“Slow Motion Replay: The Siren of Now, and Beyond”- An Interview with MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS
A measured, distinct, drastic change within my life sparked when I discovered MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS. A sound so rapturous, yet soothing, overwhelmed me with its sincerity at a time when I needed sincerity most. It did more than just broaden my horizons: it helped me define the boundless capacity music has to inspire and comfort me, a metric that has helped me make clarity of even the most uncertain times of my life.
Spring 2018 was when I first heard their music. In that moment, their sound struck me with a thunder that set firm the trajectory of my journey with music, the echoes of which continue to reverberate within my life to this very day. Every moment of happiness, amazement, and inspiration I experience in response to music can be traced back to the joy of discovering and listening to them!
The discography of MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS is not just a sequence of music releases, but the history of a relentless emotional force of nature helmed by Natsuko Miyamoto, Naoya Ogura, and Isao Yoshino, driven by their unified artistic vision to actualise the synchronicity of their harmony into sound. It is a spirit that remains unchanged throughout the evolution of the band’s sonic expression, having captivated me as much as it’s taught me.
With all that I’ve been taught through their music, I’ve wanted to learn more about the band themselves for such a long time! This interview is incredibly dear to me as an opportunity to have learnt more about the people who have impacted me so positively, which I am so grateful to have experienced and now share!
An Interview with MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS
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Mustafa: “Hello Mass of the Fermenting Dregs! It’s really amazing to meet you!! The first question I really wanted to ask you was about the new album ‘Awakening:Sleeping’! I’m very curious about how the album was made, because this is the second album you’ve released since the band’s recommencement of activities. How was ‘Awakening:Sleeping’ formed, in terms of your own process of creating music?”
Natsuko: “Hello!!
Usually, we don’t put an album together with a specific concept in mind: we go along with the songs we’ve already prepared. For this album, at first it was intended to be released in time for our ArcTangent festival performance in 2020, but the festival was postponed twice due to the pandemic, so the album unintentionally drifted away from this time schedule.
The way we create music also changed. I live in Kobe while Isao and Naoya live in Tokyo so, due to Covid, we couldn’t meet up in person to write or practice together. As a result: the song writing process changed, and we ended up with a new sound for this album, due to that situation.”
A warm atmosphere is instantly instilled the moment the interview starts: visible happiness is expressed by the band from start to finish, reciprocating the obvious excitement I was unable to hide as I began to present the outpour of questions I’d accumulated over 5 years.
Mustafa: “One song from the new album, ‘Birds and Rhythm’, had its lyrics written a long time ago, as there is a video on YouTube from 2013 of Natsuko performing the song during the band’s pause. This is my favourite song from ‘Awakening:Sleeping’, so I’m interested in what made you want to include it on this album?”
Natsuko: “I’m really happy that you found the original YouTube video of the song! (Laughs). The song is actually even older, as I’d written it before the band’s pause!”Isao: “I knew of the song before the pause, and I really liked it, even though we didn’t get around to recording it. After the pause, when Naoya joined, we all felt that the sound the band now has with Naoya on guitar actually suited the song really well!”
Releasing on August 17th last year, only 2 weeks after it’s official announcement on August 1st, ‘Awakening:Sleeping’ was a powerful reminder and development of how important MOTFD has been to me since I discovered them. Through the various transitions between paces and atmospheres of the album’s songs, the DNA of MOTFD was all too apparent even upon the first listen.
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Mustafa: “The history of MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS is very interesting to me, particularly the recommencement of activity after the 3 year pause. There was a short period of time after the recommencement, from 2015-2017, when you played together as a band for live shows but hadn’t released any new music yet. I really want to know about what that time period was like: what was the reception from fans like, and what was it like to be working together as a band? What were your hopes and ideas for No New World (the first album released after the recommencement, in 2018)?
Natsuko: “When the pause in activity began, I did try to continue with Masudore, as Naoya was still helping me during the pause with solo material, but it didn’t work out. As a result, I performed as a solo musician to challenge myself to do things I hadn’t done before.
After the recommencement of activity, I also found out that there were many fans who had been waiting for Masudore to return the entire time, which was really nice!!”
Isao: “After the recommencement we planned a one man show at Shindaita FEVER, but I was a little worried that the tickets might not sell well. They actually ended up selling out in just an hour or two which gave me confidence, and it felt like it was right to reunite as MOTFD! I knew Naoya from before the pause as we’d played together a few times, so when Masudore reunited I was really happy that he had joined the band!
