KISS : yukihiro review

Let’s check what yukkie tought ’bout KISS as a drummer.

SEVENTH HEAVEN

[I thought it would sound coolest if played in four-four. But I also thought I'd better make it match the clicks exactly - I really pounded it (laughs). I think I nailed it, though.]

Pretty Girl

[I was thinking it had to be wild, had to be rock and roll! Without thinking of anything else, I just played... Dakadakadakadakadakadaaang! I felt that intense, cool feeling just had to go into it.]

MY HEART DRAWS A DREAM

[That one really went by so fast that I can't remember anything (laughs). Yes. I totally put everything into it. At first I wondered "How was it, really?", but I let a little time go by and then ken-chan said the take was pretty good so I knew I could leave it alone. I was so into it. I wanted to do it perfectly, but it really worked out for this song.]

Sunadokei

[That one is tetsu-kun's song, and it was arranged by Nishihira-san... Nishihira-san had a lot of influence on my drumming, there (laughs). This time when I went to record my drum parts, I put myself in recording mode from my head to my ass. Even so, there were changes to throw in every minute. I'd be told "I want to change that part a little, so really punch it in!" but I'd be thinking "No, I don't think that part should be quite like that", while I played it (laughs).]

 spiral [That one was really difficult to drum (laughs). Damn me (laughs). But it was quite interesting. I think I made some interesting takes. Hard to play the break beats so fast. That's what made me go "Damn me!" (laughs)]

ALONE EN LA VIDA

[That song, I think I only had to play it once. It's not a song I need to do much for (laughs). I did it exactly the way the rhythm of ken-chan's demo tape sounded. I think the most I changed was the kick pattern, slightly. I did it squarely, nothing special happened all the way through. Well, the breaks just fit the start, build up, climax, finish pattern, so I might as well let the other instruments tell the story.]

DAYBREAK’S BELL

[That one was difficult (laughs). I got through my takes quickly, but when I first heard the demo tape I had no idea how I was going to pull that off. I started by listening closely to the demo tape, and to the rhythm ken-chan was so crazy about, then I took out all the parts that were humanly impossible to play (laughs). Then, once the rhythm was humanly playable, I tried to get as close to it as I could and I tried several different approaches on the song.]

Umibe

[That's a song I've wanted to get recorded since SMILE, so I had it finished in one take. I actually played it a lot before this recording session (laughs). I'm quite crazy about this song. I think I played it for three days straight. It was bad (laughs). "Are you still doing that?" (laughs). It was hard though. At first I couldn't match my body to the beat, and so the drum pattern couldn't be settled. So I think for the lives, I played it wrong. I used the pattern it had before (laughs).]

THE BLACK ROSE

[This part of hyde's weird song series (laughs). I wondered if he wanted it heavy... I ended up doing something we didn't have before now. In the end, I had to practise a lot. I had an hour of extra practise time the day before we recorded it... Yeah I practised.]

Link -KISS Mix-

[The image for that one is Motown. I thought the drums ought to stick to that as closely as possible too... It's Motown but it's also pop-ish. I had this image in mind that it could be really cool that way. A while back I bought a CD full of Motown break beats, too.]

Yuki No Ashiato

[I did that all in one shot too. ken-chan already had a very strong image of what he wanted, and if I tried to mess with it he'd go NO! which I didn't want to have happen, so that's why. With this song especially, I didn't have to do much with it, I didn't do anything to it at all! He was picky about the drums on this one. It was strange ambivalent pattern, so I figured that as long as it sounds cool that pattern will work... Yeah, I experimented with the sound quality.]

Hurry Xmas

[Yeah, it was a first for me. I didn't think I'd be able to do it, at first. "How typical of hyde-kun" (laughs). In the end it turned out jazzy, don't you think?]

Looking it all over, what kind of album do you think it turned out to be?

[I think it's a good album. Of course I felt that it was a relief to us. It feels like everything's been cleared up... I think we can still move forward. But I think we've done what we needed to do for now.]

Disclaimer : Musica (musica.net.jp) Dec.07 Issue

Credit to Eleonora@Ark BBS for the translation

Also check what futsu say ’bout this album here

Tags: KISS, L'Arc, new album, review, yukihiro