Sakanaction is a popular band with a sound that fuses various genres.
Ichiro Yamaguchi, who is in charge of vocals and guitar, thinks that music will evolve further in the future after the corona disaster.
We interviewed Mr. Yamaguchi about how he is looking at the times and what kind of musical expression he is trying to create.
(Interviewer, Masachika Konishi announcer, interviewer, Yuki Sugiura announcer)
The interview was conducted at Mr. Yamaguchi's home.
Not only was Mr. Yamaguchi's music produced, but he also performed live SNS and online live concerts, making it a very active base.
(Konishi)
The most private space for Mr. Yamaguchi.
Is there any resistance?
(Yamaguchi)
Do you mean to interview or use this kind of thing?
I don't think I hate it, but after all, I should hide the fact that some musicians should be out of reach, what they like, and what kind of life they usually live in. Isn't there such a way of thinking that it's better to be there?
So, it was a little scary at first to get rid of all those parts and show them all.
However, in the times, for example, even if you think that you like the song you made and listen to it, you are in an era where you are interested in what kind of person made this song after that. Is it?
I'm sure it's the influence of SNS.
So, I felt that it was music including that, and after thinking that way, I wasn't too scared.
(Konishi)
Music including that?
(Yamaguchi)
You often call it music.
What kind of person is making what kind of music.
A long time ago, before the internet came out, until about 20 to 30 years ago, I think that I wasn't very interested in it, but nowadays, there are cases where people like music, and I like it. I think the time has come for people to be interested in what kind of people are making things.
Well, that's why I myself.
(Konishi)
I'm sure you've always been interested in it.
What kind of person is a rock star?
However, it means that we are in an era where we can easily know it.
(Yamaguchi)
That's right.
After all, literacy has also come along.
For example, if we are branding something like "I want to look like this", listeners and viewers have become more able to see through it, and I think that is probably the influence of SNS. but.
That's why I can't hide it anymore.
I think it's an era when you have to expose as much as you can't hide it.
I'm just an uncle who loves music, I'm hungry, I don't exercise, I have a habit of sleeping, and I'm just an ordinary uncle playing music, so I don't have any resistance to expose it. Or rather, I think it's that kind of thing.
"Get over" instead of overcoming
(Konishi)
In Corona, what really touched my heart was Mr. Yamaguchi's words, "getting through the night."
When I was told to "get over" instead of overcoming it, I felt very weak and felt good.
What kind of thought does Mr. Yamaguchi use for this "riding"?
(Yamaguchi)
The keyword "getting through the night" is actually a word that I started writing from around my early twenties blog.
At that time, the feeling of "getting through the night" was that we were adolescents and we were becoming adults, and we didn't want to grow up yet. To put it simply, it was like how to ride, but the meaning of "riding" used in this Corona sword is more direct.
After all, I was worried, and I didn't know what would happen in the future.
When it suddenly comes in front of me and it becomes painful, I have to overcome it.
The pain of trying to get over something that can't be overcome isn't normal, isn't it?
Instead, how do you manage the night together with music?
For that reason, it was a very normal feeling to send out our music and enjoy it, it was a keyword that came out very normally, but with Corona, we.
So, for free live distribution on video posting sites, video distribution, past video distribution, live distribution on SNS, etc., various contents, what is going on at the same time as making a song? Being busy was the way to ride for me, and what we were chanting like a Nembutsu in the corona sword was "Let's ride" and "Ride the night". That was the keyword.
Searching for new musical expressions online
While live concerts are often canceled due to the corona, Sakanaction has been focusing on online concerts.
We have been exploring what we can do only online, such as fusing CG with live music to make the whole into one video work, introducing actors, and combining the stage and live music.
(Konishi)
Mr. Yamaguchi has the impression that he started to move in various ways as soon as he became a coronavirus, but it has been two years since he was called a coronavirus.
What did you feel during this time?
(Yamaguchi)
Music has only two places to express, making a CD and performing live.
Creating a sound source is a life work, but playing a live is an important core part as a musician beyond life work, or it is a big thing that there is no point in being a musician without this. I can't do anything.
Therefore, I tried to invent music content that replaces live performances in the limited situation of this corona.
That's how the whole team got together.
It seems that the switch was switched by clicking.
For the time being, try to think of Corona as something that will never disappear.
(Konishi)
From the beginning?
(Yamaguchi)
From the beginning.
Corona must be gone.
If Corona fits in, I have to return to the original world.
If so, with this corona sword, invent one new music content, for example, even when the corona gradually fits in, it will be a life work of making their own sound source and performing live. Trying to add one.
Besides watching live concerts and listening to music, I thought that there should be music content that I could enjoy online, such as something exciting, and I thought that it was necessary because of Corona. It's also big that I felt it again.
Whether you do what you like or don't like, you'll have a hard time anyway.
For example, when it comes to corona, it's hard to endure until the corona is over and continue to play music in the system so far, and invent to find new content to do something new. Even if I try hard, it's painful.
If it's painful anyway, should I suffer with something exciting?
With that kind of feeling, if I have a hard time, I'd like to have a hard time with whatever I like.
