Formed in 1981, incredibly Japan’s finest Heavy Metal band Loudness, has never toured Australia before. But that’s about to be put right with the band playing three East Coast shows in the next few weeks. With a staggering 27 studio album, 19 Live albums and 38 years under their belts there’s a lot of catching up to do! We caught up with vocalist Minoru Niihara to see what they have in store for us.
Minoru: Hello Mark!
Mark: Hello to you too Minouro, thank you so much for talking to us today.
Minoru: Oh thank you so much, my pleasure.
Mark: It’s great to finally have you heading our way! 38 years on is it a surprise that this is the very first time you’ve been to visit us in Australia?
Minoru: Oh very much it’s going to be wonderful to be there for the very first time, we always wanted to play there and our dreams come true now!
Mark: There can’t be too many places in the world you haven’t played?
Minoru: We’ve done so many shows around the world but for some reason we didn’t have a chance to play in Australia until now, it’s going to be a great show!
Mark: How will you approach the shows though? You have 27 albums under your belt and we haven’t heard any of them down here live, how will you decide what to play for us?
Minoru: Well the promoter called us and said play some songs from the 80’s so I think we will play some songs from our previous albums like ‘Thunder in the East’ and our next albums like ‘Shadows of War’ and ’Hurricane Eyes’ and also we’ll play some songs from our most recent album – it’s going to be at least two hours and we’re going to have a great time, so let’s go crazy! (Laughs)
Mark: That sound very good! You made three of my favourite albums from the 80’s.
Minoru: Which one is your favourite?
Mark: It’s close but I think ’Lightning Strikes’ just (‘Lightning Strikes’ was the US remix of ‘Shadows of War’).
Minoru: We’ll definitely play some songs from that album as well.
Mark: That’s made my day. One thing I must ask is what’s your favourite album of that 80’s period looking back at the time just before you left for a while?
Minoru: I think I prefer ’Hurricane Eyes’ because I think I did a pretty good job, my performance is pretty good, and the songs are great and also we had many backup vocals and I think that they sound great.
Mark: You write some wonderful songs and I love your lyrics, what inspires you to write?
Minoru: You know what, I’m inspired by many things, sometimes by newspaper, sometimes by TV, sometimes by my friends, you know. I write the lyrics first in Japanese and then I have a bunch of friends who are vocalists and they help me to rewrite them into English, so I think they did the great job! (laughs).
Mark: (laughs) On your ‘2012’ album which I love and I’ve been playing today, you did a song called ‘The Voice of Metal’ which was about a hero of mine – Ronnie James Dio…
Minoru: Oh OK, OK you know us well!
Mark: (laughs) Thank you. It’s a wonderful song, what did the music of Ronnie mean to you personally?
Minoru: Oh, I have been a big fan of him, he is not just one of the greatest Rock singers, but himself as a human he’s a wonderful person. I met him a couple of times in LA and he was so nice and I was always so impressed by his performances on stage and his attitude on stage and he always sounded so great. I was so shocked when he passed away. It was unbelievable, Dio is God, I was so shocked and so I decided to write something about him on that Loudness album.
Mark: The latest album ‘Rise to Glory’ which came out last year is fantastic as well, you’re a very prolific band, you’ve released so many albums over the years, it seems very natural, are you someone who constantly writes?
Minoru: Well we have a genius guitar player and his name is Akira Takasaki – he cannot stop writing songs! So many songs come from him, he’s got so many ideas, we’ve done so many albums and it’s all because of Akira, you know. He is a genius!
Mark: You spent a period out of the band, what was it like for you when you returned in 2001 for those 20th Anniversary shows?
Minoru: Well in 2001 I got a phone call from Akira who said that he wanted to do something for the 20th Anniversary of Loudness, celebrating it with a tour, and I thought it was a good idea – maybe it was a good time to, you know, reunite the original guys again. So I told him “Let’s do it and we’ll see how things go.” And so we reunited in 2001 and now here we are! (laughs).
Mark: It must have been great but also later sadness?
Minoru: Yes when our drummer passed away that was a big shock (Munetaka Higuchi died in 2008 at just 49 years of age). It was the saddest thing that happened ever in our lives.
Mark: It must be an incredibly sad thing to lose someone you’ve spent so long with.
Minoru: He was a leader of this band, he was deciding everything for us, so we lost the, how do you say, ‘captain’ of the band, we got a shock. I did not think that we would be able to continue the band at that time but we still had to play Rock music in the world, don’t stop, so we decided to continue the band after his death.
Mark: It’s a wonderful tribute to him as well that you’re keeping the music he helped to make alive.
Minoru: And we were also so lucky to meet this great drummer – his name is Masayuki Suzuki, but last year he got sickness you know ‘brain attack’ (In February 2018 drummer Masayuki Suzuki was hospitalized with a mild stroke) but now he’s recovering and getting better every day, but he still cannot play so we have a support drummer for the upcoming tour. His name is Ryuichi Nishida (RA:IN drummer will sit in on this tour) he’s a great drummer too, and we’re so lucky to have him.
