【Click here for English translation of the interview】
海外の舞台を踏んだことによって、格段に広がった視野――より多くのリスナーを見据え、〈伝えること〉にグッとフォーカスしたビッグ・スケールのアンセムの連続で、狼たちは世界のハートに火を点ける!
新しい風を受けて
MAN WITH A MISSIONのニュー・アルバム『The World's On Fire』がついに完成した。3作目『Tales of Purefly』から約2年、バンドを取り巻く環境を変え、楽曲制作にテコ入れを図った今作は、かつてなく濃密な季節を経て作られた一枚だ。前作以降、北米ツアーや2度のヨーロッパ・ツアーなど、海外でライヴを積み重ねたことは貴重な財産になったようだ。まずJean-Ken Johnny（ギター／ヴォーカル／ラップ：以下同）に本作に辿り着くまでの歩みを振り返ってもらった。
「2度目ノヨーロッパ・ツアーデライズ・アゲインストノサポートヲ務メサセテモライマシテ。海外デモ人気ノアルバンドデ、彼ラノライヴヲ目ノ当タリニシテ改メテ凄イバンドダナト。土台ガシッカリシテルバンドハ世界中デ愛サレルコトガヨクワカリマシタ」。
そのヨーロッパ・ツアーの合間には、イギリス最大級のロック・フェスである〈Download Festival 2015〉にも初参戦した狼たち。筆者も現場で目撃したが、2曲目“distance”から自然とハンドクラップが沸き起こり、ラストの“FLY AGAIN”では日本と同様、現地でも観客が手を挙げて熱狂する場面に心底興奮した。
「初メテ出サセテイタダイタフェスナノデ、取ッ掛カリトシテハ良イライヴガデキタト思イマス。スデニ我々ノコトヲ知ッテクレテルファンガイタノハ心強カッタデスネ。同時ニ自分タチノ足デ、モット音楽ヲ届ケニ行カナケレバイケナイト思イマシタ。前作以降ハ海外ノライヴヲ精力的ニ行ッタ期間ニナッタノデ、今回ノ制作モソチラニ重点ヲ置イタ感ジデス。日本ノミナラズ、海外ノリスナーヲ獲得スルタメニ、音楽性ニモソウイウエッセンスヲ取リ入レヨウト」。
その言葉通り、世界中の音楽リスナーに向けて作られた今作は、コンセプト・アルバムの枠組みに準じた前作とはかなり趣が異なる。その新たな挑戦のひとつとして、バンド最高位のオリコン2位を獲得した4枚目のシングル“Seven Deadly Sins”でアヴリル・ラヴィーンやリンキン・パークなどを手掛けるドン・ギルモアが2曲のプロデュースに関与したことは大きい。
「今回ノアルバムハ全曲、新シイ風ヲ受ケテ制作ニ挑ムコトガデキマシタ。ソノ取ッ掛カリトシテ、ドン・ギルモアト最初ニ共作シタ“Seven Deadly Sins”と“Dive”ニハソレガワカリヤスク出テイルト思イマス」。
確かに上記の2曲（今作にも収録）で歌と演奏は研ぎ澄まされ、スケール感が増した曲調に仕上がっていた。そして今回のアルバムでは先述したドン・ギルモアに加え、新進気鋭のショーン・ロペスの2名のプロデューサーが携わったことで、バンドにさらなる地殻変動がもたらされている。
「2名ノプロデューサーヲ立テタコトデ、音楽的ニモ成長シタンジャナイカト。制作ニオイテハ楽曲ヲ練リ直スコトガ多カッタデスネ。イママデハデモノ状態カラ削ギ落トスコトハナク、ソノママレコーディングスルコトガ多カッタンデスヨ。ダケド、今回ハ海外ノプロデューサートデモ段階カラヒトツヒトツヲ一緒ニ作リ上ゲマシタ。楽曲ガ生マレル段階カラプロデューサートディスカッションシタノハ初メテノ試ミデスネ」。
