Japan's DIR EN GREY On Touring U.S.

December 10, 2008

MetalSucks recently had the chance to chat with guitarists Die and Kaoru of Japan's DIR EN GREY at the New York City stop of the band's U.S. headlining tour with THE HUMAN ABSTRACT. They spoke about what it's like to tour the U.S., singing in a language that the audience doesn't understand, and the band's new record "Uroboros", out now on The End Records. An excerpt from the interview follows below.

MetalSucks: How do you find American audiences different from Japanese audiences or European audiences?

Die: Basically the fans are fans everywhere. In Japan, the fans react in the very same way. Everybody does the same thing at the same time. So maybe it looks kind of weird to you guys. In the United States or in Europe, the fans are much more independent. Everybody does what they want to do at different times. So they have much more freedom. They know how to enjoy it. We don't see much difference between the United States and Europe at this moment.

MetalSucks: Maybe this is your first time touring with THE HUMAN ABSTRACT. Have you had a chance to watch them? If so, what do you think of them?

Die: Before we came here, we checked out on the band on MySpace, and our first impression was that it was really complicated. On this tour we sometimes see the show from on the side of the stage. We feel a little sorry for them because the stage is so little and there are six members in the band so everything is packed into a small area. Everybody seems to be pretty busy on stage.

MetalSucks: As a band who sings mostly in Japanese, is it weird to see an American audience who doesn't understand anything that you guys are singing about singing along with your songs not knowing what they mean?

Kaoru: We don't think it's weird but are happy about that because the fans are really digging the songs. In a way, when we were much younger like in high school, we looked up to so many Western bands. When we listened to those bands, we would sing along not knowing the meaning behind that because it simply sounded cool. Maybe the same kind of thing is happening for them too.

Read the entire interview from MetalSucks.

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).