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Very Good Days Interview with Draft King at Otakon 2015

On July 25, 2015, Very Good Days had the opportunity to interview Draft King at Otakon 2015. Draft King had performed the night before as Otakon’s Friday musical guest and held a Q&A session earlier in the day—in which they also performed a live acoustic session—as well as plenty of other interviews. We were their last interview scheduled for the day, which would be followed by an autograph panel and the Very Good Days Draft King Fan Meeting.

The interview was conducted by VGD admins Zachary Kopp (Arcluna) and Roderic Suarez (RSNiteblaze), photographed by VGD staff member Eddie Lai (Elsuke) [White Specs Photography], and filmed by Naoki Mori, a big Draft King fan from Japan and the handler of @stereoponylover on Twitter.

 

Draft King

Let’s start with introductions. Introduce the person sitting to your left and say one interesting thing about them.

NOHANA: This is erica. Draft King’s vocals. She’s airheaded and does things at her own pace. She is good at singing.

erica: This is MAO. She is a super guitarist.

MAO: She is SHIHO. She really likes sake and she’s a power drummer.

SHIHO: This is NOHANA the leader and bassist of Draft King… Hmmm, I wonder…

NOHANA: Why cant you say anything about me!?

*Laughs*

 

Draft King

Draft King

Friday night was your first performance in the USA. How did you feel about it?

SHIHO: It was really fun.

MAO: Of course, everyone’s mood was great. There were also people using glowsticks so I thought that “Ah they do this here too?” It was really fun, seeing that.

erica: It made me think once again about how much I love music. Thank you very much.

NOHANA: This was our first live overseas as Draft King and I’m really happy that everyone, including Very Good Days was able to see us.

 

How was this performance different from a performance done in Japan?

SHIHO: Since it was an anime event, we tried to choose anime songs that everyone would know to cover.

 

What is your favorite thing to do at a live performance?

SHIHO: If it’s in the middle of a performance, when we all jump while we’re playing “Okuru Kotoba” — although I can’t jump.

*Laughs*

 

We already know how NOHANA and SHIHO began their music careers. So, how did Mao and erica first select music as a career, and can you describe how Draft King came to be?

erica: From the time I was small I loved singing so I’ve always thought I would like to become a singer. Well, our paths converged and through various fortunate things I was able to sing with Draft King like this.

MAO: In middle school I began the guitar and I thought it would be great if I could still play in the future. Then when I moved to Tokyo that’s when my dream began.

 

Draft King

With many styles of music to choose from why rock music?

SHIHO: We didn’t choose it. To me there really wasn’t anything else.

 

How did you feel when you were signed to the Sun Music Group? How has Draft King evolved from before signing with Draft King up until now?

SHIHO: We were really happy. Both the amount of people who are helping us and the amount of things we can do has now increased.

 

What do you think is Draft King’s appeal as a band?

NOHANA: I think it’s all of our individualistic personalities.

 

At the concert erica mentioned that “This is me.” has a special meaning to her. Can erica talk more about the backstory to the song?

erica: The song “This is me.” is about just that. But everyone can have their own “This is me” and everyone has that part of themselves that they just can’t forgive. I think only when you acknowledge that part of yourself will you get the power move forward. If you listen to this song and it supports you even a bit, then I’ll be really happy. Please listen to it a lot.

 

Is there a particular song that NOHANA, MAO, and SHIHO are proud of?

SHIHO: As a band, our favorite is usually “Mayonaka Merry-Go-Round” because we each get our own solos.

MAO: For me it’s “Abracadabra” since we’ve been playing since we formed and it’s a song we’ve all really raised up together so I really like it.

NOHANA: All of our songs are precious, but I love “Mayonaka Merry-Go-Round” since I wrote the lyrics.

 

 

Can you talk more about the videos of “Okuru Kotoba” and “This is me.”

SHIHO: They were both directed by the same director, who is a popular comedian in Japan.

 

That was actually our next question. What was it like working with Torii Miyuki?

SHIHO: When I saw her on TV her way of acting was really individualistic so I felt a bit anxious but the video turned out wonderfully and I think she’s an amazing person.

 

Why was Okuru Kotoba chosen as your first single after being signed to Sun Music?

NOHANA: The timing for the release was just around graduation season so we chose that.

 

What has been your most meaningful moment in Draft King so far?

SHIHO: It’s right now. *Laughs*

NOHANA: …The future! *Laughs*

 

We would like to know what your thoughts on Very Good Days are?

:erica: *Thumbs Up*

SHIHO: Well there aren’t many things like Very Good Days in Japan. And I’m really grateful that they’re always thinking of us. Because of that I’m really grateful for the existence of Very Good Days.

 

Draft King

 

Do you have a final message for the fans?

SHIHO: Seeing everyone enjoying themselves at our live, I thought that I’m really glad I came and that I definitely want to come back. So please take care of us!

 

Thank you very much.

Draft King: Thank you very much!

Very Good Days would like to give special thanks to Otakon 2015 and the following individuals for making this interview a success. Interview by Zachary Kopp and Roderic Suarez. Japanese/English Interpretation by Yoshihiro “ NABE” Watanabe. Translation by Andy Galan. Photography by Eddie Lai (White Specs Photography). Video by Naoki Mori.
 

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One comment

  1. Any chance of a US tour?