentality has steadily gotten muscular...... (laughs).
TOMOMI: Like in 『Super Mario』, we're in invincible star state (laughs).
――Also, do the members support each other when someone's feeling down?
HARUNA: That's right. In the beginning when I was worried if RINA would be okay......
RINA: I had the pressure of being in a band with three people older than me, but was swaying in between feelings of what I wanted to do.
HARUNA: Since she frankly told us those feelings, we said, 「We can't do it without RINA」.
RINA: Those words then made me really happy. There's wealth to be found in comrades that can support you both musically and mentally.
――That's exactly what a relationship of mutual trust and respect for one another is.
RINA: We had no basis for techniques nor knowledge, though (laughs). We started off with an excited atmosphere that the four of us would be able to do something interesting.
MAMI: Yeah. Like, "If we're together, we can do fun things!"
――That excitement is still after 11 years, isn't it?
HARUNA: Yes, it is.
RINA: Since we've always been good friends we do things like go out to eat together after live shows, go out in someone's car on days off, go to Disneyland together, etc.
TOMOMI: We all live close by each other......
MAMI: We're often together.
RINA: We're planning to go to South Korea soon together. The bonds between the four of us, who have experienced both fun and tough things together, are pretty solid.
＜My dream＞
(Occupational and life dreams)
| No matter what shape, being able to continue on is important
HARUNA: We don't currently have a precise dream like when we were hoping to play at Osaka-Jo Hall......but we have feelings like wanting to be able to write even better songs or lyrics, playing great lives, and wanting brush up on things we're able to do now.
TOMOMI: We've always lived our lives centered around live shows, and we'd like for the amount of people coming to our shows to increase even more.
MAMI: No matter what shape, being able to continue on is important. There are many things we still want to do and things we can't yet do, so we want to do them at our own pace one by one.
HARUNA: Also, I hope we can continue being a band that can play shows in live houses, halls, and arenas.
＜Memorable part-time jobs＞
(Talking about past jobs)
| An order for 100 people came in to the beef bowl place I was working part-time at
MAMI: I had a part-time job at a large location of a beef bowl place by a national highway. About a month after I began working there, an order for 100 people came in from a boys' baseball team. We somehow handled it, but I was in a huge panic then. When I got used to working there, I saw that the various people coming in had all sorts of things about them; it was fun to secretly observe them.
HARUNA: After I graduated high school and left my hometown of Nagoya to live by myself in Osaka, I had a part-time job at an internet cafe. Occasionally we would have band practice in the studio from 12 am to 6 am, and from 7 am to about 3 pm I would work at the internet cafe......that time in my life was a bit tiring.
――Did you not have any time to sleep?
HARUNA: Yeah, since I didn't have any at all, a senior at the cafe would worry and let me take a nap for 1-2 hours. That kindness saved me.
――It seems that TOMOMI and RINA didn't have part-time jobs; are there any you're interested in?
TOMOMI: Although I don't usually drink much, I also have a desire to be able to drink, so a job at an izakaya, bar, or karaoke place where I would make drinks and be able to communicate with people would be good.
RINA: A bakery or vintage store. I love bakeries so much that when I move, the two points I decide on are if it's a few minutes away from a station and a few minutes away from a bakery. I want to try taking advantage of my feelings of wanting to be close to bread (laughs). Also, I love vintage clothes as well and often go to vintage stores when we go overseas to play lives. It makes me happy to just see clothes that aren't like ones in Japan, so I'd to try buying them. I really do want make what I like into my job.