伝えたいことを届けるために
本作は過去作と比べて、シンプルかつストレートなアプローチが増えている。全体を通して無駄がなく、楽曲自体の訴求力を高めたパワフルな曲調がズラリと並ぶ。
「ドン・ギルモア、ショーン・ロペスノフタリニ言ワレタノハ、〈君タチガ伝エタイモノガワカリヤスク届カナイト意味ガナイ〉ト。加エテ、モットダイレクトニ力強ク打チ出ス方法ガアルトアドヴァイスヲ受ケマシタ。僕ラガ好ンデ採リ入レテイタエッセンスハ間違イデハナイケド、本来打チ出スベキメッセージヲ打チ消スコトニモナルンジャナイカト。ソレデ伝エタイコトヲヨリ明確ニ届ケルタメノ交通整理ノ仕方ハ上手クナッタト思イマス。ソウイウ意味デ歌心ガヨリダイレクトニ伝ワル作品ニナリマシタ」。
とりわけ、表題曲はバンドが描く理想に限りなく近付いた楽曲と言える。聴く者を大らかに包み込むような、重厚かつ壮大なナンバーに仕上がっている。
「アンセム・ソングヲ作リタイトイウ願イガズット自分ノ中ニアッタンデスヨ。巨大ナロック・バンドニハ、必ズ1、2曲ハアタリマエノヨウニ聴カレルアンセムガアル気ガシテ。ソレハデカイロック・バンドニナリタイトイウヨリ、ソウイウ曲ヲ書ケルバンドニナリタイナト。ソノタメニハ説得力ノアル普遍性ガナイトイケナイ。ソレデ浮カンデキタ言葉ガ『The World's On Fire』ナンデス。ソレガ今回ノアルバムノテーマニ相応シク、歌詞ノ面デモキレイニヒットヲ打テタ曲デスネ」。
その“The World's On Fire”において、彼らはこう問い掛ける。〈We will find the answer on this road?〉――〈この道の先に答えなんてあるのだろうか?〉と。だが、不安と背中合わせながらも最終的には希望へと目を向ける言葉は、アルバム全体にも通じるテーマだ。
「ソウデスネ。恋愛ヤ友情以上ニ、不安ヤ焦燥感ノホウガ一番共感デキルンジャナイカト。ソレハ自分ノ理念トシテアルモノデスネ。イマノ状況ニ対シテ感謝シテイルモノノ、枯渇感ヤ上ヲメザシタイトイウ気持チハアリマスカラ。ソノ枯渇感ハミンナガ共感デキルメッセージニナリ得ル。不安ガアルカラコソ、希望ヲ歌イタイトイウ気持チガ強ク出タト思イマス」。
歌詞のメッセージ同様、楽曲面でも普遍性を追求した良曲が揃うなかで、“Mirror Mirror”は異色の輝きを放つ。従来の路線からハミ出したインダストリアル風味のアレンジには、新鮮な驚きを覚えた。
「ソレハショーン・ロペスト共作シタ曲デスネ。彼ガ我々ノライヴヲ観ニ来テクレタトキニ、狼ノ風貌カラハ予想外ノ爽ヤカナ楽曲モヤッテイルコトニ対シテ、〈ソウイウ曲ヲヤルトハ思ワナカッタ〉ト。ショーンガソモソモ想定シテイタ〈チョットダークデ未来感ノアル曲モ似合ウンジャナイカ〉ト言ワレマシテ、ソウイウ楽曲ニモトライシテミマシタ」。
盤石のサウンドメイクと挑戦心を張り巡らせた『The World's On Fire』。日本に止まらず、世界中の音楽リスナーの心に火を付ける決定打的な一枚と言っていい。
【Click here for English translation of the interview】
狼たちの進化を促進したプロデューサー陣の歩みをプレイバック!
