Translator Yoshiko Kosugi
Photographer Bijua Napat
Note* Raveman does not want his voice heard, Exo-Chika will relay answers from Raveman.
Q: How and why did u choose your stage names Raveman and Exo-Chika, and how did the name Aural Vampire come about?
AV: Raveman is a really quiet person off stage but when he's on stage with Aural Vampire he acts like he's raving so that's where the name Raveman comes from.
My real name is Chika so Exo-Chika is an extension of my name. When Raveman was coming up with names for my character he sent me pages and pages of names by fax, and a lot of the names were based off of Japanese monsters or other very Japanese characteristics which didn't really fit my character. As for the band name Aural Vampire, I suggested the name, and it means two things. First off I'm the vampire character, and secondly the English spelling is Aural and since they do Aural performances they want the audience to feel the vampireness aurally so hense the name Aural Vampire.
Also, when Aural is written in Japanese its got a double meaning as well.
Q: What are your musical inspirations?
AV:When Raveman makes music he gets inspiration from the background noises, cars, construction...
Q: So he gets his inspiration from everywhere?
AV: So when Raveman actually makes the music he'll actually record the sound of the construction etc.. and sample that sound in the music then use that as a base, it provides the framework for the music then we can start adding things afterwards during the composition.
Q: What are some of your highlights from your performances in North America?
AV: We've never done this kind of tour in North America before, performing 7 days in a row... but its not really the performance aspect that worries us cause we've done it so often before but for example during our live performance we do have a planned setlist but we do change one of the songs depending on what the crowd is like, or if there's any requests... for example there was one instance where there was a request for a particular song, we decided to choose that song that particular day instead of the one they had planned beforehand which we found interesting.
Also, we're streaming our performances live via Ustream, so all of our performances during our tour are being streamed live via Ustream, and if you miss one there's also archives of our performances, and on our days off we also post videos of ourselves doing random things on our off days. We were also thinking of what we could do during the 30 days of our tour and we decided to play a trade up game (a la the red paperclip), we started the tour by trading away an Aural Vampire towel for something that someone in the audience has on them... and now we've traded up to a digital camera.
Ultimatly our goal is to find a wife for our manager Yome-san! Just kidding (Laughter)
Q: How do the fans and the concert settings differ between North America and Japan?
AV: The setting itself isn't very different, we usually have videos and things in the background and if we can't or are unable to use videos in the background then we have other options but so far we've been able to use videos etc... the only difference is that in Japan we would have extra background dancers and special guests but here its just the two of us doing the performance.
Q: Are there any specific things you look forward to seeing or doing when you visit a specific city?
AV: On this particular tour we've been very busy, so by the time our concert ends its usually after 10pm and all the food places are closed so we've been living off of microwaveable food for most of the tour, but we did have a day off that we were able to go on tours and stuff, the thing we look forward to every time we visit a new place is to see what we can experience that will “wow”us, for example if a place has really awesome oysters or something like that.
Q: Next couple questions are for Raveman, whats the inspiration behind the making of and wearing of your masks?
AV: When we first went on stage before we became Aural Vampire there was actually 3 of us and at that time Raveman didn't actually wear a mask. We were watching a video of the performance afterwards and we saw that Raveman didn't really stand out, it was more like he was part of the background, so I suggested to Raveman “why don't you wear something like a mask?” and he said “ok, sure.” At the time Raveman was a fan of pro-wrestling so he was already into a bit of the mask culture...
Q: How many masks does Raveman own?
AV: Raveman doesn't actually know how many he owns, he has a special mask for eating, a mask he wears when he's not performing thats of a softer material, there's the mask he's wearing right now which is made of a harder material, and every halloween he makes a new mask, and then he also makes new masks at random times. The mask that he's wearing currently, now that we're into DVD's and no longer using VHS tapes, is meant to represent the negative feelings that the VHS tapes would be carrying toward the DVD's.
Q: Exo-Chika, are your fangs real?
AV: Yes they are in a sense, they are glued on so tightly that they won't come off, they're on 24/7 so essentially they are real. I actually had a dentist make it for me so its fully functional.
Q: How long have you had them for?
AV: Eeeeeeh!!!! I can't remember, I've had them for a long long time.
Q: Are there any particular foods that are difficult to eat?
AV: Apples! I can't really bite into them, I have to cut them into pieces, I like to shape it so it looks like a bunny when I eat them, also when I make sausages I like to cut them so they look like a little octopus.
Q: Final question, what are your future goals personally and as a group?
AV: For Raveman his personal goal is to get people to wear more masks, to spread the mask wearing culture. (photog pulls out his mask with the Aural Vampire symbol on it).
AV: Ahhh! Wow! It's even got the symbol on it! And the kiss mark! (laughs)
Q: How did you come up with the symbol?
AV: Basically one day after a performance we thought that we should have a symbol, something iconic.. afterwards at a restaurant I just started drawing for ideas.. the motif - , in the middle is a cross, the sides are supposed to represent the side of the coffin, the A and the V represent Aural Vampire but in the beginning it looked more like bat wings, one flapping down representing A and one flapping upwards representing V.
Q: Following up from the question beforehand, what are your future goals personally and as a group?
AV: Well, if Raveman wants to promote the mask-wearing culture then I'd like to promote the Vampire culture, I think recently people are getting into it more because of twilight and such things, and I want to promote the Vampire culture aurally, so therefor the name Aural Vampire.
Thank You for your time
AV: Thank You! Enjoy the show!
Aural Vampire finish off their North American tour this weekend, you can catch them in the following areas:
| Harpo's Concert Theatre | Detroit MI, Michigan | ||
| Expo Five | Louisville, Kentucky | ||
| Peabody's | Cleveland, Ohio |
You can also view an archive of their North American tour on Ustream athttp://www.ustream.tv/channel/auralvampire
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