The following interview is from the September (2002) issue of "J-Groove Magazine."

Garnet Crow
Water Loving

--Well, with your latest work, "Spiral," you showed us yet another aspect of yourselves. When I interviewed you about your 2nd album, "SPARKLE ~Sujigakidoori no Sky Blue~," you said about that album: "We want it to be an accessory that our listeners will fasten onto themselves. Do you still feel the same way?

Nakamura Yuri: Yes, I do. Usually, when I talk about something I want to carry with me, I'm often thinking about a song that I want to leave next to me. I think I'd be so happy if a person, rather than listening to it once and saying "that's enough," would enter it among their best, or if they would accept it as a standard number for them.

AZUKI Nana: I've always thought it would be great if it was a work that we could get them to leave in a place near them, so they could listen to it when they wanted to. I would like for it to be something they can leave within their own territory, where they can pull it out anytime they want to.

--Is there a work by any artist that holds such a meaning to you two?

Nakamura & AZUKI: Yes!

Nakamura: Something like "If I listen to this, it'll be alright," or how do I say... not exactly a song that acts as an internal support, but... not to say that those are exaggerations, but I live with the understanding that if something happens, it'll be right there, and I can just naturally listen to it. So it's a natural part of me, something that just seems right when it's there. But it's not like something I'd want to listen to everyday. Because it's an obvious part of my life, I don't pay attention to it everyday. So I may not always see it there, but whenever something happens, I'll unconsciously start listening to it. I wonder if that might not be true liking of a song. I'd be glad if Garnet Crow's music could become like that.

--So is there anything you pay special care to for that sake?

Nakamura: We listen responsibly, until the very end. We listen responsibly until the moment it's finished. We set several stages where we check, asking "Is this really the best we can do?," and when we listen and can say "Okay, that's great. It's done!," Until the very end. Becasue we would want people to listen to it as a 100% effort, if there's some part that leaves us thinking "that's not quite right," then it isn't 100%. Aren't things like music, "all-or-nothing?" 0 or 100? That's why, something uncompleted has now value to those looking at it. Since we're going to be doing this, we want to start from 0 and put it out as a 100, and because we have to put it out, the biggest condition to meet is that we put something into music that we can accept as our 100%.

--It seems difficult to ascertain whether it's 100% or not.

Nakamura: It's hard. We learn something everyday. I think it's kind of an experience.

--But through it all, there's a single line showing the way, right?

Nakamura: We're okay, so long as we follow that, and since we're doing it as a group of four, there's a place for everybody. Based on that, it's like "I want to express it like this, or "I'd be okay, so long as we can express this part." The way we decide how to mold the song into it's best possible form, is by gradually seeing things when it reaches the final stages of productions, and by putting in things that are lacking, and shaving off the excess. We decide based on that, and by listening. In the end, we'll listen to our own song for that certain spark, and if it's there, then it's like "Ah, we made a good one here."

--So in the midst of all that, there's a part of you that longs for the nuances that closely resemble your favorite songs.

Nakamura: Though there are parts in the songs we create that don't sound like our favorites, I would want listeners of Garnet Crow's music to have the same feelings that I have (towards others).

--AZUKI-san, you say that the words are born when you listen to Nakamura-san's melodies and singing...

AZUKI: In my case, more than 100%, the most important thing for me is "that Yuri-ppe is singing comfortably." Because I started doing this because I loved Yuri-ppe's voice, I believe that I always want that voice to be in an environment where it can flourish at it's best. That's why, when I write my lyrics, I make the scope of what I write as large as I can. There are some things that even I can't do, but I'm always trying to search for the place where I can come closest to her range.

--So in a sense, you're facing that and trying to put out your 100%.

AZUKI: Yes. Riding Yuri-ppe's 100% is my idea of 100%.

--I guess not only you, AZUKI-san, but also Furui-san and Okamoto-kun are riding Nakamura-san's 100% and each looking towards their own 100%.

AZUKI: I guess it's all along the same lines.

Nakamura: I don't want one of us going in the wrong direction! (laughs) Like, "Duh, which way'd 'e go?" (laughs)

AZUKI: There are times when there's lack of communication, aren't there? (laughs) "Not that way!" (laughs).

Nakamura: Yes, yes, yes. (laughs)

--Ha ha ha. In a sense, the power of going in the direction of Nakamura-san's basic 100% is very strong, isn't it?

AZUKI: Even if we think we'd rather go in another direction, when Yuri-ppe says "I like this song," we just kind of start thinking "Yeah, it's great." (laughs)

Nakamura: That makes it seem like I'm brainwashing you! (laughs)

--I think it just means you're very persuasive!

Nakamura: If the person who made it doesn't take pride in it, then everyone else might start to wonder if it's really all that great. So, even if it's overstated, I think that it would be far better to take pride, and say with confidence "It's great!"

--So in that, have you noticed a change in your attitude towards creating music?