I wasn't really sure, and I don't know if it was a big success at the moment, but I feel like I chose the fun one anyway.
(Konishi)
When I first saw Sakanaction's online live performance, beautiful images and performances were mixed, and I couldn't understand what was real and what was real.
(Yamaguchi)
That's right.
I think everyone who saw it felt it, but it was like "I don't know if this is raw or not."
That's why I was told quite a bit, "I don't need to do this live," online live.
I think it's okay to record.
However, people who saw it live must have felt the tension of being played live and the mass that they didn't understand.
I think that if it is said that it is a recording, the impression will be drastically reduced, or there may be a cut in the editing.
That's why I think that the mass that I can't see and don't understand is invading that online live.
It 's like a grudge (laughs)
(Konishi)
I've been watching real live sakanaction for a long time, so I felt uncomfortable, but the junior high school boy I was watching with was "It's okay to have a music video." What?
I said, "This is better than looking directly."
What do you think of it?
(Yamaguchi)
I was told by the staff.
When I watched too many live concerts online and did a real live concert after a long time, I said, "I can't see Ichiro's approach."
Saying "I thought there was no up".
In other words, the stage is different from the movie.
The kind of impression is different, and it's also different in terms of culture.
Maybe there is such a difference between online live and real live.
Is it fun to watch an online live as if you were watching a movie, and a real live as if you were watching a stage?
So, I wondered which one I liked, after all.
But maybe the kids are more accustomed to seeing the expressions we did online live, so I think it feels really natural.
So it's fun to watch a movie at home and to go to the stage, isn't it?
In the same way, you can be impressed by watching an online live at home, or you can go to see a live outside and enjoy a different impression.
(Konishi)
How do you feel after trying it over and over again?
(Yamaguchi)
Honestly, we did the first online live concert, and it was quite well received, and there was a reaction.
That's why I wanted various people to start doing online live concerts like this, but no one did it, right?
He didn't continue.
I want more people around me to do the same thing as soon as possible.
Since I invented it, I would like to make it more exciting.
However, I definitely think that in the last 5 or 10 years, a music video subscription service will be born.
There are various movie subscription services right now.
In such a situation, a subscription service specializing in music should be born, including live images from the past and new ones.
In that respect, I think that the content of music video is absolutely necessary, but it is not the time when musicians express it in one album and express it in real live, but video. I think it will definitely be a situation where you have to express music as a work.
That's why I think that's why I started this kind of distribution, but I think it's a bit lonely that there aren't any other people who do the same thing. I do.
It's my own idea, but what's really right or really fun is, after all, minority at first.
I don't think it will be supported easily.
However, if I continue to do that, I think that if it is attractive, it will surely become mainstream someday.
There are good times and bad times, and the fact that we believed and sent out does not change, so I think it is important to continue without discipline, and it is evaluated at this moment. Even if I try to make something, I don't think I'm excited to do it.
5 years, 10 years, 20 years, what will remain there, what will remain in the future now.
On the other hand, I don't want to get lost.
"Interview" with the live voice of Corona
At Corona, Mr. Yamaguchi has been interacting with listeners using live SNS.
There are various ages and occupations such as 6th grade, taxi driver, dental hygienist, etc.
He asks directly what he is living and what he feels, and listens to his voice.
(Konishi)
I was interacting with many people through live SNS distribution.
Why is that?
(Yamaguchi)
There was a contradiction that I had been fighting for a long time.
Even though I have to deliver music to a lot of people, I don't get on the train in the morning, I record all day, record until morning, wake up in the afternoon, with ordinary people I'm living a different life.
Nevertheless, I've always been worried about the contradictory situation of having to create something that speaks for everyone's feelings.
Meanwhile, it became a stay home, and I and the listeners were all at home.
It's almost the first time I've made my debut, and the world and my life have been linked.
I thought I was feeling the same.
If I put what I'm feeling right into words, I thought it was a strange phenomenon that everyone was feeling.
Then, at the same time of this feeling, I wanted to cover everyone.
(Konishi)
Want to interview?
(Yamaguchi)
What do you expect from listeners, such as what they are thinking, what kind of influence they have on Corona, and why they like their music. When I was wondering if I was doing it, or when I wanted to interview, the live distribution of SNS started to have a dialogue function, right?
I thought it could be used, so I started trying it.
(Konishi)
What did you want to hear?
(Yamaguchi)
First of all, what kind of work does that person do?
What are students learning?
What kind of influence did you have on Corona?
What kind of music do you usually listen to?
What made you listen to Sakanaction?
Also, what kind of things do you want for music?
I thought it would be nice if I could listen to that story exactly, so I focused on the interview.
You talk just because you're a musician.
Somehow, when I looked at what I was doing objectively, I thought that the content itself, in which musicians were talking to listeners, became music.
I think it's being viewed as music content.
(Konishi)
Is that exchange music?
(Yamaguchi)
I don't have any melody or lyrics, but I think it's music content just because I'm doing an interview to create it.
For example, if a laughing entertainer is killed, it will probably turn into laughing content.
