The Galactic sgt. Interview

sgt. will be releasing a new album entitled, capital of gravity on Wednesday. HearJapan thought the album was so good that an interview was owed to the band.

HearJapan: For capital of gravity you returned to your 4 person lineup with the addition of a guitarist, Hironori Taoka. By adding an additional instrument to your previous drum, violin and bass lineup, how was the music affected?

Kouji Akashi (bass): That’s a good question. The previous guitarist had a different style than Hironori. I think this time around, we had a stronger goal to write songs that payed more attention to fine details. Also, our other members Mikiko Narui (violin) and Hitoshi Ono (drums), viewed their role or position in the band with greater importance. As a result their sense of responsibility for each song grew greatly. Due to this greater sense of purpose, we were able to make some really great sounds this time around.

HearJapan: HearJapan was able to see your live show (click here to read the report) that took place last month. Compared to a year ago, your performance sounded incredibly tight. All of the members were in sync with each other and performed exceptionally well. However, usually when a band gets a new member this cohesiveness is eroded. In sgt.’s case the band became more cohesive. What is your secret?

Kouji Akashi (bass): There isn’t any real secret per say. I suppose you could say practicing or rather training really hard to turn balance in our favor.

HearJapan: Many fans claim that your music is very spacy. If one takes a closer look at your song titles, they will notice that a lot of the song titles refer to the universe. (In Japanese ginga means the milky way). Do some of the members have a particular affinity towards the Universe? You also have a song titled, “Apollo Program” on your latest album. Was this done to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the program?

Kouji Akashi (bass): Ah! It is the 40th Anniversary! We weren’t aware of that when we named the song…. However, I as well as the other members of the band have a huge interest in the universe. As for our song titles, we try to stay disconnected from reality and try to keep song titles unspecific. We think that for the listener, this elevates their imaginative playing field. Whatever they imagine while listening to us, we want that idea or concept to swell to new heights. We hope that the listener will use our song title as a starting point and travel to unforeseen places.

HearJapan: On the 15th of this month, Yuji Katsui from ROVO will be joining your entire set as well as a piano player. The band will have a twin violin setup and turn into a six person band for this one concert. At last month’s concert, you stated that this won’t be merely an improv session but that the six of you have been practicing together and are rearranging the music. How is the practice going so far? How has the music changed?

Kouji Akashi (bass): It’s going great! We’re all having a great time. However practing with Yuji Katsui in a studio and later moving that to a live venue has got us nervous and on our toes. We have new parts arranged for the twin violins, but we left the best parts unchanged. I guess you could say the show will be a showdown between the master (Yuji Katsui) and the apprentice (Mikiko Narui). (Everyone laughs). As members, we are very happy to be playing together.
I hope that playing with new members will help sgt. grow as a band. The concert will truly be a special day so I hope everyone who comes leaves having had a great time.

HearJapan: Are you planning on doing another session with six players, or are you thinking of building on the concept and getting other players together for other special concerts?

Kouji Akashi (bass): If we have another chance, I would like to do something, but at the present point in time we have no plans to do another show with that lineup. Right now, I am just concentrating on nurturing the band for this concert. However, we will have our first ‘one man’ concert on November 25th. This concert will also feature a six person lineup. This time we will have a pianoist and a sax player. I think this will also be an incredibly show. In terms of making any of these changes permanent, I have no intention of doing so. As much as I can, I want to keep the current lineup of four players to express ourselves. If need be, we can add a guest performer when the situation arises. There is still a lot that we can accomplish with just the four of us!

HearJapan: We noticed at last month’s concert that the guitarist and violist were using many pedals in the set. Could you tell us a few of the primary pedals that you use?

Mikiko Narui (violin): Sure. I primarily use the delay and wah-wah pedal from Boss.

Hironori Taoka (guitar): The three that I use the most often are UD-STOMP, LINE6 DL4, and the BOSS OD3.

HearJapan: Thank you for your time today. I’m sure fans and newcomers will love your new album, capital of gravity!