HETEROGENEOUS ANDEAD – Interview with Yusuke Kiyama (guitar) and Haruka (growling & singing)

The country of the blossoming cherry has fascinated me from my childhood, like my editorial colleague, especially martial arts, philosophy, religion and of course traditional music. For that reason we did not give thought long to do the interview with HETEROGENEOUS ANDEAD – death-metalheads from Japan, whose music is quite peculiar, mainly cause of vocals, for which responsible is Haruka. So we invite you to read… – Pavel

Pavel: Welcome! WormholeDeathRecords is currently promoting your debut album from 2017 – “Deus Ex Machina”. Is there any interest in your music in Europe and America?

Yusuke Kiyama: Yes, we have been interviewed from US, Spain and Argentina, also our songs were on air of the radio worldwide now. Some fans comment to us via our SNS „Hey what is so fuck! Awesome!”, it makes us so happy.

Pavel: You play quite specific Extreme Metal. Fast and brutal Thrash Death Metal with female vocals of Haruka. While her growls support all aggressiveness, but her pure operatic singing can surprise many potential listeners. I like such solution. Where did the idea of using such different sounds of vocals come from?

Yusuke Kiyama: Since I started writing songs for this band for the first time, those were the style combines both growl and clean. And the first vocalist was a man. I was looking for a new vocalist after he has left, then Haruka joined. Because her performance is better to sing classically rather than singing with mixed voice, so it got in this present style.

Pavel: But during some concerts havs not Haruka problems with both vocals? It would seem that after the phrases of growling may appear hoarseness and pure singing will not come out so clean.

Haruka: Actually most of people ask to me such question, but every time I answer „No problem”. After growl singing, I can back to singing with classical voice completelly – because I found the tip for it. Of course I must train to keep this style, but I have never lost my voice ever before.

Livius Pilavi: Do you play lot of concerts? A lot of people come to your shows?

Yusuke Kiyama: We play once or twice a month. It’s not enough to fill up a big place yet, but our enthusiastic fans always come.

Pavel: I’ve noticed that you take care of your image… You use interesting costumes, for example Takashi Onitake likes military style, while Haruka assumes dark dresses… What influences to the choice of costumes?

Yusuke Kiyama: The concept of costumes is basically darkness or gorgeousness to stand out on the stage, but it is not clearly unified so far, it’s just their preference. Haruka & Yusuke’s costumes are affected by Japanese Visual-kei. Takashi Onitake’s is military as it is. And Tomoyuki Nakano’s is a hunter motif.

Pavel: The Haruka’s stage movement is also specific… Her gestures and poses are somewhat theatrical. Has it roots in the Kabuki theater?

Haruka: In fact when I was a student, I have jointed to play the musical. Also I had practiced Aikido when I was a child, so it may affect my stage movement.

Livius Pilavi: What is lyrics of your songs? What message do you want to bring to listeners in the lyrics?

Yusuke Kiyama: The theme is sadness, sorrow and madness. I think I don’t want emotions like intense anger but want to leave something heavy sticking deep into the heart of the listener.

Livius Pilavi: How do you organize your time to create music or for some rehearsals? In Japan, people work many hours a day.

Yusuke Kiyama: Our practice and rehearsal as the band is about once a week. It’s about 2 hours per time so it’s not that much.

Pavel: And did you consider the possibility of inserting a larger dose of Japanese Folk into your music? For example, the sounds of traditional instruments – Shakuhachi, Koto or Shamisen? In the flood of competition, it would be definitely raise the originality of your music, and with appropriate arrangements, it would not cause to lose its aggressiveness.

Yusuke Kiyama: I don’t think about incorporating Japanese Folk at the moment. It is different from our direction and concept, so I don’t think it will be a good result.

Pavel: Well, Japanese Folk is something curious to me as someone from a different culture. But for you it can be something trivial, just like for me – Polish Folk 😊

Livius Pilavi: What kind of music do you listen? Which bands are your inspiration?

Yusuke Kiyama: Of course I listen to metal a lot, but I also like electro music and J-Pop. Slayer is the most affected band for me, but I was also shocked by Vader in Poland!

Livius Pilavi: What is the status of Metal music in Japan? Is such music presented on the radio or television? Are metal music festivals often organized?

Yusuke Kiyama: Metal is pretty on the wane in Japan. There are radio and television of metal, but it is very few. A big metal festival is held once a year.

Livius Pilavi: I often watch the Japanese English-language television news channel NHK World, hence I know that Japanese Pop music called J-Melo is very popular all over Asia. And is Japanese Metal music well known in the Far East? As far as I know, the BABY METAL has achieved international success.

Yusuke Kiyama: It seems Japanese idol and Visual-kei are very popular in Asia and France. However, metal is not so well known. And I think BABYMETAL is also treated as idol.

Livius Pilavi: What Japanese Metal bands – apart from yours – could you recommend? The Japanese scene is very poorly known in Poland (I’m Polish).

Yusuke Kiyama: To name a famous band, there are Loudness and Outrage, also Anthem, Galneryus and Lovebites are active.

Livius Pilavi: Do not you have any problems at occupational work because of aggressive music? The Christian religion is strong and influential in Poland. Christians consider Metal as source of evil. It rarely happens that concerts are canceled under the pressure of Polish Christians and some musicians have matters in the courts.

Yusuke Kiyama: Fortunately in Japan there is no religious problem even if we play metal.

Haruka: I know Christians, especially catholic, doubt metal because of evil and loud sound, so I can image there are some troubles to play metal in the country or area many Christians live. But most Japanese have no religion, so we have never encountered to such problem.

Pavel: Can you talk about your own religious beliefs in Japan? Are you followers of Shinto or maybe Buddhism?

Yusuke Kiyama: In Japan the stance to religion is very gradual. Sometimes Japanese people perform rituals of Shinto and Buddhism at celebration or funeral, but they don’t care about religion at all in everyday life. Of course there are Japanese Christians, but many people are not active very seriously.

Haruka: In fact, I am a Protestant Christian. Christians are only 1% of Japanese. However I know Christian plays in metal band, so music and religion are not connected in particular. People say to me „Your voice is like angel and devil”. On the contrary, because I have a way of living as a Christian, I think I can express more deeply such sorrow in this band.

Livius Pilavi: Do you like the prose of Haruki Murakami? His books are very popular in Poland. Many people even think that he should receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Yusuke Kiyama: I have read some of his works, but I think some Japanese like but others don’t. I like “A Wild Sheep Chase”. His writtings have very strong peculiarities, but in English or other languages they may weaken.

Pavel: Many fans of Metal like horror movies. Japanese horror movies are quite popular in Europe and the United States. This popularity began probably with “Ringu”, then “Chakushin Ari” (“One Missed Call”), “Honogurai Mizu No Soko Kara” (“Dark Water”). Do you recommend any good novelty?

Yusuke Kiyama: Recently Japanese horror movies have cooled down, there are no good new works.

Pavel: Thank you for the interview! In conclusion, please give some message to our readers…

Yusuke Kiyama: Thanks so much for checking us! We hope to visit for playing gig in Poland someday.