This is a translation of the talk part of Music Fighter from 17th November 2007. It concerns many interesting stories from L’Arc’s past.

BEGIN

Today’s guest : L’Arc~en~Ciel!

Tonight, we have an out of control special talk! From the formation of the group to their current projects, we’ll hear about special episodes never before revealed!

Host : Ok, let’s get started. First of all, I’d like everyone to watch this video.

Video : L’Arc~en~Ciel in 3 minutes

It has now been 16 years since the formation of L’Arc~en~Ciel.
On screen : 1991 – Collapse of the Soviet Union
It was the year where the Soviet Union collapsed, changing the political landscape of the world.
Meanwhile in Osaka, tetsu was active as a bassist, and he began to pursue hyde, who was involved with another band at the time.
Arrow : tetsu scouted hyde

Q : How did tetsu invite hyde?
hyde : I was doing lives (with the previous band) and he kept coming, every time. Every time he was all.. “Well? Well? How do you feel?”.
*laughter*

And so that year, tetsu and hyde joined together and L’Arc~en~Ciel was born.
By the way, the word L’Arc~en~Ciel is French for rainbow. It was tetsu who found this name and gave it to the band.
Next, in 1992, tetsu scouted his childhood friend ken, who was a university student at the time, and asked him to join the band. ken accepted the invitation and quit school.
But! At the first live, ken got a negative reaction from the audience… Why?!

ken : It’s because I had a recruit cut.
Hosts: Eh? Why did you have a recruit cut?
ken : Cause I was a recruit (into the working world).
Host : So how did you look, standing on stage that first time??
ken : I had my recruit cut and a little braid coming out the back.
*laughter*
ken : The other members made me do it!

Starting from Osaka, they lit a fire and were soon burning up the whole country!
On July 1st 1994, they released their major debut single, Nemuri ni Yosete.
How did tetsu, the leader, react when the major debut was proposed?

tetsu : Eeh? We have to go to Tokyo?
Host : *laughs* Wasn’t it your dream? (to go major)
tetsu : Dream? Not really… And moving (to Tokyo) seemed like such a pain…

Four years later in 1998, their senior in the music industry, yukihiro, joined the band. This brings us to the current lineup.
During yukihiro’s first session with the group, which was an excellent session of excellent skill, there was a shocking sight to be seen! What was it?

yukihiro : It was hyde-kun. He showed up in shorts.
*laughter*
yukihiro : Really tight ones.
*more laughter*

The year that yukihiro joined, 1998, was also the year of the three simultaneous singles : Shinshoku – lose control – , HONEY, and Kasou, all of which climbed high on the Oricon charts! From 1998 through 2000, the success never slowed, and they participated on Kouhaku Utagassen among other elite programs.

BUT!

In 2001, they each suddenly began to work on solo projects. The first to announce a solo was hyde.

Question : how did hyde feel when he proposed his solo project?
hyde : I just… kinda… wanted to show off my own personal worldview.
Host : Aaah, separate from the group.
hyde : Yeah.

And so the four of them began to walk their own paths. (Note : The video shows solo clips from 2006 but they are still discussing 2001-2002. MF’s mistake) L’Arc~en~Ciel was not active, but the four of them were far from forgotten by the world. A year passed, then another, and then!

Reunion?!

Just when all might have been lost… in 2003 they came back spectacularly with the Shibuya Seven days 2003 live! Such was the revival of L’Arc~en~Ciel.

Question : What did tetsu notice when he returned to L’Arc~en~Ciel after working solo?
tetsu : The difference between solo and the band is really the budget.
host : Striking, isn’t it?

That is L’Arc~en~Ciel, now reaching their 16th year. They are still going strong!

– end video –

Host : (to hyde) So about tetsu asking you to join the band..
hyde : We had a session, and well, I met him and got to know him a little, but after that, he was like stalker…
*laughter*
hyde : I was already in another band, at the time. After our lives, he’d come to the parties and sit next to me and go “So how was it?”
*laughter*
hyde : And if I said I felt good, he’d go “Aaah, so you feel good~”
*laughter*
Aoki : Like he was in love with you, practically.
hyde : Oh yeah.
tetsu : *nodding*
Hosts : He really liked you.
tetsu : I was serious about him, but he was two-timing me. I wanted him to break it off with the other.
Hosts : (to hyde) And how did it feel for you, having him pursue you?
hyde : Well my band was in rough shape. The guitarist and bassist were always playing like this (demonstrates with hunched over posture).
*everyone laughs*
hyde : I pointed it out to them, but it was rough going.
Host : So how did he convince you?
Other host : How did he propose?
*more laughter*
tetsu : “I think it would be much better for you to form a band with me, hyde.”
Host : Ah, I see.
tetsu : I guess it sounded weird, but don’t misunderstand…
Host : It must have been a problem if hyde-san was still training the guitar and bass.
*laughter*

