OK! Here's the rest of it! I just realized that I've typed out 17 pages....NEW RECORD! Once again, all credits and stuff go to purple Sky!
pS: Maya, when did you come to Japanﾂ…d'oh!
(The room burst out again, laughing at my mistake)
A: Maya, people think you have that type of face huh?
M: An L.A. face?
A: No, not L.A. Like an Asian elementary student.
M: I came here from L.A. when I was a fourth year elementary school student.
pS: I meant to ask, when did you figure out that you wanted to make music?
M: Music? I knew when I was in middle school.
pS: What did it for you?
M: I started out liking X Japan when I was like, ten years old and still in elementary school. That started me off.
pS: So you liked hide?
M: Not really hide as much as X Japan. And when I got into middle school I was all about Luna Sea. There was a band boom at this time.
pS: Like Buck-Tick?
M: Yes, that's right. There were a lot of bands like that. And I wanted to be like them.
pS: When you see the various ways visual-kei has grown, do you sometimes get confused as to whether it's visual-kei at all?
A: Rather, it's that I've always just thought of the makeup as part of the gig, if you want to stand on that stage. That's how I think of it; I've never thought visual-kei was associated with the music. It's just that if you want to stand on that stage you wear makeup. That's why David Bowie wears makeup. It's the same thing.
M: I think maybe Japan didn't have that culture back in the day and when it got popular they just gave it an easy label. That's where it started from, so we didn't really need to think about it; I don't care if people think of us as visual-kei. They can call us whatever they want to.
pS: Do you guys have a motto?
A: Nope.
M: I guess ﾂ"Jiyuu Ki Mama ni.ﾂ" (Free to be)
A: It's like living your life on a carpet of clouds.
pS: They sell exact mock-ups of the coveralls you guys wear through Groucho. Are you ever worried that, if all the fans come to the concert wearing them, one of you might blend into the crowd and vanish?
A: I think I'd like to blend into the crowd and vanish.
pS: Are all the fans wearing them?
M: Surprisingly, yes.
A: A few.
M: I was telling you about those girls from Germany earlier, right? They actually bought them. (He shows me the picture he took on his cellphone.)
pS: What made you decide on coveralls?
M: Well, it's easy to understand.
pS: Were you guys going for the hip-hop vibe?
M: I don't know. Are coveralls hip-hop?
pS: Well, kind of like Rip Slyme orﾂ…
M: Then, yeah I was.
A: Pardon?
pS: I've learnt my lesson, I won't write that down.
A: I mean it's just a really easy thing to get into. It's symbolic.
pS: Is going to the bathroom a hassle in those?
M: We don't go to the bathroom.
A: We don't do such a thing. Idols don't go to the bathroom.
M: We have no need.
A: yes, yes.
M: We don't get beards.
A: All true.
M: In order to not get beards we don't go to the bathroom.
A: And we don't eat food.
M: Not sure about that one there. We don't drink anything.
pS: So you're saying you have no sexual parts either?
M: That is sort of a cloudy area.
A: Pardon?
M: I don't get the impression that coveralls make it hard to go to the bathroom.
A: On the contrary, it's easier!
pS: Before you thought up the coveralls, what other ideas did you have?
A: Actually it was coveralls from the start, like, ﾂ"how about coveralls?ﾂ" In the end we wanted to give both members the same look. And we weren't about to come out wearing jeans and a T-shirt. I thought coveralls sort of satisfied that.
pS: Will they always be black?
M: Haven't decided that either.
A: We'll probably wear what we want to, when we want to.
pS: Who titles the songs?
A: Some are Maya, some are both of us.
pS: All in English?
A: No, it depends on the song. There's Japanese too.
M: There's some that mix the two, with alphabet letters and Japanese characters. But I guess most are English-like.
A: English-like, because they're in ENGLISH.
pS: Have you ever been to an English conversation class?
A: Never.
M: Nope. I don't really know any English, as was the case with the ﾂ"Little Fat Man Boy.ﾂ" It has very little to do with the meaning. It's the sound. I try to use words that I already know and not, like, choose a word and make it into English.
pS: So have you ever considered trying your hand at English lyrics?
M: It's not that I haven't thought about it so much as regular English lyrics are beyond me right now. If I could speak it really well, I might try. If I did something now it wouldn't make sense and I don't want to put myself through that.
pS: Would you like to increase your overseas activities?
A: Not, like, increase them. If there's something that comes along our way, we'd love to.
M: Yeah, we don't want to force it.
A: We have no desire to force ourselves on America and try to sell there.
M: I'd like to do it with the same sense of going from Tokyo to
Hokkaido.
pS: Do you like Japan?
M: Yeah, I do. But actually, I love America.
pS: How many times have you been to America?
M: Not that many, but I mean, talking about America, it's got to be L.A. you know, the West coast. It's got nice weather. English has, like, bad weather.
