interview: YOU
L: Ling
Z: Zhen

1. Costumes, contract

L: For making costumes, we do it ourselves. During the month prior to
the last time we performed, the two of us were busy till 3 am the
following day, so as to be sure that we come up with good things.

YOU: Are your clothes especially expensive?

L: Not very costly, one costume is less than 10,000 yuan.

YOU: I somehow feel it's not too worth it. (that's expensive...)

Z: What's expensive is the workmanship.

YOU: Workmanship fee aren't so high~I don't believe it can cost so much
(not giving up...)

L: The tacks on each costume number a few hundred, it takes lots of
time to put them on one by one.

Z: About 5 minutes for one.

YOU: I still feel that it's expensive, the capital is extremely high.
(still not giving up...)

Z: Well, the clothes are tailored. If they're ordered in bulk and
machine-made, they wouldn't be so...

L: I want to open a costume shop! I want to learn from MANA and start
my own brand.

YOU: Actually, those things of him don't turn in much profit either
(one-track mind)

L: Maybe so, but it's possible that half a year later, such thoughts
wouldn't have materialised themselves! [plhu: so sorry, I don't
understand this sentence]

YOU：其实他那些东西不赚钱啊~（习惯性思维）
凌：也就这么一说啊，有可能在半年之后，有可能是有这方面的想法还没有具体实施！

YOU: Okay then, I'll help you advertise in "Jie4 Yin1" (laugh)

L: Because if I do it now, others may say...

YOU: That's true..

L: Right now, we want to come up with a new single. Though our album
has already been released, it hasn't been officially publicized. We
haven't signed the second contract with the company yet, but we can release
the new single in the second half of the year.

YOU: You contract is signed one by one?

L: We sign according to our albums. What we initially signed were
several agreements, but we must sign again for every album. That's why
though the band's situation is better now, but our development is partially
restricted once the external environment becomes unfavourable.

YOU: You feel that you yourselves are not bad, but the external
environment...

L: Not totally, we must continue to improve ourselves too.

YOU: That's true.

L: For example, a friend said that I can't sing (laugh) or that...how
do I say this? (smiles at Zhen, sitting beside him) They are really
great, they've been in bands for many years; Mr Hong has even released
singles, just that no one knew that he was Mr Hong because he didn't use to
use this name. Lucy's guitar skills need no explanation; and he plays
the drums well, so...

:: DEG LIVE ::

YOU: Talk about the live.

L: That's just it for now, nothing extraordinary or unexpected
happened. (shui: what do you mean by unexpected?)

YOU: Did you see them?

L: Not yet, because they had things to do after their interview
yesterday, and we had some things on too, so we left first. We originally
wanted to chat about music with them, but perhaps of the language problem,
it was harder on their management company. At first they were to be the
opening guests, but later, some circumstances prevented that...

YOU: Why?

L: Too small

YOU: Yes, the place was a little too small. (Shui: a little too small?
VERY small! An utter insult to DEG~)

L: 2 bands, both with costumes and makeup, can't perform together.

you: You didn't see 'plastic' that time; back then I already thought
that the place was too small, but the vocalist was still jumping about on
it, I was wondering how he could jump~

L: It's better since there're four of us, but it's hard on the 5-member
bands~ (shui: hmpf, petty ARK!!)

:: Members, environment copying makeup ::
YOU: Have you thought about adding a new member?

L: Right now, we're not thinking about it. We did consider it just
after Nancy left, but in the end we couldn't find a suitable one. The
members had high requirements and those who can play Lucy's guitar
arrangements aren't many, and we need one able to do visual rock as well ...

YOU: Some people refuse to put on makeup.

L; To quote Mr Hong, to put on makeup or not is a question of
"consicousness". At first, they feel they can't put on makeup, buyt later, it
comes naturally.

YOU: It's got to do with the environment. For instance, it would have
been much harder to do this 2 years ago compared to no...

L: It's a little better now; now there are bands more underground than
us, (and we're already considered quite underground) and for those
bands to do music, I feel that they must be aware that the external
environment is not so good. They must have a definite mental state and look at
the environment clearly before doing this. We signed a contract early
because we already had some fundation; it's been almost 2 years since we
formed the band, and about 1 year since we've been like this. But, the
other members have been around in the underground rock circles for 4 to
5 years and have accumulated a lot of experience. We didn't become what
we are overnight. I myself have been learning and experimenting for
many years; I didn't just think, "Hey, let's do the makeup this way..."
The image aspect improved gradually. At the very start, the image was
very simple.

YOU: It's improving now.

L: Still, many people talk about us copying. Well, what's considered
copying? It can't be helped. LIke those photos we saw just now, I have
those clothes too, should I wear them or shouldn't I? That piar of white
sports shoes, I have them too, what am I do too... luckily I didn't
bring them here...*laughs* That's why a lot of things can't be argued.
Take hair colour for example, there are only so many colours and I prefer
purple. I like Kaoru very much and I don't think that my current image
is similar to Kaoru's. It can't be helped if you want to talk about
after the makeup has gone on. In truth, visual rock makeup all involves
making the eyes look bigger, long eyelashes, artificial
double-eyelids...but people are all different, they may not look the same even with the
same makeup. That's why I don't see a point in arguing about copying.
Since we're doing visual rock, we must look visual. (Shui: well said,
big brother Ling)

YOU: That's right.

