On this album you did have HiGE’s Aigon (Aida Shigekazu, gt.) and Sutou Hisashi (v. & gt.), and MONOBRIGHT’s Hidaka Tooru (v., gt. & key) participate in producing, composing and song writing.
T/N: Aigon produced ‘Sono Toki’ while Sutou wrote lyrics. Hidaka produced and arranged ‘Tokyo Skyscraper’.
RINA: We actually recorded ‘Sono Toki, Sekai wa Kimi Darake no Rain’, the song Aigon-san wrote for us, together as a group; I did the drums in a single take – it has a ‘rehearsal’ sound to it. It wasn’t supposed to be the real thing, so I didn’t even think think they would record us, so I played quite naturally. Aigon-san told me it was fine as it was. It was the first time I’d done it like that (laughs). I was really surprised but I guess it was something he would do. I realised that maybe bands could play like this, too.
MAMI: Sutou-san wrote the lyrics for Aigon-san’s song. I wondered if it was really okay for us to sing a song that HiGE-sama could sing. How does the chorus go again? < The hate in my heart is love and thunder and pain>!
HARUNA: That was marvellous (laughs).
MAMI: It was extremely shocking. Moreover, you can think of it as being a love song, or about the current state of Japan; you can even think about it as being a song about the Earth itself. The deeper you think about it, I think there are a lot of ways to interpret this song.
TOMO: For me, there were so many words that I had never uttered once in my life scattered throughout the song, I remember being really impressed when I saw something new. I used to look at other artists’ lyrics, and I liked to try thinking about replacing their personalities with my own words. But, when it came to this song, I had no idea what to do (laughs). It was a completely different way of thinking compared to all the lyrics I had seen up until then. I had no comprehension of what it was, like “What are we even singing?!” – This was my first impression of this song. But, whenever I sing it, I feel its depth, and it’s quite moving. The interaction between the melody and the lyrics, the rhythm and structure of the score …… we were the ones who thought about where to put the <abracadabra> part, but I feel like we saw a new method of song writing.
That <abracadabra> part is the four of you singing in unison, right? Wasn’t that your first time singing, RINA?
RINA: Well, basically, it’s because I don’t go into the recording booth (laughs).
HARU: The three of us have, but it was RINA’s first time singing. We all got into the booth and sang together – we had a lot of fun.
TOMO: To get us pumped up, we turned the lights down – it felt like a live house when we were recording.
MAMI: We have other songs that appear on this album, like Hidaka-san’s ‘Tokyo Skyscraper’.
What was it like recording with Hidaka-san?
MAMI: He was like a mother, or you could say he was the kind of person who’s constantly like “Work harder, guys!” Even though he’s kind of Spartan, when he told me, “Hang in there, with the guitar!” I felt like I had to focus and play more precisely. Even though it made me nervous when he put pressure on me, I think I was able to discover a new side of myself. He ordered me to do things like, “Play it with a bit more expression” or “The chorus needs to be dynamic!” I was also able to add in a bit of improvisation that I was satisfied with – it was really enlightening.
HARUNA: This track also has a keyboard part in it, so r.u.ko-san from THE BEACHES, who came with us on the America tour during our indies days, came to help us. We were really happy she remembered us, and she was really motherly when she looked at us kindly and said, “Wow~ you’ve all grown up!”
TOMO: At first, she carefully played some really beautiful chords. After she finished recording the chords, when I said, “Thank you very much for going through all this trouble to help us!” she told me, “Not at all, I haven’t even started yet” (laughs). Then, she was moving her fingers like crazy and added this really creepy sound to the song. It was awesomely perverted and cool at the same time. SCANDAL doesn’t have a keyboardist so it was really fresh and new