host : So next it was tetsu’s old friend ken-san who got recruited. How did that happen?
ken : He called me.
tetsu : Early in the morning.
ken : Yes, early.
tetsu : Around 4, 4 or 5 am. I said “Wanna join L’Arc?”
hyde : We thought 3 am wouldn’t be a good time to call. So we waited another 2 hours.
Host : So hyde-san, you were there too?
hyde : We were having a big meeting. At Denny’s.
Hosts : Eeeeh!
tetsu : We were in a bit of a predicament. The previous guitarist had just quit.
Host : Oh yeah.
tetsu : So we, L’Arc, went to Denny’s to eat and figure out what we were gonna do. Well actually I’d already introduced him (ken) to hyde, cause he’s my old friend, so hyde said something like “tet-chan, why don’t you ask that friend of yours? He’s good.”
Hosts: Oooh. So what was ken doing at the time?

ken : I was in university.
Hosts : Ooh.
Aoki : Looking for a job? In what area?
ken : General construction.
Aoki : Eeeeh! So ken-san, if you had already gotten a job, would you have refused to join the band?
ken : Yeah it was a close call. I had done an interview or two already.
Host : So it was really close then, almost hired.
Other host : If they were hiring you, would they call at 5 am?
*laughter*

Host : How was it, when you first went on stage?
ken : You know, all the members had their own fans already. So the audience was there, but they moved away from me, kinda like a strong wind was pushing them over to the other side.
Host : Because of how you looked, I bet.
*laughter*
Host : You had a recruit cut right? Couldn’t you at least put it up?
ken : I tried, I think I looked like a piece of sushi. The others felt sorry for me so they bought me a braided extension.
*laugher*
ken : Well sure people will laugh at me for wearing it, but they laughed when I didn’t too.
Aoki : I wanna see that!
*Everyone laughing*
Host : You must have scared the fans!

Host : Moving on to your major debut, how it was announced, and was it a big deal?
tetsu : Um, well I kinda found our manager’s notebook lying open, and I flipped through it, and it said “L’Arc’s major debut XX date”. So yeah…
*laughter*
Host : What did you think?
tetsu : I didn’t mind.
Host : tetsu-san, you didn’t want to go to Tokyo, right?
tetsu : That’s right.
Aoki : How come?
tetsu : I really didn’t have that sort of goal in mind, the whole turn pro and move to Tokyo thing. I figured it would happen eventually if things kept going the way they were going, but it wasn’t my goal.
Host : I see. But, you did go major, and you did move to Tokyo, so was there anything that shocked you when it happened?

hyde : For me well… My weak point was Osaka-ben.
Host : Eh? Aren’t you from there?
hyde : I am from Kansai, yeah. In a normal conversation you hear things like “The hell you saying, moron?!” every day. To me it sounded so harsh!
Host : You were so naive.
hyde : Tokyo people say “What’s the matter?”
*laughter*
hyde: And so I thought people in Tokyo are so nice.

Host : And ken-san?
ken : When we first went there all of us were crammed into one tiny car. Then in Shibuya or something, on the way to a livehouse, I think tetsu was next to me but anyway I thought I saw “KINTAMA-ZAKA” (Testicle slope) on a sign.
*Laughter*
Host : No such place!
tetsu : I saw it too!
ken : Now they call it Konnouzaka (Golden King slope), missing one line. (Nani : If you add one line to the second kanji it changes from Konnou to Kintama).
*laughter*
tetsu : That name makes me wanna go there.
*Onscreen note : Kids, graffiti is bad, so don’t change it to what he says*

Host : yukihiro-san, you must have had some culture shock when you joined this band. When you first met them, there must have been surprises.
yukihiro : Yeah. That and all the nervous tension.
Host : How was it, hyde-san?
hyde : I don’t remember. Was I in a swimsuit?
Crowd : Eeeeh?!
Host : Why would you wear a swimsuit to the first session?
*laughs*
Host: Must have been summer fever.
yukihiro : I was summer. It was like he’d just come back from Hawaii or something.
Host : Must have been in a swimsuit.
hyde : I was in a swimsuit!
*laughter*

