I alluded to this one yesterday, team, and I’m still buzzing a little bit from getting a chance to have a real-deal conversation with the man behind Guso Drop, 2&, Hoshina Fumimi, Himegoto Zettaichi, ancillarily Screaming Sixties, formerly Poroporo Baroque, and so on. Folks have been dying to know the score ever since it was announced a few weeks ago that Guso Drop was going to disband, and, while Daichi has been pouring his heart out on Twitter, there have been oh so many questions.
Krv is the real hero here — because he’s friends with Daichi in addition to being a fan, he offered to hook up an interview, and then provided real-time translation over LINE, and at an ungodly hour for his timezone to boot. I have the patrons to thank, too, for providing a really good starting place in terms of questions and topics. I ultimately cut this about in half by combining thoughts and letting Daichi do some of the driving, but I hope that we were able to get to the gist of what you were curious about.
I was just hoping that I wasn’t going to offend anybody.
So! Have you ever wanted to get into the head of an idol manager? What about an idol manager who’s in the midst of ending his flagship project? Or an idol manager who’s always looked at himself as a musician first? Or even just a guy who’d say:
If he throws a dinner party with human flesh on the menu, I’d probably go along!
Read the whole thing!
Maniac: Good morning, Daichi-san! Thank you for chatting.
Daichi: Likewise!
Maniac: To begin very abruptly, everybody wants to know why Guso Drop is ending.
Daichi: It turned out to be something that wasn’t the Guso Drop that I wanted it to be when I made it.
Maniac: When you created the group, what were you hoping to build?
Daichi: I wanted a group who would transcend the idol genre and freely fuck shit up live. But when the members started skipping rehearsals, I started to realize the inherent contradiction.
Maniac: So then what attributes were you looking for when you first selected members?
Daichi: Even though Saki was the only experienced one, I said that I wanted Saki to be the least popular center ever. Fundamentally it was a gathering of normal girls. I think it was because of the questionable abilities they had in singing and dancing that made it much more fun to see them put on a furious performance, and it gave the songs themselves a life of their own.
Maniac: Definitely. A Guso Drop live is a special thing to see. Were you looking for similar attributes in members when you started your other projects, or similar roles to fill?
Daichi: I don’t look for perfect girls to be indie idols. I recommend that those ones aim to be accepted into major labels or groups. I want to find people who want to enjoy themselves as indie idols.
Maniac: Did you require that they follow any of the traditional idol codes, or was Guso Drop as free-wheeling behind the scenes as up on stage?
Daichi: There were a few little rules to follow. First that they were banned from tweeting after midnight. They all ignored it though, lol.
Maniac: Yes they did. Do you think that you have any future idol projects in mind?
Daichi: I won’t be making anything that doesn’t have the ideal of music at its core, so it’s a case of if the right meeting comes along.
Manic: How would you describe your ideal of music?
Daichi: Firstly, I think it’s fine if CDs are seen as like foreplay to the main course of live shows. Moreso than appealing to a mass market with the lyrics, I prefer music that has lyrics that are catered to a single person. Even if the distribution of CDs and music is dying, live shows will continue to live on, so I like to make music that should be enjoyed live.
Maniac: Krv had mentioned in the past that you liked to use old-fashioned language in your lyrics, so is that what you had in mind when you wrote that way?
Daichi: Getting the music and the melodies right is certainly a good thing, but I’ve always thought of lyrics as the most important thing. Words can give rise to misunderstandings and criticism, so I think it’s difficult to try to convey things to people. That might be why I unconsciously use a wide variety of expressions.
Maniac: Have you been using that method since the time that you were in a band?
Daichi: No, it’s something that I think I’ve started doing simply because I’m now in a position to. (i.e., personal projects)
Maniac: You’ve said that you’re going to be freelancing now. What style of music will you be writing?
Daichi: I haven’t really decided on anything specific, but I definitely want to make something that’s even more fun than what people currently think of as being fun music.
Maniac: Do you think that you’ll continue to write for Saki and Fumimi in that way?
Daichi: If that’s what they want! (lol)
Maniac: Are you going to continue to manage Himegoto Zettaichi?
Daichi: At the moment they are the only ones in the agency, so of course I’ll be giving it my best. Apart from that, I plan to be outsourcing myself as a producer and songwriter.
Maniac: Oh, I understand better now. I was unsure as to whether A-minor would continue. What will be the case for Zekkyou (Screaming Sixties)?
Daichi: Zekkyousuru 60do will continue to carry on with their music, just like they have been doing and always will.
Maniac: I’m glad to hear “always will”! Will you work with them at all, or are you thinking that you want for your freelance career to move in different directions?
Daichi: Working with Zekkyou wouldn’t be something that I’d be looking to do unless it naturally happened where both parties wanted to work together. I don’t really know what the exact contents of what I’ll be doing from now on will be, but I’ll carry on making the type of music that I myself want to create like usual.
Maniac: Understood. Do you think that you’ll get back into a band?
Daichi: If I have the opportunity and stamina, lol.
Maniac: What about idols? Other than Himegoto, do you think you’d ever want to try that approach again?*
Daichi: When you’re writing music, the thoughts and feelings needed to do that start welling up, and you use a lot of money to the detriment of everything else. Ultimately, I don’t think I’m suited to being in charge of everything. Therefore I doubt that I’ll be managing a group again.
Maniac: That makes sense. Do you think that’s a typical experience in the chika scene?
Daichi: I think people who create music in-house all feel that way.
Maniac: Interesting. Do you have any other favorite people or managers who you’ve worked with?
Daichi: Not especially. They’re all allies yet they’re all rivals (lol). Someone who’s really eccentric and funny is There There Theres’ producer Tanaka. If he throws a dinner party with human flesh on the menu, I’d probably go along!
Maniac: Yikes! That’s interesting that you mention Tanaka, because I was going to ask if you thought that the chika scene had changed since you started with Guso Drop.
Daichi: Nothing much has changed, but I’d be glad if the scene became freer. When bands and idols are free to do as they wish, lives become a lot more fun!
Maniac: I’m sure! Okay, last one: Do you have anything to say about the speculation from some people that Guso Drop is not going to disband, but will emerge after the graduations as another group?
Daichi: It’s because of the amount of mysteries that idols are fun!
Maniac: Thank you very much, Daichi-san. The readers of Homicidols.com are going to be very interested to read your thoughts. Good luck to you!
Daichi: (in English) You’re welcome!
*I didn’t deliberately ask pretty much the same question twice, but it worked out in that he gave a better answer the second time
And that’s that! A bit of a cliffhanger, no? I want to put it in HTML that I was constantly afraid that I was going to push a little bit too far on something, but Daichi was extremely accommodating of my nosy gaijin questions, and Krv did a great job with quick back-and-forth translations. It was a really great chat.
And to thank you for being patient, here’s a photo of Fumimi with Mickey Mouse ears:
— 星名ふみみ❣️8/23単独ライブ (@hoshina_fumimi) August 15, 2017
“[…] When bands and idols are free to do as they wish, lives become a lot more fun!”
^ this a thousand times.
Interesting read, hopefully the girls who want to continue with idol will do in some capacity in the near future and Daichi can continue to do what he enjoys, producing music he really connects with.
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Thanks for this. So much of the behind the scenes of idol is a mystery. It’s nice to have a little glimpse back there.