After the national tour(in japan) that ended in may, dir en grey has been in a underground state and is heading for a new direction. To begin their new step in their new direction, the new single " GLASS SKIN" is going to be release on sept 10 along with the start of TOUR08 THE ROSE TRIMS AGAIN. And in Nov their new album "Uroboros"will be released. We will ask more about the album next time, but first we will like to present you with the interview about their new upcoming single.
Now it has not been confirmed during the time of this interview but, singles "DOZING GREEN" and "GLASS SKIN" are going to be on their new album but in a different version rewritten with english lyrics. So if you want to listen to GLASS SKIN just the way it was born, you should go out and buy the single(or liten to it on youtube :)) Now I warn you that none of you should wait until the album come out to listen to the single for your own good.
-Now this new single "GLASS SKIN", 11months since the release of "DOZING GREEN", has been played in the tour back in May, correct?
KYO: Yes. But, honestly i dont remember anything.
-What do you mean?
KYO: My memories that deal with that tour is completely gone. I think it was THE best tour i've ever done, and that tour felt like it was still going on until yesterday, but right after my head was filled with working on the album and basically i'm just a person who doesn't look back to the past(laughs). But even in the songs first stages, i felt it was a "easy song to get into". Except, as easy as it is, the taste of the song changes should change easily too.
TOSHIYA: From the players point of view, it's a fun song to play. There isn't really a speacial element or dramatic change to it, and because it's a simple song, i think thats what make it speacial. I can really face this song naturally.
-This song would be considered a very mellow song for DEG, correct? This may sound weird but kind of backstabbing people expectations?
TOSHIYA:No, actually this song was made naturally. We weren't really writing to release it as a single.
SHINYA: When we needed to choose a song to release, we had an opportunity to bring all of our ideas together. At that point, this song wasn't really complete to the point where you can actually call it a song but we all agreed on making this song.
TOSHIYA: When we thought this might be a pretty good song, we didn't think of backstabbing anybody but we were really able to work on it normally. Well theres actually theres time when its just hard to make a song naturally(laughs) but, this time I think we were really able to focus on it naturally.
KYO:We don't have that feeling now where you think "Maybe it might be new to release this"or "Maybe we should venture to make a song that doesn't sound like a single". Simply, we just wrote what we wanted right now, if we thought we've completed something where you can feel a fresh atmosphere we should release it. Really, that's all there is to it.
-Can we think of the title "GLASS SKIN" sculpting a image of something fragile and empty?
KYO: Yes. Something easy to break. In a human. If I were to explain as minimal as possible, the theme i sing about is, about environmental issues. Not a love song. Well, I'm not gonna give away too much(laughs). I don't like it when things get too lecture-ish(is there a word for that?lol).
SHINYA: I think the title, explains the atmosphere of the song.
-In this single, the B-sides songs are also very solid. First of all, the new version of a song in the 2002 album "KISOU", undecided. And "ASOM-UNPLUGGED-" recorded only with piano and voice. And in the limited edition, the live recording of "RYOUJOKU NO AME"
TOSHIYA: for "undecided" we've had some opportunities to play it unplugged back in 2007 shows. This idea is just simply, "If we play an old song now, this is what it would sound like". Recording this song was actually very troubling, although it sounds simple on the record(laughs).
SHINYA: As for the live recording, as long as there isnt any noticeable mistakes, theres no problem. There isn't much to comment onf that, but we just wanted something new.
-Any comments for the shocking "ASOMU"?
TOSHIYA: One word, sugoi(laughs)
KYO: Just listen to them. People that have already keep asking the same question. "How did you record this?"(laughs)
-and that's...top secret?
KYO:yes(laughs)
-So, you are preparing for the new releases and the tour.(bleh...too many repeats...i shortened that)
TOSHIYA: Honestly, i don't think i can switch into tour mode until a day or two before it starts. This means that we've got to finish up the all but...(laughs)i'm looking forward to it.Including Novembers America Tour(me too:)).
KYO: I think we were able to make something new for us, and something that you would not find anywhere else in the world, so yea, look forward to it.