For our very first interview as Saetori we contacted one of my all time favorite bands to see if there was a possibility to sit down with them for the interview when they were playing in Amsterdam on the 12th of June 2018. We got to sit down with Crossfaith from Japan; they are known for their fusion of metal and hardcore with dubstep and others forms of electronic music, starting in Osaka in 2008 and playing Summer Sonic in 2011 before embarking on European and American tours, playing Warped tour for three years in a row, you could say they’re quite the superstars these days. We met with Ken (the vocalist) and Hiro (the bassist) because they usually do all press related stuff and because this was the first date of the tour and Kazu, Teru and Tatsuya had to help set up their equipment.
The reason for me to love these guys so much is because, not only is their music the most amazing thing, they have an energy on stage like not many other artists I’ve seen. All five of them go absolutely crazy and know just how to hype people up and get everyone to join their moshpits and wall of death.
What inspired you to become an artist and form Crossfaith.
Ken: Me, Teru and Kaz went to the same elementary school and we go way back (over twenty years). I went to Karaoke with Teru and one of my friends and I sung Aerosmith. And Teru was so surprised I sung in english and told us “We should start a band!” and he got his first acoustic guitar from his uncle and that was our starting point to start. And then we made the band when I was junior high student but we broke up when we we’re in high school.
Then I met Tatsuya in high school, I found him and he drums super hard, so we invited him to join our band and that was the first real starting point in Crossfaith. And then we met Hiro.
Hiro: Yeah I met Crossfaith in 2008, in my hometown and now we’re here and we’ve just had our tenth anniversary.
Besides Aerosmith what were your favorite artists that inspired you?
Ken: When we were kids, Slipknot, Blink 182, Prodigy, Limp Bizkit.
How did you come up with the name Crossfaith?
Ken: Each member has their own faith, and those faiths cross!
What are your future goals as Crossfaith? Or as a solo artist.
Hiro: If he says he wants to go solo.. it will be really awkward.
Ken wanted to be as someone but there was a noise in the background and I can’t decipher what he says.
Hiro: As a band we want to keep touring and keep making good music! tour, making records, tour, making records and if we can keep continuing this it’s a good thing.
Ten years ago we were only doing the band. Now 10 years later we all have our own jobs besides the band but we’ll see what we can do but our biggest goal is the band,
So talking about your own jobs; Hiroki is known as a metal ninja but what superpowers do the other have or want to have?
Ken: I want to be invisible… to see boobs…………
So Hiroki, besides eating wasabi what would you have as a super power?
Hiro: (he snorted at me) what else…Time Travel.
Ken: go to past or future?
Hiro: Past..
Do you still get nervous before shows and what do you do to relax or get pumped?
Ken: Drinking beer.. and vocal warm ups for me.
Hiro: I do get nervous but it’s good nervous. it makes me more concentrated for the show. Thinking about how play.. and drink a little bit of whiskey.
Besides Jäger, Jameson, Jack Daniels and beer. What is your favorite go to poison?
Ken: Favorite poison? Vodka.. it’s kind of easy for me to drink but I love Sake aswell and Japanese SoJu.
Hiro: Jameson.
We brought you a poison from The Netherlands, Drop shot. Let’s do a shot together.
Ken: WHAT is that… Drop Shot?
It’s a dutch drink with licorice. It’s typically dutch!
Ken: Some drugs inside?
No.. it’s just alcohol, if you want we can try one.
Ken: NOW? yeah!
All: Kanpai!
Ken: I hate this… sorry
Hiro: It tastes good!
We gave them a couple to share with their friends
We saw you post on social media about doing a new record, when can we expect it?
Ken: Yes! we just released a new single THE PERFECT NIGHTMARE and our new album will drop in August.
After this tour you’re doing a couple of festivals, with Warped tour in your past. Would you say you prefer festivals over venue shows?
Ken: at the festival there’s so many people who don’t know about us, so it’s a great opportunity to spread out our music and with a venue is more for people who love just rock music. So a festival it’s more casual and the venue is for fans who come just for us.
Hiro: I feel like here and in the states shows are more casual. And for me the festival it’s with a lot of my friends who are in a band so that’s really fun because we party. In a venue we can see the city and where we play so it’s more relaxed and really cool.
This tour you’re not doing a headlining show in The Netherlands, Will you be coming back as a headlining act this year or the next? We’re kind of bummed.
Ken: I’m so sorry! yes, definitely. The Netherlands is one of my favorite countries because the scenery is really beautiful and there’s so many different cultures. We’d love to!
What’s your favorite dutch food? If you’ve tried any?
Ken: What is a dutch food?
We discussed Herring for about 4 minutes but they hadn’t tried it.
Who do you hope to ever collaborate with? Dead or Alive.
Ken: Collaborate? ..that’s a lot…we’ve been collaborating with so many artists. a female singer….. Christina Aquilera.
Are you going to party with people tonight?
Ken and Hiro: Oh yes we are! We love playing tonight and we’re super excited!
After this we had to cut the interview because they had to go do their sound check. We want to say thank you for CROSSFAITH for having us and speaking to us. It was a good start for us to dream bigger and I want to thank Miriam for being there with me!
