MUCC appeared on the Music TV show ‘Music Fighter’ to talk about their past and their recent activities when they were releasing 「アゲハ」, and as I found it a lot of fun and informative for fans I translated it =)
MUCC as members themselves are incredibly funny and witty, however, it also means that I’ve had to add a lot of notes in small-print in order to explain their jokes! I hope you won’t find my annotations too annoying…

Here, they talk about everything from their childhood when they formed silly gangs, their love of soccer, how they never paid their apartment rent and hairdressers.

Enjoy!

[1 of the Presenters on this show is 'Sayaka Aoiki', and as there as specific notes to Aoiki herself I have named her in the interview but kept to "Presenter 1 & 2"  for the other presenters (the Comedian unit 'King Kong') to save confusion]

Presenter 1: Please welcome today’s guests; MUCC!
Presenter 2: The first time we met was quite a while ago, wasn’t it? I was scared of you at first! But now we’ve become acquaintances, haven’t we? (laughter)
Presenter 1: It’s your first time meeting MUCC, isn’t it, Aoiki?
Aoiki: Yes, it’s my first time meeting you, *neeeee? (gets thwacked on the head)
[*Here, Aoiki holds onto the "ne" unnecessarily, in a comically annoying way, and gets hit on the head by the other presenter - a common scene in Japanese comedy. "ne" in this sense means "didn't we?" or " right?"]
Tatsurou: Oh no, we sort of met at the Budoukan -
Aoiki: Ah! At the *L’arc en ciel gig!
[*Aoiki made an appearance in a gig with L'arc en ciel, which MUCC also appeared in]
Tatsurou: But only from far away. We sort of hid away and thought, “She’s so pretty” (laughter)
Presenter 1: “Pretty”?! Did you all think that? (MUCC members nod)
Aoiki: Wow, (in a sincere voice) thank you very much (bows) (laughter)
Presenter 1: Now let’s watch, a VTR of “getting to know MUCC in 3 minutes”!

[VTR] In August 2008, at a gig in Germany, there was a Japanese band which caused much excitement for the fans there – Vocalist; Tatsurou, Guitarist; Miya, Bassist; Yukke, Drummer: Satochi – the 4 together are the band, MUCC! Formed in Mito in 1997, the band made their major debut in 2003. These days, they have even had their own one-man gig at the Nihon Budoukan stage, and have gained popularity through their uniqueness and talent, and are into their 11th year making music together.
3 years ago, MUCC took the offer of performing in Germany. This was their first gig abroad which proved to be a great success, and so they went on to perform in other countries in America, Europe and Asia.
Although they continued to be sucessful in gigs abroad, something terrible happened during their tour in America! What happened?!

Miya: What happened was, the small amount of instruments that we had bought with us, were sent straight back to Japan.
Presenter 1: What?!
Miya: It caused a lot of trouble…
Presenter 1: It would mean that the only thing you could do is talk [at your gigs because you don't have instruments]! (laughter)

[VTR] MUCC, a Japanese band who have begun to have a small number of gigs abroad, have a motto that they live by, “To go with the flow”. From the beginning, just by going with the flow of things that came upon them, MUCC have made many achievements.
The members of MUCC met at Gig events for amateur bands in their local town, Mito. Satochi and Miya were currently in different bands, whilst Tatsurou often came to watch them play. In 1997, the new band ‘MUCC’ was born. When the word ‘”mucc [mukku]” comes to mind, most people would probably think of *Gachapin and Mukku. Surely this has nothing to do with origins of the band’s name though, right…?!
[*These are the names of characters/mascots used for a children's program in the 70's to the 90's in Japan called 'Hirake! Ponkikki'. See more info at the Japanese site here]

[Text on screen] Does your band name come from the character ‘Mukku’ from ‘Gachapin and Mukku’?
Tatsurou: It’s well, from “Mukku”.
Presenter 1: Which “Mukku”?
Tatsurou: The furry one [from 'Gachapin & Mukku']
Presenter 1: It actually is?! (laughter) Were you fans of him [Mukku] or something?
Tatsurou: We thought it’d be pretty cool [to name ourselves "Mukku"]. After saying “Mukku” [to ourselves] a couple of times, it started to sound pretty good.
Presenter 1: Ah, well it’s definitely memorable!