Host: How did you get to know him (yukkie) in the first place?
hyde : He’s our great sempai. (Nani : A senior, ahead in the same job) Back when were still working part time jobs, he was in ZI:KILL already. So I heard of him a long time ago.
Aoki : And yet when you went to meet your great sempai, you wore a swimsuit.
*laughter*
hyde : Sorry. *bows*
*laughter*

yukihiro : The first time I saw them was one time, while I was still with my previous band, they came backstage to say hi. I didn’t know what to expect. And at first glance, hyde-kun really looked like a girl, so I though “Wow, this beautiful person is coming to see me~”
Host : And then?
yukihiro : And then I noticed his facial hair.
*laughter*
Host: What did you all think? What was your first impression of yukihiro-san?
ken : I didn’t know how to talk to him. He’s our sempai, so I ought to treat him accordingly, but then he joined our band and I thought “yukihiro-san” sounded bad, but I couldn’t find a good way to address him.
*laughter*
ken : So for a while… I didn’t call him anything.
Aoki : You didn’t ask him what he wanted to be called, in a meeting or something?
ken : More like we each had our own little strategies. hyde is more the type to randomly make up nicknames. He suddenly started calling him “yukkie”. Before that no one said it.
*laughter*
ken : Once I saw him using that name, I figured “yukkie = OK”.
*much laughter*

Host : Can you tell us about some crazy incidents?
tetsu : One time we were recording a radio show, and when we got to Omiya station we were mobbed. I found out later there were about 20 000 people. They came right to our car. I thought “Wow, we’re like the Beatles”.
*laughter*
Host : No way.

Host : Changing the subject, let’s talk about your solo projects. hyde-san, care to comment?
hyde : When you’re in a group, everyone brings up their opinion, and there are a lot of things to consider. I wanted to try doing things by myself.
Host : Aah. And we’ve heard that the budgets are quite different, compared to when you’re L’Arc~en~Ciel.
tetsu : Even in our solo work, I think each of us is on a different budget level.
*laughter*
Host : That striking?
Host : So what’s the biggest difference, the most noticeable thing that changes between L’Arc and your solo, tetsu-san?
tetsu : When I’m on a plane, I can’t recline the seat as much.
*laughter*
Host : It goes all the way down for L’Arc.
*more laughter*
tetsu : And the amount of squeeing that goes on is quite different. Even my staff, and the program hosts, everyone acts differently.
ken : When I came to this show for my solo promo, you really put me through a rough a time.
*laughter, and the in-screen video shows ken playing ping-pong*
Host : You mean the ping-pong game?
ken : If it was L’Arc, you’d have let us win.
*screen : Ken’s total failure*

Host : Let’s look at the video now and see how energetic your lives can get.
*live footage from L’Anniversary*

Embarrassing moments from Lives! The best four! Revealed for the first time!

4th place – During his first live with the band at Tokyo Dome, yukihiro started to leave even though there was still one song left !

yukihiro : I had seen the list of songs, and there was a pause before the last song starts, so I thought it was going to be an encore.
Host : So you thought you were going to leave, and come back again?
yukihiro : Yeah, but I was the only one who started walking offstage, the others didn’t move. Then I realized I was wrong and just walked around my drum set.
*laughter*
Host : Didn’t the others notice?
ken : I think I did. But I also thought “maybe he’s not feeling well”. Then he sat down again so I figured he’s okay.
*laughter*

3rd place – During one live, right at the beginning, hyde dropped his mic during the first song.
Host : Really?
hyde : Yes. It was in a livehouse, we were on tour, so first we all came on stage and started playing, like an intro. Just before starting to sing I came flying out of nowhere, but I hit the mic stand and the mic fell.
Aoki : That’s not cool!
hyde : It went over the audience’s heads.
*much laughter*
Aoki : So what did you do?
hyde : One of the audience members was very kind and gave it back.
*more laughter*

2nd place – At one live, tetsu’s zipper was completely open!
Host : How embarrassing!
tetsu : It was when I was singing for P’UNK~EN~CIEL. I was feeling great, really into it, then when the guitar solo came around I looked down and “Oh?”…
Host : What did you do?
tetsu : I was completely open. But I thought I’d better not act embarrassed.
Host : They’ll think you’re just a pervert, then.
tetsu : Pervert?!

1st place – When they were supposed to a live in a livehouse’s main floor, ken messed up and walked into a yakiniku restaurant, going “Good morning!”

Host : How can you mix those things up?
ken : It was right when I’d just joined L’Arc, and it was my first time going to a livehouse in Tokyo. I didn’t know where it was. tet-chan had said “It’s over there” and I was like “Ok, I got it!” so I was wearing my sunglasses, looking down, and just walked forward, opened the door and went “Good morning!”. People were just eating their meat.
*laughter*

Host : So L’Arc~en~Ciel just released a new song, and the title is :
hyde : What is it again?
Host : How can you not know it?!
hyde : Well we’ve released so much lately! I can’t remember what came out when!
*Laughter*

*Video of Hurry Christmas*
hyde : It’s very pop, and cool, but actually we’ve been playing it since six months ago, since May.
Host : So Santa came in May?
hyde : Yeah, Santa came in May this year.

—

Transcribed and translated by Natalie Arnold