It was fun and exciting to play live together after so long, and ‘Slow Motion Replay’ was recorded during this time. This was our first experience of recording a song together after the band’s recommencement, which felt so new to me. We continued to write songs and perform them at these early live performances, and we recorded the songs once we’d honed them to a level we were happy with. This is how ‘No New World’ was created: it was a period of time when we were writing songs for live shows which we were intending to include on an eventual album release.”
Natsuko: “No New World is packed with the joy of reuniting as a band!”
Mustafa: “I discovered MOTFD just before ‘No New World’ was announced, so when I discovered that new music was being released after the pause in activity I was really, really happy! I also read online that the artist for your album covers, AI Kozaki, was the one who helped make the band’s recommencement happen because she stated she wanted the band to continue, so I’m very grateful to her in particular for helping bring Mass of the Fermenting Dregs back together. I have a few questions about her work later on!”
“How did you come across MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS?”, Isao asked, in response to my reminiscence of the announcement of ‘No New World’.
I’d discussed this earlier with Ogushi, my friend and interpreter for the interview, and our stories were very similar: a friend had recommended ‘World is Yours’ to me, and the immediate impression of the album’s cover and sound just blew my mind: I loved it so, so much! I went on to specify how I still remember, to this day, listening to the song ‘Kakuiumono’ and hearing Natsuko sing the “Aaaaa ee-ya-ee-ya-ee-yaaa” melody towards the end, which immediately confirmed to me that it was going to be one of my favourite albums!
“My overall favourite song from ‘World is Yours’ remains ‘She is Inside, He is Outside’ due to its memorable guitar solo, simple lyrics, and perfect expression of chaos! On that day, I knew MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS was going to be one of my favourite bands!”
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Mustafa: “We’ve spoken a little bit about the recommencement, but I’d like to ask about the era just before, during the band’s pause.
The last song you released just before the pause was ‘TanTanTan’, which I only heard for the first time after the recommencement had already happened. I was captivated by the song because at the time of its release in 2012 it seemed to be the last ever MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS song, yet I was able to listen to it with the knowledge that the band would eventually resume. It stands out to me because I perceive such palpable sadness in its sound, so I was wondering about what the song means to the band now, compared to before.”Natsuko: “TanTanTan was actually written before the band went on pause, so when it was written the band was still planning on being active. The recording of the song that was eventually released is the pre-production version, and was arranged by Naoya. The way the band operates now is Isao does all the arrangements for the drums, Naoya does the arrangements for the guitars, and I focus on overall songs and the singing. But before, with the previous guitar player Chiemi, the balance was different. I adore Chiemi’s musical tastes, but her style wasn’t really what I wanted to use for the song. TanTanTan couldn’t be put together properly with the band before, so the song ended up foreshadowing the future of the band. It wasn’t meant to end up being the last song of Masudore, but during the pause it ended up coming across that way.
It was in the middle of pre-production and the costs for it were paid by the recording company, so Masudore actually didn’t have the rights to the song in that state, but after the pause was decided I went to the recording company and asked if it was okay to release the pre-production version of TanTanTan, and the recording company was okay with that, which is how it ended up being released. I’m really moved that, without knowing the backstory, you heard the song with that sentiment of sadness!”
The cover artwork of ‘TanTanTan’ amplifies the feelings of the song whenever I look at it. A moment in time charged by wonder, captured as an ode to a cherished era. Regardless of how much time has passed since its release, it remains a staggering monument symbolising the enduring spirit of Masudore.
There sadly isn’t an official YouTube upload of the song for me to link to, but the song is available to download for free from their Bandcamp page: a gesture which radiates profound kindness, given how Natsuko fought for the ability to share the song.
Mustafa: “Natsuko, on your solo album ‘Namami’ you included a song called ‘Re:TanTanTan’. I’m curious about why you decided to release a song in response to the original ‘TanTanTan’?”
Natsuko: “’Re:TanTanTan’ is a version of ‘TanTanTan’ which I was performing solo at the time. ‘Birds and Rhythm’ is an example of a song that I originally created in a form suited for me to perform solo, while the original ‘TanTanTan’ was created in a form that was too hard-hitting for me to perform solo because of how much the song and its lyrics reflected my current situation, so I had to modify it. At home I was playing around with the song, and that’s how I came to the new form of the song with a different rhythm and melody, which was ‘Re:TanTanTan’. Some of the lyrics in ‘TanTanTan’ are not in ‘Re:TanTanTan’, which is how I kind of digested that song and made it into a form which I could fit into my solo performances. This form of the song was also made with Naoya!”
