A few days ago, Japanese band coldrain stopped by Paris for an extraordinary show at Backstage by the Mill ! In the afternoon before the show, we had the chance to meet Masato, the lead singer, for an interview session ! Check it out below !
[Version française de l’article à la page précédente !]
It’s the first time that we’re meeting you, so first of all, could you present yourself and the whole band, to let our readers know you a little better ?
I’m Masato from coldrain, lead singer. We have Yoko [editor’s note : also known as ‘Y.K.C’] on guitars, Ryo on bass, Sugi on guitars and Katsuma on drums. We’re a 5-piece rock band. We’re all about the energy, with a lot of singing, screaming, jumping. It’s a whole mixture of music, of what we’ve ever seen, with heavy stuff. We’re all about the energy, anything that’s emotional and energetic.
When did you met the other members of the band ?
It’s been 7 years now, I think. We used to play in two different bands. Our two guitar players and our bass player in a first band and in another band, me and our drummer. They were like our bigger brother then, so we always used to play shows with them and after a while we came to the point that we were just connected together and made a super band out of those two. It’s been 10, it’s almost ten now. Ten years that year ! So tonight it’s been 9 years. That’s crazy !
What was the point to create a band together ? Is there something that decided you to create the band, something special ?
I guess we all just loved making and performing music. It was always about “what would it be like if we were together ?” I guess, we were always creative in that way. And I guess it just came the time that we wanted to make it a professional thing, and we wanted to tour all in Japan. We had to make the choice. At some point you can’t just play with your friends. It sucks but yeah… It makes it something that’s professional and I think that was the choice we made.
So, for someone who could not know coldrain yet, which one of your song would you choose to present your music ?
I think, like our new song called “Gone” or a song we’ve had before “The War Is On“. I think those songs like “Gone” express like who we are and what we are as a band. It’s that balance of a lot of emotional points that I think we’re all about. I guess that would be the song I’ll pick right now.
Do you think that could be the choice of every member, or only yours ?
I don’t have the feeling that everyone would have picked that one but… you never know. A lot of people would have just picked the song that they like !
So, do you think that other artists could influence your music, for example artists you know personally, or some bands that you could really like ?
There’s a lot of bands ! I mean, we’re influenced by everything we listen to and it’s the same back home. I mean, there are not many bands that play the same kind of music as us but we’ve always been influenced by a lot of Japanese punk music and it hasn’t always been the heavy side of things that have influenced us but we’re always more than the music itself, we’re always influenced by how people are alive and what kind of shows they play. We’ve been over here touring with Bullet For My Valentine, Papa Roach and those kind of bands taught us like how important it is to be at the level they are and how to be as professional as they are, and they influenced us a lot, so… You know, there’s a lot of stuff I like and I always get blocked when I have to say it.
You write your songs in English, is it because it’s easier for you to express yourself or is it because you want to become more international with your music ?
It’s never been an international thing. I think it’s always been because I grew up listening to a lot of Western music and I always thought that it’s cool to sing in Japanese too, but it never felt natural to me. It was always more natural in English and it’s hard because it will be harder to sell records in Japan with English but we still got a record company that wanted to sign us with us singing in English. Some day I’d like to sing in Japanese too, but at this point it’s always the English that’s natural to me.
So, it could be possible to have some songs in Japanese ?
Yeah, totally ! I mean, it just sounds weird because I’ve lived my whole life in Japan, I’m half-Japanese, but I still kind of sound like a foreigner when I sing in Japanese, and I hate it ! I just hate when it sounds like I’m trying to be Japanese and when I’m not ! It’s just weird because I guess I’m not influenced by that when I’m singing. I think it’s so cool when someone sings in Japanese and they’re really cool, but it’s not about which is cooler than me. So, when it comes out natural, I think it will happen, but not yet so…
You already performed in France about six months ago with Bullet For My Valentine, but today is your first French headline date ! So, how do you feel about it ?
It’s been in our minds for a while ! Since we ever came over here, we always wanted to do a headline and we always felt that we wanted to come back and play more songs. So, we’re really happy it’s finally happening ! We’ve met a lot of people on the way like when we were touring with Bullet and coming here with Papa Roach and we’re really happy we’re finally able to do our things and can’t wait to see how it goes !
And how do other members feel about it ?