今回MAN WITH A MISSIONの進化を促したプロデューサー＝ドン・ギルモアとショーン・ロペス。ここでは彼らの過去仕事を駆け足で追ってみよう。
まずドン・ギルモアは、日本のラウド・ロック・シーン――特にミクスチャー色の強い面々の影響源として名が挙がることも多いリンキン・パークの初期作品を支えた人物。他にもアヴリル・ラヴィーンの2作目『Under My Skin』（2004年）をはじめとした数々のモンスター・アルバムを手掛け、異色なところでは同年のデュラン・デュラン『Astronaut』への参加もあるが、いずれにしても〈オルタナな仕様〉を強化する際のキーパーソンとなる場合が多いような。近年なら、2013年に届いたコーン『The Paradigm Shift』やブレット・フォー・マイ・ヴァレンタイン『Temper Temper』といったニュー・メタル勢との絡みも記憶に新しい。
一方のショーン・ロペスは、90sエモ～ポスト・ハードコアの黎明期を支えたファーのギタリスト。プロデュース作品はそれほど多くないが、陰影と叙情性を湛えた本隊のサウンドと通じる持ち味を武器に、ブラック・パシフィックの2010年作『The Black Pacific』を例とする良作に貢献。また、2013年からはデフ・トーンズのチノ・モレノらとのユニット、クロセズとしても作品を送り出しており、打ち込み要素も大きく取り入れたほんのりゴシックな音世界を披露している。プロデューサー陣のこうした作風／手腕を思えば、スケール感の拡大とサウンドの先鋭性を押し進めた『The World's On Fire』の仕上がりも、納得のものと言えるのでは? ＊土田真弓
Setting their paws on international stages and broadening their turf…
With the string of large-scaled ‘anthems’ focusing strongly on ‘communicating’, and keeping a steady watch on larger audiences, the wolves ignite the hearts around the world!
Interviewed and written by: Ryosuke Arakane
Sailing on new winds
The newest album from MAN WITH A MISSION, “The World's On Fire” has finally arrived. 2 years from their 3rd album, “Tales of Purefly”, the band has totally refreshed their surroundings, and with a stepped-up song-making capacity, the album has turned out to be a piece that has undergone seasons in a richer and deeper manner than ever. Ever since their last album, the band has handled a North American tour as well as 2 tours across Europe, and such experiences seems to have become valuable assets of the band. We sat down with Jean-Ken Johnny (guitar/vocals/rap) to hear about how he recalls the path until the release of this latest.
“At the second tour of Europe, we had the honor of touring with Rise Against as the supporting act for them,” explains Johnny. “They’re very popular overseas, and seeing them play live before our very own eyes only reaffirmed how great they are as a band. It clearly showed that as long as you have a strong foundation, you get to be loved and accepted around the globe.”
And in between performing at that Europe tour, the pack also managed to cram into their schedule, their very first performance at the [Download Festival 2015] in UK, one of the largest rock festivals in the country. I was there luckily to witness their performance, and it was a sheer thrill to see the claps of the audience naturally arising already from their second song of the day, “distance”, and by the time they were at their last song, “FLY AGAIN”, the crowds were already going wild with fists in the air, just like in Japan.
Johnny explains, “It was our very first time to take part in that festival, so I think we can say we made a good start. It was so encouraging to see there were fans who already knew us in the audience. But at the same time, we strongly felt the need for us to be more active in actually going to places and deliver music to people, with our very own feet. Ever since the last album, we have actively been on the international roads performing live overseas, and what we’ve gained through those experiences were given special emphasis during the production of this album. We wanted to inject our music with those essences with thoughts of attracting more listeners of our music, especially from overseas, not limiting to Japan.”
And true to those words, this latest album produced with an eye to music listeners around the world has a look more than a bit different from the previous album that rather fell under the category of a concept album. The fact that Don Gilmore, known for producing big names such as Avril Lavigne or Linkin Park, was welcomed on board as producer for two of the songs on their maxi-single, “Seven Deadly Sins”, their 4th release that recorded the band’s highest rank at 2nd of the Oricon charts (Japanese big-name music ranking charts) played a significant role in the band taking on this new approach.