Naoya: “I worked with Natsuko prior to the pause as a support member for Masudore, as well as through her solo era, and of course now as well. When I look at ‘TanTanTan’ and Natsuko, the original song has the lyric “I can’t even sing on my own”, which stands out to me because I feel this lyric is Natsuko directly singing about Masudore. While she obviously can sing by herself as she went through her solo era, this song highlights how she really needs the band, and performing as part of Masudore really matters to her.”
Mustafa: “The point that Natsuko made about ‘TanTanTan’, when she was speaking to the recording company, brings me to a question I had: the band has been through multiple labels, starting with Avocado Records, then Capitol Records, and now with Flake Records. I was curious about what it’s been like being signed to different labels: what has the experience been like working with different labels, or working with labels as musicians in general? I am very interested in when musicians are signed to labels, and I want to know more about the ways in which they are helped, or ways they may be held back by them. I’m interested in Natsuko and Isao’s experiences before the pause, as well as everyone working with Flake Records now, and any differences between the different labels.”
Naoya: “For a label, we really value the freedom to make our own decisions. After the band’s recommencement, we received offers from major labels but they all seemed like situations where nobody would win, as they wouldn’t benefit us as a band, nor would they really benefit the label. We want to run Masudore by ourselves, because it’s how we choose to live.”
Isao: “When I joined Masudore after the first album released, we were releasing from Avocado Records, and there were lots of adults from the label around us. We were doing lots of festivals, lots of promotions, lots of things with due dates, and at the time it was really hard, especially for Natsuko. That experience is what led to how we work today: valuing the fact that we can decide for ourselves, and valuing our own music. It’s also very fulfilling for us to know that we are creating the music completely by ourselves.”
Mustafa: “I’m very glad that you feel you have more freedom now compared to before, because I always find it to be very sad when I hear of artists who are restrained or held back by their labels, and one of the things I associate so strongly with Masudore, within your music, is the feeling of freedom. I’m really happy that not only do you all feel free when making your music, but you can continue expressing that in your sound!”
Natsuko: “Thank you!!!”
‘Zero Comma Iro Todori no Sekai’ being released under Capitol Records means it currently cannot be rereleased or used as part of merchandise. Even with all the support the label brought them with the opportunity to record the album, it’s still lamentable to see such an important work locked away in such a manner.
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Mustafa: “Speaking of the past, before the band’s pause: I read the interview that Natsuko did with Asami Suzuki (which can be read by clicking the hyperlink), and in that interview Natsuko said in a jokey way that Isao is “aware of the ghosts of MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS”, meaning the former members of the band. I’m very interested in what role the past plays in regards to Masudore now: are you very mindful of what came before and the previous members, or do you wish to keep that in the past and focus on the now? What is the significance of the past to you, now?”
Natsuko: “While I’m not really ‘aware’ of the ghosts of Masudore, I think that question is most relevant to Isao: because Asami Suzuki is a drummer herself, and she’s played as part of many different bands and projects which had former drummers, she herself oftentimes feels aware of the ghosts of those bands/projects, and she suggested that maybe Isao experiences something similar with Masudore.”
Isao: “What I really want to focus on with my performance is Natsuko’s vision for the songs and their sound. I aim to maintain the sound of Masudore so that Natsuko’s songs sound their best, which could be seen as me “being aware” of the ghosts of the band. Perhaps it’s a balance I’m trying to maintain, but I’m not trying to do what Masudore has done in the past. Rather: I’m doing what I personally think needs to be done in the band at this moment in time. The balance within the band has changed throughout all its eras, but we all feel that the members we have now for Masudore is what Masudore was always supposed to be.”
Mustafa: “Thank you for sharing that Isao! I just want to express gratitude for the effort you put into MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS, in regard to fulfilling Natsuko’s vision. Whenever I see the band play live, not only do I love seeing the energy you have, but also the way Isao plays the drums is absolutely amazing!
I go on to talk more about what I enjoy most when watching their live performances: “Natsuko always looks really happy when she’s playing the guitar, and it always makes me really smile to see them have so much fun playing together!”.
Regardless of a song’s tone or lyrics, the unchanging joy visible on the band’s faces, as they repeatedly reflect the messages of their music to crowds across eras, is a constant that reiterates the power and statement of their sound.
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Mustafa: “The 20th anniversary just passed last year, which is such an amazing achievement, congratulations! That event prompted me to think about the legacy of MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS. Of course, Naoya is the one who joined most recently, so I was also particularly interested in what the legacy of the band means to him as the newest member of the band?”
