INDEX
downt’s Journey: An Anxious Start in Member Recruitment
-What was it that made you stick to the band format and recruit members when there were other ways to do it, such as playing as a soloist?
Kawai: Why indeed?
Togashi: During the blank period after I graduated from the circle, my friends around me formed their own bands and played original music. I probably watched them and envied them. I wanted to try it myself, but I couldn’t write songs and there was no one to call on. I think I had a bittersweet regret.
-I think it was because of these regrets that you chose to be in a band. It must have been a big decision to move from Kyoto to Tokyo by yourself for the band.
Togashi: I had a lot of hope to be able to form a band, but I think I was more anxious. We didn’t know what kind of people would come to the band from online recruiting, and they might not show up at the studio. I was full of anxiety, but I kept telling myself, “It will be okay. It’s going to be okay.
– Kawai, you contacted her after seeing Togashi’s announcement.
Kawai: I was simply looking for a band, as there was no band I was a member of at the time. So I sent him a message, and after going through the studio, we just happened to decide to work together.
-Was there any aspect of the music that resonated with you?
Kawai: Honestly, not so much the songs. I thought they probably had never played in a band before, but I thought we could just barely make it work.
-Do you mean it can be materialized?
Kawai: No, I felt that I could put my own essence into it. If it had been different from my direction, I would have said, “Why don’t you have someone else do it? If it was different from my direction, I would have said, “Why don’t you use someone else?
-So you had something in common with yourself.
Kawai: That’s right. The melody was beautiful, but there were some incomprehensible fill-ins.
Togashi: It sounds terrible now, doesn’t it?
Kawai: No, it was good. In the end, we had to cut it down, but I could tell that what he wanted to do was “punk,” so I thought we could work together.
-Robert, you were invited to the studio by Kawai. Did you feel that you could put in what you wanted to do?
Robert: I had a strong sense that it would be interesting because I had never done it before. I wanted to play the drums more, and the timing was such that I wanted to spend more time on the drums with a lot of bands. I also wanted to work with Kawai-san, and “111511” that was sent to me had parts that made me think, “Can a person play drums? I was excited that something fun was going to happen, even though there were parts that made me wonder if people could play it.
-I think Kawai and Robert sometimes play with bands other than downt. Do you feel that there is a difference in your position or role in other bands and in DOWNT?
Kawai: I am not particularly conscious of it. But rather than wanting to focus on a particular band, I would rather play in a band with people who want to live their lives around music. I may make different choices for each band, and I may say different things to each band, but basically, I am centered on music.
Robert: We utilize what we’ve noticed in each band, but we don’t change our standing or roles.
-In the course of being in a band, I believe that besides musical direction, personality compatibility is also crucial. Was there a sense of resonance on a personal level from the beginning of your encounter?
Togashi: I have no idea why at all, but when I first entered the studio with Kawai-san, we had the same smell.
-Was that intuitive?
Togashi: Yes, that’s right. So I thought I wanted to be in a band with him without any doubts. I thought Robert-san is a solid person and there would be no problems.
Kawai: I also thought Togashi was a solid and serious person, but he was working as a full-time employee, and then suddenly in the second studio he said he quit his job to do what he wanted to do, and I thought he was a crazy guy. I thought it was a weekend drinking kind of band.
