david shito:aL kanaderu otogi Stories for Fairyland Creating quite a stir with their intense band name and visuals, David Shito:aL's popularity has risen rapidly. They will release their first mini-album "hoshi no hako" on 6/24. Here is our first close encounter with their deep, intricate world. --Please tell us about how the band was formed. Rietto: We formed last year in June. Around the time Eruze and I were looking for members, Misa would often come over to chat. (laughs) --Not to play music? Misa: Well I did come over and show them a song I had just completed and stuff. Rietto: Then one day we suddenly thought twin bass would be really cool. "Now that you mention it, Misa does play bass.." and so we phoned him. But it took a long time to find Pietro. He was hiding from us. (laughs) Pietro: I was doing drums in a band before, but I'm the type of person who really needs to stand out, I feel I have my own aura. So I thought maybe I should show that more to the audience, isntead of just playing drums back here. Rietto and I had been childhood friends, so he took in and understood my aura. --What did you feel about Pietro's "aura"? Rietto: It was an all-encompassing atmosphere. We had said we wanted to do a strange band, a band that you couldn't classify, so we weren't looking for an ordinary vocalist. The moment Pietro first joined the band he blurted out something like "I'm Pietro!" (laughs). Pietro: I had also wanted to do a fairy tale-ish band like this before, but I couldn't find anyone to do it with. Rietto: I knew I would be satisfied if we were doing something strange and bizarre, so I wanted to use his lyrics to the fullest. --As you already had a bassist, when you invited Misa into the band, did you want him to do any additional roles besides bass? Misa: Yeah, I could drive. Rietto: Well, that was a big part of it too (laughs), but his personality and compositions were good, so the rest was just... Misa: My looks (laughs). --When did you decide to do the twin vocals? Rietto: We hadn't thought about it at first, but Misa also did vocals in his prior band... Pietro: I sing in a high key, but if the song is in a key higher than my range, I cant sing it.. so I would sing my normal key and anything higher we would drop a couple octaves and say "Misa, sing this". --You mean its not decided by the lyrics, where the two vocals diverge? Rietto: Well, now its like that isn't it... Pietro: We tried twin vocals out just for fun, but it was suprisingly good. Now its like "Let's make Misa the narrator". (laughs) --By the way, the thing we're all interested in is the meaning behind band name. Rietto: It's from the carved "Statue of David". I heard of a bronze statue that people which a certain people erected to meet an attack by enemies from the future. We are the "shito" [[followers/disciples]] of it. --And "aL"? Misa: We used to know a guy named Al. Rietto: No, no! (laughs). It was a name that just popped into my head one day. Like a message from god. Also, I knew abou the "12 disciples of Christ", and I really liked the ring that has to it, so I wanted to use those type of words. --Do you have a saying to express the band's image? Pietro: "kanaderu otogi". Write it in katakana! It refers to the tales that are born inside of me. The feelings of a boy who wants to detach from reality. Rietto: As in, a dreamer? Pietro: No! In any event I have many different stories always swirling about in my head. --Anyway, by looking at the title of this cd "Hoshi no Hako", I thought their might be some connection to your first demotape, "Sankaku no Tsuki" [[both use symbols in the title]]. Rietto: There are some songs on Hoshi no Hako which were also on the demo tape, and sankaku no tsuki is also a part of the "kanaderu otogi" world which are in even now. Based on that connection we used the same symbols in the title. --Is there any side to this cd that you wanted to emphasize? Rietto: We didn't want to have any strange gimmicks or ornaments, but just wanted to have the bands music recorded, give it a real live, vigorous feeling. In the end I think it has the feel of a live cd. We wanted to eliminate the gaps between our live sound and our recorded sound. Misa: We are basically a live band, so our music is like our business card.. I want people to understand "our lives are like this too!" --How do you compose the songs? Rietto: Misa composes everything, but we tell him what kind of song we want, after which Pietro adds lyrics. Misa: Right now I am working on a song and wondering what kind of melodies it should have, but using my "David Vision" (laughs) I will find out soon. --Where do you get the images for these songs made from "David Vision"? Misa: "kanaderu otogi". Rietto: When we heard "kanaderu otogi" many different images and ideas came to us. We take all those images and make them into songs like you see now. --As for the lyrics, does Pietro write about fairy tales he read as a child? Pietro: Nope. All the fairy tales I've read until now just get absorbed into my own "tale" inside my head. Rietto: The things that come from him have already become "Pietro Tales". Pietro: I'm a romantic, so I quickly get visions for songs. For some reason the songs Misa write all have imagery already attached to them, and I just express that in writing. --What are your shows like? Rietto: Especially on stage, Pietro's behaviors are... so extreme no one else can follow him. (laughs) Pietro: Just by looking at pictures you can probably feel it on your skin, what our shows are like.. Rietto: Sometimes an evil guy comes out... --??? Pietro: He is my rival. He wants to ruin the world of David Shito:aL. He sometimes crashes our shows and causes chaos. --But Pietro defeats him, right? Pietro: I could never defeat him.. its like the confrontations between Anpanman and Baikinman (laughs). [[characters from some anime]] --Lastly, is there anything you'd like to add about the CD? Pietro: In each song there is a story, and I will be very happy if listeners pay attention to the lyrics, and things like what will happen to the characters in each story. Misa: I think the progression of the songs, the music scales we used, and the balance of the twin bass is really high quality. I think people will be impacted by that, so I have self-confidence in the CD. Rietto: I think there are lots of fans who just haven't been able to come to our shows yet, and if those fans hear this CD and it gets more to come to our shows, I will be happy. Anyways if you come to our shows I think you will become addicted.