Naoya: “I’m not really focusing much particularly on the anniversary. It’s not like I don’t care about it, but I’m focusing more on what I can do in the future with Isao and Natsuko, because I want to continue with this member line-up. I really value creating new music, and I feel we all share that feeling, so I really want to continue communicating with the other members through the music we create, for as long as possible!”
Mustafa: “This is a slightly more abstract question: with how long the band has been making music for, I want to ask about the ‘spirit’ of Masudore. How would you define Masudore yourselves? What do you see as being the ‘spirit’ of the band? Also: since the beginning, how do you feel that the style and ‘spirit’ of the band has progressed and developed over time?”
Naoya: “I feel that Natsuko herself is definitely the spirit of the band. Her music life is what became Masudore’s spirit, and I’ll be contributing to this band for as long as Natsuko lives!”
Natsuko: “I founded the band and am the only original band member remaining, and while I could have stopped the band, I wanted to continue carrying on, and I feel that MOTFD is the embodiment of my music life!”
Isao: “I agree! MOTFD has had some ups and downs, but since the beginning it’s always felt like it was Natsuko’s life!”
Mustafa: “Thank you for keeping MOTFD for going throughout all these years! For me, I would define MOTFD as a ‘beautiful freedom’, as that’s what your music makes me feel, and it makes me appreciate the beautiful freedom within my life!”
Natsuko: “It’s for, and by, the audience that MOTFD is still here, so thank you for listening to, and perceiving, our music!”
“Thank you for creating and expressing it!”
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Mustafa: “In terms of the music scene around you, when you started in 2002 and over the years until now, how do you feel the Japanese music scene around the band has changed? That could be anything from how the fanbase has responded to you, what it’s been like playing at live shows, generally what you’ve observed about the environment around the band across all these years. I also found images of a booklet online, from 2009, advertising a performance by Mass of the Fermenting Dregs alongside Discharming Man. This really stood out to me because you worked with Keita Ebina on ‘Iranai’ from ‘Awakening:Sleeping’, so I’m interested in how playing with them live eventually led to a collaboration like this.”
Natsuko: “I feel that MOTFD hasn’t really interacted with the ‘scene’ throughout those 20 years! It doesn’t mean anything bad, but I feel like we don’t belong to anywhere. At times it was hard to book MOTFD performances because it was hard to figure out what kind of band we exactly are. We only really interact with people who we share a mutual interest with. It’s not because they’re part of the same music scene as us, rather it’s because of that mutual interest, which is how the collaborations with Keita Ebina for ‘Iranai’ and Taigen Kawabe on ‘Helluva’ eventually happened.”
Isao: “It feels like there might be a scene that bigger artists are part of, like ‘Rockin’On-kei’, but when it comes to underground music, which I’ve been around for a long time, it doesn’t feel like there’s a scene for it in Japan. We may perform shows with other artists because we’re friends with them, but musically it doesn’t seem like there’s a ‘scene’ in Japan, especially underground.”
This natural process of building to collaborations speaks volumes of an authenticity that makes me appreciate the presence that ‘Iranai’ and ‘Helluva’ bring to the album. I perceive them as existing to celebrate friendships forged through music, which in truth is something I sincerely love and long to see more and more of!
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Mustafa: “Since the band started in 2002 and your first two mini albums weren’t released digitally until 2021, I’m interested in how the band’s popularity grew back then, and how fans discovered your music. Was it through word of mouth? How did the audience grow during this era? Natsuko mentioned in a previous interview that one of the singers from Chatmonchy noticed the band early on, so I’m very interested in how things progressed and got to that point. Are there any other notable musicians who you call recall recognising Mass of the Fermenting Dregs as well/significant memories?”
Natsuko: “To be honest, we ourselves want to know how we got bigger, as we don’t really have any idea how it happened! Before our first album, we did a show in Kobe with 9mm Parabellum Bullet. Through this show we became close with the band, so when 9mm Parabellum Bullet returned to Tokyo they told EMI (EMI Music Japan) about “an interesting band in Kobe called MOTFD”. We’d uploaded ‘Kirametal’ on Myspace and Audioleaf, which is how EMI heard ‘Kirametal’ and then reached out to us. This is how the opportunity came about for us to release our first album! Also: Shigeru Kishida from Quruli liked MOTFD and wrote about our song ‘Skabetty’ for his blog which spread online, and MOTFD also supported Quruli on tour, so that may also have played a role in how people discovered us!”