[VTR] After coming together, MUCC had their first gig at a music store on the lowest ground of ‘Marui’ [a chain department store in Japan]. At this gig, Tatsurou, who was 17 at the time, does something incredibly embarassing due to his nerves! What did he do?

Tatsurou: I basically ripped off [copied] the MC [talk that bands do on stage between songs] that LUNA SEA did at one of their gigs at the Tokyo Dome.
Presenter 1: You can’t do that!
Tatsurou: I ripped off from them with much gratitude. (laughter)
Presenter 1: It doesn’t make a difference how you phrase it!

[VTR] Their first gig proved much success, however, their second gig didn’t turn out as good, as well as their bassist deciding to leave the band. It was here, that Yukke, Miya’s long term friend from Primary [Elementary] school joined as the new bassist. It also marked the time when MUCC began following their motto of “to go with the flow”. Why was this?

Satochi: Well, see, we didn’t know or see of any other bassist, so we kinda thought, “Ah well, we might as well let Yukke join”.
Presenter 1: Yukke, I bet knowing that doesn’t exactly make you feel great, does it?
Yukke: Nah. It was just like, “Let’s go with me, then”. (laughter)

[VTR] And so, with the new addition of Yukke, the 4 of them continued their music within the Indies genre. On 21st May 2003, they made their major debut with the album ‘Ware, arubeki basho de’. How did this come about?

Yukke: Our major debut – it wasn’t like we said “We will make our major debut on such and such a date”, it was like *we slipped and “Ah, look! We made our major debut!” (laughter)
[*The Japanese that Yukke used here is very hard to translate into English, so I apologise for the strange sentence]

[VTR] MUCC, the band who was born by “going with the flow”, have made it to this day by continuing to “go with the flow”. This year, they have toured around North America by doing 46 gigs, and continue to conquer other stages in a variety of countries. They are a band that have gained a lot of interest and fans from around the world. Let’s see what they have in store for us!

Presenter 1: So, first off – who knows who [from the past], again?
Miya: First, Yukke and I know each other from Primary [elementary] school, and these two [gestures to Tatsurou and Satochi] know each other from College [High school].
Tatsurou: Saotchi went to a different Secondary [Junior High] school, and was good friends with my friends from my school, and although we weren’t actually friends then, because we went the same way home, by bicycle, he was well….there. (laughter) Satochi was good friends with more “bad” people -
Presenter 1: Oh, really? At the time – ?
Satochi: But please, listen to what I have to say! Tatusrou’s Secondary [Junior High] school was terrifying!!
Tatsurou: We were the school with the toughest [scariest] gang in Mito. But there was only 5 of them in the gang.
Presenter 1: The 5 of them made the toughest gang in Mito?!
Tatsurou: But see, those 5 made the *’Ginyū Tokusentai gun’. (laughter)
[*This is a reference to a group of characters from the Anime, 'Dragon Ball', translated as the "Ginyū Force". They were known as the "strongest individuals in the universe". See more info here]
Satochi: And he [Tatsurou] went to that Secondary school, right?
Presenter 1: The school with Ginyū Tokusentai gun, yeah?
Satochi: So I didn’t like him. (laughter)
Presenter 1: Yukke and Miya, what were your first impressions of each other?
Miya: We went to the same Primary school, but it was when we were in Year 5 [5th grade] that we were put into the same class. Until then, we didn’t really know each other.
Presenter 1: You just knew each other existed, yeah?
Yukke: I have this memory, when we were in Year 5… It was during break [recess], and we were running around yelling, being like little kids, right? Then suddenly Miya appears and says, “Oi. Oi, you lot. That’s dangerous.” (laughter)
Presenter 1: You were like an old man!
Yukke: It wasn’t like Ginyū Tokusentai, but there was this sort of “bad” group in our Primary school as well. Miya had put together an ‘army of forces’. (laughter)
Presenter 1: “An army of forces”?!
Yukke: They were called the “Guccha Armed Forces”.
Tatsurou: It was mainly him [Miya], cause his nickname was “Gucchan”.
Yukke: And the group I put together was called, *”Spies are Spicey”.
[*Technically the literal translation of his group name is: spies are sour, which are "Supai wa suppai" in Japanese]
Presenter 1: Erm, excuse me, could you fill us in with more detail on “Spies are Spicey”? (laughter)
Yukke: The Gucchan Armed Forces were the sort of naughty group, and we thought they were really cool. Spies are Spicey were the group of admirers of Gucchan Armed Forces that weren’t naughty at all [the losers group]. I admired Gucchan Armed Forces so much that I even stole and read their “club notebook”…
Presenter 1: You really were spies!
Yukke: We were losers.
Aoiki: This has nothing to do with what we’re talking about, but the picture on Yukke’s shirt looks just like him, don’t you think? (laughter)
[Yukke is wearing a black shirt with a cloud with eyes, sticking its tongue out on the side pocket]
Yukke: (tugs at his shirt) This?
Aoiki: Yeah, because of its [and your] folded [droopy] eyelids, it’s cute.
Yukke: (bows shyly) Thank you very much. (laughter)
Presenter 2: What are you talking about?!
Aoiki: Oh, I’m sorry! [for being random]

