Feature

As every year, the January issue of the Japanese music magazine PLAYER(http://www.player.jp/index.html) features a retrospect on last year, and what readers of the magazine liked the most.

Here’s a relevant extract of the voting results:

Category “Best Artist”: B’z ranked 5th (5th in 2010, 3rd in 2009)
Category “Best Album”: C’mon ranked 2nd
Catagory “Best Vocalist”: Koshi Inaba ranked 1st (same as 2009, 2010)
Category “Best Guitarist”: Tak Matsumoto ranked 2nd (1st in 2010, 3rd in 2009)
Category “This year’s biggest news”: Matsumoto winning the Grammy ranked 4th
Category “Best Drummer”: Shane Gaalaas ranked 16th (8th in 2010, 9th in 2009)
Category “Best Bassist”: Barry Sparks ranked 6th

Feature

Hey people!

I got up at 5AM, just to listen to the interview with B’z on J-Wave… how crazy is that, huh? Anyway, as promised, I’m going to give you an overview of what they talked about in the interview as well as what Tak and Koshi revealed about it. Here we go!

Album recording

– They already started recording for the new album in May 2010, but that doesn’t mean it took them 1 year to record the album. They paused their recording, so they could focus on their solo projects.
– After their solo projects, they decided to take a break and then meet again to start collecting ideas for the album
– They didn’t decide on a theme at all, unlike they usually do
– After a while, they came to see what theme it’s going to be and started work with their staff
– When the big earthquake happened on March 11th 2011, they were already in the final stages of recording.
– The earthquake affected Koshi’s creative skills, so he wasn’t able to come up with any new ideas as the disaster concerned them.
– As for Tak Matsumoto, he was able to do the rhythm track for the last two tracks after the earthquake.
– They created two whole new tracks after the earthquake. New lyrics were written for only one of those two after the earthquake. One of them is on the album.
– The production process can be broken up into “pre-earthquake” and “post-earthquake” as it affected their work.
– It was hard for them to put the songs from these two stages together into one album
– After the earthquake, Shane and Barry quickly came back to Japan to resume recording (of the two songs)
– C’mon is the only track where Koshi changed the lyrics after the earthquake happened. The song would give off a different character that way.
– When Koshi thought about a fitting theme for the new album. The word “C’mon” came to his mind. As putting the songs on that album wouldn’t work, they also created a title song with the same name.

Tak’s and Koshi’s solo projects

– Nothing new to report here. They talked about how Tak won the Grammy and how they coordinated their solo activities.

Production of songs

– Tak didn’t have a stock of arranged songs, he created the album from scratch.
– Since Tak didn’t have any idea what the theme/concept for the overall album is going to be, he did the songs one at a time, independently
– Koshi started getting ideas for the lyrics during arrangement
– Koshi tries to get the image of the song first, and then writes the lyrics for it; It also happens that he draws from previous ideas he came up with, but remained unused until now
– Sometimes they talk about the album while having lunch; but otherwise rarely talk about the album outside of the studio
– As the riff is very important, Tak starts out with the riff and then does the melody.
– Koshi also saves ideas for lyrics on his mobile phone (sends himself E-mails)
– Tak talks to Koshi about what image he had in mind when composing the song. Koshi then goes on to write the lyrics for it

About the song “Pilgrim”

– “Pilgrim” is the first song that was produced for the album in 2010
– Tak says the song was originally one of his acoustic guitar demos
– Koshi says he was thinking about the 4 seasons as they come and pass and got his first idea for the song when he saw the cherry blossoms

About LIVE-GYM 2011 -C’mon-

– They’re having frequent meetings concerning the planning for LIVE-GYM 2011 -C’mon-
– Tak reveals that the performance in Tokyo Dome will have its surprises
– A writer called their first live performance a “LIVE-GYM”, and they went with it. “GYM” has a physical meaning, of course. Since Koshi is always running around… 😛
– Tak is heading to the gym to get ready for the tour

About LIVE-GYM 2011 -long time no see-

– This tour is different from the Japanese tour
– Tak says they’ll play known songs 🙁 (so like LOVE PHANTOM, BAD COMMUNICATION, etc.)
– Koshi is looking forward to the tour as also the audience is different from the one in Japan
– The livestream of the performance in LA is Pepsi’s doing. Koshi says “Sasuga Pepsi” XD
– Tak says there will be a lot of people to watch B’z for the first time

Songs that were played on the show (in order)