Everyone is really stoked ! I mean, we’re not fully satisfied with us only playing 6 or 7 songs. We just feel like we need that long set to express ourselves and we’re way more happy when we do longer sets ! Tour always gets way more tough but we’re finally happy to be here at this point !
How do you imagine the show for tonight ?
Sweaty ! Very hot, sweaty ! Hopefully to get a lot of people singing because I don’t know if I can get through the whole set ! (laughs) I’m just kidding ! I’ve always loved how the reaction is and hopefully we get that same reaction tonight ! It would be cool !
In your last album “VENA“, you’ve featured an American artist for the first time, so why did you choose Jacoby [editor’s note : Jacoby Shaddix, lead singer of Papa Roach] to sing with you on “Runaway” ?
We did a tour together, we became friends. We’ve always been like the biggest fans of Papa Roach, every record. I really wanted to sing with Jacoby and I never sung with him, so that’s another reason why we had that part on record when we were writing and I was like “I hear Jacoby” ! The whole time I heard Jacoby and while I was singing he sent me a text and he was like “If you need guest vocals, just tell me !”. And I didn’t even really asked him, but he wanted to do it and we just went him the track and he nailed it and it was amazing so. I think it’s just fate at that point and we’re really happy that it was natural that that happened, not something that we had to fight for it. It just happened !
So for you, it was only Jacoby that could do this ?
Yeah ! If Jacoby said no, we weren’t going to get someone else. That part was for him ! I didn’t even write anything. I was like “I’m not singing this, Jacoby is !”.
For “VENA” you worked with a new producer, Brandon Paddock. How did you come to work with him ?
We’ve always wanted to work with someone who worked with pop artists and heavy artists, and Brandon came in our way because he used to work for John Feldmann, who’s been with a lot of bands that we love and he actually worked for Papa Roach itself too. Brandon is just a really good songwriter and a really good engineer, and we just wanted to work with someone that would know everything as it goes and not just a producer that’s telling us how it should be, but someone who is actually tracking the whole record, mixing it, and writing the songs with us. And it was like having the 6th member in coldrain and that was the choice we made. We didn’t know how it will go and it ended up really cool and I don’t think we could have “VENA” as it is without him so… That’s really cool !
How could you describe the difference with this producer and previous producers ?
I think Brandon was more of our collaborator. It was like bringing in another artist to work with us and stuff. Brandon, who worked with us on two other records, is more about pushing our abilities, our limit. It was always cool and we gained so much from working with him, but at the same time we wanted someone fresh and young. It was just like it happened, how his name came on. Everything that feels natural, we kind of go ! It’s really cool !
So, what are the main differences you have to face when you perform in Japan and when you perform outside like in America or in Europe ?
Well, in Japan we do a lot of headlining, so it’s always hard to have to cut down sets and crew and all that, because we always love having fire all that stuff… But it’s still as cool because we know like how it was in Japan, starting to build something, not being known by people, so… We’re just going back in time and redoing it ! So it’s been cool because we’ve been able to feel the freshness while we’re doing bigger shows in Japan. So it has actually helped our shows in Japan. We become more energetic at what we do back home ! Everything keeps on renewing itself and being fresh, so we go home from playing in front of hundred people and then we play for a thousand people. It’s just crazy, wherever we go it’s different, but it’s so cool no matter how many people are there, we feel really happy to be here and really happy to be doing what we’re doing, so… As long as it stays fresh, I mean, I’ve no problem doing small shows and big shows.
What’s the most curious thing that ever happened to you and the band during a tour ?
The craziest thing that happened to us was on the last US tour we did. Our tourbus flipped over and we were in the middle of Texas, in the US. It was in the morning, our bus driver was sick and he fell asleep and the bus flipped. We were on our bunks, but we all fell out and we blocked the whole highway for like 3 hours. I went to the hospital but no one was severely injured, but it was crazy because you hear about it a lot and it’s terrible when it happens to anyone but you never expect yourself to be in it, and we hope it never happens to anyone, but that was the craziest thing that happened on a tour and we hope it never happens again !
Thank you very much for your time !
Thank you !
We’d like to thank the fans Emma Leprovost Lestrade, Liesa Joes and Jennifer Vogel for their questions, which were well used during the interview ! Thanks to the organizers and to the staff for letting us realize this interview !