Presenter 1: Anyway, the main way you got to know each other was through gigs, yes?
Tatsurou: Satochi had been doing bands and gigs for a while, and I wanted to be in a band too. Then this one time, the band our old bassist was in didn’t have a vocalist and had a gig to do, so they asked me to help out and sing. I was like, “YES YES YES!” So I sang for them, and at that gig I met Miya because he was in another band that was playing.
Presenter 1: And that’s how you all got together?
Tatsurou: Actually, at first, Satochi was only a support member.
Presenter 2: He wasn’t a band member then?
Satochi: Yeah.
Tatsurou: He said that of all the bands that he’d played for and of all the gigs he’d done, his first gig with MUCC was the best gig ever. He said that if the gigs were going to be this much fun, he’d want to be a proper member of the band. Yet the second gig we did with Satochi as a new member turned out awful (laughter)
Miya: Hardly anyone came to see us -
Tatsurou: – we were getting no response…
Presenter 1: But in the video clip we just saw of your first gig, it looked like things went great!
Tatsurou: It did, and we thought “Awesome! This is going fantastically!” but our second gig was pathetic.
Satochi: (folds arms and pretends to look smug) I was so disappointed.
Tatsurou: At the time, the song ‘Believe’ by SOPHIA was really popular, so we decided to do it at our gig. But as soon as I said, “Our next song is ‘Believe’”, someone at the back of the audience yelled, “Please, no!” (laughter)
Presenter 1: What about Yukke? At this gig were you still – ?
Yukke: I’m still not part of the band yet, yeah.
Presenter 1: You heard about their second gig being a disaster -?
Yukke: I didn’t know of their second gig. You know the clip of their first gig we just watched? The guy behind the camera is me.
Presenter 1: Really?!
Yukke: Yeah, I even did the lighting -
Presenter 1: You did both?! Isn’t that difficult?
Presenter 2: Something only a “Spicey Spy” could do! (laughter)
Yukke: (turns away in embarrassment)

Presenter 1: [to Yukke] What was your reason for joining MUCC?
Yukke: During my whole *3 years of College, I’d never been in a band. I’d always be sitting in a dark room, playing songs by ‘JUDY and MARY’ [on my bass], but I really wanted to be in one [a band]. And it just so happened that my friends [the rest of MUCC] were doing a band, so.
[*In the Japanese school system, College or High school, known as 'koukou', is for 3 years from the ages of 17 to 19]
Aoiki: You wanted to join them [MUCC] the whole time, then?
Yukke: I did.
Presenter 1: How was it when they asked you [to be a member]?
Yukke: I actually thought they might eventually ask me! I heard that the previous bassist was leaving, so deep down I was hoping they’d ask me.
Presenter 1: When you heard that the bassist was leaving, what did you think?
Yukke: “HELL YES!” I’d been practising for a long time, so I knew I was better than him.
Miya: He never showed it [that he wanted to join], though.
Aoiki: Why?
Yukke: I never said anything [to the other members]. But I told my mum straight away.
Presenter 2: We don’t know your mum! (laughter)