“Every single song in this latest album was made with us sailing on new winds,” he says looking back on the production process. “The two songs “Seven Deadly Sins” and“Dive” we did with Don Gilmore as the starting point for our new approach reflects that in a pretty recognizable fashion.”
True enough, the singing and renditions in the said two songs (that are also recorded in the album,) are finely honed and the tracks are given larger landscapes to their tunes. On this album, added to Don Gilmore, the band invited another producer, the up-and-coming Shaun Lopez, and with this addition, the band went through a further tectonic deformation.
Johnny explains, “I think, by having this dual-producers’ structure, we have grown further, musically too. In terms of the actual production, it was a repetition of re-orchestrating of the tracks. Until then, we were used to recording what we had on the demos as they were without trimming anything off. But this time, having the two producers from overseas with us, we worked on each and every process very carefully, even from the demo-making, one by one. It was a first-ever attempt for us to work on the production by entering into discussions with the producer(s) even from when the song wasn’t in place yet.”
To communicate what they want to ‘communicate’
Compared to their previous recordings, this latest album takes a more simple and direct approach. Overall, it is lean and streamlined, lavishly lining up powerful melodies with an enhanced capacity for appeal.
“What both Don Gilmore and Shaun Lopez told us,” explains Johnny, “was that ‘it would be meaningless unless whatever we wanted to communicate was delivered in a clear-cut fashion’. Added to that, we were given the advice that there were ways to lay out message(s) in a more direct and powerful manner. While the elements we had adopted out of choice were not wrong, they also may have the potential of cancelling out the message that we originally wanted to convey. So, through these, I think we’ve become much better at sorting out what-needs-to-be-done-and-how in order to convey our thoughts much more clearly.”
The title track, in particular, can be considered a track to have infinitely neared the band’s ideal, -a deep and majestic piece that graciously cocoons the listeners.
“I always had this desire inside me to make an ‘anthem’ song. Seems to me that any mega rock band always has an ‘anthem’-scale song or two that are listened to routinely and ubiquitously. Rather than wanting to become a mega band ourselves, it was more about becoming a band that has the ability to write such songs. And in order to make that happen, you need to have this convincing universality. The very words that came up with those thoughts were [The World's On Fire]. They happened to be so fitting to the theme of the album, so even from the lyrics’ point of view, I guess we can call it a song that ‘made a perfect base hit’.”
And this very song “The World's On Fire” has the band throwing out the question, [Will we find the answer on this road?] Even though positioned back to back with unrest or anxiety, these words that eventually look toward the direction of hope is actually equivalent to the theme that runs throughout the whole of the album.
“That’s true,” Johnny agrees. “More than romance or friendship, I think that feelings of anxiety or frustration are easier to empathize with. That thought also lies within my philosophy. Even though I am grateful to where I am now, the sense of being depleted or the desire to aim for higher is still with me. And this sense of depletion is something I think can also be a message that everyone can share with empathy. I think that having the anxiety was the very essence that generated the feeling to want to sing about hope come forth stronger.”
On par with the message in the lyrics, the album also lines up quality tracks that also seek universality. Though amongst them, one track, “Mirror Mirror” has a different shine to it. The industrial-ish arrangements that seem to have swerved off the main track gave me fresh sense of amazement.
“That’s the track we co-wrote with Shaun Lopez. There was a time he came to see our show, and seeing us play a song that was so delightful and least expected from anything that has a look of a wolf, he was like ‘I never expected you’d play songs like that’. He mentioned how songs which he originally had in mind that were darkish and had a futuristic feel to it may also work with us. So, that’s how we decided to venture making that kind of song.”
“The World’s On Fire” is a piece produced on solid sound-making and extensive spirit to challenge the new. Not limited to Japan, it is unanswerably a masterpiece bound to serve as the definitive strike that ignites the hearts of music fans around the world.