EMI hearing ‘Kirametal’ through their Myspace and Audioleaf uploads feels incredibly significant, as this was during the time when YouTube and music streaming were nowhere near as big as they are today. Learning of this also made me appreciate the uploads of ‘Kirametal’ to streaming services that MOTFD released in 2019 even more, as I now saw it for the important role it played in the band’s history.
“The members have changed, it's been aged and everything has changed. However, the basis of what I received from the rock band and music have not been changed since that time.”
Natsuko states this in the 2019 post that announced the release of the EP onto streaming. This philosophy of embracing the joys of legacy reflected so much of my own history and outlook that I immediately felt a profound connection to the story of this music release, and how its presence permeates every MOTFD project it preceded.
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Mustafa: “The vocal melodies and harmonies of your music have always stood out to me. For example: when I listened to ‘Awakening:Sleeping’ for the first time, I was blown away in the moment I heard the “oo-aaaaaa” harmony halfway through ‘1960’, and then again when it continues into the next song ‘Helluva’! ‘Endroll’ is another example, as it has no lyrics, just lots of vocal melodies and harmonies. I read online that the way Natsuko used to write lyrics was by using “oo” and “aa” sounds at first and then replacing then with written lyrics later on, but you found that difficult and time-consuming, so now you’ve changed it to going on walks, and coming up with lyrics on your walks. I want to understand more about these vocal sounds: how do they tie into your philosophy of creating songs, and what a song should be? How do you feel it ties into your outlook on making music?”
Natsuko: “That vocal line from ‘1960’ was actually written by Naoya! (Laughs). The process that I use to write is more focused on the melody lines. The way I write songs is kind of like fishing: I try to reach out for something I myself don’t know is there: I don’t consciously know what it is I want to sing or tell, but I’m trying to catch what fits for me and what fits the song, both for the lyrics and the melodies. I still utilise both those creation processes you mentioned: sometimes I start singing with “oo” and “aah” sounds, and fit the words afterwards, and I also create whilst going on walks. I do both and try to reach for the perfect matches for the song. Also: when it comes to Mass of the Fermenting Dregs songs overall, I feel that lots of them have weird structures where you can’t define things like which is a chorus or which is a verse, which I think is a result of wanting to create what fits both for myself and the song.”
“Thank you Naoya, for writing that line for 1960!” was met with laughter from the band. I couldn’t help but blurt out my immediate reaction to learning of who penned one of my favourite musical elements in recent memory, and then gush further: “When it goes to the next song, Helluva, and you can still hear the same “oo-aaaaah” continue from 1960, I knew it was going to be one of my favourite albums of all time!”
‘Ashes’ is a song that prominently features Naoya’s singing at the forefront, which really struck me with how perfectly suited his voice is for the song’s style upon first listen. This, coupled with the harmony he sings with Natsuko on ‘1960’ and his support vocals on ‘Birds and Rhythm’, are three highlights of his performances which I appreciate immensely for both their emotional power and sentimental comfort!
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Mustafa: “Masudore’s music can be very intense, especially at live-performances too, so how do you go about managing that balance between the instruments and the space between them? Is it very calculated, or do you go by intuition, as you’ve been playing as a band for a long time so do you feel you all understand how each other plays, or is it something you have to be more mindful of when you go to do live performances? Does that differ to when you do it live compared to how you record in the studio? I know you’ve stated before that when you record in the studio you all play together, so is it similar in how you have to manage the loudness, or is it easier in the studio?”
Naoya: “For the recording, we do record simultaneously, but it’s to mainly focus on the drums, so we can overdub the bass and guitar afterwards. We also have certain settings that we always use for pre-production recordings. As for live shows, we don’t use certain gear like amps or sound guys that help out on our shows, but we still somehow manage to sound like MOTFD, which I think is dependent on how we feel and know eachother’s sounds. Sometimes we also try, from time to time, to formulate the best sound balance/approach.”
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Mustafa: “I mentioned earlier that I strongly associate freedom with the sound of MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS, but ‘World Is Yours’ sounds like it has a lot of strain, tension, and discomfort in some of its sounds. ‘She is Inside, He is Outside’ is a main example, and even the album cover captures those feelings with the art of the woman who’s bleeding after being hit, and her headphones have been broken. How did ‘World Is Yours’ end up in this form, and how do you feel it compares to the rest of the band’s discography?”
