The Rams Head Live and Die Interview

So, yesterday I got a HUGE test about thinking on the fly. I give myself a C.

I guess the cat's out of the bag that we landed an interview with Die of Dir en grey. We'd been working on booking this interview since the new tour was announced and we found out we had landed it 5 MINUTES before the interview! I was so prepared to get dissappointed that I was unprepared to actually DO the interview! Luckily it was a joint interview with Jason of Iron Otaku, so the interview didn't completely suck. As we sat down with him, I started thinking to myself, "Shit, this guy has done 1,876,321 interviews. What can I ask him that he hasn't already been asked!?" This I am usually good at, but this was the first time I had to do it on the fly! I decided to focus on what went into the classical arrangements for the Special Edition of Marrow of a Bone. His responses were really interesting and he really elaborated on stuff, though I wasn't too happy with the way I worded one or two of the questions. However, I don't think he minded, as his responses were actually very insightful and drawn out.

After the interview we were invited to stay for the show, which we did. Now, I've been pretty vocal about how the first time I saw them at Family Values didn't impress me, but I must say this was leaps and bounds better! The band just had more energy, seemed to actually enjoy the show, the crowd was fantastic, the sound MUCH better, and they weren't wooden at all. They were all thrashing and headbanging all over the stage, not just Kyo. And I must say, I thought Kyo's crooked crazy eye thing was pretty cool.

After the show I stayed to chat with some friends. I saw Nora, the band's translator, walk by and I stopped her to thank her for everything. Next thing I know (it litterally happened this quick) I have a camera in my face, and she's asking me if I wanna be on TV Tokyo. I was like "Yeah, I guess, sure", still kinda baffled. So, she proceeds to ask me what I thought of the show, the band, and I told her how impressed I was and how I'm a huge fan of what they are doing now. Somewhere in there I must have either name dropped Metallica or they noticed my Master of Puppets shirt, coz as soon I was done talking I was asked to compare Deg to Metallica! I was BEYOND baffled, mostly because I didn't want to say what I REALLY thought in fear of getting in trouble. So, I decided to compare Deg to older Metallica... but on the way home I realized I really contrasted them more than anything. I think the band themselves would be more happy with my answer because I think they are at a point in their career where they are obtaining their own autonomy and don't want to be compared to other bands.

So yeah, the night wound up being totally killer. I just wish I hadn't worried so much about getting the interview and actually put in some time to ask more decent questions. However, after the reaction we had, I'm pretty sure I'll get a second chance.

-Roger