Mark: You have a ‘live’ album out soon, but that’s just after this visit to Australia…
Minoru: That was filmed at shows in Tokyo. We toured and at the end of the tour we recorded a full four shows, each one of the shows had a different setlist and recorded them all. And we decided to release those ’live’ CDs. At one of the shows we played most of the songs from our recent album, the second night we played the same set as when we opened for Motley Crue in 1985, so many songs from our ‘Thunder In the East’ album and our earlier albums. On the third night we got a special guest from New York – Riot! And we played mostly songs from our very, very early albums, and people went crazy (laughs) but anyway! And on the fourth night we played with many friends, but no overdubs in the studio, just raw like sushi! It sounds great and that’s what we’ll play for you.
Mark: That sounds great, an album we must go out and buy! For a band that is so huge at home what’s it like to go overseas and play a Festival where maybe less people know your name, or like for the 30th anniversary where you played a US tour at smaller venues than you would in Japan?
Minoru: We love the States, we played about 30 shows in the USA on that tour and even though there’s not so many in the crowd people still went crazy and we had a great time. We met so many fans after shows, it was an incredible tour!
Mark: A few years back now some Australian friends of mine saw you on the ‘Monsters of Rock’ Cruise…
Minoru: Yeah that was unbelievable! They had five or six stages on the boat going till 2 O’clock in the morning, a hundred shows a day – Unbelievable! On the bat you could meet fans, rock stars, it was a great experience that we had!
Mark: It’s a wonderful concept, I went on it a few years ago and had a great time. You end up having breakfast with the guys you see the next night and chatting to the people who have made music that’s brightened your life over the years. I met so many wonderful people, fans and people from bands, and everyone is so friendly!
Minoru: Oh yes! I was having dinner and Graham Bonnet was sitting on our table! He came over to us, and I was a big fan so I was freaking out! Wow there was Graham Bonnet right there, sat with me! And so we talked a little bit and he was a great gentleman.
Mark: It’s so great to hear that you’re very much a fan as well!
Minoru: Oh yes!
Mark: What I have always wanted to ask you is what was it that got you started in music in the first place? When did you know that being a musician would be your life?
Minoru: Welly sister she played Folk songs, she played guitar when I was ten years old and when I was watching her play acoustic guitar I thought that was pretty cool. And then I became a fan of Rock music and then in High school I met a guy who was Shinichiro (Shara) Ishihara and we formed the band ‘Earthshaker’ and he wanted to become a professional player. He told me “Let’s get together”, I didn’t know I wanted to be a professional musician, you know, I wanted to be a teacher or doctor or something like that but I decided I wanted to be a musician for his side project when I was 21 and now here I am!
Mark: That’s a great story and it could have ended up so much differently.
Minoru: You never know what’s going to happen! But I was so lucky to meet Akira because he’s one of the greatest guitar players in the world, you know, and to sing for him! He picked me up for his project in 1981.
Mark: It’s fantastic and so much great music has come from that over the years. What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt from music so far?
Minoru: When I was making music in 1987 I was unable to speak English and it was such a hard time (laughs) but I was a perfectionist and the lesson was “Don’t give up!” and I never gave up to singing in English and finally we made it. So once you believe something, don’t stop, don’t quit! That’s what I learnt from music.
Mark: It’s almost the end of our time now, we ask everyone these last two questions – the first is if you could have been a ‘fly on the wall’ for the recording studio to witness the creation of any great album, just to see how the magic happened, what would that album be for you? What would you like to have seen being made?
Minoru: I would have loved to have been there to have seen when The Beatles recorded ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ – I’m a big fan of The Beatles, I grew up with that kind of music when I was a kid.
Mark: So many musicians from all over the world love that album and if we had a poll over the ten years of The Rockpit that would be the top pick, I often wonder what music would be like without that band. What is it about The Beatles do you think that inspires so many?
Minoru: Their songs, their harmonies, their melodies. I don’t know about the lyrics but everything is so great, I can’t really describe, but it just makes me feel great!
Mark: And that’s just what music should do isn’t it?
Minoru: Yeah, yeah when you hear songs like that and Paul McCartney singing and John Lennon singing, it’s wonderful.
Mark: It is! Just to bring us right up to date let’s find out about right now – what was the last album you listened to?
Minoru: Just two hours ago I was listening to Jazz, Keith Jarrett, you know the pianist, I was listening to live, the Journey (home) that’s my favourite album.
Mark: Wow, I didn’t expect that. The last question is the easiest one – what is the meaning of life?
Minoru: What is the meaning of life? OK! (laughs) live! It’s a good question, I could answer it in Japanese! (laughs) just live! Let it go! Just don’t give up! I could answer it in Japanese!
Mark: Please do I have a friend that speaks Japanese!
Minoru: (bad translation follows) My parents gave me this life, and I should be thankful for this life. I have kids and I have a wife, so life is wonderful, you know. As long as you live you can be happy. Just be happy.
Mark: That’s a wonderful answer, I love that. Thank you and thank you so much for taking the time to speak to us today Minoru.
Minoru: Thank you so much!
Mark: It’s been wonderful, I’ve really enjoyed it.
Minoru: Please come down and see our show, we’ll be there in ten days or something like that, so let’s meet up and then let’s go ‘crazy night’!
Mark: (laughs) that sounds almost as unmissable as the show! Thank you so much, take care!
Minoru: Bye!
LOUDNESS May 2019 Australian Tour Dates:
Thursday 9th May – Melbourne / Max Watts
Friday 10th May – Sydney / Crow Bar
Saturday 11th May – Brisbane / Woolly Mammoth
Get your tickets from: http://www.silverbacktouring.com/