Natsuko: “I’m impressed by your listening! The situation at the time was very intense: after the first album we’d become more popular, and the members of the band had changed, so we wanted to update our sound as the second album would have new members. The band was rushing, and the label was rushing, and the second album was also the first project of ours that was produced! It was produced by Nakao Kentaro from Number Girl, and it was also the first time he’d produced a work, too. There was a lot of nervousness and tension which was happening in the process of creating the album, which is what’s reflected in the music of the album. A lot of ‘first times’ happened with this album, such as Isao being part of the song writing and recording processes.”Isao: “At the time, we weren’t a mature team with the label. There were a lot of intentions from both the band and the label staff, and intentions from Nakao Kentaro too. There was a lot going on, and in retrospect it wasn’t a very fun process, it was more stressful.”
Natsuko: “While I really didn’t like it at the time, looking back on it now I consider it to be a good album!”
Mustafa: “I’m sorry to hear that it was a difficult process making the album. I do appreciate that you feel better about the album now compared to before, especially as you’re now in much better conditions to be making music!”
The consistent spirit of the band throughout its releases always made the unique demeanour of ‘World is Yours’ stand out to me. The album’s sound speaks of a story that I had been contemplating for years, and to finally learn this story’s contents was a fulfilling conclusion to years of wondering, especially as the album was my introduction to MOTFD in the first place.
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Mustafa: “The first impression I formed of your music was when I saw Ai Kozaki’s artwork for ‘World is Yours’, and ever since then I’ve always really loved the album covers and posters she’s done for the band! Natsuko mentioned in her interview with Asami Suzuki that you sent a rough version of ‘Awakening:Sleeping’ to Ai Kozaki, back when the album title was ‘Dramatic’, and she then drew a cover based on that version. Natsuko also spoke about how she first reached out to her when the band was still very new, which was the start of MOTFD working with her. I’m interested in the other information that you give to her that she uses to create the artwork for the band, and the process of how the covers are created.”
Natsuko: “Ai Kozaki has been drawing art for us ever since the beginning, since Kirametal. Ai Kozaki and Naoya are actually married!”
Mustafa: “WAIT, REALLY???!!” (Everyone laughs)
To say I was surprised to learn this information would be a severe understatement!Natsuko: “I knew Ai Kozaki before I knew Naoya, and I didn’t even know that I’d end up playing MOTFD with Naoya, so that’s a funny coincidence! As for the artwork itself: we’ve never given any specific requests or references for the art covers, we only send songs after they’ve been recorded, and Ai Kozaki draws the covers solely based on those songs. However, something interesting happens for ‘Awakening:Sleeping’: you mentioned that the album was originally going to be called ‘Dramatic’, but after Ai Kozaki drew the art cover, it didn’t really feel dramatic, so I went through the songs with the art cover in mind, and came up with the new title of ‘Awakening: Sleeping’.”
I’ve always seen Ai Kozaki as an incredibly important contributor to MOTFD, so learning more about her connection to the band was so eye-opening! To visually define the audial is a skill that I’ve always been fascinated and impressed by, and Ai Kozaki’s works represent so much of why I love the craft, alongside being one of the main reasons I was captivated by it in the first place.
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Mustafa: “I want to touch a little bit more on the live music you perform. You are very well known as band for your incredible live shows, obviously they’ve mainly been in Japan so far but you performed at ArcTanGent Festival in the UK last summer, and you’ll be coming back to the UK soon, which I’m very very excited about! How do you feel about the way you music is experienced live, compared to experiencing your music through your studio recordings? Do you feel that there are many differences, making it a very different experience to listen to you live? Thankfully there are a lot of live performance videos on YouTube, but there are many fans, including myself, who mainly experience your music through listening to the albums. What are your perspectives on how these two experiences of your art differ? Is there one experience you enjoy performing more than the other?”
Naoya: “It’s quite different between the album and live versions of our music. Our setlists include songs across all of our albums, including older ones, and the older songs are definitely very different live when compared to their album versions. We think the live versions are the latest version of our songs, so we consider them to be the best versions for now. For the earlier songs, with the previous members, it must have been difficult to directly translate the album versions of songs to the live performances, and to bring that energy continuously during performances. But for now, we feel that what we’re doing now for the live versions are the best versions of our music.”
Masudore will be releasing a live album featuring songs from their older albums as part of the Kickstarter fundraiser for the first US tour! The link to their Kickstarter can be found at the bottom of this article.
