Interview Keigo Oyamada & Takeshi Osumi -Yuichi Yoshii （WAVE / MISTERGENTLEMAN）

——I heard that both Yoshii and Osumi liked big music, and that Mr. Koyamada was quite big. First of all, please tell us about the influence of the artist Keigo Oyamada on their creations.

Yoshii: "I'm a fan who has been pursuing activities all the time. That's why I know that I don't like talking about that (laughs). I was watching in real time that I was surprised at the interviewer because of the appearance of a TV program during my early activities, such as when I was asked a boring question. It's on TV (laughs)."

Oyamada: "That's because I was young (laughs). I think it's embarrassed now, and it's okay now! How old is Mr. Yoshii?"

Yoshii "I'm 49 years old."

Oyamada: "Well, I'm one year younger. What about Mr. Osumi?"

Osumi "I'm 46 years old."

Oyamada: "It's quite low. You're both in a brand."

Yoshii "That's right. This is the seventh year."

Oyamada: "Do you think about each design? Or with you?"

Yoshii: "The first inspirational transmission is from Osumi, and I often receive and spread it. It is said that we will continue to do it together."

Osumi: "Everything I throw is Edited by Yoshii (laughs)."

Yoshii: "I think it's the role of thinking about how this person draws into reality (laughs). The first big picture is Osumi, and the role is to create the foundation from it. But now I was surprised to hear that Mr. Koyamada was one piece above me. Mr. Koyamada has already been at the forefront since he wasn't working at all, so he looked like a senior. We were taking what Koyamada made in real time, and we felt the changing times, as if what was happening in the Western music scene had finally begun in Japan. I started listening to music like JAPAN or YMO."

Oyamada: "Oh, that's right. When I was in elementary school, it was an era where NHK normally played live video of JAPAN on NHK."

Yoshii "Yes. In this way, when overseas fashion and culture became interesting, I was thrilled to see works with such excellent aesthetics in Japan as well. It was fun and I couldn't help. Mr. Koyamada was among them."

Oyamada: "Isn't Mr. Yoshii of the same generation?"

Yoshii: "I was watching my finger holding a finger that the same generation was going to wake up a movement (laughs). It feels like a mixture of longing and gelacy and such thrilling."

——What kind of things did you do at that time?

Yoshii: "I was a part-time worker and worked part-time at a coffee shop in Shimokitazawa."

Oyamada: "I used to go to Shimokitazawa often because my school was Tsurukawa and I changed trains on the Inokashira Line. I was immersed in a record shop called Fifth Avenue and a second-hand clothing store in that building on my way home from school."

Yoshii "Tsurukawa! My parents' house is Shinyurigaoka!"

Oyamada: "It's the station I went to every day. I used to play well in Machida. There were a lot of Yankee at our time."

Yoshii "Yes, yes (laughs). You were so close!'

——Did you want to create something after seeing such a movement?

Yoshii "Yes. From Koyamada's artwork, I couldn't keep an eye on everything from her appearance, and as the sound changes more and more, it's going to transform it in a direction that everyone doesn't expect, and the place where the pattern is not one, and the destination where I went is also predicting the future ahead. Well, it's about building a culture."

Osumi: "I was listening to hip-hop at that time, but of course I listened to Mr. Koyamada's music. I'm a little younger, so I might have had some parts that I couldn't see, but Mr. Koyamada feels like "shy" is only addicted to words. I don't understand whether it's still good or cool, but I thought it's fashionable, so I had to listen to it, so I got it early and boasted when everyone didn't get a CD."

Yoshii "It's a word that looks fashionable (laughs). But that was exactly the case. Even though my values were not fixed, I thought, "I had to like this" (laughs)."

Oyamada: "When I was a teenager, there was such a thing. I'm stretching my back and absorbing a lot of things while I don't know, and it will work later."

Yoshii "Yes. Did you know or know?"

Osumi: "I was exactly the same, so when I saw Mr. Koyamada, I thought I had to wear white denim."

Oyamada: "I have to wear white denim (laughs)."

