Oricon: My first impression was “This is a solid album with a good sense of speed.” In your last album “Fanclub,” there were a lot of complex arrangements but, the feeling of this album is quite different.

Masafumi Goto（V＆G）:　If you try to do something difficult by difficult means, the balance all falls apart. When you are performing a lot and have catharsis that’s fine but, once that’s gone, it all kinda falls apart.

Kensuke Kita（G）:　A while back we thought that our band sounds its best when it’s a pop sound.

Takahiro Yamada（B）:　Within “pop music” we are doing a lot of different things… although, something that’s important to us now that wasn’t before is that when people hear the music, we don’t want them to think like “Those guys are doing some pretty difficult stuff.”

Kiyoshi Idzichi（Dr）:　Simple but good songs are harder to make anyway, so that was our challenge this time.

Goto:　We wanted to give the songs that extra sparkle. Like, as we get older, we come to like a softer sound but, for the guitar kids in us we took the song a little higher and made it stronger. lol

Oricon: So in your teens you were all about the faster songs?

Goto:　That’s right. You know, when you are around 19, it’s a time when you’re most selfish. It was like “I don’t listen to hougaku (traditional Japanese music) so why should I care about it?” haha But at the same time I was listening to THEE MICHELLE GUN ELEPHANT, Sunny Day Service、eastern youth and so on… and wouldn’t it be great to be considered a part of that group?

Kita:　It was us being told, “Hey! there’s some pretty cool hougaku out there too man!” haha

Oricon: Your lyrics seem to have changed a lot too. Things that encourage the audience to get up and take action like iIn “New world” you say “so let’s fly off, to a new world where our hearts can dance.” There’s also a lot about committing yourself to social problems.

Goto: Yeah, that line is a little difficult… Whether the song is political or not, I written through the world and society as seen by my eyes. As I get older, my views change of course and as you watch the news and learn more, it come to understand some things better. I think we Japanese have a big responsibility to help poorer countries to build and grow food and so on… damn, I’m getting a little too dark here…

Oricon: So you’re singing directly about the things that have been concerning you?

Goto: Yeah, that’s a piece of it. There’s also the fact that we finally grew up. There’s the sense of “What am I?” and I think time to think about that is important but I’ve been thinking that taking a new unknown route might give me a better result in the end.

Oricon: Are you sad now that have “finally grown up?”

Goto: Hmmm… that’s hard to say. As long as we are continuing to play in our band, there will always be a sense of youth but, there aren’t as many of those moments that really take a hold on you right?

Kita: Totally. lol

Goto: There’s that feeling of impatience but, if you don’t give it your all for things you can only do today, you’ll probably regret it later.

Oricon: I think the album really captures that. So your band now is really close then?

Kita: I think a huge part of that is the quality of the music you’re playing. If you have good music, the condition of the band as a whole is also good. That’s something I think will never change.