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| (Photo: [L to R] Gt. Kazu, Kbd. Teru, Vo. Ken, Ds. Tatsu, Ba. Hiro) |
Crossfaith returned to the Vans Warped Tour this year, and VKH was fortunate enough to catch up with them for a quick interview at the end of the tour's stop at the Coral Sky Ampitheatre in West Palm Beach, Florida. The band members were very warm and open, and the result was a fun and enlightening interview. As you'll see from the interview, the members of this self-described "future metal" band are fun, down to earth, and passionate about their music. Enjoy!
VKH: What’s up everyone, this is Jeff of VKH Press, and we're with some of the members of Crossfaith! Would you guys mind introducing yourselves?
Ken: I’m Ken, I’m the singer.
Hiro: I’m Hiro, I play bass for the band!
Teru: Yeah I’m Teru, I do the DJing, screaming, and jumping around the room...
Ken: And drinking! (laughs)
VKH: You guys are all the drinkers of the band? (laughs)
Ken: Yeah!
VKH: This is your second time at Warped Tour. Being from Japan, you’re still a little new to America, so how would you describe your music to someone who's never heard of you before?
Hiro: I guess, like…future metal?
Ken: Yeah, future metal.
VKH: That's awesome!
Ken: Yeah it’s like very dancey, and heavy, and we have tons of breakdowns, and uh…..and….dancey…
Hiro: Ken, you alright? (laughs) But yeah, the reason we use “future metal” is we have [Teru] doing more electronic stuff, but of course we’re a metal band. So how we mix [our music] is really different from other bands.
Teru: Yeah, I can put a lot of electronic influence into our music.
VKH: You’ve performed all over the world. What country has the craziest fans?
Ken: Germany. They’re crazy. The Germans have a really original way of having fun with their metal music. If their voltage is peaked, they will sit down and start acting like they’re rowing a boat.
Hiro: In the middle of the mosh pit! When we played at Rock am Ring, there was, like, 200 people, and everyone in the middle of the mosh pit started doing it, but we didn’t know [anything] about it. We would be in the middle of a breakdown—like DADADADADADADA—and everyone’s sitting and rowing!
Ken: After the show I asked a local crew member, and he told me it was the fans’ best way to express respect to the band.
VKH: Your live was awesome. One thing that a lot of bands in America struggle with is being original, unique, and creative when performing live. In your opinion, what does it take to make a good, unique live?
Hiro: Well, being unique isn’t something that you can make happen. We have five members, and they all have different personalities and styles. Since our style is different, I don’t think it’s possible to “make” it. So if someone were to ask me that, I guess I would say “I don’t know.” You can’t make it happen, it just has to happen. And it’s happening [for us].
Teru: With every single show, we try to get the audience to 100% energy. Energy is very important to the show.
Ken: The live is the most important part for every band.
Hiro: I think that’s another thing, is that before the show we’re super focused on performing. And I think it’s like that with every band, but our level [of focus] is different.
VKH: You recently signed with the U.S. label Razor & Tie. What’s it like working with them versus working with a Japanese label?
Hiro: Well, we live in Japan, so in Japan we signed with Ariola (Japan), which is much closer. We communicate with them a lot, and they’ve come to see our sets.
Ken: Since we don’t live here [in the U.S.] it’s kinda hard to communicate with Razor & Tie. And also like Hiro said, we’re still based in Japan, so we have plenty of time to have meetings with our labels and our management. Team Crossfaith’s headquarters is in Japan too, along with Sony Music (Japan). We have Raw Power management for worldwide [activities], Razor & Tie for the States, and Sony Music (UK) in the U.K., so we have territories, but we’re centered around Sony Music (Japan).
VKH: Have you guys seen any Razor & Tie bands that you’d want to work or tour with?
Ken: Attila. They're also a heavy metal band signed to Razor & Tie.
VKH: Nice, that’d be awesome. You guys would go great together.
VKH: This next question is for Teru. We’re currently in Florida, and we’re in West Palm Beach, which is 2 hours north of Miami. In America, Miami is one of the biggest cities for electronic dance music. What are your thoughts on the American DJ scene versus the Japanese DJ scene?
Teru: Ah, yeah, they have Ultra Music festival. I love artists from the UK electronic scene like The Chemical Brothers.
