LOST

PHOTOGRAPHY BY TSUN
WEBSITE: www.myspace.com/lostjapan
COUNTRY: Japan STYLE: Screamo / Emo / Hardcore

Interview Answered by TAG (Drummer)

YOUR MUSIC HAS SO MANY “CALM” PARTS BUT THEN IT SUDDENLY SLIPS INTO AN ENTIRE OTHER DIMENSION WITH THE HARDCORE ELEMENTS YOU BRING INTO YOUR SONGS, HOW DO YOU FIND A BALANCE BETWEEN THE HEAVY AND SOFTER PARTS OF YOUR SOUND?

We are influenced by so many kind of music and we always aimed to make something new by mixing all the elements of music we like. For example bands like Deftones, Cynic, Glassjaw are our inspiration and they are all doing the mix so perfectly. Although it takes ages to find the best balance between heavy parts and softer parts, we believe that is an important element that let people know what LOST is about.

READING YOUR BAND BIOGRAPHY IT SEEMS THAT THE BAND HAS HAD MANY UPS AND DOWNS OVER THE YEARS, WHAT HAS INSPIRED YOU TO CARRY ON WITH THIS BAND NO MATTER WHAT?

You' re right. We had so many ups and downs and especially downs. But every time we faced very hard situation, there were always hope and we were always not satisfied with what we had done so far. What made us keep going was definitely the will that we should or could write something more and the confidence that we should simply stay in this band. And those our faith won't change until we found ourselves done with everything we can express though music.

HOW BIG OF AN IMPACT HAS ALL THE “NEWEST” MEMBERS IN THE BAND HAD ON THE SOUND AND DIRECTION YOU’RE TAKING WITH LOST?

I have to say the impact was very big for original members in many ways. The sound has certainly changed since different people are involved in writing music. I personally think that this is quite natural change for a band and besides we wanted the change in this band anyway. Keep playing in the same kind of music style is a way but LOST is not a band which sticks to one certain kind of style and wanted to do something new. So the replacement we had has been definitely plus for us and the direction of the band.

YOU ARE PART OF A SPLIT ALBUM/EP TITLED “A DECADE IN THREE WAYS” OUT MAY 15TH WHICH IS A ALBUM FEATURING YOU AND TWO OTHER BANDS IF I’M RIGHT; HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE IDEA AND HOW DID EACH BAND CONTRIBUTE TO THE ALBUM?

You're right. The split album is an album with other 2 bands Nature Living and Evylock. The three bands are based on very far location form the North to the South but we have some common points. We are all 10-year-old bands and we all own independent labels ourselves.

We met during the very big tour called "Crazy Fest" headlined by Evergreen Terrace and Across Five Aprils last year, and once we shared precious time together though the tour, it didn't take too long to come up to this idea and here we are. For this album, each band wrote a new song. And we also swapped an old song and covered it among the three bands which was very fun and a very interesting thing to do.

WHAT ASPECTS OF THE SONG WRITING PROCESS DO YOU LOVE AND HATE THE MOST?

We love every writing process. It is the best part of being in a band. But maybe we hate it when we don't have much time and being forced to finish the writing before we are really happy with the song...

WHERE DO MOST OF YOUR “SONG IDEAS” COME FROM AND WHAT SUBJECTS DO YOU COVER THE MOST WITH YOUR LYRICS?

With new album, with a new singer, we talked a lot about what this new album is about. What we did at first place was deciding the album's title and the concept of the album. And then we named all the titles of the songs we are supposed to write in order to make sure the album becomes a story and the songs match the lyrics perfectly. The title of our new album will be "Discovery" and it is about journey of life and the subjects of the lyrics are mainly about how we should live our lives in order to find something very important in the end.

IS IT BETTER SOMETIMES AS BANDS TO WORK TOGETHER RATHER THAN GO AT IT ALONE TO MAKE A MUSIC SCENE GROW LIKE YOU ARE DOING WITH “A DECADE IN THREE WAYS”?

Yes, it is. At least in Japan. I think Japan is a very unique country in music scene especially. Everything is centralized in Tokyo and the music scene there is huge. But at the same time, there are other music scene rising from other local areas such as Osaka and Hokkaido. Nature Living is from Tokyo and LOST is from Osaka and Evylock is from Hokkaido. So it was pretty good idea to release this kind of split album from this point of view as well.

THE ORIGINAL LINE-UP OF LOST STARTED OUT IN 1998, OVER THE YEARS HOW HAS THE BAND’S LIVE SHOW EVOLVED INTO WHAT IT IS TODAY?

Playing with many other bands over the years helped us in many many ways. Especially sharing stages with bands like Saosin, Underoath, Scapegoat, MIKOTO, The taken, Evergreen Terrace provoked us to be better live band and it led who we are today. Playing live show is definitely what makes us stronger as a band and the only way to tie the band members' relationship tight.

IF TIME TRAVEL WAS POSSIBLE; IS THERE ANY LIVE SHOW THAT YOU WOULD LOVE TO GO BACK IN TIME AND PLAY AGAIN FOR ANY GOOD OR BAD REASON?

You mean with new members? Then definitely, it would the Taste of Chaos 2006 when we played with Saosin and Underoath. The reason is because I was too chicken to talk with them although they were looking at us from side of the stages and knew that they liked what we were playing.

WOULD YOU SAY THAT EACH BAND MEMBER HAS AN ON STAGE PERSONALITY AND AN OFF STAGE PERSONALITY AND IF SO IN WHICH WAYS DO THEY DIFFER FROM EACH OTHER?

Of course we are more excited on the stage but we don't really have on and off personalities. We are trying to be what we are on the stage as well. We don't like to pretend someone else.

IN WHAT WAYS WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR MUSIC AND LIVE PERFORMANCES TO HAVE AN IMPACT ON PEOPLE AND AT THE END OF DAY, WHAT SHOULD MAKING MUSIC BE ALL ABOUT IN YOUR OPINION?

For people who come to our show and see our performance, we are trying our best to make them feel something from our music. They don't really have to make a circle pit or stage dive and something like that. Of course if that is the way people feel when they see us playing, that is always welcomed. Our goal is to touch people's heart with our music in any way that people would like to. That's the way we like music to be.

WHAT DOES LOST HAVE PLANNED FOR THE REST OF 2009?

We are now writing some songs for our new album which is about to be recorded in September with Jamie King at his studio in North Carolina. The album should be very good and we are very excited about this. After we record the album, we have not decided anything yet but as soon as we release the album, we should be on tour for the album. We only have been to Korea and no other countries out of Japan so this time we love to tour around the world with this album. That's our plan.

ANY LAST COMMENTS / ADVICE OR PEOPLE YOU WOULD LIKE TO THANK?

Big thanks goes to Neil for giving us this chance to let people know about us. To everyone who read this interview, thank you very much for reading this interview. We really hope to play in your country someday! Thank you.