L: The makeup in X's era, as well as the makeup of the present Japanese
indie scene, is like that of Noh theatre, but it's rare...besides, it
changes according to the times. Look at hide's makeup - in the earlier
years, he had very straight eyebrows, that colour of eyeshadow and fake
double eyelids. Later the makeup trend followed that direction didn't
it? That's why I think that, under close inspection, DEG's makeup is
even trendier, especially the hairstyles. (Shui: seems that big brother
Ling has done a lot of research on hide's makeup)

YOU: I feel that Mr Zhen's makeup is especially intricate this time
round.

L: Well, he's more good-looking (literal translation: good to look at)
anyway, so he looks better. *laugh* (Shui: "Good to look at"? What a
strange expression, is it a Beijing speech habit?)

Z: Everything is developing towards maturity.

L: Some people say that our makeup isn't as good as before, actually
it's gotten a lot finer and much better-looking than before.
 

:: Kisou, dir~en~grey ::

L: I bought "Kisou" the day after it was released and did a discussion
on it at Viciousparks. They posted it onto the official Dir en grey
BBS.

YOU: And then?

L: But they posted it in Chinese, everything turned out in gibberish...

YOU: ... *laugh* (Shui: what a pity!)

L: But because of this, some people came to our official BBS and
scolded me. That's why I can only say that those people have problems with
understanding words. (Shui: Exactly! They have no standard.) I feel that
I was complimenting them throughout the whole discussion and didn't say
anything against them. (Shui: I bear witness to that)

YOU: Well, it's good that they scolded you, at least it shows that
you're being noticed ~ (Shui: That's not necessarily the case)

Z: That's what I think too~

L: How do I say this, but with my qualifications, I definitely have my
own opinion of their album. There're bound to be good and bad things
about it, but I won't say anything because everyone will start making
comparisons. If it were a Western band, I would speak my mind...but this
is visual rock - everyone feels that there are areas where I'm not as
good as them, so I don't have any authority to criticise them. During
interviews, many journalists ask about our assessment of the current rock
scene in China. I usually reply that I can't say anything because I'm
not qualified to, I don't have the experience, and I'm not in the mood
for it. Besides, being part of the rock scene, my view is not that
objective. That's why many people think that I'm a fan of the band (meaning
DEG), but in fact I'm not. I am...how do I say this...in Japanese
visual rock, they are the only band worth noticing. When you're into
something, you have to pick a representative, the best of the lot. That's why
I feel that currently, especially since Malice Mizer has disbanded,
they are the best around. Now I fell that I'm more interested in this band
because they are leading the way in terms of music and image. It's
enough to just look at them; even other bands with new images will be
influenced by them. Because right now, it is still music that is most
important to us.

[ plhu: I really didn't know what he was talking about in the last part
of this paragraph because he doesn't say "dir en grey' or 'silver ash',
just 'ta' or no pronouns all the time...hope I haven't distorted what
he said]
 

:: Shanghai, problems ::
L: I have no idea what Shanghai is about though I've been here tiwce.
(Shui: Haha, Shanghai is a confusing city)

YOU: What do you think of Shanghai?

L: It's not bad. (Shui: That's as good as not giving an answer.)

YOU: Don't say "It's not bad", why does every band say that

L: Because it's the truth, we even contemplated buying a house here if
we had the money, how's that? (Shui: Big brother Ling, I want to live
next door to you.)

YOU: That's what 'plastic' said, you haven't mentioned the many tall
buildings yet...

L: We've been in this situation before. Do you watch the programme
"Travel the world Three to Five" here? They asked me about my impression of
Shanghai, whether the buildings were especially tall and the roads
extra wide... (Shui: *sweatdrop* The host is an idiot! Come on, he's from
Beijing! The programme should be renamed "Third to Fifth Class Travel
around the World".)

Z: It sounds like we just came from a farming village *laugh*

L: That was such an awkward question, did he think we were from the
country~ *laugh*

YOU: Oh right, what question did you want to ask that time? (Ling
wanted to ask a question during the press conference, but sadly, his chance
was stolen by a female journalist)

L: I wanted to ask Kaoru why he cut his hair.

YOU: ... ... *sweatdrop* (Shui: *sweatdrop* too)

L: That question's been bothering me. Mr Hong, you said that you've had
this long hair for too long without changing it. He's changing it all
the time; since we got to know each other his hair colour has changed
many times. (Shui: Mr Hong, don't lead kids astray, it's easy to have
changes with long hair, but not if you cut it, right? Besides, Kyo's hair
colour doesn't change much but he's still cute...)

YOU: I think your present hairstyle is not bad, just that the hair
quality...

Ling: There's no way it can be good. I've dyed my hair around 20 times.
That time, when I saw Gackt's hair, I thought, "He's dyed it till that
state, but his hair quality is still not bad." (Shui: It's a lie) In
the end, he cut his hair. It goes to show that using the best dyes
doesn't help. (Shui: My mother said that dying your hair will make you
stupid!)

-- to be continued