At least not shared among many fans outside of Japan. But hidden away in the recesses of the internet there is someone who wrote about an interview conducted with the four remaining members of Malice Mizer, Yu~ki, Közi, Kami and Mana. It happened at a point from January to early June, 1999, probably a little time after Gackt left the band. Unknown what magazine this was in, maybe Vicious according to the person who posted the interview in 2012. It was translated on Scape fan board in 2007. People tried to figure out what magazine this was in but have not had any luck.
I've known about this interview for a few years. When I mention it to people, they are surprised. They have only heard Gackt's story about why he left the band. Since Mana mentioned in the Rock and Read interview that the members did respond to magazines asking about their thoughts after Gackt left, I thought it would be a good time to share this interview here. I wish I knew more about the original source. But it fits with what Mana said, and it is with the four members including Kami who passed away that year. So here is the translation from Scape, and I will note the original online source at the end.
--What happened between Gackt and the four members here?
Mana - Having done with the merveilles concept, a member meeting is held to decide on what's up next. A certain article mentioned of how he said "let's continue without taking a break", but we've never heard that, nor did we say "we want to rest". In reality, we needed time to think and so we decided to set aside a period of time to replenish our strength after some discussions.
During these type of conversations, differences in opinions occur between him and the other four members, and he didn't come to the meetings anymore...
--Is that just a conflict concerning only the concept?
Mana - No, it's about the direction we are heading towards and how we are to become as humans.
--It's not about being musicans or artists?
Mana - Malice Mizer is a five person group, it's a form created by five members. The thing is, even if one has got a brilliant artist personality, it's difficult to create something as a cooperative group bound by fate with just that personality alone.
--So, Malice Mizer didn’t expand from a group of very good friends?
Közi- Right from the start, we didn’t gather together because we have close links with one another, but to come all the way here isn’t considered a coincidence either. Conflicts happen among other members as well, and they didn’t pose much of a big problem, after all, it’s just human to do that. Up till now, there have been disagreements, but it’s only after the merveilles concept has been created that those happened a lot.
Yu~ki-This happens with all bands, but when people gather together to come up with something, don’t we need to be polite in our discussions. We never avoided that and despite collisions here and there, we came up with wonderful productions. We never overlooked anyone, and made discussions right from the beginning, not concealing any conflicting views, yet without realizing when, there were no conversations before anything concerning music. It’s not specifically about anyone. And we thought there will be some words of trust as in the past such as “how about this sound?”
Mana- After Malice Mizer’s major debut started, Gackt changed as if making a sudden turn, for both good and bad. Perhaps humans will change when the situation changes, but I think the basic points won’t.
Yu~ki- Our office was not set up only yesterday or today, it’s the most obvious thing. Indeed, the record company is very understanding to us, and great productions were created without compromising. We did all that without having any confrontations with the office nor the record company. But in a certain article, what he said of something like “the confrontation with the office”, how such words came about, it’s strange, but I guess that can’t be helped.
Kami- Meetings after meetings, we will stop around and catch up from there, but he’s the only one who will leave. Things such as trust began to drop. He said “I love Malice Mizer”, but how is it that he would take such an action, it’s unbelievable.
Mana- Perhaps that’s what he wanted to do, for his personality as an artist has been greatly recognized. When he’s performing the merveilles concept as an artist on stage, complicated personal emotions are completely left out.
Kami- Because there’s trust in the music.
Mana-However, this is the limit. Most parts of the concepts that has been created until merveilles are done in the past. To create new things, a trusting relationship is very important. Countless meetings have brought up the fact that that is lacking.
--To say it in a substantial way?
Mana-That’s people for you. From now on, I think there’s nothing to work on together anymore.
Yu~ki-I think from now on, the band will need strong bonds to stand to the top and represents many ideas and meanings. Without a bond that can enable communication through eye contact during lives, nothing good will come out of it, neither can we reach the top. Though we always think that way until now, but still we managed to do it pretentiously.
The Director said “even as the songs are good, but somewhere I feel your hearts aren’t as one.”, and I feel the same way after watching from the back of the stage with an open mind. Not wanting to go on putting on such pretense and that emotion increased with the experiences from the meetings, yet it has come to a point of no return, the gap cannot be mended anymore. That why, the main problem is our relationship with him, not the office and us against him. It’s tough that many who wrote fan letters thought that way.
Mana-I’ve had it rougher. After a certain article came out, a letter came viciously, giving me a lecture. “As the leader, please behave more like an adult” and so on. I’d like to express what really happened sooner, but in this world, there is truth that appears as if it didn’t exist. We are sorry to the fans of the Malice Mizer with these five members, but we hope you can understand. This is the result of moving forward and breaking through without worrying too much, I regret it so badly.
Yu~ki- We have troubled fans and those in the industry who helped us, we are really sorry, regretful.
--Returning back to topic, are there any discussions regarding Gackt leaving the band?
Mana-He disappeared around November last year, despite having work to do, there’s lots on the schedule, but we don’t know where to contact him, and it remained that way. But we continued waiting for him. But, it seems as if he came up a betrayal kind of manner…it’s sad and regrettable.
Közi-Not really, gentlemanly in those meetings, then all of sudden, he didn’t come anymore.
Mana-That’s why, please do not believe things like we drove him out etc.
--What will happen to Malice Mizer from now on?
Közi- well, we are still in the situation whereby we haven’t really decided on when we’re going to announce our works, right?
Mana- Many things happened, we are now recovering and sorting our emotions. The only thing that we can say now is that we want to meet and bring in a new vocalist, and begin a new Malice Mizer.
Közi-we are definitely not going to disband. We can’t continue like a normal band, given the situation now, and it’ll be so for a while to come. To decide on a vocalist requires much consideration, it’s not a simple “yes, let’s take this person, now let’s GO!”
Mana- That’s why, right now at this stage, we can only promise that we will not disband, Malice Mizer will continue. We will move forward.
Közi- Perhaps it’ll be a while before we can meet with our fans, but surely there are different encounter ways. We are not doing nothing now, we are exploring and experimenting around.
2012 post in Japanese of the interview on 5chan (which was 2channel at that time) http://music.5ch.net/test/read.cgi/visual/1036681228/
Updated since the source of the interview was given to me by someone who was a fan back then. This interview was in Vicious March 1999. Thanks for reading!
Gackt ne yapti ?
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