1) C’mon
2) Don’t Wanna Lie
3) Sayonara Kizu Darake no Hibi yo
4) Pilgrim
5) ultra soul 2011

Feature

Some person on the Japanese bulletin board 2ch leaked the information that B’z will do the theme song to the latest Detective Conan movie “A Quarter of Silence” which will hit theatres on April 16th. The Detective Conan series is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. Here’s the picture that has been posted on 2ch:

The song is called “Don’t wanna lie”. There’s also a message from B’z in the blue box. Unfortunately the resolution of the picture is too low to make out what the text says but someone on 2ch was kind enough to type it up:

“Congratulations to Detective Conan celebrating its 15th anniversary.
We have been offered to produce a song a lot of times for Detective conan. The song is closely related to the movie.
It has been 5 years(*) since our last production for Detective Conan, we have put a lot of enthusiasm into it. It’s a great honour for us.
The song is about the will to not lie to yourself in important situations in life.
Please enjoy “Don’t wanna lie” along with the Detective Conan movie.”

(*) They did “Shoudou” and “Yuruginai Mono Hitotsu” in 2006 for Detective Conan

More information is expected to surface soon. The song should appear in the theatrical version of the trailer which is expected to air in a few days. Also, the announcement, along with details, is expected to be in the next issue of the Shounen Sunday magazine, hitting stores next week on Wednesday.

*UPDATE*

Here’s a picture of the article in the morning paper:

Stay tuned!

Source: 2ch (Japanese Bulletin Board)

Feature

Here you can see the finished commercials – both the 15 second and 30 second versions. Afterwards, Tak and Koshi are interviewed about their thoughts on the commercial filming as well as their new song. Translation of the interview is below the video!

Also, you can preorder your copy now!

Normal Edition: [YesAsia (Global)] [YesAsia (US)] [CDJapan.co.jp] [HMV.co.jp] [Amazon.co.jp]

Limited Edition: [YesAsia (Global)] [YesAsia (US)] [CDJapan.co.jp] [HMV.co.jp] [Amazon.co.jp]

Interview translation:

Q. What are your thoughts on your first TV commercial appearance?

Tak: Since it’s our first time, I didn’t know what to expect, so I was a little bit surprised by the speediness of the crew as well as their planning. I enjoyed it.

Koshi: The location of the filming was a place where there’s nothing at all. We have been to such places before, but there have been a lot of staff members and because of that it turned out to be a very pleasant experience and I’m thankful for that. Thank you very much.

Q. What do you think about the fly-by shot?

Tak: I was really surprised by that one. I didn’t think they would come so close. I bet I look so surprised there that perhaps you can’t use that scene.

Q. About the song in the commercial “Sayonara Kizu Darake no Hibi yo”

Tak: First we talked about [the commercial] and had a look at the storyboard. When I composed the song, I felt it had to be speedy and fresh and the like. That’s what I realized.

Koshi: Before we actually went into the studio, we bought Pepsi and while drinking it – this is real, by the way – we composed the song in the studio. Also this is our first try at doing something like this and a part of last year was dedicated to our solo projects, so I think the link between our solo and our band works is well done because we were able to go back to producing songs as a band right after that.

Q. A message to the fans

Tak: It’s the first time we’ve done something like this and I think this song turned out great. Please look forward to checking it out! Thank you.

Koshi: A lot of people have put their work into this song, so I think it’s a wonderful piece of work. Please look forward to checking it out!

Feature

In the February 2011 issue of “WHAT’s IN?”, Tak and Koshi present their favorite music selection for 2010. Here’s what they selected:

Tak Matsumoto’s Selection:

1. SLASH by Slash
2. SCREAM by Ozzy Osbourne
3. ROKSTARR by Taio Cruz
4. GENIE, Gee by Shoujo Jidai (SNSD / Girls’ Generation)
5. Ikimono bakari ~member’s BEST selection~ by Ikimonogakari

Koshi Inaba’s Selection:

1. TAKE YOUR PICK by Larry Carlton & Tak Matsumoto
2. Emotion & Commotion by Jeff Beck
3. Rera by Onozuka Akira
4. Paper Tongues by Paper Tongues
5. Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 2 by Utada Hikaru

What do you think about their selection? What albums would you choose?

Feature

Tak and Koshi send their greetings to their fans and are eager to start rocking as B’z again! Of course we have grabbed the video from the B’z PARTY website, translated it, and have it here right for you!
And check out Koshi’s new haircut!