VAMPS "ANGEL TRIP" Interview Translation

Original: Oricon Style
Translator: Erin Grace

VAMPS SPECIAL INTERVIEW

Their new single, filled with an energetic, scampering feeling! 

Continuing from “DEVIL SIDE,” VAMPS is releasing a new single!  “ANGEL TRIP,” to be released on 6/9, is a number filled with an energetic, scampering feeling.  There’s no mistaking that it will be the climax of upcoming live performances. 

K.A.Z sings the hook of the chorus in lives…

--What was the point of making “ANGEL TRIP” into the single?

Hyde: The timing of this single is right before a tour, so we thought that even though it’s pop, a song with a punk-ish condition would be perfect.  K.A.Z wrote this song from that kind of state.  I wrote a song, too, but we thought K.A.Z’s song would make a more novel single.

K.A.Z: When everyone played it at the live there was an image of cutting loose, but we achieved it through trial and error.  The chorus overlaps the hook, but I think it has greater breadth this way.

--It’s been said that the working title for this song was “Capybara.”  Is that true?

K.A.Z: It is. (Laugh)

--Why?

K.A.Z: …It fits. (Laugh)  A capybara [a small mammal native to South America] has fast little feet, doesn’t it?  I thought it would be interesting to name this scampering song “Cabybara” after it. (Laugh)

Hyde: The working title is only a symbol.  There’s always that feeling.  What was the working title for “DEVIL SIDE?”

K.A.Z: “Gomachan.”

Hyde: Yeah, that’s it.  It’s the fifth song, so we called it “Gomachan.” (Laugh)

--(Laugh)  The lyrics of “ANGEL TRIP” are loaded with an atmosphere like “Let’s make some noise!”

Hyde: Yeah, that’s true.  It gives you the image of a live, but we also thought of a tavern.  A feeling like you’re drunk and don’t care.

--Like the launch of a VAMPS live?

Hyde: Yeah. (Laugh)

--Will K.A.Z sing the chorus of the hook in lives?

Hyde: Of course!

K.A.Z: Huh?  Really? (Laugh)

Hyde: I did the song arrangement, so it’s your responsibility. (Laugh)

K.A.Z:  I wonder if I can just float on a tape of me singing at my house? (Laugh) 

Recording this time was very fresh for us

--If the two-person chorus is perfectly demonstrated at a live, you’ll extend the fun of a VAMPS live even more.

Hyde: We’re trying to be the CHEMISTRY of the rock world. (Laugh)  But even as important as our two-member chorus is in a live, what we create together with the fans at the live is just as important.  We thought that “ANGEL TRIP” could be sung and perfected with a live audience.  Even during our tour last year, there was a huge number of things made by even more fans that we had ever dreamed.

--For your coupling this time, K.A.Z wrote “KYUKETSU—SATSUGAI VAMPS Ver.—,” a cover of “SATSUGAI,” for “Detroit Metal City.”

Hyde: I don’t know how many times we’ve played it for fun at lives.  This time, when we met to figure out what we should do for our coupling, I saw that his keychain was on the desk and had “DCM” written on it.  I said, “That’s it!”  We’ve always changed the lyrics before we sang it at lives.  But because we had a hard time conveying everything in a live, so we thought it might be good to clearly write out and listen to the lyrics once.

K.A.Z: Recording it like this was very fresh for us.

--These are singles with two very contrasting songs. 
Hyde: They really are.  Naturally, with the “angel” and “devil.” (Laugh) 

Interviewer: Tanaka Dai