Yohei took a liking to an arpeggio that I happened to be playing on my guitar, so we took a break during our recording session and wrote that song on acoustic guitars up on the roof. Masaki Shirai (Guitar): Our song “Arpeggio” that’s being used as the theme song for the new video game Project Judge was made on the rooftop of the Brooklyn studio. We lived there for a total of about six months, so by the end we got fully recharged and really wanted to get back to doing live shows, which led to our stadium concert this summer.
ALEXANDROS NEW WALL FREE
We didn’t play any solo headliners since last December, and while we were in New York, we were at the studio but also had periods of free time to do whatever we wanted so as not to overwork ourselves. Hiroyuki Isobe (Bass): We were really active under the radar, but outwardly it was exactly as Yohei said. To set aside thoughts like, “It doesn’t fit into this album,” or “It doesn’t match the band’s style.” But a creative approach like that takes time, so in an odd way, these past two years have been sort of a recharging period for ALEXANDROS because our strength lies in our live performances. And to make that happen, we decided to finish every song that got started. That was the first goal we set when we began working on this project. For example, even if the song didn’t sound “like us,” or if there wasn’t a good balance between ballads and up-tempo numbers, we’d still put it on the album if it was good.
Of course, it’s something we’ve always been aware of, but we tried to be more faithful to that concept. Kawakami: This might sound weird, but we put thought into putting “good songs” on it. So we tend to have lots of arrangements that are analogous to gymnastic formations, where it’s like, “You guys are playing in unison there?” It’s really satisfying to create moments like when the Power Rangers combine their strengths. What’s important, then, isn’t showing off technique, but to give audiences that exhilarating sensation when the four of us layer sounds at the exact right timing. Kawakami: We’re not the kind of band that incorporates state-of-the-art technology into our shows to give people experiences they’ve never seen before, so we thought it would be best to pursue something only we can provide. The stage production wasn’t too elaborate and instead highlighted the actual performance taking place onstage, which really brought out the unadorned appeal of the band. We wanted to show how we’ve changed while also showing aspects which have remained the same. People are welcome to say, “ALEXANDROS has changed,” and we do try different things with each record, but we wanted to tell people that we’re still the same act.
Some might want to separate our past work as the “Champagne Era” and the “ALEXANDROS Era,” but our perception is that we’ve been tracing a single line and our name just happened to change one day. There might even be those who don’t know we went by a different name (the band debuted as and changed its name in 2014), so we made a video introducing the band’s history because we wanted everyone there to know who we are as a band from our early days up to now. I think a huge venue like that is the perfect place to bring together on equal ground our old fans and the people who recently discovered us from one of our newer songs. Yohei Kawakami: It’s been eight years since our debut, so we figured we could use the opportunity to look back on a lot of things. How do you feel looking back on it? You guys obviously put a lot of thought into the overall flow, building a set list that traced your career from the beginning while also including new numbers and songs with the most fan votes. 16 at the ZOZO Marine Stadium in Chiba, Japan, was your biggest solo headlining concert yet. They spoke with Billboard Japan about the process of recording their new album, some of their recent shows and the importance of the live experience:
The band has been steadily spreading its fanbase outside of the country, performing at festivals including South by Southwest and headlining solo concerts in Asia, most recently a show in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in September. They slayed a crowd of 35,000 this summer with their kinetic, engaging live performance at a headlining stadium show. In Japan, the rockers are billed as headliners of major music festivals and pack big venues. 2 while their latest album, EXIST!, reached No. On Billboard Japan’s Hot Albums chart, ALEXANDROS’s fifth set, ALXD, peaked at No.
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