Ken: But you still sometimes listen to U.S. EDM, right?
Teru: Uh yeah, like….Steve Aoki, or David Guetta…
Ken: (laughs) He doesn’t listen to David Guetta…
Teru: (laughs) Hey whatever, I don’t hate him.
VKH: You probably like stuff more like The Prodigy, right?
Teru: Yeah, The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Deadmau5...
VKH: Do you like trap music? It’s really big in this area.
Teru: Eh…..it’s so-so.
VKH: Ken, what do you think is the biggest difference between the American and Japanese metal scenes? Or what’s the first difference that comes to mind?
Ken: I think it’s that the age of the fan base is different. In Japan, the metal fans are much older. We have a metal festival called Loud Park in Japan, and the lineup is always very old. Lots of classic artists like Iron Maiden, Dio, and basically classic metal bands like that. About 20,000 people come, and there won’t be any young people in the crowd, so yeah, the Japanese metal scene is very old.
Hiro: But the metal scene that we are in is much younger like the U.S. scene is here. And the festivals that we are in usually have younger people, like 16 - 18 year olds. Pretty much like Warped Tour.
VKH: You guys are able to mix metalcore and electronic music more perfectly than most or any bands we've ever seen, especially in metal. How do you find the perfect balance between those two genres?
Ken: We have two songwriters, one is Teru, and the other is our guitarist Kazu, so I’ll let Teru answer.
Teru: For our song writing process, when I was composing the songs, I chose the BPM (beats-per-minute) for the song. For example, I sometimes use 140 BPM. 140 is a dubstep song BPM, so the band plays at that BPM in order for me to add a dubstep influence. The BPM is very important.
VKH: That explains a lot about your music, because everything sounds so in sync.
VKH: Alright, we’ve got a couple fun questions for you guys. Today is 4th of July—
Crossfaith: Yeah! America!!
Ken: Happy America!
VKH: —which is one of America’s biggest drinking and party holidays. So what are your guys’ favorite American drink and favorite Japanese drink?
Ken: American drink: beer!
Hiro: PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon)! I know it’s cheaper, but when I’m watching South Park, it’s always there. First time I saw it was with Kenny on South Park.
Teru: Jack Daniels.
VKH: And favorite Japanese drink?
Hiro: Sake.
Teru: Poriporshi.
Ken: Chuhai.
VKH: What’s chuhai?
Ken: It’s basically a cider. And they come in all kinds of different flavors.
Hiro: Yeah, it’s like the main drink of choice in Japan. It’s like how beer is in America.
VKH: We know from the Jagerbomb music video that you guys like to party. Do you guys have any party plans tonight to celebrate 4th of July?
Crossfaith: Of course!
VKH: Where do you like to go when you party? Bars? Clubs?
Hiro: We like to party on the buses. Like we go to each of the other bands’ buses and pour each other shots and get fucked up.
Ken: Yeah we have a blast on the bus with Caleb [Shomo] from Beartooth. We hang out so much.
VKH: That’s much cheaper too, huh? And less hassle?
Hiro: Yeah, and it’s a private place, so we can do whatever we want.
VKH: Thank you very much for talking with us! Do you have a message that you’d like to give to your fans?
Ken: We're going to be releasing new music very soon! Our upcoming album is titled XENO.
Teru: It will take our mixture of metal and electronic music to the next level!
Special thanks to Crossfaith for taking the time to answer our questions, VANS WARPED TOUR and Global Production Management for making this interview possible!
Wanna learn more about the band's upcoming album XENO? Check out the track list and more below:
XENO ($7.99 on iTunes)
1) System X
2) Xeno
3) Raise Your Voice
4) Devil’s Party
5) Ghost In The Mirror (feat Caleb Shomo from Beartooth)
6) Dystopia
7) Wildfire (feat Benji Webbe from Skindred)
8) Tears Fall
9) Paint It Black
10) Vanguard
11) Calm The Storm
12) Astral Heaven
*Pre-oder it digitally on iTunes or Merch Now (Physically)
They will also be heading to the U.K. this fall with SKINDRED! Purchase your tickets on LiveNation, and visit their OHP for more details.
SKINDRED/CROSSFAITH 2015 UK TOUR
VKH: What’s up everyone, this is Jeff of VKH Press, and we're with some of the members of Crossfaith! Would you guys mind introducing yourselves?