Presenter 1: Did you struggle [in terms of finances]?
Aoiki: If you were only doing a band…
Tatsurou: Before we headed out to Tokyo, I’d been going to a hairdressing school.
Presenter 2: Did you want to be a hairdresser then?
Tatsurou: My whole family are hairdressers.
Presenter 2: Really?
Presenter 1: I bet you have a load of scissors [in your home]! (laughter)
Tatsurou: That’s why I’ve never had to pay to have my hair cut.
Aoiki: I bet when you’re on TV, they [your family] make comments on your hair, don’t they?
Tatsurou: Such as? (looks inquiringly at Aoiki)
Aoiki: (pauses) Sorry, I’ll call again [when you're in a better mood]. (laughter)
Presenter 1: Was there anything that surprised you when you came to Tokyo?
Miya: I took a part time job as soon as I moved – Satochi did too. We got jobs in *Kabukichou.
[*Kabkuchiou is the main, underground nightlife of Tokyo, where there are many host and hostess bars]
Presenter 1: Woah, in Kabukichou already?
Miya: We walked about in the streets handing out leaflets and encouraged customers to come to a kareoke bar.
Presenter 1: But because it was in Kabukichou, didn’t you get caught up in anything a bit dangerous?
Miya: (laughs) There was this one time -
Presenter 1: You’re talking about it as though it was funny!
Miya: No, no, ur, something happened where Satochi got angry. He punched our rival kareoke bar’s manager.
Presenter 1: You can’t do that!
Satochi: There was this *gyouza restaurant, and mostly big groups of people leave and come out of it. It was our job to approach those groups of people [and make them come to our kareoke bar]. And when you approach someone, there’s this agreement where you can’t cross the line too much, right? And that guy basically crossed it [to get more customers].
[*"gyouza" is originally a Chinese dish of meat dumplings, but Japan has its own version]
Aoiki: “That guy”, as in the manager of your rival kareoke bar?
Satochi: No, it wasn’t the manager, it was another part-time worker.
Aoiki: Make the subject of your sentences clear!!
Satochi: I find marking the subjects of my sentences difficult!!
Presenter 1: So anyway, he crossed the line – ?
Satochi: He kept taking all the customers -
Presenter 1: – of the Gyouza restaurant, yeah?
Satochi: – and I was getting told off constantly [by my manager because I kept losing the customers]. Probably because of that I *just exploded.
[*in the clip, Satochi pretends to make 2 devil horns above his head with his fingers, a sign often used in Japan to represent "anger", taken from the Japanese mythological creature the "oni"]
Presenter 1: I like the way you expressed your anger as in a “devil”! And then you went for them [part time workers]?
Satochi: (does punching gestures) Things were getting out of hand and then the manager appeared -
Miya: – he’d jumped in to stop the fight, and because of that Satochi accidently hit him.
Presenter 2: You didn’t actually go to punch the manager; it was accident?
Satochi: That’s right.
Presenter 1: That’s scary.
Satochi: (in a pretend whiney voice) People always say that I don’t mark the subjects of my sentences properly.
Presenter 1: That again?! (laughter)
Satochi: I guess people get confused. I don’t get confused though. (laughter)

Presenter 1: Now, Yukke – what sort of part time job did you do?
Yukke: I had a job before we moved to Tokyo, but I couldn’t find a job when I got here.
Aoiki: You didn’t pass the interviews for the jobs?
Presenter 1: Doesn’t that mean you couldn’t make a living?
Yukke: (in small voice, looking down) It was tough, but I tried hard in a lot of ways and… (laughter)
Presenter 1: By “trying hard in a lot ways” you managed to survive?
Yukke: (nods)
Presenter 1: Don’t forget that “trying hard” spirit even now, yeah? (laughter) How ridiculous! You’re all ridiculous!
Tatsurou: Seriously, this guy (points to Yukke) wasn’t paying his rent!
Presenter 1: EH? How – what – ?!
Yukke: Well… Normally, there’s a renewal fee every 2 years, right? And because no one contacted me to ask if I wanted to renew [continue staying in the apartment], I thought I might be able to get away with not paying the rent.
Presenter 1: No way?! That can’t be done!
Yukke: I actually did [get away with it]. I managed to live there for another year. And in my 3rd year [living there], I got a phonecall saying I owed them a lot of money. I thought, “Why ask me now?” (laughter) But I did pay it all back in the end! And I was like, “I’m never living here ever again” and left.
Presenter 1: You make it sound as if the landowners were the bad guys!