Osumi "Delkaji, I like Kirekaji, Killekaji, Nanja, (laughs)."

Oyamada: "I was there (laughs)."

——(laughs). This time, Mr. Koyamada is working on the background music of Shibuya PARCO, but could you tell us if you have any image of Shibuya PARCO you have and memories of it that will be the basis?

Oyamada: "I've lived in Shinsen since I was in junior high school for about 2 years, so I always have around Shibuya PARCO, and I have many memories at the Book Center. When I was a teenager, I had a space for art exhibitions, live performances, and movie screenings on the top floor of a Seibu-affiliated building called Seed Hall. At that time, Toshinori Kondo's IMA band was playing live there, so I was carrying musical instruments. It was when illustrators Katsu Yoshida and Georgia O'Keefe were doing exhibitions."

——Did you have that plan?

Oyamada "No, it's just a part-time job. It is said that they can get tickets and carry musical instruments. Shortly after graduating from high school, I've been working part-time for about two years while attending Setsu Nagasawa's Setsu Mode Seminar. At that time, I started a band, and when I was 19 years old, Flippers (guitar) debuted. That's why when I was a teenager, I was deeply influenced by the Seibu culture of the 80s. We are such a generation."

Yoshii "Yes. It's Moro."

Oyamada: "Shibuya was enlightening culture at that time. Seibu was actively involved in new things, and in particular, Seibu was introducing "culture" such as art, music and movies."

Yoshii: "At that time, there was a flow of learning about culture through Shibuya. Mr. Osumi was playing Rajikase on the Toyoko Line."

Osumi: "Well, Rajikase was carrying around (laughs). But I also went to the Parco Book Center and bought books. Once upon a time, I used to wrap it. When Japanese rap came out, there was a rap boom. And when I came to hip-hop, I was in Shibuya, so I went there every day."

Oyamada: "Yes, there was also a hip-hop scene. 'spin CAMP,'

——At that time, various cultures crossed Shibuya.

Yoshii "Yes. In the midst of that, Mr. Koyamada exists."

Oyamada: "No, no, on the side I was watching, I think it was the older generation who was making the scene. That's what Yukihiro Takahashi's Bricks-MONO was in Shibuya PARCO. Also, I guess Shigesato Itoi and Eiko Ishioka are the creators of Seibu culture."

——It has been passed down from time to time. I saw the playlists in November and December of BGM designed by Mr. Koyamada, but I felt that there were many band sounds and many lively songs like Christmas.

Oyamada: "Christmas is in my head, and since it's a shopping building, it's not too quiet and not too troublesome, I decided to go from uptempo to middle."

——It means that BGM changes every two months, but is the overall flow and image solidified?

Oyamada: "I'm going to add a taste like the former PARCO and the former WAVE. Music from the time when PARCO in the 1970s and 1980s was the best. Also, I'd like to include Yukihiro Takahashi's songs someday. I would like to include both genres and generations evenly, but when WAVE was there, it was my own generation, and I think Parco's culture began around that time, so I think the things at that time will come into the basics."

Yoshii "I'm looking forward to it. How many playlists do you have?"

Oyamada: "It's about three hours, maybe it's going to flow about three times a day. There are four seasons of original music on the playlist, and there is also music and time signal from the announcement in the hall, and the light ending of fireflies is also made original."

Yoshii: "We also have shops, so I'm worried about it, but do you feel that the light-like music of fireflies makes you feel like "go home early"? (laughs)."

Oyamada: "Is it going to give out the air of 'It's over~ goodbye ~'" (laughs)?"

Yoshii: "Because it's time to close the store, it only flows once a day, right?　Isn't it valuable? On the contrary, there seems to be someone who dares to come just before closing the store (laughs)."

——Originally, I have the impression that you record the sounds of various places in fieldwork, but are you interested in creating music that matches the place?

Oyamada: "I used to do that kind of thing in the past. I'm not doing it at all now, but I like it. I like not only pop music, but also sound."