A: Yeah, it's bad. It's worst than Japan. It's cloudy.
M: So I like West coast better than overcast English.
pS: Maya, what is your favourite flavour of Chupa Chups (lollipops)?
M: Wow, my favourite? I like everything, it changes with my moods. I used to really dig strawberry cream, like, sweet flavours. Recently a fan gave me a special Taiwan-only flavour.
pS: What would make you happy to receive from a fan?
M: Something I want? Maybe something I could use in a photo or video shoot? That's make me happy, goods or toys.
pS: what are your hobbies? (Editor's note: The word, ﾂ"shumi,ﾂ" is used here to mean hobbies and also mean ﾂ"tastesﾂ" as in what turns you on.)
M: My tastes? (Heart pounds)
A: Go on Maya; tell him about your sexual tastes! How you like it.
M: How I like it? That's a tough one.
A: CENSORED!
M: He means hobbies. I don't have any. I'm currently looking for some.
pS: Looking for hobbies?
A: What the heck does ﾂ"Looking for someﾂ" mean?
M: You know, like, fun things. What's hot now and what's popular with people, anything really.
pS: What about you Aiji?
A: Nothing, except travel.
pS: Are you a gamer?
M: Not at all.
A: Yeah, I am. I'm a huge into games.
M: Wouldn't that qualify as a hobby?
pS: What's your game choice?
A: Different stuff. Like soccer or Winning Eleven.
pS: here's another one from the fans. Are you two party animals or homebodies?
M: Party animals.
A: What was that?
M: Haven't you heard?
A: No, I hadn't
M: Well I'm not a party animal. I'm the stay home type, but Aiji is up for anyth---ﾂ…
A: Get outta here.
M: Anything.
A: This is the first I've heard of this.
pS: He's probably playing Winning Eleven at home.
M: Yeah, make that REAL Winning Eleven.
A: What's that? Isn't that just soccer?
M: He's quite the animal.
A: No tell me, what exactly is REAL Winning Eleven?
M: Sometimes he's taken over by the beast, a party beast.
A: No I'm not.
M: Dangerous!
pS: Do you guys drink? If so, what do you drink?
M: I don't.
A: I do. I'll drink anything that costs over $100.
pS: Um, next upﾂ…
M: Beards? Can we talk about beards some more?
pS: No. No more beards.
M: Was that last question from American fans?
pS: Yeah, you guys have quite a following. There's a lot of fan sites out there.
M: I heard something about this. One of our Japanese fans was telling us that she looked up our name and there were a ton of overseas fan sites.
pS: Do you ever Google yourselves or otherwise on the internet?
M: I use the internet to look up anything I want to know more about.
A: Like, what does a shark eat? (Snickering)
pS: Do you guys have an idea about what you want to do next?
M: Well, for now the tour. I just want us to do the best job we can on what's right in front of us. This isn't the time to start talking about where we'll be in a few years. As we do our thing that stuff will come; goals and what not. I just want to perfect our live act.
pS: How have shows been so far?
M: I dunno, we haven't done enough shows to really understand. Now that we have a few singles and a mini album out the fans know the songs. I think our concerts are going to change from now.
pS: Are you guys thinking about a full album?
M: It's not something we think about, nor something that we aren't thinking about.
pS: I have something to ask you.
M: (Snickering) is it about beards?
pS: (ignoring) Where would you want new fans to start listening to LM.C from?
M: I want them to listen to a wide array of songs. Like I know ﾂ"Boys & Girlsﾂ" is our new single, but don't listen to just that. I want people to make a pass through our past works, because just one song isn't going to tell you who we are. I think people will understand better if they listen through our catalog.
pS: Is there any advice for recent graduates?
M: I have the impression that kids at that ages won't listen to me no matter what I tell ﾂ'em.
A: Yeah, just live life impulsively.
M: Just do what you were doing.
A: Live life how you want to.
M: No matter how much an adult tells them to study they don't see the importance of it. It's impossible for me to make them understand what I've learned in the decades I've lived with just a few words. So they should just do what they're doing.
A: Live how you want to live.
pS: Do you have a message for your fans?
M: What language should we do this in, Korean?
A: Why not. Tell me, do they buy our CDs overseas?
pS: I would say so.
A: So that's where most of them get our stuff. I mean, the fact is we file-share too, we're not saying it's wrong and in fact we don't even think it is. But if you have a chance to hear LM.C's music and you like what you hear, please buy it. If there's an opportunity we'd like to come do a concert in America or somewhere. I really don't consider our countries separate. We're all part of the same earth, the same planet.
M: I don't know what genre we are, or how well known we are there, but I just want everyone to have a good time together. This isn't something that can happen any day. In order for LM.C to establish itself over there, we'll need the help of all those reading this issue of purple Sky.