THE PERFECT STRANGER
DIR EN GREY frontman Kyo is not like other rock stars.
In a rare interview, he reveals why...

Words: Paul Brannigan
Photo: Ashley Maile

THE FIRST time I met Dir en grey vocalist Kyo he was bleeding from self-inflicted wounds. It was August 2007, and the Japanese band had just played the second of two sell-out London gigs at the Islington Academy on their debut visit to the UK. During the show Kyo had dug his fingernails deep into his face and chest, gouging out flesh, drawing blood and simultaneously drawing gasps and horrified looks from the fans. Reminded of this today, as we sit down with a translator in the band's management office in Roppongi, Tokyo, Kyo simply smiles and says, "I like seeing blood."
Kyo is not your typical rock singer. Unlike the motormouth frontmen who habitually reside within these pages, the 32-year-old Kyoto-born vocalist likes to keep things close to his chest. In fact, earlier today when we attempted to get a track-by-track run down on Dir en grey's new album Uroboros from the band, the singer elected to say nothing. It's not that Kyo is rude or aloof, but he comes across as intense, self-possessed and wholly uninterested in playing up to any stereotypical images of what a rock star should be. When we requested a one-to-one interview - a real rarity, apparently - it was very politely but firmly suggested by management that personal questions about family, girlfriends or relationships are off-limits, but happily, when settled on a couch in front of K! tape recorder, the singer is less guarded than one might expect...

IN ARTICLES ABOUT DIR EN GREY, JOURNALISTS USE WORDS LIKE "MYSTERIOUS" AND "ENIGMATIC" TO DESCRIBE YOU?: DO YOU RECOGNISE YOURSELF IN THOSE WORDS?
Kyo: "I don't mind what anyone says about me, so feel free to say whatever you want and think whatever you want to think."

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST MUSICAL MEMORY?
Kyo: "When I was growing up I hated music. The only music I liked was the intense music used to soundtrack violent battles in movies. Music programmes on Japanese TV never showed rock bands, only J-Pop, and I hated that. But when I was at middle school and the guy who sat beside me was into rock music and I learned about rock music from him. I decided then that I wanted to make rock music my life."

DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR CHILDHOOD AS A HAPPY TIME?
Kyo: "I was happy enough, but I hated school. I was regarded as a bit of a misfit, people thought I was a bit odd. But I never really related to how other people thought. And the more people tried to force me into a box the more I struggled to get away from their perceptions."

DID YOU GET BULLIED AT SCHOOL FOR YOUR NON-CONFORMIST ATTITUDE?
Kyo: "I didn't get bullied, but I was kind of ignored which was almost worse. Some teachers liked kids who were good academically and other teachers fussed over the bad kids, particularly if they were good at sports, but I was somewhere in between so no-one took care of me. I was pretty lonely. I just wanted to get out. When it came to the exams I just handed in blank sheets of paper. My parents had pretty much given up on trying to make me care by that point."

DO YOU INTEND YOUR LYRICS TO BE EMPOWERING FOR KIDS IN A SIMILAR POSITION NOW?
Kyo: "No, not at all. All the words are directed at myself, not the outside world, and I don't really care how they're interpreted. If they affect people that's great but I don't want to be a preacher."

DO YOU GET MAIL FROM FANS SAYING YOU'VE HELPED THEM THROUGH THOUGH TIMES?
Kyo: "Yes, a lot. But I don't reply. To be honest I try not to even read fan mail. I don't want any outside influence in my lyrics: I want to make sure that what comes out of me is 100 per cent from me."

WHEN DID YOU REALISE YOU HAD A GIFT FOR SINGING?
Kyo: "I still don't think I can sing!" (laughs)

WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT THE FIRST DIR EN GREY GIG?
Kyo: "We'd booked shows in Osaka and Tokyo - both of which were completely sold out, as I suppose people had been following our previous bands - so we decided to do a secret gig first as a warm-up. Unfortunately it was too secret and only five people turned up! Not the most memorable start!"

PEOPLE LOOKING AT DIR EN GREY 10 YEARS AGO WOULD HAVE SEEN A MUCH MORE FLAMBOYANT, STYLISED BAND THAN TODAY. DID YOU FEEL THAT THE MORE EXTRAVAGANT FASHIONS OF THE VISUAL KEI SCENE WERE DETRACTING FROM THE SERIOUSNESS OF YOUR LYRICS?
Kyo: "Well, in the beginning our focus was always on the music, and the term 'visual kei' didn't even exist. Altough we wore make-up we weren't trying to look beautiful as visual kei bands do. But as the scene got more popular it became more common for bands to wear make-up, and we didn't to be associated with a lot of the poor quality bands in that scene. We wanted to use our whole bodies to express ourselves rather than just our faces and clothes."

DIR EN GREY FANS SEEM TO REACT IN A VERY REGIMENTED, UNIFORM FASHION AT YOUR SHOWS. IS THAT WEIRD FOR YOU TO SEE GIVEN YOUR LYRICS ARE SO PERSONAL?
Kyo: "I don't really think about it. When I'm onstage I'm trying to express myself 100 per cent, it's not really about the audience. I'm not 'performing' in that sense. My main focus onstage is how much I can immerse myself in the music and lyrics and the atmosphere of the show - from the first song on stage I'm trying to beat myself up to go up to another level. I could pass out anytime onstage!"

ARE YOU EVER SURPRISED WHEN YOU SEE HOW BRUISED AND BLOODY YOUR BODY IS AFTER A SHOW?
Kyo: "It doesn't surprise me, because I like seeing the blood. It's like when a boxer gets a nose bleed during a fight, it's a sign you've thrown everything into the show."

DO YOU SEE DIR EN GREY'S LIVE PERFORMANCES AS TIED INTO THE TRADITION OF ANCIENT THEATRE OR ART?
Kyo: "Not any specific art, but in traditional art there are some very dark and scary themes, such as the desire for vengeance, which are the kind of themes I like to express."

SO IS THE PURPOSE OF DIR EN GREY TO DISTURB AND UNSETTLE YOUR AUDIENCE RATHER THAN SIMLY ENTERTAIN?
Kyo: "Maybe neither. I hate entertainment but I'm not trying to disturb either: what I'm trying to do onstage is express the pain and frustration we all feel in life but also to look beyond at a different world without that. If you've always lived in the light then you won't know what darkness is, and if you've only experienced happiness then you can't recognise real sorrow. You have to experience all of life to be truly alive."

IS BEING IN DIR EN GREY THERAPEUTIC FOR YOU?
Kyo: "If I was not singing I wouldn't be living, so maybe therapy is the right word. Without Dir en grey I couldn't be happy at all. I could never imagine being in another band."

DO YOU THINK KERRANG! READERS WILL BE ANY CLOSER TO UNDERSTANDING THE REAL YOU AFTER READING THIS INTERVIEW?
Kyo: "Who knows? Everything I do is natural, I don't try to construct any persona, this is me. And so if people read this and still think I'm mysterious and enigmatioc then maybe that's just how I am!" (laughs)

DIR EN GREY'S ALBUM UROBOROS IS OUT NOW.