O.o...

Fri, 16 Dec 2005 21:38:03 GMT

when you choke a smurf what color does it turn?

Jackie's poem...

Sun, 11 Dec 2005 19:16:56 GMT

I’m Sorry – Jackie

~I’m sorry for this mess.
~I’m sorry for your pain.
~I’m sorry I acted
like this was all a game.

~I’m sorry I was born.
~I’m sorry I’m alive
~I’m sorry for everything
I did not realize.

~I’m sorry for this.
~I’m sorry for that.
~I’m sorry I treated
you like a walk-on mat.

~I’m sorry I’m here,
and that I ruined your life.
~So from here on out
to you I say:
Goodbye

Mana interview

Thu, 03 Nov 2005 21:46:37 GMT

JapImpact: Does your musical style resemble or detache it of the period Malice Maizer? Mana: Bottom of my music, i.e. the traditional side did not change, it is only the form which was modified. The music of Mizer Mischievousness varied according to the "concept" of each piece. It is a group which had succeeded in going beyond the limits imposed by the style "rock'n'roll". Me Ten Months are a project which aims to look further into my music, a project "rock'n'roll" which delivers you an at the same time soft sound, violent and dramatic thanks to a subtle mixture of classical music and heavier sonorities coming from the "rock'n'roll". JapImpact: Y-a it an artist who influenced you and whom you admire? Mana: I was particularly struck by the beautiful one and mystical music of Bach. It is a type-setter who influenced me much. JapImpact: How did your first meeting with Kozi occur? Mana: I had come to Tokyo to make music. I however had to find me an odd job, it is there that I met KOZI. JapImpact: A certain influence of France is noticed. Thus one notices many French songs in your career like "without logic" in 1992, "Memory", "My darling"? Like through the name of the group "Me ten months". From where does this passion for France come you? Mana: I like soft and languorous sonorities of the French language. Of course, I like also the Japanese language. I use both according to the topic approached. JapImpact: Last year you came to France at the time of Japan Expo. Which memories keep of this visit and which is your glance on the French public? Mana: I found that the French cities were beautiful thus I avoided taking the car and I walked much to foot. In connection with the European fans, I was astonished by their force and their enthusiasm. I as noticed as there were more men than in Japan. There were also no badly equipped people of Me-Even-Half and I was very content. JapImpact: Many of your fans get dressed like you. Besides you have today a line of clothing to your effigy. Hope to export it to you in France? Mana: Nothing concrete is planned for the moment. JapImpact: Which are your projects in the musical field? Mana: One surely will leave a DVD on the concert March 28 to Paris. If not, there is nothing concrete yet but I would like to frequently return to Europe.

I've regained some of my strength...

Sat, 09 Jul 2005 06:53:39 GMT

But I'm still drained of energy.

Do I dare to eat anything?

I ate a piece of toast yesterday.

Look at what my best friend Jessica found for me!!!!

Tue, 21 Jun 2005 20:51:34 GMT

MOI DIX MOIS

From the Japanese Gothic-throne

In Japan Mana with his band Moi Dix Mois is the biggest there is in the
field of Gothic. Which is hardly surprising, for this formation is not only
musically absolutely unique, they also perform with a very special optical
style. Moi Dix Mois’ fashion style is called “Gothic Lolita”, but has
nothing to do with sexual preferences of the “different” kind. Just consider
that the outfits in the early (American) days of Gothic were held pretty
feminine, too. Mana who in former times belonged to a likewise popular
Japanese Visual Kei-group – that being the name of the stylistic movement
whose identification goes far beyond the music – is that popular in his
homecountry that he even manages his own, Gothic Lolita-style based, fashion
label and at the same time is the most influential personage of this fashion
style.

In Europe Moi Dix Mois are still handled as a secret tip, but despite that
they were able to sell more CDs and DVDs than many European bands. A
considerable achievement, considering the fact that the Japanese’s records
are only purchaseable at the German Internet shop www.neotokyo.de and now
at www.orkus-online.de. Besides, until now it was only possible to gain
detailed information about the band via the Internet, and this only on
Japanese sites that offered neither English nor German translations.

Orkus now had the opportunity of having the first (big) interview for Europe
with the man of and behind Moi Dix Mois.