Nakamura: Recently, I've started listening to all sorts of music, more than before. Up until now, I'd concentrated on western music, but I'm starting to listen to J-Pop, too.

AZUKI: Recently, I've started listening to Yuusen radio a lot.

--Why has it turned out that way.

Nakamura: I think it's a waste to not listen. There's only a few songs that you can listen to yourself, right? Since I'm always be able to hear my favorite songs, I figured that I'd like to try absorbing something else, besides that, so I've been pretty enthusiastic about listening to music I don't usually listen to. Though I typically get my music from the radio, up until now, I'd stop listening if it wasn't a song I liked, and put on my favorite CD. But now, when I think "I've heard this song before," I try listening for a bit. I thought I'd try and make myself less picky. Consciously. That's changed about me. In a good sense, I've become more well-rounded.

--Have you had a similar feeling, AZUKI-san?

AZUKI: I'm a bit different, since I listen to music via yuusen broadcast, where there's a channel where you can listen to the Hit Charts from many years before. I figured that for those songs and artists to have sold well, there must have been some crucial elements that made people of that period of time, in the situation of that time, think that they wanted to hear a certain artist or that song. So I'd search in my own way, trying to figure out what was so great. That's because I've come to not be satisfied with the attitude "It'd be alright if I just did what I wanted to do," which I had when Garnet Crow was first starting out, so I want more people to listen to us, and I want to create better music. But though I know that everyone has their own idea of what's good, in order to expand our own capacity, I've learned to listen, searching for those crucial elements.

Nakamura: We've started to want people to listen to us. So, it might just be that the fact that we're doing what we like, and that we want lots of people to listen to us, that our listening habits have changed. It would be so embarassing if we alone were like "the emperor with no clothes." Because we don't want to be the only ones who don't know it.

--I guess that means your feelings for music have gradually gotten stronger and stronger.

Nakamura: I guess so. We gradually grow filled with curiosity, and wonder how to make ourselves better; we worry, and thereabouts comes a change in the way we create.

--How would you describe the enjoyment and interest inherent in that feeling?

Nakamura: When the music, lyrics, and sound are completely merged, when we produce something that's cool in a brand new way, when we find some new side to it that we'd never thought of, that is what is just so fascinating. Though I'd created the melody in a certain way by myself, when everyone gets together and we make it into some really spectacular music, that change is very enjoyable. Though there's many ways I can change if I were to do everything by myself, there's a limit to that, isn't there? To that, when the four of us do it together and change it, the surprise and fun put together... that's what makes it impossible to give it up. (laughs)

-- On the other hand, what hardships and difficulties have you come across?

Nakamura: When there's a part that I just can't accept, running through all manners of trial-and-error are the toughest. If the whole thing were no good, then conversely, that would be simpler because I can just start all over again. But it's so rough to search when you think "As a whole, this is okay, but something just doesn't click... what is it?" On the other hand, when I do manage to find it, I'm just so happy. I think that it was a good thing that I tried so hard. (laughs)

AZUKI: It's kind of like, though we had thought "Oh, let's just give up already" right before it was completed, at the moment we complete the song, we're wondering "So, what's next?" (laughs)

Nakamura: Yes, that's it exactly. Though I wonder if I can really sing it before I go into recording, after that's through, I think "It doesn't get any better!" (laughs)

AZUKI: "So please listen!" (laughs)

Nakamura: In addition, I think up some grand plans. "Next, I want to do something with this kind of flavor, this way, so that's that." But, of course, it never goes exactly according to that plan, but that's the kind of enthusiasm that I have.

--I see. So I guess your latest single was made with the same basic flow.

Nakamura & AZUKI: You bet! (laughs)

--To you two, seeing how far along your feelings towards the music have come, in what way would you think about "the music?"

Nakamura: Definitely that it's such a fun thing to do. Of course, there are tough times, and exhausting times, and times when I just want to run from it all, but in the end, it comes back to the fact that it's fun. And, when the song if finished, it's just a simply joyous feeling. And after that, we get feedback from our fans, like "You cheered me up," or "I really love it." Hearing that makes us so happy.

--When you add all that together, it just keeps you coming back for more, doesn't it?

Nakamura: Yes, yes. Makes me want to keep trying. That's probably why I love it so much. The fact that I can think of it as fun, basically, is because I love it.

AZUKI: Recently, I've beeng thinking a lot about "What is it about music that's so great for expression?" It gets me so confused! (laughs)

--Sounds kind of hard.

AZUKI: Yes. What do you suppose it is? Because up until now, I've only been thinking about Yuri-ppe's voice, when I suddenly pulled back and though about it, I was like "Huh?" The fact that people would react in such a way, or see and hear such feelings for the music we've put out until know, it had never occured to me before. So now, when I get started, I think about all sorts of things, and it leaves me mixed up. (laughs) But probably, because that mixed-up conflict is there, I can keep on going. If I figure it all out, I might not be able to, I guess.*

TEXT: Murata Keiko; translated by Ryu