| 1997.1.29 |
LIVE & DOCUMENTARY VIDEO [Mugen no déjà vu DOCUMENT of BEAT out! TOURS] is released. |
| 1997.2.1~ |
[GLAY TOUR '96~'97 "BELOVED YOU"] and additional (national) concert tour, [BELOVED YOU ENCORE] starts. [7 places, 7 times]. |
| 1997.3~4 |
They took a month and a half vacation. This was their first long vacation after they made their debut. "They were always running since their debut, without taking day-offs. I thought they could rest themselves." (Hiro Inoguchi) |
| 1997.3.19 |
LIVE & DOCUMENTARY VIDEO [Mugen no déjà vu DOCUMENT of BEAT out! TOURS-Kaizokuu Ban-("pirate" edition)] is released. Only 30 000 limited copies, SOLD OUT by reservation. |
| 1997.4.2 |
NACK5 regular program [UPTOWN SQUARE] starts. (In 1998, it was renamed GLAY HAPPY NOISE before Hisashi finally quit this program.) Every Wednesday from 9:00~10:00 p.m. DJ: Hisashi. |
| 1997.5.14 |
11th single [Kuchibiru] ("lips") is released. This is the ending theme to Fuji TV's [HEY! HEY! HEY! ~MUSIC CHAMP~]. Debuts at no. 1 in the Oricon Charts [5/26]. C/W [Haru Wo Ai Suru Hito] ("someone who loves Spring"). |
| 1997.5.14 |
11th single [Kuchibiru] ("lips") is released. This is the ending theme to Fuji TV's [HEY! HEY! HEY! ~MUSIC CHAMP~]. Debuts at no. 1 in the Oricon Charts [5/26]. C/W [Haru Wo Ai Suru Hito] ("someone who loves Spring").
Kokuritsu Yoyogi Kyogijo Daiichi Taiikukan-GLAY Official Fan Club HAPPY SWING presents [HAPPY SWING '97 UNPLUGGED]. |
| 1997.6.6 |
Hisashi's book-Arigato, is on sale. Publisher: Shinko Music Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 1997.7.20~ |
Nationwide tour [GLAY ARENA TOUR '97 ~HIT THE WORLD~] starts. [8 places, 15 times + 3 additional concerts]. Hisashi told BPASS magazine: "I can't see what GLAY will look like tomorrow. That's why I'm looking forward to seeing the band tomorrow." |
| 1997.8.5 |
Rainbow Town [Rinkaifukutoshin] Rainbow Square Ariyake [TV Asahi-Pine '97 HYSTERIC PARADISE]. |
| 1997.8.6 |
12th single [HOWEVER] is released. This is the theme song of the TBS-TV Drama, "Ryakudatsu Ai-Abunai Onna." Debuts at no. 1 in the Oricon Charts [8/18]. C/W [I'm Yours]. |
| 1997.9.13~ |
[GLAY ARENA TOUR '97 ~HIT THE WORLD september] starts. [3 places, 6 times]. |
| 1997.10.1 |
BEST album-Review~Best of Glay, is released. Debuts at no. 1 in the Oricon Charts.
TOKYO-FM [JFN]-Regular show for Takuro [Glayline with Takuro] starts. [In 1998, it was renamed GLAY TAKURO RADIO FACTORY.] Mondays thru Thursdays at 10:30-10:40 p.m. DJ: Takuro |
| 1997.10.7 |
FM802-regular show for Jiro [Love Overtime] starts. [In 1998, it was renamed BUGGY CRASH NIGHT.] Tuesdays from 2:00~3:00 a.m. DJ: Jiro. |
| 1997.10.9 |
2nd photo book-Midnight Sun reprise, is on sale. Publisher: Sony Magazines Inc. |
| 1997.11.30 |
Street Video Concert [HIT THE WORLD STREET FILM GIG]. 27 000 people attend. |
| 1997.12.3 |
Live video [HIT THE WORLD GLAY ARENA TOUR' 97 at YOYOGIDAIICHITAIIKUKAN] is released. |
| 1997.12.31 |
3rd album [BELOVED] won the Best Album Award in the Nippon Record Taishou. The single [HOWEVER] won the Best Record in the Nippon Record Taishou.
Glay perform on Kouhaku Utagassen. |
| 1998.2.4 |
3rd music video collection-Video Glay 3, is released. |
|
TAKURO's lonely journey
-(The BELOVED Tour) was a long tour, wasn't it?
TAKURO: I was trained for this tour. I fought with JIRO in Kobe for a video. Whether or not we could watch.
TERU: Kobe was a "fabricated house". It wasn't right after the earthquake but I felt the damage of the earthquake.
TA: Mugen no déjà vu was released in this year.
TE: I like this video very much because we can see that GLAY is hardworking.
-Do TERU and TAKURO appear harsh in this video?
(aciel's note: There were 2 Mugen no déjà vu videos released in 1997, an original one and a pirate version. TERU and TAKURO started out by talking about the original version until the interviewer asked them this question. Now they are talking about Mugen no déjà vu-Kaizokuu ban-["pirate" version].)
TE & TA: It's a pirate video!
TA: What was the song?
TE: Deatte shimatta~...mind or something. It's like an old song or a parody.
TA: It was too scary. The material was too scary to sell. That's why a 30 000 limit release was fine. It was for the fans who really wanted it.