But: Mana does not belong to the easiest persons to talk to. They say that
no one ever heard Mana’s voice in public. If for example Mana is asked
questions in a TV show, he whispers the answer into his fellow musicians
Juka or Kazuno’s ear and they then speak out loud for him. Also the mostly
rather short answers pretty surprised us, but as we found out afterwards our
interview with Mana seems to be one of the longest and detailed at all!
Usually, Mana hardly answers questions regarding his person, too.

Orkus: The look and music of Moi Dix Mois is extremely dark. Where does your
fascination for the dark come from? Does darkness give you some kind of
energy?

Mana: Black is just the colour, the nature of darkness itself. I love the
colour black and want it to surround me all the time. Black is the source of
strength to me.

O: Would you associate the dark with evil itself?

Mana: No, because darkness just means beauty.

O: Where do you find inspiration for your music and your lyrics?

Mana: From occult horror movies…

O: Since when do you play an instrument?

Mana: I was 15 or 16 when I started playing guitar. Between my 16th and 18th
year I played drums, too.

O: And when did you write your first own song?

Mana: Oh, I think I was 18 or 19 years old.

O: Would you call yourself a happy person?

Mana: At least I’m proud of my creations being a great success with so many
people. Yes, actually I am a happy person.

O: What does, in your view, make life worth living?

Mana: I love ballet, musicals and movies.

O: Would you consider yourself to be a loner? At least you give such an
impression…

Mana: I haven’t thought about that yet. I actually don’t really care if
people think of me that way.

O: Which criteria do your musicians have to fulfill?

Mana: They have to have imagination, be curious and original.

O: How do you cope with living as a star and being admired and copied by so
many fans in Japan? Doesn’t that have negative side effects, too?

Mana: Oh, I don’t think I’m a star…

O: What human traits of character or features do you admire?

Mana: When a person has his or her own opinion and doesn’t let him- or
herself be influenced by other ones.

O: Is there a specific aim in your life that you want to accomplish?

Mana: The destination of every human being is death. 1

O: The style of your outfit is called “Gothic Lolita”. Since when do you run
your fashion label Moi-Même-Moitié?

Mana: In the year of 1999 the fashion label Moi-Même-Moitié that I do the
design for was founded. In that year we opened our first shop in Aoyama in
Tokyo. Recently we moved to a big shopping mall in Shinjuku. Furthermore we
have another subsidiary shop in the city of Nagoya. There are also more and
more inquiries from overseas. So I can’t complain about lack of interest.

O: Can you tell us something about the history of the Gothic Lolita-fashion?
Here in Europe this style isn’t known yet…

Mana: When I still played with Malice Mizer [ Mana’s former band; editor’s
note], I was wearing a costume I designed myself. It was dark, but somehow
cute. The Japanese media wrote a lot about that costume and thought that was
Gothic – but I think they were wrong. Unlike me most people consider the
attributes ‘dark’ and ‘cute’ to be incompatible. Therefore I decided to
proclaim a whole new concept to the world. In 1999, after two years of
preparation, I opened my fashion shop ‘Moi-Même-Moitié’. This is the trade
name, but the concept itself is called EGL, which stands for ‘Elegant Gothic
Lolita’, a combination of Gothic and Lolita. The latter represents a girl’s
innocence and cuteness, and by combining both I kind of corrupted the
‘Gothic’-concept, as it symbolizes darkness and cruelty. I use frills,
ribbons and lace and thus give my designs the cuteness of an antique
porcelain doll, but on the other hand by using black, my favourite colour, I
express something like venomousity2 . Fans and media called it ‘Gothloli’,
because at that time abbreviations were pretty common. After I had opened my
shop Moi-Même-Moitié there were a lot of reports in the news papers and on
TV, even on a German TV channel. In Japan a company publishes a magazine
called ‘Gothic Lolita Bible’, in which lots of brands and their
Gothloli-fashion are introduced. But the scene has changed. In the ‘Gothic
Lolita Bible’ they presented a business that jumped on to the Gothloli-train
and sold black dresses with lots of lace, but changed the Gothloli-design
into business-fashion. I do not accept such a thing as Gothic Lolita.

O: You probably couldn’t decide between fashion and music, could you?`

Mana: Yes, that’s right. It would be impossible for me to choose between
fashion and music. For my aim is to combine fashion and music. But if a time
were to come where I had to make such a decision, I would choose music.

O: What does (your) music mean to you in general?

Mana: The music I create is my words, my language. And music is the energy I
couldn’t live without.

O: What do you want to give or convey your listeners with your music?