Presenter 1: Now, you’ve done many gigs abroad; did you get into any sticky situations?
Miya: When we went to Shanghai – there’s one hour difference [between Shanghai and Japan], and I forgot to change the time on my watch, meaning that I arrived at where we were meant to meet an hour earlier, and of course, there was no one there. I’m often late, so I thought they’d gone without me, and that this was them telling me to go to the hall [where we were having our gig] by myself. I didn’t really think too much about it, and thought I could walk to the hall from the hotel. After walking for about 10 minutes, it suddenly came to my mind that “Ah…I’m in China. I can’t speak Chinese.” I didn’t even have a mobile [cellular] phone. I decided to catch a taxi [cab] as I knew the name of the hall, but I didn’t know how to pronounce it. I got in a taxi, and the name of the hall was written in *kanji as “Shin ten ji”, and though I said “Shin ten ji”, the driver had no idea.
[*kanji are Chinese characters that the Japanese language also uses, but the pronunciation and sometimes the meanings are different to Chinese]
Presenter 2: Maybe it was something like, (in Chinese accent) “Suin tein chi”.
Miya: I actually did try saying it like that!
Aoiki: I think it’s close though! I think they’d pronounce it as, “Shin Tein Dei”.
Presenter 2: (to Miya) What did you say?
Miya: (in Chinese accent) “Sen Ten Chi”. (laughter)

[VTR] MUCC have many things they want to achieve this year, and the 2 members who are going to tell us about what they want to do are; Yukke and Satochi!

Presenter 1:Yukke, your answer first -
[Text on screen]“I’d like to be able to play football [soccer] whenever I like.”
Presenter 2: How old are you again?! It sounds like something a Primary school kid would say!
Yukke: I really do, though! I’m putting together a football team, and we always practice in the same grounds [pitches]. But those grounds are always full with reservations until 5pm because other players want to use it. From 5pm, we’re always trying to get the grounds before other Primary and Secondary school kids’ soccer teams do.
Presenter 2: Can’t you find some other grounds?
Yukke: But there aren’t many good pitches around, and so what I mean is I’d like to be able to have our own football ground.
Presenter 2: Does this mean you’d want to buy it [the grounds]?
Yukke: Buy it? (looks shocked)
Presenter 1: But you want to play footballv [whenever you like], don’t you?
Yukke: (instantly) I do.

Presenter 1: Now, for Satochi -
[Text on screen]“I want to fly by business class.”
Miya: You know there’s that “Economy blah blah” thing -
Presenter 1: You mean *”Economy class syndrome”?
Miya: Yeah, that. I don’t really understand it.
Presenter 1: It’s so tiring trying to have a conversation with MUCC! (laughter)
[*This is also known as "Traveller's thrombosis", and occurs to people who travel long distances in planes. See more info here]

Presenter 1: Finally, you have a new single coming out; what’s the title?
Tatsurou: “Ageha”.

[VTR] This new song “Ageha” by MUCC has been produced by the guitarist Ken of L’arc en ciel. This song was also composed during their tour abroad.

Tatsurou: We composed this song during our tour in America. It’s a really good song, it’s super “metal”.
Presenter 1: What are your plans for the future?
Miya: In March next year, we’ll be doing a performance at the Nihon Budoukan.
Tatsurou: The thing is, nothing official has been settled yet. (laughter)
Presenter 1: Are you alright saying it (on TV)?!
Miya: Ur, I think I made a mistake!

Source: Music Fighter TV, Youtube

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