Masato Hayakawa - Coldrain (19/08/2014)
“We’re playing a lot of Japanese festivals right now, and we’re going to Taiwan this week. But basically between the shows on the weekend, we’re just chillin’ out”, casually explains Coldrain front man Masato Hayakawa.
For a band that seems unprecedentedly steeped in global popularity, Masato rattles off news of mammoth international tour dates and busied degrees of new releases like a rock n’ roll veteran. Having just signed to Hopeless records, Coldrain are, after half a decade of recognition in their native Japan, unquestionably bridging themselves to the world stage. Come early 2015, they’ll be down under for their first ever Soundwave festival.
“It just kind of happened, I guess… they just wanted us to play! It’s crazy. We didn’t know about it until a week ago, either. And we didn’t know we were the only ones announced until it actually happened. Yeah, it’s been crazy, and the influence it’s had so far has been crazy, too. I can’t wait!”
In song, Masato flawlessly whips between operatic falsettos and a blistering scream. Conversely, the man is a warm and measured voice down the line from Tokyo as he deduces some logistics of what has led he and the band to this new level of notoriety.
“We have Raw Power managing us in The UK, and Hopeless, and Sony Australia doing our new record, so the forces are definitely there. We’re so stoked everyone is behind us, backing us up. Everyone backing us up has something to do with things happening. We’re totally stoked, and ready to do everything!”
Before embarking on their trip to Australia come the southern hemispheric summer, there’s a home town that first needs their attention.
“We have a big one called Summersonic that’s coming out this week. It’s always headlined by, like… it’s always huge. It’ll be similar to Soundwave in some ways, I think. Metallica is headlining. This year though, there’s not too many heavy bands on it, but our stage is going to be Megadeth, us, all those sorts of bands. It’s one of those festivals that has all sorts of artists. You can leave it to Japan to do all types of styles!”
With veteran Japanese metallers like Maximum The Hormone enjoying gargantuan success at home for the least decade, but still relatively unknown overseas, it’s curious to hear whether or not Masato is seeing a shift toward more planetary exposure for heavy Japanese music in this day and age.
“All the Japanese bands have definitely had those kinds of goals and dreams, but it’s never been easy to get record labels to back it. It’s always hard with the Japanese market being so distinctive, to get those kind of deals outside of Japan. I think with other bands seeing us tour Europe, and bands like Crossfaith doing the whole world, it’s become more real to a lot of bands.”
“I think a band like Maximum The Hormone, like, they’re so big in Japan that they’ve lost their timing to do global releases. I think more and more though, it’ll happen! We’re on the same record label as them. Maybe we could be the start of a new route for Japanese bands coming out. A think a lot will happen for them in the near future.”
Having initially released their third LP The Revelation way back in 2013, but not getting the chance to in Australia until a few short weeks ago, Masato is positive about retreading older material while touring internationally next year. And with a new EP thrown in as a bonus for countries not yet acquainted with the album, it’s certainly not all older songs during a live show. Australia will certainly be met with an exceptionally tight live show, as will anywhere else they plan on touring before or after.
“We’re trying to get a tour to Europe at maybe the end of this year, and the US early next year, we’re not sure yet. I hope we maybe get to play sideshows in Australia. I mean, anything that comes along, we’re ready to do it, definitely.”
“It’s cool that we’re going to be ready! You’d rather play a record that’s a year old, than releasing it and be playing it a month later and not ready with the songs. We’ve had way enough practice with these songs! We’ve played three to five tours with them, so we’ll be ready to play them wherever we go!”
Until The End is the aforementioned EP that is available as an addition to The Revelation’s re-release. Masato chirpily explains how the recording came about, and how Coldrain goes about their song writing in general.
“We only had time to write a single, or an EP. So we’d rather release more tracks than come out with a single. Usually it’s only two or three, but we had enough time to write six, and release something that was worth buying.”
“After a while you get your own formula, and get your own way of writing. When it comes fast, it comes fast, and when it takes time, it takes time! You learn quickly when a song’s not going to work out, you have the courage to say ‘fuck it’, and not use that song. You know what it should sound like after while. It gets faster after a while, but it can get tougher. It’s cool, we’ve been making good tracks, I think (laughs). ”
“I always write about what’s happening to me right now. Some songs are basically based on what the band is doing at the minute. When recording the last record, we were definitely in a state of touring the world and always going overseas, and stuff. So those messages are in there, and I always try to keep trying to change a negative in to a positive. It’s always personal stuff in there, too. Every track has it’s own theme, I guess.”
Finishing up, Masato explains what the music scene was like in the band’s home town of Nagoya when Coldrain started out, undoubtedly proving that regardless of what people are doing in your local scene, it’s possible to be different and successful with a bit of hard work.
“Nagoya was all about the Hip Hop and club music, our city was all about the clubs. There weren’t that many bands going around, like a punk scene, but never a really heavy music scene. It’s always important in Japan to tour around, because we’re not a huge country. You can do it! But you have to be constant and keep going around until people actually recognize you. Even now with playing 3.000 capacity venues, we still have to go around trying to keep that going. You have to be constant, like every year, because people are so quick at moving on.”
Coldrain will be touring nationally for Soundwave early next year. Their album The Revelation is out now through Hopeless records.