Mana: I want to impress and move my listeners by mixing old and new elements
to create my own style.

O: How do your songs come into being – do you usually start with the lyrics
or the music? And which instrument do you use while composing?

Mana: In the past I always chose a theme for the album to fill it with a
story then. After that I composed the music, based on that story and the
pictures in front of my inner eye. I used a keyboard for that. So you could
say that my music is kind of like a movie soundtrack. When I have finished
composing I write the lyrics while listening to the songs. Right now I am
working on some new tracks and began with the lyrics this time. They are
finished now and I am just starting composing the music for them.

O: Your lyrics are mainly written in Japanese, but there are also some in
English. Why?

Mana: I always choose the words to be fitting the music. On some tracks on
Dix Infernal I partly used English words, as well as the French language.

O: How come you chose a French band name?

Mana: Because I love the sound of the French language. ‘Moi’ means ‘I’,
which I chose because I started as a solo artist. ‘Dix’ stands for the
number 10, and while ‘1’ symbolizes the beginning of something, ‘0’ means as
much as eternity. I love this number because for me it contains a tremendous
amount of possibilities.’Dix Mois’ again means ‘ten months’, the time in
which a baby grows inside the womb and is born. So it could mean something
like ‘birth’. I connected all these words in my band name.

O: What would you call the highlight of your musical career so far?

Mana: When I enter the stage at the beginning of my concerts and hear all
the cries of rapture of my fans – that is the ultimate peak for me.

O: How do you feel the last 15 minutes before going on stage and how do you
busy yourself?

Mana: When all preparations are finished, I feel very relaxed. But when our
usual crew is not with us, because we’re playing on some kind of event for
instance, or the preparations are going on bad or at least not perfect I can
react very irritated.

O: You could say that in the eyes of Europeans and especially Americans you
play and work with symbols that could be associated with satanism, such as
cattle’s skulls, old kinds of crosses and people who appear in long, black,
hooded cloaks. Is there any religion fascinating you?

Mana: In short: no. I grew up without religion, too.

O: And do you believe in reincarnation?

Mana (winking): Yes, I believe in that. A fortune-teller told me I was a
traitorous knight in Europe in the Middle Ages.

O: What would you call your strangest experience so far?

Mana: I once sat in my room together with my friends and spoke with them
about a ghost story. Then suddenly something like a poltergeist-phenomenon
happened. Everything in the room started to shake and the curtains blew as
if there had been a powerful wind. But there had been no wind at all. In
that moment I was so shocked I couldn’t even look straight ahead anymore.
[In Japan they say that ghost assemble around you when you talk about them;
editor’s note]

O: In the European and American scene there is something like an amorousness
and admiration towards vampires. Is there a similarly big interest for this
myth in Japan, too?

Mana: Yes, there a countless Dracula and vampire movies. Especially the
movies by Francis Ford Coppola and the one Tom Cruise was in [Interview with
a vampire, directed by Neil Jordan; editor’s note] are very famous here. My
favourites are ‘Nosferatu’ and ‘Die Stunde wenn Dracula kommt’3 , though.

O: To us in Europe Japan seems to be a world of its own. Do you agree with
that and what opinion do you have on the rest of the world?

Mana: Well, every country has its own culture and its own history. And each
one is different and highly interesting in its own way.

O: To what extent are you proud of being Japanese?

Mana: I love Japan, because I was born and raised there.

O: What comes to your mind when you think of Germany?

Mana: The Black Forest. I would very much like to visit that region or even
more…

O: Are there any musicians or bands from Germany you like?

Mana: Especially Johann Sebastian Bach.

O: How is the Japanese music scene actually set up? Is everything there
really organized and controlled by big companies?

Mana: In former times the whole music business was held by a few big
companies actually. But this fortunately has changed. It’s the same with us.
In 1997 we signed a contract with Columbia Records [a label of the
Sony-group; editor’s note] with my former band. There may have been many
advantages being with such a big company, but on the other hand we were not
able to do what we wanted to. Now our former management is at the same time
our label and we’re not bound to other people’s decisions anymore.

O: What do your plans for 2005 look like?

Mana: As we weren’t able to play as many concerts as we wanted to last year
we’ll catch up on that this year. We’re also planning to perform in France
and Germany, by the way.4

Yeay I hope everybody viewing this enjoys!

Isaac................

Fri, 10 Jun 2005 19:26:23 GMT