During my time with Askew, I had the opportunity to interview GPKISM's fiery guitarist and producer Kiwamu. This interview was by far the most shocking and entertaining I have ever done, so even though it was never published I feel like everyone deserves to read this.
To give some background, the interview was done at the beginning of the year when GPKISM came to New York. Fans following Kiwamu's facebook have probably noticed that he's more than vocal about his problems with GPK, and in this interview he explains the root of these problems. Even though
Kiwamu is very blunt but what he has to say gives a hell of a lot of insight into this industry. You could say he's on a mission to teach musicians proper work ethic.
Onto the interview:
Let’s start off with your latest single, Iudicium. Tell us about the concept of the single and your collaboration with Selia.
Kiwamu: Well I wrote the songs and I invited Selia to sing with Ken which would be interesting because both of them have classical vocals. So with that, when I wrote the songs, I had the idea of a collaboration. And even though Angelus is the B-side for the single, I think that it’s the main song. Also for Angelus, I wrote Japanese lyrics because Japanese music is popular in many countries and Japanese lyrics are better than English. Ken cannot write Japanese and Americans don’t want to listen to English songs because they can listen to English songs anytime. But yeah, in the first album he wrote almost all the songs but after that he didn’t work for a year and during that year, I wrote almost all the songs which was when I decided to add Japanese lyrics.
What do you think the fan reaction is to the change from English to Japanese lyrics?
Kiwamu: I think that the reaction is very good because American fans cannot understand Japanese lyrics but they want to feel the Japanese feelings. I also make the songs from the melody lines. So melody and lyrics are very important for Japanese music and Americans reactions are great.
Your single before your Iudicium was Barathrum which was about Lady Bathory. What was the biggest aspect of her story that you wanted to incorporate into that song?
Kiwamu: During my activity abroad, I wanted to use this concept but there was another concept already so I didn’t us it. So after the first album I thought Elizabeth Bathory was a good idea for GPKISM because classical style songs have a fluent story which fits our sound.
Of course Lady Bathory was believed to be a vampire and you were also from a band that focused on a heavy vampire image. What is your favorite vampire story and if you could make one up then what would it be?
Kiwamu: I don’t watch many movies about vampires so I’m good with “Interview with the Vampire” which I really liked. So I have some influence from that movie, especially costume-wise.
Your recent singles have included several remixes from prominent artists in the industry. Tell us how you chose which artists would be featured on the single.
Kiwamu: Typically in a band with many members, there are a lot of people to write songs. But in GPKISM, Ken hasn’t been writing any songs and if he doesn’t do that then there’s not a lot to release. Because I have been writing all the songs I don’t have much to release…Can I say all this? Because it’s true. In one hour I wrote these songs so I used them. And you know he needs to go back to Australia sometimes so there weren’t a lot of songs. I used these two songs and I talked to my friend artists all over the world and they made some remixes. I made collaboration singles two times and it was very good. I respect these artists very much.
Because you write all the songs now, which is your favorite that you have worked on?
Kiwamu: All my songs are my favorite. But angelus is a good song because of the duet with selia. Fans don’t listen to slow songs during the live because they want to move. But they always listen to this song at the end so I think that song has a lot of potential.
You just started a new label, Starwave, which is for visual kei bands. Will you be signing any artists to Darkest Labyrinth this year or are you going to focus on Starwave?
Kiwamu: I already have three artists for Darkest Labyrinth. Do you know Calmando Qual? Well I’m talking with them and two other bands. For Starwave, I already have six artists so I will work for both. But in three years I worked in the industrial scene. When I work with industrial artists, their motivation is lower than visual kei artists. Now I work with visual kei bands because they work very hard. In fact, I am disappointed with the Japanese industrial scene. So maybe I will focus with hard working artists, not lazy ones. If Ken is lazy, then maybe GPKISM will be deleted from the record label. I want to cut two or three artists from Darkest Labyrinth because they are very lazy and don’t work, don’t sell cd’s. The reaction is very bad. When I can respect their mind, I can work with them. Seileen is not important. I always see their attitude and some artists’ attitudes are very bad. I don’t want to work with lazy artists.
GPKISM is incredibly popular overseas so what will the reaction be if you cut them?
Kiwamu: Well I don’t think there will a reaction to GPKISM because I made GPK’s fan base with BLOOD’s fan base. I made all of those things by myself and Ken doesn’t understand. He thinks that making fans is his skill but I am teaching him that this is not his skill. So maybe if he can’t understand these things then he will lose everything. You can publish that part. I’m okay with it.
Tell us about your hardworking artists, who you really want to continue working with in the future.
Kiwamu: I want to push LuzMelt with Starwave because they were working very hard and they are very serious. In a short time they want good results and they understand that they need to work. I respect their minds and they work very hard so I can help them.
Roger (Tainted Reality): The vocalist of that band was trying to form a band for four years. He worked hard on developing the concepts and writing music so Kiwamu is particularly proud of them.
Has Ken had any experiences of culture shock?
Kiwamu: To teach him I punched the door and the wall!
Tell us about the changes you’re going to make with Ken to get him to work harder.
Kiwamu: *makes a whipping motion* Whip! But in Japan he has a lot of chances to be successful because he’s in Tokyo. But it is also difficult to live there because apartment fees are very expensive and they don’t know how to work with the music scene. So if I don’t get everything for him then he can’t get success. But you know he has not understood this for two years so I don’t think he will understand now.