HISASHI: I don't have it.
TA: Are you kidding? I have a lot of copies. I stole them from the warehouse. Besides, they had a serial number. (Laughs)
HI: Please record a CDR (for me).
TA: You want me to make a pirate copy of a pirate video? (Laughs)
-Did you (TAKURO) go to London and New York?
JIRO: At that time, I started to write a serial column, [Caramel]. (JIRO is a contributer to WHAT's IN magazine with his monthly section called "Caramel Box".) I was with TAKURO during the London part.
TA: I created [HOWEVER] during this trip. I stayed at SUGIZO's house in London.
TE: I remember you said, "I thought about a lot of things" during this trip.
TA: Actually, I was lonely. (Laughs)
JI: I think it you were supposed to go into loneliness because I felt a special atmosphere on you when we stayed in London. (Laughs)
TA: Yeah. GLAY had a break. I didn't like everybody flattering us. I remember the limousine car. I asked Inoguchi, who is president of our record company, "Please pick me up at the New York airport. I'm nervous." When I got off JFK, I was wearing a sweatshirt, pants and sneakers, and carrying a £99 guitar. A very expensive limousine picked me up.
TE: This happened in New York? (Laughs)
TA: I felt nervous in the car. I was wearing a sweatshirt and pants and the driver was Japanese. A very kind person. Finally, I asked him when the car stopped at a traffic sign, "May I sit on the passenger's side (of the driver's seat)?" I saw an empty backseat.
HI: It was hopeless. (Laughs)
TA: I gave the £99 guitar to one of the fans at Camden. And I met (Koji) Ueno, a member of Thee Michelle Gun Elephant by chance. He's pretty nice. I was impressed.
-Did you have an acoustic live at Yoyogi? It was something like this concert.
(aciel's note: This interview probably took place after JIRO's Unplugged at Budokan, which took place on 13 December, 1999. GLAY had a similar Unplugged concert 2 years before, at Yoyogi. The interviewer is comparing the two concerts.)
JI: Yes. It's almost the same concert this time. This concert was good for GLAY because we can compare this concert with the previous one.
TE: I think we played with noise somehow.
HI: Don't say "noise"!! (Laughs)
TA: Complain, complain. (Laughs)
(aciel's note: TAKURO used the word "monoii" which is a special term used in sumo wrestling when the judges argue.)
TE: Well, I realized that I depend on the stage which has an atmosphere of rock n' roll. There is no room for compromise on the stage. It's out of the question to be deceptive. We are not going to get away with anything onstage. We learned a lot in this concert.
JI: After this Unplugged live, TAKURO asked TERU something which was based on a reflection of the Yoyogi live. What was it? (Laughs)
TA: Don't use the music stand with the skeleton seal because it's strange. It's like a joke. Even though we played a lot. And we played [Nasake nai Shuumatsu] ("miserable weekend") by Motoharu Sano at the Yoyogi acoustic concert.
HI: We also played that song at Rokumeikan.
JI: That rings a bell. I have been to Rokumeikan as an audience member.
HIT THE WORLD
TA: In the Arena Tour...it was huge. I realized that we were overreaching vanity.
TE: At the opening, we used CG (computer graphics). We had many CG characters.
TA: We really had a lot of characters, for example, kurou (crow).
JI: That's you. (Laughs)
TA: I was satisfied with it because...
JI: It's a bird. (Laughs)
TE: I was worried about that. (Laughs)
HI: The CG was that, first, some animal appeared. Then they changed into the members.
JI: Crow. (Laughs)
TA: I'm a crow? (Laughs)
HI: I made the sound which suited the visual.
TA: It was original. It was a masterpiece. It was very unique to use such an original story scene with the opening. By the way, the first uchiage in the Arena Tour was...
JI: Are you going to mention that?
TA: On July 20, the first concert at Yokohama Arena was finished successfully. "Let's go to uchiage!" somebody said. "I haven't prepated the place." No kidding.
JI: Nagai, TAKURO and I went to the pub.
TA: It's a normal activity even during concert tours.
JI: It's like a false image.
-TAKURO's radio show was started this year. After HISASHI.
TA: Who thought of the name of JIRO's FM802 (program) [LOVE OVERTIME]?
JI: (Laughs) Masayuki Suzuki (a musician from RATS AND STARS).
HI: Are you a member of the Martin family? (Laughs)
TA: It's Masi. (Laughs)
(aciel's note: TAKURO and HISASHI are making fun of JIRO by asking him if he is related to Masayuki Suzuki.)
JI: We went to Los Angeles. We had PV shoot for VIDEO GLAY 3.
HI: I bought an Apple e-mate for children at the time.
JI: It had a pretty color.
HI: I thought that this stream led to the iMac in Los Angeles.
TE: Act Against Aids... I guess we were with Masayoshi Yamazaki and Char.
TA: Yeah, there were many people. Everybody said that GLAY's security (people) were extremely scary.
HI: It wasn't good to frighten the people at the charity. (Laughs)
TE: We appeared on Kouhaku at the end of this year.
TA: At Kouhaku, when we met Akko and Oyaji (the hosts), they treated us very well.
JI: Oyaji's hometown is Hakodate, that's why he had a good impression of GLAY.
TE: We ate 2~3 Cup Noodles because we were busy with Kouhaku.
TA: We were poor. |
