I think it is cool to give people opportunities, especially if they just started a project. With yuichi abe it is the same, though he had a career with the band the butterfly nine cord. After the announcement that the band would disband, I was hoping that the band members of this band would keep on making music. The first person who announced to start a solo project was yuichi abe. For me, this was a chance to ask what he wants to do with this project.
AVO: As this is the first interview with you on AVO Magazine, can you introduce yourself?
yuichi: Hello and nice to meet you. I’m ex-the butterfly nine cord’s yuichi abe.
AVO: 2015 concluded with the disbandment of the butterfly nine cord. After 8 years quitting is really something, but I got the feeling that all of you thought this was what you could give and wanted to end it with a good feeling. Is that true and what do you think when you look back on these 8 years?
yuichi: I think the most important during these 8 years had been to take criticism whether it was good or bad. If listeners had not felt anything (about my music), being ignored would have been the most shameful thing to me.
AVO: On January 14 you announced your solo project, why did you made the choice to go solo?
yuichi: When the talk about the dissolution of the butterfly nine cord came up, at that point, I also considered to quit singing. But I really love music. When I honestly considered facing music again, I had messages from fans telling that “they were waiting for me to go back on stage”, but I decided to continue alone. I wanted them to listen to a personal representation of yuichi abe’s music.
AVO: In 2011 you released an EP under your name. Do you have an idea in which direction you want to go with your solo project or do you want to elaborate on what you have released in 2011?
yuichi: Put simply, I want to express things I couldn’t do with the butterfly nine cord. The theme would be “Music closely together with emotions.” I want people to be moved with my music.
https://soundcloud.com/yuichiabe_works/thyla
AVO: Is it still an option for you to form a band in the future or are you not interested at all in that?
yuichi: Of course I love bands so I would like to work with people that share a similar sensibility and music sense than me.
AVO: You have been making music since your youth. Who made you decide to pick up the electric guitar?
yuichi: Because when I knew rock music I vaguely thought, “I want to start playing the guitar!” My skills with guitars are still very poor but since I like how it sounds, I still play it nowadays.
AVO: What do you ultimately want to achieve with your project?
yuichi: Not only Japanese people, I also want to reach overseas people with my music.
For now, I will work alone so I want them to know much more about yuichi abe than before.
AVO: In March you will have your first performance with your new project, and you will release a CD. What can you tell the readers about this?
yuichi: Since it will be my first live since the band disbanded, I would be happy if people is interested in the music I am making now.
I also want to upgrade my home page so as to a lot of overseas people can access the information in there, so please check it out.
AVO: We are at the end of the interview, do you have a message for the readers of AVO Magazine?
yuichi: I would be really glad if someone gets interested in me thanks to this interview. For now, I have only worked in Japan but I want to transmit my music to all the world in my own way. So like this, people from the Netherlands or Belgium can know more about me. Please continue to support me.
The first CD of yuichi abe will be released on March 18 and is titled 2016 Mar. I want to thank yuichi abe for his time and Team AVO for the help with this interview and translations. You can follow yuichi abe on his official website, Twitter and Facebook.
