＜An interview with SCANDAL＞A tense mood on their world tour 「These 4 girls are not simple」



Girl band SCANDAL, who are proud of being from Japan, started off this past April from Paris and went around until May to London, Germany, Taiwan, Singapore, USA, Mexico, and Hong Kong, totaling 10 cities in 8 countries abroad, exciting 20,000 of their fans worldwide. Before their documentary film 『SCANDAL “Documentary film「HELLO WORLD」”』 that closely covers their world tour is out from 10/17 (Sat. - limited release), Techinsight's editorial department closed in on the true faces of SCANDAL, who continue to evolve.

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―How did your first world tour go?

HARUNA: It was an extremely fulfilling, fun time. Although we had played many lives in all kinds of places, it was a tour on which we returning to the basics was able to become a new feeling for us.

RINA: We've entered the tenth year of our band's formation, but a new breeze has come through again. It was a tour that replaced the "home" atmosphere of being a band.

TOMOMI: During our indie days we wore seifuku (school uniforms), performed anime theme songs, held weapons of Japanese culture, and faced going overseas like that. But, on this tour where we carried our album 『HELLO WORLD』, we threw away our armor and weapons; we're really proud that we were able to go out being our natural selves.

MAMI: It gave the band as well as myself a lot of confidence as songwriters. The songs where we've made our everyday lives and scenery and emotions seen Japan into lyrics are really loved by people abroad. We've made quite a few new discoveries about our songs.


―Please tell us the most memorable country out of the eight that you visited and the reason why.

HARUNA: It was the United Kingdom for me. It was our first live in London, but the city's atmosphere was very lovely and thought it was great. At the veteran live house were not only our fans, but also regular patrons and guests who were slightly older that  in the back of the bar counter, drinking alcohol while watching our show with slightly harsh looks as if saying,  「I wonder what kind of live Japanese girl band put on?」; they didn't really come to have fun. We felt the possibility for us heading over there.

RINA: There were things aside from the lives that also made me happy. We went to bakeries and vintage shops in London, Mexico, and Chicago. When we were passing by the front of the Chicago Theater, someone called out to us, 「You're SCANDAL, aren't you?」 They knew about our performance the next day and told us, 「Good luck with your live!」 It makes me happy and gives me such joy when I realize that local people know about us.

TOMOMI: Our performance in Singapore was our sole outdoor one. A squall, practically the first one I've ever seen, started. I was glad that it stopped just before our live started. I was so surprised at the disaster level to almost say "What'll happen if it keeps raining like this?" We have a song called 『Rainy』, and since it didn't really rain in Japan and we didn't have a chance to play it there, I'm glad that we were able to finally play it in Singapore.

MAMI: It was Mexico for me. I celebrated my birthday while we were going around Mexico, and the audience sang Mexico's Happy Birthday Song for me on the day of the live. It's not a so-called birthday song; it has 3 parts and is 4 minutes long. A cake was brought out around 1 minute in, but I blew out the candle flames without knowing the timing. I thought, 「I need to hurry up and blow them out」 and did so, but that wasn't the right timing. No one saw the moment I blew the candles out. I started to feel very lonely even though over 2,000 people had come out to our Mexico performance (laughs).


―What have you obtained on this world tour?

HARUNA: We've played lives overseas several times before, but honestly we didn't think deeply about the significance of playing lives overseas. As the music of rock bands is decreasing around the world, we feel proud to be a girl band in Japan. A sense of purpose to go overseas and play lives as a girl band was born on this tour.

RINA: I also felt that girl bands have become a part of Japanese culture. It's a characteristic of Japan's and a good point for Japanese people. I think that a personality of having the merits of patience, being dedicated, and diligently working hard gives birth to a good culture. Because they're Japanese, girls can continue being in bands for a long time. Since it's not an easy thing to do after all, for decades girls will gather in fours. I want to make the music genres of girls' rock・girls' pop even more popular.


―What do you think is the most difficult thing about continuing on with only women?

RINA: Because you're a woman, things like marriage and pregnancy will come into your life. You aren't dealing with just one life when you form a band. I think it's important to discuss those kinds of private things among the members. Also, women are skillful; that's why they're almost like animals that avoid clashings. On this tour, we fought once in Mexico. But, what we gained on this tour was what we were able to resolve by clashing and facing each other.


―Next year will be your tenth anniversary. Have there been things that you have clashed against so far?

RINA: We hadn't had any big fights so far. We quarreled, saying the things we want to say; that was practically the first time we've been able to fight with each other. We realized we had been avoiding it the entire time. It was awakened precisely because we were serious about it; we needed to do it properly.

―What have you obtained on this world tour?

TOMOMI: When we're interviewed overseas, we really understand how we're currently seen. We were asked a lot of personal questions during our indie days, but now we get many of the same kind of questions we get asked in Japan about the band and our music, and what things we're searching for for the band. It makes me really happy and gives me confidence that it feels like what we're searching for is changing little by little.

MAMI: It makes me so happy that the newest us are liked. 7 years had passed since our last time in Europe and 4 years since our last time in the US, and this time we wanted to make sure to repaint the impressions of how we were at that time. Everyone was looking ahead as we were on the opposite side of our feelings. That's why we must continue to properly show the new us. We'll be prouder of how we're seen as a band. We don't want this world tour to become a special occurrence.


―What countries do you want to play a live in?

MAMI: We want to cross all kinds of continents to play lives. Our Europe team said to us, 「How about a live in Morocco?」 Isn't that in Africa (laughs)? I wonder if we could go to Africa. We also hear voices from South America too, like Brazil and Chile. We want to tour around more minutely in all kinds of places.


―It's rare to see bands that have traveled all over the world in the ninth year of formation, or in their seventh year since debuting. Do you feel like you've been recognized by the world?

RINA: Girls don't really do world tours as serious as this (laughs). We certainly feel that we've been recognized and sought after, but we really still have much more to go. Every time we go we need to tranform into an even better band.

We want to have the same scale as we do in Japan. We hope to be a band that can take interesting things from countries overseas back to Japan, incorporate and mix those elements in Japan into our songs, take it back overseas, and then reimport it. People overseas want to listen to the music we create in Japan that's influenced by local cityscapes and people, and also want to watch our lives, which is very interesting and amusing. We think why not be a band like that?


―What are SCANDAL's future goals?

HARUNA: Among the thoughts of heading towards our 10th anniversary and wanting to always continue on, we want to keep doing this without ever forgetting our current feelings since we've been able to be a band while being our natural selves.

RINA: I want the 4 of us to make songs where everyone sings. With this band I want to make songs with choruses that can be hummed no matter what country.

TOMOMI: The local promoters told us 「There are offers from countries such as ___」, and since there countries we haven't been to yet and prefectures in Japan that we haven't been to yet, we want to go to those kinds of places. We want to be a band that'll play lives at any time for people who have come to know about us in some way who can go to a live at any time.

MAMI: Without limiting it celebrating 10 years, we want to do activities that make it seem like right now will always be the best time. We also want it to be our motivation. Although we've continued to be unaware of it, we want to always have that status within us. We want to send out freeing, happy music.