10th Anniversary Band Interview

A band interview where they talk about the future

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For the last section of 「SCANDAL Pia」, we had all the members come together and carry out a band interview. We asked the girls who couldn't play instruments at all how they stuck to being "all-girl band" and a "live band," and those processes were corroborated in the field where they dealt with large numbers both at home and abroad. We had them talk about doing their first lives to doing overseas lives, inside stories about production for their latest single 「Take Me Out」, their enthusiasm leading up to the big event they'll be holding on their day of formation, SCANDAL's present location, and about the future.


――We know that four interesting people with different characters have gotten together. When the band first formed, the member selection was decided by your dance & vocal school teachers. Do you think they had some kind of intentions?
HARUNA: It's pretty vague. Because it's about us, we don't exactly know. We were put together quickly and much thought was put into [forming] the group.
TOMOMI: We had a drummer before RINA before we formed.
HARUNA: Someone we were with a few times and only practiced with.
TOMOMI: They were older and relatively strong-willed. The three of us kind of followed them and we were all passive types. After they left, RINA joined relatively quickly and she too was strong-willed. One person joining who strongly looked to the future was definitely decided by someone at the school.

――You were influenced by that power and were pulled along.
TOMOMI: If that didn't happen, we might have completed our time at school in a dance unit, like a hobby.
HARUNA: The three of us all go at our own pace. Regardless of age, someone who flips on the members' switches was absolutely necessary.
RINA: I wasn't aware of that, though. Even joining the group was unexpected. At any rate, the only thing I thought of was to become the me that I had pictured. For that to happen, I was living a life of always searching for auditions. While doing that, I was told about the school and met the members there. I didn't think I was pulling along the three of them. When I jumped into the pool of people aiming to get in show biz, I felt hopeless with my low level and lack of technique. It was also like that during the times I felt inferior and had no confidence. I still can't face the fact that I'm living as a drummer (laughs).

――It's because the angles you aimed for all differ.
HARUNA: But, thanks to RINA coming along, we finally got together as one.

――You experienced your first tour in the US during your indie days. The thing that strengthened your promise of being a band was around this time. How was it?
HARUNA: That's right. Doing a tour in the US was a huge shock for us. We had the support of our school until then and used the booth we were introduced to at our street lives at Shiroten and the school. The school had been a large part of us. The moment we were separated from that, and the moment we went out for the first time and our strength was tested was the US tour. The only thing to do was to do it; there was no other way but to be united.

――Did you have many discussions before your trip?
TOMOMI: We didn't understand our circumstances because, back then, we were practicing every day and were at a level where the things we could do increased one by one each day. But, we stuck a map to the wall and confirmed the places we were going to (laughs).
RINA: When the US tour was decided we all wrote lyrics in English for our song called 「SCANDAL no Theme」.
MAMI: We got a few things wrong (laughs).
RINA: Well, it's because we were at a middle school-level.
TOMOMI: The lyrics are at a level where we could fix them.

――It wasn't that someone was teaching you how to play instruments or lives from the start. Was it that you were rapidly getting experience playing on large stages but it never felt like it was a challenge for you?
MAMI: Feeling like it was a challenge?
HARUNA: We just felt happy about it, about everything.
RINA: We were happy that we had a stage to stand on. We didn't think about anything else. We didn't know what kind of preparations we should do for overseas lives. We were like, "Well, let's go and buy a suitcase" (laughs).
MAMI: Because we didn't have any.
RINA: I still haven't gotten rid of that suitcase, even though it's all messed up and can't be used. When I look at it I feel like crying (laughs). More than tour memories, memories of my mother working her hardest and uniting with me are brought back.

――RINA's dream materialized before her eyes.
RINA: That's right.

――In MAMI's solo interview she talked about performing at 「Sakura Con」 in Seattle on your US tour. I watched that video.
MAMI: Ah, that's great (laughs).

――You performed aggressively without it seeming like it was your first overseas tour, and you were highly aware of your performance.
HARUNA: The live at 「Sakura Con」 was the last stop of our US tour.
RINA: I was standing up at my drums. At the end, MAMI lifted up her guitar and played it behind her back. TOMOMI fell to her knees while playing (laughs). I don't know if it was because the other bands left a good impression on us, but we absorbed everything we saw and it turned into something awesome.
HARUNA: It was a remarkable growth (laughs).
MAMI: At that time we thought that was the coolest way to play a live (laughs).
TOMOMI: We had confidence. We were able to move about because we had been doing dancing the entire time [at our school]. It was like doing choreography.

――Did you do that kind of performance when you came back to Japan?
RINA: Didn't we play a live in Ame-mura after coming back? We played in that same way there.
TOMOMI: We had always talked about wanting to make our lives enjoyable and like you're watching a show. I think we did play like that.

――Overseas, at first, you were on a tour with other bands, and you've also played at many Comic-Con-like events. It probably made you think of how you could go on your own tour.
MAMI: Even if we didn't have a tour of our own overseas, having one in Japan was a big thing for us. Our first solo tour was the one we played at CLUB QUATTROs and an additional one at Ebisu LIQUIDROOM. We didn't think the tickets would sell out. But, they sold out pretty quickly and we added a performance. I won't forget the moment we walked out on opening day in Nagoya. All kinds of emotions mixed together, and we had feelings of, "Why are this many people here?"
TOMOMI: It was more like we didn't believe that that many people came with the purpose to see just us. We couldn't see it. [We thought] it was filled with people who were fans of other bands. Our works limited to Tower Records that we released during our indie days charted but didn't catch on quickly. We weren't able to realize that it was invisible to us. We saw that sight and it made us very happy when we thought about how people came to see just us. That was the first time our director Ogawa praised us.
RINA: Even now he tells us that that live was the best (laughs).
HARUNA: He can't get over it.
TOMOMI: He can't get over that live and our first Budokan performance.