Yoshii "Is Mr. Koyamada working fast to make songs?"

Oyamada: "Yes, I've been trained a lot and faster. There was a program called "Design A" on NHK, and I've been making that music all the time, so I think it's quick to work on making such sound design and jingle."

——I would like to ask you about WAVE as well, but how did you decide to revive WAVE?

Yoshii: "I've never been able to do something like a burn in the show, but I've been talking about trying to put out a logo that would be a keyword linking music and fashion, and it's cool that the WAVE logo was all made of straight lines." "Who should I tell if I wanted to use this logo?" I started in various ways, and I came to this point without thinking about anything (laughs)."

Oyamada: "I was meeting someone who was labeling at WAVE the day before yesterday. The record shop over there was excellent buyers, so there are still many famous people who are still doing record shops. "Los Apson?" in Koenji Yamabe (Cage), who runs a record shop, is also a famous buyer, and there was always interesting music in Yamabe's corner, so I often bought something from that corner."

Yoshii: "That's the time when I was buying music if this person recommends it." My parents were working in Roppongi, and when I tried to eat dinner outside, WAVE was told to stay here until work was over. So I was playing with my brother. It's about three."

Oyamada: "There was a bookstore in the building and I don't get bored."

Yoshii: "I didn't go on my own, but I vaguely thought that there is always something good in this corner." At that time, my sister was studying in San Francisco and sent me cassette tapes once a month. There are music that was popular at the time, such as Madonna and Duran Duran. That's the time when I learned about Western music in WAVE and my sister's cassettes."

——I had memories of my family at WAVE. Was Mr. Osumi also attending?

Osumi: "I've been going to Tokyo to buy rap and black music records all the time."

Oyamada: "I lived in the neighborhood of WAVE around 1994, so I went there almost every day at that time. When Koji Kikkawa went out to The Bestten, there was a time saying "I will sing on a broadcast from Roppongi WAVE" and I came down while singing that escalator while dancing, but that remains on YouTube. Even now, when I miss WAVE sometimes, I watch that video (laughs). Now, if you want to see WAVE at that time, it's a video."

Yoshii "I didn't know! (Laughs) What kind of song did you sing?"

Oyamada: "What was it? It's not a "You Gatta Chance"……"Goodbye was Larabai in August?"

Yoshii "Ahhah! There was a "Yugara chance" (laughs)."

——How do you have a vision that you want to develop WAVE?

Yoshii: "Actually, I started with the feeling I mentioned earlier, so I didn't decide anything. However, after we released our collection, many people's thoughts on WAVE came out."

Oyamada "Oh, it's heavy (laughs)."

Yoshii "Yes, it's more terrible than I imagined (laughs). That's why I would like to take some time from here to make your sublime thoughts properly."

Oyamada: "You made a shop in Aoyama, didn't you? If you go around that area, you will have a WAVE logo, so "What's wrong!? I thought it. So when I met Mr. Takimi, I have a shopper, so why do you have it? When I heard that, I was told about Yoshii and others."

Yoshii: "When I did a WAVE pop-up at Mr's shop and sold T-shirts that appeared in the show. If I sold a T-shirt, I really wanted to reproduce that shopper and put it in, so I looked for the actual thing at that time with Yahuoku, but no one had it. But Kenji Takimi had it!　As expected, it's strange (laughs). I borrowed it and recreated it from the color so that it would be completely the same because it was not close to the color."

Oyamada: "Yes, that's what you're looking for. Because WAVE has the thoughts of many people."

Yoshii "We sell T-shirts and other items at WAVE developed at PARCO, but before that, we first gathered 400 modular synths to make walls, and made it a place where we wanted to take pictures and remember them. Also, we put a vending machine along the street to make original WAVE canned coffee using almond milk, which is not animal milk. But that's why WAVE's existence is a canned coffee, and I'm terrifying if I'm not angry or angry. Eventually, I would like to create a place to make music purely and express it, so please let Mr. Koyamada talk! "

Oyamada: "Yes, if there is anything I can do."