Ken: I’m Ken, I’m the singer.
Hiro: I’m Hiro, I play bass for the band!
Teru: Yeah I’m Teru, I do the DJing, screaming, and jumping around the room...
Ken: And drinking! (laughs)
VKH: You guys are all the drinkers of the band? (laughs)
Ken: Yeah!
VKH: This is your second time at Warped Tour. Being from Japan, you’re still a little new to America, so how would you describe your music to someone who's never heard of you before?
Hiro: I guess, like…future metal?
Ken: Yeah, future metal.
VKH: That's awesome!
Ken: Yeah it’s like very dancey, and heavy, and we have tons of breakdowns, and uh…..and….dancey…
Hiro: Ken, you alright? (laughs) But yeah, the reason we use “future metal” is we have [Teru] doing more electronic stuff, but of course we’re a metal band. So how we mix [our music] is really different from other bands.
Teru: Yeah, I can put a lot of electronic influence into our music.
VKH: You’ve performed all over the world. What country has the craziest fans?
Ken: Germany. They’re crazy. The Germans have a really original way of having fun with their metal music. If their voltage is peaked, they will sit down and start acting like they’re rowing a boat.
Hiro: In the middle of the mosh pit! When we played at Rock am Ring, there was, like, 200 people, and everyone in the middle of the mosh pit started doing it, but we didn’t know [anything] about it. We would be in the middle of a breakdown—like DADADADADADADA—and everyone’s sitting and rowing!
Ken: After the show I asked a local crew member, and he told me it was the fans’ best way to express respect to the band.
VKH: Your live was awesome. One thing that a lot of bands in America struggle with is being original, unique, and creative when performing live. In your opinion, what does it take to make a good, unique live?
Hiro: Well, being unique isn’t something that you can make happen. We have five members, and they all have different personalities and styles. Since our style is different, I don’t think it’s possible to “make” it. So if someone were to ask me that, I guess I would say “I don’t know.” You can’t make it happen, it just has to happen. And it’s happening [for us].
Teru: With every single show, we try to get the audience to 100% energy. Energy is very important to the show.
Ken: The live is the most important part for every band.
Hiro: I think that’s another thing, is that before the show we’re super focused on performing. And I think it’s like that with every band, but our level [of focus] is different.
VKH: You recently signed with the U.S. label Razor & Tie. What’s it like working with them versus working with a Japanese label?
Hiro: Well, we live in Japan, so in Japan we signed with Ariola (Japan), which is much closer. We communicate with them a lot, and they’ve come to see our sets.
Ken: Since we don’t live here [in the U.S.] it’s kinda hard to communicate with Razor & Tie. And also like Hiro said, we’re still based in Japan, so we have plenty of time to have meetings with our labels and our management. Team Crossfaith’s headquarters is in Japan too, along with Sony Music (Japan). We have Raw Power management for worldwide [activities], Razor & Tie for the States, and Sony Music (UK) in the U.K., so we have territories, but we’re centered around Sony Music (Japan).
VKH: Have you guys seen any Razor & Tie bands that you’d want to work or tour with?
Ken: Attila. They're also a heavy metal band signed to Razor & Tie.
VKH: Nice, that’d be awesome. You guys would go great together.
VKH: This next question is for Teru. We’re currently in Florida, and we’re in West Palm Beach, which is 2 hours north of Miami. In America, Miami is one of the biggest cities for electronic dance music. What are your thoughts on the American DJ scene versus the Japanese DJ scene?
Teru: Ah, yeah, they have Ultra Music festival. I love artists from the UK electronic scene like The Chemical Brothers.
Ken: But you still sometimes listen to U.S. EDM, right?
Teru: Uh yeah, like….Steve Aoki, or David Guetta…
Ken: (laughs) He doesn’t listen to David Guetta…
Teru: (laughs) Hey whatever, I don’t hate him.
VKH: You probably like stuff more like The Prodigy, right?
Teru: Yeah, The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Deadmau5...
VKH: Do you like trap music? It’s really big in this area.
Teru: Eh…..it’s so-so.
VKH: Ken, what do you think is the biggest difference between the American and Japanese metal scenes? Or what’s the first difference that comes to mind?
