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| ACME in Long Beach, California [07/02/19] |
On the 2nd of July 2019 in the dressing room of Toxic Toast Records located in Long Beach, California, VKH met ACME right before their first solo live in the US. While RIKITO and SHOGO were already in full makeup and hair, we meet HAL who just started to get his hair styled and, in contrast, CHISA who was clear of makeup- awaiting his turn. We sat down together with Rubab of Fake Star for an interview with the boys, who were eager to get down to business.
VKH: You’ve been to Wisconsin for Anime Milwaukee & Texas for
A-kon and now you’re here in California for your own live, how has your
experience in the US been so far?
HAL: Everyone says Japanese people are hardworking and that the
image that people have of Japan. But actually, I feel like, our American staff
works a lot harder. Everyone here works hard. They don’t skip out on us or
flake on us. They put in 100% of their effort.
VKH: That’s so nice to hear!
CHISA: Asides from coming here with the band, my first time coming
to the US was when I first went to California. I came because it seemed like a
good time, but that experience gave me the knowledge that people don’t really
know me or my music. So being able to come here to share my music has been a
really great experience especially because people don’t know who we are here.
VKH: Is there a difference performing in conventions and your
one-man shows?
HAL: The first thing was the outfits, the cosplay. And there’s a
lot of guys. In Japan, it’s all girls.
VKH: Ah yes, there’s a lot of fanboys here.
EVERYONE: Ah.. (nodding their heads)
CHISA: I actually think anime and visual kei go well together.
There’s a lot of anime fans that we’ve encountered here who has grown to like
us because of our music but never seen us before. And I really like “Weebs”,
they have been very good to us.
VKH: That’s nice! Some of your fans actually think that your music
sounds like it would go well with an anime series. What do you think of the
notion that your music would be great for anime?
HAL: I think so!
CHISA: There’s a lot of work that goes into making an anime
collaboration. It’s not easy. We need the right connections to make it happen,
which we don’t have since we are an indie band. I just think it’s funny we are
performing at all these anime conventions, but we don’t even have an anime tie-up. And I think it will be funny if we did the American version of anime. Like
in Japan it is licensed with a different song, but in America, it would be
licensed with one of our songs. I think it would be cool.
VKH: Yes, very cool. So we have been talking about anime and
anime conventions, does anyone have any favorite anime they want to share?
RIKITO: Slam Dunk!
VKH: Ah, that’s a good one.
SHOGO: Sailormoon…???
CHISA: Jojo’s Adventure, Dragon Ball, Hunter x Hunter, Naruto…
VKH: What about My Hero Academia?
CHISA: My Hero, yes!
VKH: Chisa, how was your experience in Anime Expo last year as you
walked the runway and were the guest of honor for the fashion show?
CHISA: It was my first experience on a runway and it was cool
because I was able to work with designers in that capacity. As a musician, I
don’t have the opportunity to come up very much. But I don’t really know if my
walk was okay or not, because I don’t really know how to model.
VKH: I’m sure if you act cool, it’ll be fine!
CHISA: It’s difficult! (laughs)
VKH: And so, you also designed the very cool hoodie for your
single “Rotten Orange”, are you or anyone else in the band planning to have
more fashion releases or even walk the runway?
CHISA: With that hoodie, I just like making things. But I’m so
busy with the band and the band is my main priority. So, it’s more of when I
have the time, I’ll make them. It’s mostly a hobby for me and I do have other
things I make on the side, also.
HAL: It’s not fashion, but I make curry! I sell it online and at
our live venues. The curry is called the “Curry That Made for Me on Sunday” and my dad designed
the packaging, drawing it himself!
VKH: That’s amazing! Curry is my favorite!
HAL: Me, too!
(Chisa shows a photo of the curry)
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| Hal's curry called "Curry That Father Made for Me on Sunday" from twitter. |
VKH: Very cool! But going back to the music…
EVERYONE: laughs
VKH: Going back to music, since it is the main focus of the band…
MONONOKE REQUIEM is one of your heaviest singles to date. Can you tell us about
the thinking processes and inspiration behind the song?
CHISA: Usually when we make a track, one of us will come up with
the main part of it and come together & arrange it. For the track, Hal made
it.
HAL: For this track, I was just f*cking around, thinking that I’ll
just make the hardest track I’ll ever make. I didn’t think it was
something ACME wanted to do, but everyone actually ended up liking it. We also
had fans telling us to make heavier songs.
VKH: Wow, that’s awesome! Do you have any other place you’d love
to perform at?
RIKITO: New York!
VKH: Ah, nice!
CHISA: I really want to go to Europe and South America. In Texas,
recently, I really liked Tex-Mex food. But I also want to go to Mexico to try
real Mexican food in Mexico. A fan told me that Tex-Mex isn’t real Mexican food
and so now, I really want to try the food in Mexico!
VKH: I know you guys are ready to rock tonight, any thoughts about
tonight’s live?
CHISA: We going to Japan tomorrow. But every time we come to
perform here in America, the audience is warm and inviting, they scream a lot
for us and they’re always really excited. Our next show hasn’t been decided
yet, but we are going to finish the show looking forward to the next time we
come back.
VKH: Thank you for your time! Do you mind sharing a message to
your fans?
HAL: I’m sure all around the world there’s a lot of people going
through difficult times in any situation they are in. And so, I hope that they
listen to our music to help them get through those times and hopefully they can
feel better. We want to work very hard in order to make people happy, so we
will continue to do our best. If you ever want to see us, call us and we will
be there.
RIKITO: We will continue to make more music and we will make
better music than we ever made before. So, look forward to more music from us!
And continue to support us! We will come back and perform in America again- I
definitely want to come back and perform here again! I also want to live here!
SHOGO: We definitely want to come back to play in America again! I
hope we have more and more opportunities to perform. So, next time we come,
please come see us! And thank you!
CHISA: I’ve been doing visual kei music in Japan for ten years
now. This year, to be able to perform 2-3 times in the US has really been a
really great experience and I felt like I’ve been able to grow myself as a
person through it. I’m hoping this will also allow us to grow our audience more
and be more known. There are so many places in the US and around the world that I
haven’t had the chance to visit yet, but I’m hoping we will be able to go to
those places from now on, as well. And we thank everyone for your
support!
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ACME in Long Beach, California [07/02/19]
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Interviewing ACME was a pleasure. The boys were lively, excited,
and definitely ready to rock the stage that evening. Make sure to check out the
LIVE REPORT (coming soon!) here on VKH-Press on what went down. A special thanks to Fake Star for
making this interview possible! Make sure to check out the band’s links:
Thanks for reading!
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