For example, if a sociologist is doing it, it will be a sociology class.
However, when a musician does it, people who like music will see it and think about it, so it's different from listening to a song, but it will be a music content later. I felt it objectively.
What we are pursuing is "real"
(Konishi)
Why did you stick to having a direct dialogue?
(Yamaguchi)
You can't really hear anything other than having a direct dialogue.
It's meaningless, it must be real.
It's easy to understand, is it really saying, or is it in parentheses?
What's more, what I know is that if I put it in parentheses, the recipient will also know.
So, I think there are a certain number of people who are fooled by me and who believe in my lies, but the number of people who see through them is overwhelmingly large, and I trust them again. I don't think you can get it.
So, after all, I think it's meaningless if they aren't both gachinko.
As a result, it's more realistic to see it with your own eyes or listen to it directly than to see something that has passed through someone's filter, and I think it comes into you.
Probably, I think that's the case with anything, but in my case, I felt that it was a live exchange on SNS, and in my case, I could see everyone's life. You can also understand the feeling of the house in the background.
It's really real, like a student who really likes sakanaction, has a sign on it, and a student who talks in a closet because his parents are sleeping.
I'm glad I did that.
Find "real" and sing "real"
(Yamaguchi)
It's changed, isn't it? It's clear that life before and now is Corona.
I don't think it will return to its original state, and I think that the way we enjoy music and the way we interact with other cultures has changed considerably.
Some people are not interested in culture.
On the contrary, some people may be interested in this corona, and some may be far away.
I think it's different for each person, but I think it's very important to accept the fact that a change has occurred, or to accept it as a sender.
You understand that the recipient has also changed.
I think it will change quite dramatically from now on.
As a creator, including in the music industry, I feel that the time has come for the senses to change.
(Konishi)
Now that we have undergone a drastic change, I feel that the side that listens to music and the side that sends it are changing, but will it change further?
(Yamaguchi)
It will change.
I think it will definitely change.
First of all, headphones and earphones will also evolve.
(Konishi)
From the story of such a device.
(Yamaguchi)
All devices and outputs have evolved.
Doesn't it stop at this?
Five years later, it's probably outrageous.
So, I think that both ourselves and the people who make the call will change, and the way we make the call will also change.
When it comes to talking about what happens to the Metaverse, it will change even more.
After all, I couldn't imagine a smartphone until a while ago.
From such an era, I could talk on my smartphone as usual, like calling my favorite child at home and hanging up when my parents answered.
I can't write a farewell song.
(Konishi)
Why?
(Yamaguchi)
The farewell of our time, for example, when a transfer student came out of class, wasn't it the farewell of this student?
Will I never see you again?
However, the modern farewell is "LINE".
So it's connected, but it's a goodbye without contact.
So I think it's a cruel farewell than in our time.
So, after all, it's no longer possible to turn that feeling into music.
(Yamaguchi)
For example, let's say that a song that changes the world is now born in the world.
But that one song probably doesn't change the world.
(Konishi)
I'll change it, but don't you change it?
(Yamaguchi)
I don't think it will change.
The reason is that how to deliver it is important.
I think it's very important how the song reaches people and in what cases the song reaches people.
Isn't it an era where anyone can easily make a call in any situation?
It seems to be insanely convenient, and there is a possibility that the essence will not be conveyed.
That is why the world does not change and wars will occur.
So I'm wondering if music has the energy to change society and people in the first place.
But you can only believe in yourself.
Everyone believes in themselves.
I think that what I produce may affect people in some way, or it may change me, and after all, something like that mass affects people.
If there is even a slight impure motive or creativity, more and more people will see it.
I think it's very difficult.
How sincerely I see this era in which I am living, know the reality, do something about it, do not close my eyes, look at it properly, do not be afraid of myself, and send it to the masses. If I don't do that, I think I won't be able to make something that is truly loved.
(Konishi)
What kind of music do you think we must deliver in order for us to survive in the coming era?
(Yamaguchi)
Hmm.
With the evolution of technology, it's hard to feel the reality.
It has become convenient, but I think there is a reality that is different from the times we lived in.
However, the real thing definitely exists, and everyone lives in that real thing.
As a person whose job is to make music, I think I have to keep looking for that reality.
I have to keep finding it.
However, seeing that real is like living in a real way, but after all it's hard, isn't it?
But at least if I can see the real thing, sing the real thing, invent it as new content, even if it is in the form of unreal or online, and invent a new impression, I will manage everyone's night. As a bait.
(Konishi)
Bait?
(Yamaguchi)
I think you can use it as bait.
It's cool to call it a tool, but I think it's bait.
I want to continue making it, and I want to continue making it according to the times.
"Interview from here his musician Ichiro Yamaguchi"
will be broadcast on NHK General TV from 6:30 am on April 29 (Friday).
NHK Plus "Interview from here Musician Ichiro Yamaguchi"
Musician Ichiro Yamaguchi is a guest.
Mr. Yamaguchi has been searching for new musical expressions with Corona.
He interviewed how he was looking at the music of the future.
Broadcast on NHK General TV at 6:30 am on April 29 (Friday).