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Mustafa: “Your music videos are another visual aspect of your music that I love! No music videos have been made for ‘Awakening:Sleeping’ yet, and I also noticed that across the entire career of MOTFD you haven’t released music videos as frequently compared to the number that other artists may release in that timeframe. What do you intend for your music videos to be? What do you feel that they represent, and what do you want for them to convey? The music video for the song ‘Zero Comma, Iro Todori no Sekai’ features a lot of the artwork that Ai Kozaki drew the album that song belongs to, as does the video for ‘IF A SUFER’, but there are other music videos such as ‘You’ or ‘Uta wo Utobeta’ which don’t feature artwork at all.
There are also two music videos for ‘Slow Motion Replay’: one that Natsuko filmed for her solo version, and the band version that features footage from when you visited Canada to perform after the recommencement. These are all very different styles of videos, so I want to learn more about what you feel music videos represent, and what you hope for them to be.”
Natsuko: “We feel that music videos are really important, but because of that it’s very difficult for us to fully realise our vision for them.
We make something that exists within us into music, and a music video converts that existence into something visual, so we do struggle in that process. After the recommencement, most of the music videos have been done mostly by me, but we’re hoping to become partners with a director who shares our vision for music videos. As for ‘Awakening:Sleeping’, we have plans to shoot a video for one of the songs. We feel we’ve met the director we’ve been looking for, which we’re really excited about!”
Naoya confirmed that ‘Iranai’ was the song that would receive a music video. It released after this interview took place, so seeing it actualised was special both as a new visual MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS work and a project I’d heard them speak so passionately about!
Mustafa: “On the two different versions of Slow Motion Replay: how do the two versions relate to eachother?”
Natsuko: “The solo and band versions of Slow Motion Replay are very different for me. I’m singing the same lyrics on both versions but the point of view is different: the two forms coexist in parallel with each other.”
Mustafa: “I particularly love the MOTFD Slow Motion Replay music video in how it’s different to your other works: it’s made up solely of footage from when you were visiting Canada. I really enjoyed that footage because of the way the band interacted with each other outside of performing music, like when you all share a meal together, or when Natsuko is at the batting cages, and when Isao is eating ramen! As a result, I really wanted to ask: how do you feel MOTFD as a band has brought you all closer together as people?”
Natsuko: “It’s definitely brought us closer! We don’t all live close together, but when touring and travelling we spend a lot of time together.”
Isao: “I’ve been in the band longer than some of the original members, same for Naoya. It feels like a family. It’s not like the kind of closeness between friends, it’s more of a family way!”
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14.
Mustafa: “You have a large international fanbase, and I am very grateful that you’ve reached out internationally with your music, like releasing ‘Awakening:Sleeping’ on vinyl through Dogknights Records and Clever Eagle Records, and the cassette versions of ‘No New World’ and ‘Awakening:Sleeping’ through Gerpfast Records.
When did you first notice you had fans from around the world? In what other ways do you anticipate engaging with international fans more in the future? For example: the interview that Natsuko did with Asami Suzuki was translated into English, and on YouTube you did a Q&A with English subtitles. Do you anticipate you’ll be utilising new or different ways to engage with international fans in future?”
Natsuko: “The first time our international audience was noticed were the comments on our YouTube videos, which were almost all in English! It feels like, with Covid, our international fanbase actually grew further, which was visible through the statistics of our music streaming and Youtube accounts!”
Naoya: “When I joined as a support member I already knew of how MOTFD was an international, world class band!”
Isao: “We are reaching out to the manager of Tricot, Sakataini-san, to help us with our future international activities, as Tricot do lots of international activities themselves.
Mustafa: “On the mentioning of the pandemic: one of the things that helped me a lot was Masudore’s music, particularly the ‘You’ and ‘Uta wo Utabeta’ singles! During that time when you launched your merchandise store, I also bought multiple items from the store before international items moved to Bandcamp. In the past few years, since I discovered your music, it’s meant a lot to me, and it’s really helped me through a lot of difficulties, so I feel very close to the music of Masudore, and as a result I’m really grateful to speak to everyone, and thank you for all your music as well!”
Natsuko: “Because of the language difference between us, I don’t really know how the music is conveyed, but I really feel that your point of view and your perspective of listening of our music is really great! I think the way that I hoped for our music to be listened to and perceived, you listen in that way through your imagination, and that really moves me!”
Since this interview took place, the band has shared an English-sung performance of ‘Dramatic’ on social media!
https://twitter.com/MOTFD_official/status/1641290092634570754?s=20
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15.
