To promote the new single of ADAMS, Akisame, was Shota, guitarist of ADAMS in Europe. We met him at the airport where we talked with him about ADAMS’ recent tour, the next single, and the more distant future.
AVO: You have performed in Moscow, Russia. We know that Russia is known for its anti-gay law. How was the audience in Moscow and how was the concert? Did you have to make any adjustments for this concert?
Shota: Yes, we changed our stage performance a little bit because the touching and kissing could not be done on stage so the concert in Moscow was more serious. It was mainly music instead of a whole performance. Usually, during our show I play the guitar and kiss Adam a lot, but here we couldn’t. Before the show started I was a little nervous because our merchandise could not be sold because there is nudity and kissing on it, so I was very stressed at that moment. If a fan wanted to buy some merchandise their passports had to be checked, if they were younger than 18 years old they could not buy the CD because of the cover.
AVO: SIXNINE was released for the European fans and came out at the beginning of the tour this year. What kind of reactions did the fans have towards the album?
Shota: Most of them gave a very good reaction. SIXNINE was sold out so we’re making a second print/press right now.
AVO: Listening to the album SIXNINE, we noticed the variety between and in the songs. There are ballads, dance and rock songs. There is something for everybody to enjoy. Was this the goal of your album?
Shota: Yes this was our goal. For me it’s not so different, it’s like our other album NEOSEXUAL. But SIXNINE has more songs so there is a bit more variation. It’s the same story, NEOSEXUAL and SIXNINE, if you want to enter ADAMS their world you should listen to NEOSEXUAL since it has only 7 songs. SIXNINE is like a continuation of NEOSEXUAL, it’s the same history and the story continues like a story.
AVO: The first thing that catches the eye is the cover of the album. It looks very interesting. Ryota Sakai who, as far as we understand, has been connected to ADAMS from the beginning made the cover. How did you get in contact with Ryota? Does he come up with the concepts for the photos or do you have a part in that as well?
Shota: The idea for SIXNINE’s cover art was mostly his idea. We wanted to make a nude photo and he was okay with that and his idea was to make some kind of peacock mosaic from the nude photo. With almost every artwork we talk about the concept with Ryota because we trust him. I’ve met Ryota 3 years before I started ADAM. The first time I met him I’ve seen some of his works which were gorgeous and after that time I contacted him. I gave him my stage photo and he agreed to work together. After that, I told him I wanted to create ADAMS, Ryota wanted to help us with everything.
AVO: Now there is a new single, Akisame. This is your last work in the J-pop scene, so after this you want to change the style of ADAMS into pure electronic and digital sound, why do you want to change style?
Shota: Adam and I want to change because J-pop was running well before ADAMS even started. We don’t want to make the same music over and over again, the same goes for the make-up and hair. I want to change every time. But about the songs, this time it will be a big changement. Visual Kei, J-pop, after this we go electronic because it’s music that’s easier to dance on. If we are unable to change, it will be the end, because if you don’t change, you will stand still in time and it will be the end of your career.
AVO: Can you explain us something about the new single Akisame?
Shota: I think both are very catchy songs. But there is some difference between the songs. Akisame is more pop and NUDE is more rock. Akisame is closer to ADAMS, with broken love lyrics etc. NUDE is almost 100% my work, I think it’s a good balance.
AVO: Do you think there’s a big difference between SIXNINE and Akisame?
Shota: Not very big I think. It’s still like a continuing story. Akisame is like Boku no sei and Seseragi, they’re more pop songs.
AVO: We know you get most of your inspiration from Visual Kei artists. Which band or artist inspires you the most and why?
Shota: Kiyoharu from Kuroyume, he’s a God to me. His fashion, the way he speaks, his looks, charisma… therefore Kiyoharu is God to me. Other Visual Kei musicians are not such a big inspiration to me, maybe some other members of Kuroyume inspire me too. Adam likes GACKT and Hyde, but for me, it’s Kiyoharu and also BUCK-TICK’S guitarist Hisashi Imai. Hisashi is also very charismatic. I’m inspirited by the way he plays on stage. Hisashi holds his guitar but he doesn’t play like a computer, I like the way he dances and moves naturally.
AVO: Next to the European tour and the release of the European version of SIXNINE, HIGHFeeL also officially launched their agency. What has HIGHFeeL to offer ADAMS and what other artists does HIGHFeeL support?
Shota: I had to make some label in Japan anyways, because ADAMS has its own CD company, because we already have a strong concept. We can’t sign with some other label because of our strong concept. Other companies will say stuff like ‘you can’t wear this, you can’t do this, and you can’t do that.’ So that’s why we created our own company, HIGHFeeL Japan, after this we made HIGHFeeL Europe, now it’s easier to come here in Europe for me, HIGHFeeL Europe is like a new start in Europe. Our future plans are to work with other artists as well but for now it’s only ADAMS in the management. But we will work together with Ryota Sakai and the band SAGA, they’re very interesting, they signed for only one tour, if this is going to be a success we will see what comes next. But for now, it’s only ADAMS, we want to work with more artists but for now, SAGA is more important because of the combination of Japan, Korea and China.
AVO: You are working hard as musicians, but if you hadn’t chosen this path in life, what would you be doing for a living?
Shota: If I weren’t a musician… I would be a drug dealer! Maybe from the age of 10-15 I would be a drug dealer, then at age 16-20 I ‘d use other drug dealers to deal for me, I’d work my way up, at age 20-30 I’d learn how to deal and how to go to Colombia, learning how to fly packages directly to Colombia. If I weren’t able to be a drug dealer I would be a killer, as you can see in our videos I’m usually killing someone. I want to do big work in drug dealing, so I would kill one person and have 200 kg coke at once. (JOKING!!)
AVO: Let’s look into the future, in 5 years, where do you see ADAMS?
Shota: If we continue like this, maybe in 5 years we would have even more interesting works. I would like to make a concert DVD or do some acting with ADAMS for example, something like that. And of course, I hope we have grown bigger in 5 years.
AVO: ADAMS will go to Mexico soon, how do you feel about that?
Shota: I’m very excited and a bit nervous because I have never been there before! This is the first time there, so everything is fresh. I get a fresh feeling when I think about going to Mexico since I don’t know how the audience will be.
AVO: We are at the end of our interview. Would you like to leave a message for the Dutch and Belgium readers of AVO Magazine?
Shota: Thank you AVO. All fans, thank you always for supporting us, I love you. Don’t forget my love and nice to meet you, I’m Shota from ADAMS, If you have time…catch our music!
I want to thank Shota for his time, HIGHFeeL for organising this interview and Fran for the support and help with this interview.
