©ACME
Thank you for taking time from your busy schedules to answer our questions. Could you please introduce yourselves to the readers of Summon the Roses?
CHISA: I’m the vocalist, CHISA. Hello to all the readers of Summon the Roses!
SHOGO: I’m the guitarist, SHOGO. Nobody can beat the depth of my sound.
RIKITO: I’m the bassist, RIKITO. I don’t have anything interesting to say, but I love interesting things.
HAL: I’m HAL on drums. My favorite food is curry. There’s no food I don’t like.
On January 22nd, you released an indies best-of-album titled WE ARE VISUAL-KEI. The theme for this album is a dark VISUAL-KEI 90s look. What inspired you to revisit this era?
CHISA: We're also focusing on overseas shows, so we wanted to do an album with the title like "We're visual kei!". The 90s style photo came from the idea of "if there was a band called ACME in the 90s" and capturing that image.
SHOGO: We did something that nobody has been doing recently. But the songs are really far from the 90s style (laughs). I think that makes it really interesting.
RIKITO: No matter who you're looking at you'll think that it's visual kei, and even if someone is seeing us for the first time it'll leave an impact so I think it was good that this time we tried something like this.
HAL: Generally speaking, visual kei has this impression of like, dark music, weird singing, syncopation, and so on. But that's not really the case, so we released this album with the concept that it's actually the most free genre. If you listen to it, it'll definitely overturn the image you'd have of it just by looking at the cover art and artist photos.
CHISA
SHOGO
RIKITO
HAL
CHISA: Last Prize. Because the song lyrics have a feeling that I never want to forget.
SHOGO: There’s not really one single song, but rather the album as a whole has a special meaning.
RIKITO: I can confidently recommend each song on the album, so choosing just one is pretty difficult.
HAL: MAGURO KAITAI CHAINSAW was our first single, and I made it with the thought of wanting to convey ACME to the most amount of people possible. At that time, I didn’t expect that we’d be playing in America. Even from now on the possibilities are endless.
You recently had your West Coast Collision Tour in 4 different cities in the United States. How did it feel returning to America to perform?
CHISA: It was awesome! I really love performing in front of the American fans. Also, since there were new fans who could experience ACME's show in America this time I think it was a really meaningful tour.
SHOGO: It was great. Doing a show abroad is like living the dream and you can really do your ideal performance.
RIKITO: I thought that it was really great that the guests who came to this tour were also able to scream and enjoy themselves while they watched us the same as the last time we were here.
HAL: Since I couldn't really communicate with words, I expressed my feelings with music. In all the cities, it seemed like everyone was kind of shy in the beginning, but by the end I think all the members, audience, and staff were all able to get really excited and enjoy the show.
What was the most memorable experience from your West Coast Collision Tour?
CHISA: It was an American road trip, the sky was a different color than Japan and was beautiful. Watching the beautiful scenery while on this journey was fun.
SHOGO: I guess it was when our van got broken into, right? (laughs)
RIKITO: You know, it was the first time in my life to experience a break in so it really left an impression.
HAL: A lot happened, but I’ll never forget getting a huge fever in San Francisco. I was thinking “America is so cold, I’m really shaking” when I noticed that I was the only one shaking, then after that I felt so hot that I thought I would melt. There was a show the next day, so I was worried if I would be able to play properly but the fever went down overnight so I was able to perform well.
What were some of your favorite tracks to perform during this tour?
CHISA: FUHAI MIKAN, I was super excited when Lauren from RHD collaborated with us!
SHOGO: FUHAI MIKAN.
RIKITO: MONSTER.
HAL: FUHAI MIKAN. The vocalist Lauren from RHD, the band we were touring with, performed with us and it really hyped up the show. I was able to play drums while thinking “ACME has already reached the world’s standards”.
What are a few differences you notice between your Japanese and American fans?
CHISA: I guess in the way they enjoy the show. I'm the same way, but in Japan there are a lot of shy people so we worry about things like shouting or the way we express ourselves during a show.
SHOGO: The passion. After the shows in America, the first time we did a show back in Japan it really reminded me of our origins.
RIKITO: American fans scream out loudly from the beginning to the very end and really give it their all with their whole body so that kind of thing feels more intense than the Japanese fans.
HAL: In the end, the excitement during the show is different. When American fans are having fun they use their whole bodies to express that feeling, but Japanese fans can't really openly express those feelings. I sometimes get told "I don't know if it's fun". It could be that Japanese people aren't good at expressing their emotions.
Do you have any plans of returning to the US and expanding to other states? East coast tour maybe?
CHISA: I love America, so if there are fans who are waiting for us we definitely want to do it!
SHOGO: If we can do it I want to do it. If we’re able to do it I’ll pray that our schedule isn’t so packed (laughs).
RIKITO: We don’t have another plan to tour yet, but if another offer comes I think we’ll definitely say OK.
HAL: There’s no plan yet, but I have hope. I want to go anywhere where there are people waiting for us.
What do you hope the future will be like for ACME?
CHISA: I want to share this feeling of passion with more and more people!
SHOGO: I hope that ACME can be popular all over the world.
RIKITO: I really think these four people have a lot of potential, so I want to get more people to know ACME's music and I want to connect with more people through ACME's music.
HAL: I want to share the world of ACME with more people so we can be able to do a world tour.
Do you have a special message for your fans?
CHISA: Thanks so much for always supporting us, I’ll fly on a plane to meet you again soon!
SHOGO: To everyone who makes ACME possible, I love you.
RIKITO: ACME is still evolving, so please keep following us and we'll work hard to keep doing even bigger things together with our fans.
HAL: Thank you for reading. From here on out we’ll keep taking you all to various worlds with our music. Please look forward to it!
🌹Links🌹
https://www.youtube.com/@acmejapan
Summon the Roses wants to give a special thanks to ACME for answering our questions. We will keep on supporting and cheering for you.
©Summontheroses2020
