Interview with Wizards' Hymn

Nathan: Thank you for taking the time to talk with us. Let’s start off with a short introduction.

Kensuke: I’m Kensuke, the drummer. I love motor sports. I also enjoy aquariums and music. Recently I listen to a lot of music like metal, pop, rock, and movie soundtracks. In particular, Hisaishi Joe, John Williams, etc. I especially like songs that include an orchestra backdrop.

Junichi: I’m the support keyboard player and my hobby is motor bikes. Fixing them up, riding them, going on trips like going fishing.

Kensuke: Do you really go on trips?

Junichi: I go to the onsens in Atami. Sometimes I go to Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, you know Western Japan. I listen to anything really.

Toshimasa: I’m the bassist. I love sports like running, tennis and recently I have been getting into darts. I listen to a lot of types of music. Of course I listen to metal, but recently I listen to a lot of trance and electronica.

Tsutomu: I’m the guitarist, and I love baseball. Go Hanshin Tigers! I mostly listen to pop like Yuki from Judy And Mary. I go to all the shows and buy all the CDs. I don’t listen to much metal. There are also a lot of artists I respect as guitarists, particularly fast players.

YuSa: I’m the singer, YuSa. As far as interests go, I have only been involved with music up until this point. I started playing the piano, then moved to trumpet and sax and finally arrived at singing. I like going to concerts and obviously playing in them. Besides that I go out with friends and drink.

Wizards’ Hymn: She’s a strong drinker (the band says this in an ashamed tone).

YuSa: But drinking is also bad for your throat so I haven’t been drinking as much. I also enjoy the occasional snowboard trip. I always think it would be wonderful to go on a snowboarding trip once a year…..every year.

Kensuke: She skipped a band rehearsal to go snowboarding.

YuSa: Only once! I also like bands that are similar to us like Evanescence and Within Temptation. That gothic metal sound appeals to me. I’m also a big fan of bjork, Yoko Kanno, shoegazer and classical music.

Nathan: With 5 members it must be difficult to get together to practice, how often do you practice?

Kensuke: About twice a week usually on the weekends.

Nathan: Let’s talk about your initial journey as a band, I had heard that you were a cover band originally. Whose songs did you play?

Kensuke: That was ages ago. We played Helloween, Metallica, and we also played Hi-standard. These were all when we were in high school.

Nathan: So how old is everyone now?

Wizards’ Hymn: We range from 23 to 26 years old.

Nathan: So at what point did you make your own songs?

Kensuke: Around 2003. So about 5 years ago. We were a cover band for about 1 or 2 years and we started making original songs after that.

Nathan: We were talking before about how the new keyboard player was in a band with you [Kensuke] before Wizards’ Hymn. Where does that fit into the timeline?

Wizards’ Hymn: That was also in 2003. At that time we had just graduated high school and we played in a band together.

Nathan: Your new album, transience came out this month. What are your own impressions on your album?

Kensuke: Hmmmmm… Well our first release, Hymnal lacked a little in the audio recording department. Before going into recording for this album we made one of our goals to increase the quality of the sound recording. For Transience, I feel that we have upped the level of quality to an extent and I am pleased with that, but I think we still have to strive to improve ourselves more in areas like performing, singing, lyrics, etc. With these parts in mind when we start to create our third album and will have a more regimented recording process. What do you think about this album YuSa?

YuSa: This was my first time recording my voice in a professional environment creating such a high quality finished product. Throughout the process I picked up a lot of know-how, so after some self reflection, I think the next release will be more closely aligned with my singing potential.

Toshimasa: Our first album had a focus on fast songs. The faster the better was our motto. Basically we were mimicking what the popular metal bands of the time were doing. With this album, I feel we produced an album that truly represents us as our own band. With simpler songs we can go down our own path and do as we please.

Kensuke: Our first album was more of a melodic speed metal album. For Transience, we didn’t want to release a sound that’s already out there, but rather put out a sound that is uniquely ours. So our musical direction has changed, our songs have changed. I would say we have created our own form of expression.

Nathan: So what made you change direction?

Kensuke: We wanted to challenge ourselves to make something more original.

Nathan: What are your favorite songs in Transience?

Kensuke: It’s track I wrote entitled, “WAKE IN DREAMLAND”.

Nathan: What about it makes it so appealing to you?

Kensuke: Hmm, I suppose it is because while I write the music, YuSa writes the lyrics and overall “WAKE IN DREAMLAND” seemed to match the two the best.

Nathan: What about everyone else?

YuSa and Junichi: The same!

Toshimasa: I like “HINDSIGHT” the best. It has a more up tempo feel.

Nathan: Is that more fun to play on bass than the other songs?

Toshimasa: There’s also that too!

Tsutomu: I like “RED PETAL” the best.

Nathan: Describe your band using only one word?

Kensuke: It is too difficult to describe us in one word. We do not like to attribute genres to our music.

Nathan: All the lyrics are written in English…

YuSa: At first I tried writing all of the lyrics in English, but I am not so great at English. Also, placing the vowels to match the melody and lyrics is a weakness of mine. After that, I wrote the original lyrics in Japanese and Kensuke translated that into English.

Nathan: Are English lyrics difficult?

YuSa: They really are. The English we learn at school and the English we use in our lyrics are different. The latter being more colloquial English. Without that knowledge the lyrics sound really stiff, so currently Kensuke is helping me out with that.

Nathan: Well it sounds like Wizards’ Hymn is really progressing along, and we look forward to your 3rd album.