SOUNDWAVE 2015
SATURDAY 21 & SUNDAY 22 FEBRUARY - ADELAIDE
SATURDAY 21 & SUNDAY 22 FEBRUARY - MELBOURNE
SATURDAY 28 FEBRUARY & SUNDAY 1 MARCH - SYDNEY
SATURDAY 28 FEBRUARY & SUNDAY 1 MARCH – BRISBANE
Todd Gingell
For a band that seems unprecedentedly steeped in global popularity, Masato rattles off news of mammoth international tour dates and busied degrees of new releases like a rock n’ roll veteran. Having just signed to Hopeless records, Coldrain are, after half a decade of recognition in their native Japan, unquestionably bridging themselves to the world stage. Come early 2015, they’ll be down under for their first ever Soundwave festival.
“It just kind of happened, I guess… they just wanted us to play! It’s crazy. We didn’t know about it until a week ago, either. And we didn’t know we were the only ones announced until it actually happened. Yeah, it’s been crazy, and the influence it’s had so far has been crazy, too. I can’t wait!”
In song, Masato flawlessly whips between operatic falsettos and a blistering scream. Conversely, the man is a warm and measured voice down the line from Tokyo as he deduces some logistics of what has led he and the band to this new level of notoriety.
“We have Raw Power managing us in The UK, and Hopeless, and Sony Australia doing our new record, so the forces are definitely there. We’re so stoked everyone is behind us, backing us up. Everyone backing us up has something to do with things happening. We’re totally stoked, and ready to do everything!”
Before embarking on their trip to Australia come the southern hemispheric summer, there’s a home town that first needs their attention.
“We have a big one called Summersonic that’s coming out this week. It’s always headlined by, like… it’s always huge. It’ll be similar to Soundwave in some ways, I think. Metallica is headlining. This year though, there’s not too many heavy bands on it, but our stage is going to be Megadeth, us, all those sorts of bands. It’s one of those festivals that has all sorts of artists. You can leave it to Japan to do all types of styles!”
With veteran Japanese metallers like Maximum The Hormone enjoying gargantuan success at home for the least decade, but still relatively unknown overseas, it’s curious to hear whether or not Masato is seeing a shift toward more planetary exposure for heavy Japanese music in this day and age.
“All the Japanese bands have definitely had those kinds of goals and dreams, but it’s never been easy to get record labels to back it. It’s always hard with the Japanese market being so distinctive, to get those kind of deals outside of Japan. I think with other bands seeing us tour Europe, and bands like Crossfaith doing the whole world, it’s become more real to a lot of bands.”
“I think a band like Maximum The Hormone, like, they’re so big in Japan that they’ve lost their timing to do global releases. I think more and more though, it’ll happen! We’re on the same record label as them. Maybe we could be the start of a new route for Japanese bands coming out. A think a lot will happen for them in the near future.”
Having initially released their third LP The Revelation way back in 2013, but not getting the chance to in Australia until a few short weeks ago, Masato is positive about retreading older material while touring internationally next year. And with a new EP thrown in as a bonus for countries not yet acquainted with the album, it’s certainly not all older songs during a live show. Australia will certainly be met with an exceptionally tight live show, as will anywhere else they plan on touring before or after.
“We’re trying to get a tour to Europe at maybe the end of this year, and the US early next year, we’re not sure yet. I hope we maybe get to play sideshows in Australia. I mean, anything that comes along, we’re ready to do it, definitely.”
“It’s cool that we’re going to be ready! You’d rather play a record that’s a year old, than releasing it and be playing it a month later and not ready with the songs. We’ve had way enough practice with these songs! We’ve played three to five tours with them, so we’ll be ready to play them wherever we go!”
Until The End is the aforementioned EP that is available as an addition to The Revelation’s re-release. Masato chirpily explains how the recording came about, and how Coldrain goes about their song writing in general.
“We only had time to write a single, or an EP. So we’d rather release more tracks than come out with a single. Usually it’s only two or three, but we had enough time to write six, and release something that was worth buying.”
“After a while you get your own formula, and get your own way of writing. When it comes fast, it comes fast, and when it takes time, it takes time! You learn quickly when a song’s not going to work out, you have the courage to say ‘fuck it’, and not use that song. You know what it should sound like after while. It gets faster after a while, but it can get tougher. It’s cool, we’ve been making good tracks, I think (laughs). ”
“I always write about what’s happening to me right now. Some songs are basically based on what the band is doing at the minute. When recording the last record, we were definitely in a state of touring the world and always going overseas, and stuff. So those messages are in there, and I always try to keep trying to change a negative in to a positive. It’s always personal stuff in there, too. Every track has it’s own theme, I guess.”
Finishing up, Masato explains what the music scene was like in the band’s home town of Nagoya when Coldrain started out, undoubtedly proving that regardless of what people are doing in your local scene, it’s possible to be different and successful with a bit of hard work.
“Nagoya was all about the Hip Hop and club music, our city was all about the clubs. There weren’t that many bands going around, like a punk scene, but never a really heavy music scene. It’s always important in Japan to tour around, because we’re not a huge country. You can do it! But you have to be constant and keep going around until people actually recognize you. Even now with playing 3.000 capacity venues, we still have to go around trying to keep that going. You have to be constant, like every year, because people are so quick at moving on.”
Coldrain will be touring nationally for Soundwave early next year. Their album The Revelation is out now through Hopeless records.
SOUNDWAVE 2015
SATURDAY 21 & SUNDAY 22 FEBRUARY - ADELAIDE
SATURDAY 21 & SUNDAY 22 FEBRUARY - MELBOURNE
SATURDAY 28 FEBRUARY & SUNDAY 1 MARCH - SYDNEY
SATURDAY 28 FEBRUARY & SUNDAY 1 MARCH – BRISBANE
Todd Gingell