Mustafa: “On Masudore’s discography, on a personal level: what are your favourite songs across the entirety of the band’s discography? I’m interested in the different perspectives you all may have, given the different times you joined and different roles you’ve played in the band.”
Natsuko: “Hmmm…. what is it? Does it exist? It changes from time to time and mood to mood, so I can’t really choose one!”
Naoya: “The first album, because of sentimental value as I listened to that album a lot. Also, ‘Awakening:Sleeping’ and ‘No New World’, to me, are just perfect (laughs)!
Isao: ‘Slow Motion Replay’! Having been here since the second album, I’ve never always been 100% satisfied with the results, but after ‘Slow Motion Replay’ I thought “this is it!”. The process was really fun, and it was the happiest for me to create! The same goes for the creation process of ‘Sugar’, too, it was made from a riff that Naoya had written for another song, then I came up with the drum pattern. The demo title for this song was ‘Sugar’, and we really liked this song name, so we asked Natsuko to write lyrics for it. The process of creating ‘Sugar’ was really fun which is why it’s one of my favourites, but my absolute favourite is ‘Slow Motion Replay’!”
Mustafa: “I’m really happy that Isao mentioned ‘Sugar’, because before ‘Awakening:Sleeping’, ‘Sugar’ was my favourite MOTFD song because of how emotional it is! I also really love ‘Hikzuru Beat’, and ‘She is Inside, He is Outside’ which was my favourite MOTFD song for a VERY long time! ‘Birds and Rhythm’ is very special to me too, which is why it’s my favourite song from ‘Awakening:Sleeping’!”
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16.
Mustafa: “Natsuko, you mentioned before that ‘After the Rain’ and ‘Birds and Rhythm’ are songs that exists as pairs. Are there any other songs you feel are also paired together?”
Natsuko: “‘1960’ and ‘Helluva’ are songs that exist side by side, as they share the “oo-aa” vocal line you mentioned. Other than that, I don’t really write songs with that concept of ‘pairs’. ‘After The Rain’ and ‘Birds and Rhythm’ are paired for personal reasons. ‘After The Rain’ was written in the room of the house I used to live in, on an iPhone….”
Naoya: “It definitely feels like that! (Laughs)”
Natsuo: “(laughs) …and ‘Birds and Rhythm’ was also written from that same era, which is why I pair them!”
Naoya: “‘Birds and Rhythm’ is a really important song for us, because of how it allowed that personal value to be shared with the band!”
While I often find it difficult to discern preference between songs on albums I love so much, ‘Birds and Rhythm’ stood out to me before the interview took place because of its heart-rendingly beautiful guitar solo that complements the cry of its chorus to a cataclysmically emotional level.
“Despite the pain, I was in love.
My body still remembers that day.”
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17.
Mustafa: “For the future of MOTFD, what does it look like? Is it something you’re thinking about a lot right now, or are you focusing on the present? What do you imagine the future of MOTFD to be?”
Natsuko: “We want to go all over the globe and play everywhere with ‘Awakening:Sleeping’, and bring MOTFD to the world, including the UK! We want to have new experiences and gain new inspirations out there, and maybe those could be the foundations for a new album!”
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MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS marches on, continuing to add to their legacy that has been stalwart in identity since its very first day. The most beautiful thing that their music represents to me is the unfiltered overflow of emotion heard and felt right from their beginning all the way up until the present, and every answer I heard from them only magnified that wonderful element to greater and greater magnitudes.
Years ago when listening to their music, I was inspired to one day be able to interview musicians and ask them all the questions I’d accrued through the wonder I felt in response to their work, and I’m thankful that this interview serves as both fulfilment and continuation of that personal dream! As Natsuko, Isao, and Naoya all resolve to bring their music to the world, I hope to continue my writing alongside them, carrying the torch their music helped light for me all those years ago.
- Mustafa
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MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS’ music is available to purchase from their Bandcamp site, alongside merchandise. Their entire discography is available on streaming services.
https://massofthefermentingdregs.bandcamp.com/music
MOTFD are currently fundraising for their US tour! You can support them here on Kickstarter, where you can also receive exclusive merchandise as thanks for your support!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/motfd/mass-of-the-fermenting-dregs-north-american-tour
US Tour date information and tickets are available here:
https://note.com/masudore/n/n41779f1ff499
Profuse thanks to Natsuko Miyamoto, Isao Yoshino, and Naoya Ogura for participating in this interview, and for all the art they’ve created!!
Thank you so much to my friend Ryushiro Ogushi for interpreting for this interview!!
Thank you to all of my friends.