Ken: I think it’s that the age of the fan base is different. In Japan, the metal fans are much older. We have a metal festival called Loud Park in Japan, and the lineup is always very old. Lots of classic artists like Iron Maiden, Dio, and basically classic metal bands like that. About 20,000 people come, and there won’t be any young people in the crowd, so yeah, the Japanese metal scene is very old.
Hiro: But the metal scene that we are in is much younger like the U.S. scene is here. And the festivals that we are in usually have younger people, like 16 - 18 year olds. Pretty much like Warped Tour.
VKH: You guys are able to mix metalcore and electronic music more perfectly than most or any bands we've ever seen, especially in metal. How do you find the perfect balance between those two genres?
Ken: We have two songwriters, one is Teru, and the other is our guitarist Kazu, so I’ll let Teru answer.
Teru: For our song writing process, when I was composing the songs, I chose the BPM (beats-per-minute) for the song. For example, I sometimes use 140 BPM. 140 is a dubstep song BPM, so the band plays at that BPM in order for me to add a dubstep influence. The BPM is very important.
VKH: That explains a lot about your music, because everything sounds so in sync.
VKH: Alright, we’ve got a couple fun questions for you guys. Today is 4th of July—
Crossfaith: Yeah! America!!
Ken: Happy America!
VKH: —which is one of America’s biggest drinking and party holidays. So what are your guys’ favorite American drink and favorite Japanese drink?
Ken: American drink: beer!
Hiro: PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon)! I know it’s cheaper, but when I’m watching South Park, it’s always there. First time I saw it was with Kenny on South Park.
Teru: Jack Daniels.
VKH: And favorite Japanese drink?
Hiro: Sake.
Teru: Poriporshi.
Ken: Chuhai.
VKH: What’s chuhai?
Ken: It’s basically a cider. And they come in all kinds of different flavors.
Hiro: Yeah, it’s like the main drink of choice in Japan. It’s like how beer is in America.
VKH: We know from the Jagerbomb music video that you guys like to party. Do you guys have any party plans tonight to celebrate 4th of July?
Crossfaith: Of course!
VKH: Where do you like to go when you party? Bars? Clubs?
Hiro: We like to party on the buses. Like we go to each of the other bands’ buses and pour each other shots and get fucked up.
Ken: Yeah we have a blast on the bus with Caleb [Shomo] from Beartooth. We hang out so much.
VKH: That’s much cheaper too, huh? And less hassle?
Hiro: Yeah, and it’s a private place, so we can do whatever we want.
VKH: Thank you very much for talking with us! Do you have a message that you’d like to give to your fans?
Ken: We're going to be releasing new music very soon! Our upcoming album is titled XENO.
Teru: It will take our mixture of metal and electronic music to the next level!
Special thanks to Crossfaith for taking the time to answer our questions, VANS WARPED TOUR and Global Production Management for making this interview possible!
Wanna learn more about the band's upcoming album XENO? Check out the track list and more below:
1) System X
2) Xeno
3) Raise Your Voice
4) Devil’s Party
5) Ghost In The Mirror (feat Caleb Shomo from Beartooth)
6) Dystopia
7) Wildfire (feat Benji Webbe from Skindred)
8) Tears Fall
9) Paint It Black
10) Vanguard
11) Calm The Storm
12) Astral Heaven
*Pre-oder it digitally on iTunes or Merch Now (Physically)
They will also be heading to the U.K. this fall with SKINDRED! Purchase your tickets on LiveNation, and visit their OHP for more details.
SKINDRED/CROSSFAITH 2015 UK TOUR
- Nov 04: Southampton O2 Guildhall
- Nov 05: Norwich UEA
- Nov 06: Nottingham Rock City
- Nov 07: Manchester Academy
- Nov 08: Newcastle O2 Academy
- Nov 10: Glasgow O2 ABC
- Nov 11: Leeds Stylus
- Nov 12: Bristol O2 Academy
- Nov 13: Birmingham O2 Institute
- Nov 14: London O2 Brixton Academy
Links:
Official website – www.crossfaith.jp
Facebook – www.facebook.com/crossfaithofficial
Twitter – www.twitter.com/crossfaithjapan
Instagram – www.instagram.com/crossfaithjapan
YouTube – www.youtube.com/user/crossfaithjapan
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