BAAL was formed in June 2005 from your project
Chronotrigger. What was Chronotrigger like and
what made you come up with a new name and concept?

MIKITO: Chronotrigger was the prototype for BAAL.
During the years that we were doing Chronotrigger,
it became clearer to me what I wanted to do.

MIKITO: Before Chronotrigger, I was doing this
hybrid goth/industrial band called CHAPTER.
My participation in CHAPTER has had a big
influence on both BAAL and myself as an artist.
That band was a project of KOIL, president of
the New Zealand-based ‘Death Elektro’ label
who was residing in Tokyo at that time. Working
with him taught me a lot about programming
and recording. He was using Digidesign’s Pro-
Tools as his base and that was probably what
later influenced me to use it as well.
We did a lot of shows and during that time I
started thinking that I wanted to get my own
project started.

Whatever. Those type of people are still overloading the scene... I wanted someone
who was willing to dedicate more of theirself into the music.

Around that time, the band that U-tarou was in disbanded. She was in a kind of
punk/alternative band that was actually pretty popular.
They sounded similar to bands like the poppunk of No Doubt mixied with Stone
Temple Pilots, but with stronger screaming vocals.
I felt that the sound that I was after and her screaming would make a perfect match.
Ideally I was looking for a vocalist that transcended the conceptions of male and female.
I felt that typical male and female vocalists had their limitations.
Though U-Tarou was still herself struggling with her own style, I realized her
potential and invited her to be in my band.

In the world today, I don’t think that there is another female vocalist who is as
controlled and consistent in their screaming as she is.
For some time after that, I left ads in rehearsal studios throughout Tokyo in search
of a drummer, and CHIHIRO saw the ad and contacted me. In a single session, it
became clearly understood that he would be the drummer for the band.
There was actually a bassist, but I’d rather not talk about that... Let's just say
that he wasn't a bassist, but a serious motherfucker! All things aside, we cut him
from the band.
Thus was the beginning of Chronotrigger.

We gigged around, improved our performance and our technique, and ultimately
called it quits.
We did a lot of shows with shitty visual-kei bands. We didn’t want to perform with
these crappy visual-kei bands, basically because they sit around and complaining,
hacking up phlegm like pathetic little punks. I mean, if you're going to complain about
others, you should be able to prove that you can do something yourself. And yet,
it continues..,

MIKITO: I think I need to explain the Tokyo scene
here. To be blunt, I don’t see that there is that
much to see. In Europe, it seems that Japanese
visual-kei bands are becoming popular.
Neither gothic nor industrial, they are being made
a big deal of and referred to as “Japan Goth” in
Europe. In Japan, all this attention goes to their
heads and all these bands and their fashion
clones and copies are putting on events every
night of the week.
From my point of view, no matter how much I
would want to be referred to as “Japan Goth” in
Europe, I wouldn’t think of becoming visual-kei to
achieve this, nor will I cease to look upon them
with contempt. In Japan, these visual-kei bands
do NOT perform at Goth events, and they cannot
perform at BSL sponsored events.

The visual-kei boom being experienced in Europe at the moment will be gone and
forgotten with the next year. Most of the bands will probably no longer be actively
performing. Seriously. On the other hand, we are looking to cultivate the scene
little by little, but still in Tokyo you get these DJs that only have 10-20 CDs
prepared, standing larger than life behind the decks shamelessly pumping out a
badly mixed set. It was because of this situation, that we decided to create BSL.

Under the name Brain Scan Laboratory you also do party organizing. On your
MySpace profile you mention that your party Junk Children: Slaves Midnight Riot
was a night symbolizing the illness and suffering of modern Japanese society.
Please tell us about the woes and wraths of Japan!

MIKITO: There were several factors surrounding the formation of BSL, summed up
quite inclusively by the key word Tokyo.
“TOKYO” is just a crazy metropolis, a jumble of Japanese and global culture.
It's a place where it is said that anything can be made popular if it makes money.
If it’ll make money, whether it’s in some niche market or appeals to the masses,
music, fashion, and whatever else gets deformed and copied and floods the market.
There is nothing “REAL”. That is the truth of Tokyo.

However, there are many people in Tokyo that are after real things, myself included.
We have taken upon ourselves to deliver a real sound to our listeners in the scene
that we are in.
We felt that it was time to make our presence known in this plastic, superficial world
with real rock music, infused with a real industrial sound And the first JUNK
CHILDREN was a great success. It was probably the first real industrial event in Japan.
Every band that was involved raised the crowd inspired madness in the audience
and the response was like nothing I had ever seen at an event. We understood that
people were really looking to hear genuine hardcore industrial music.
I was really moved. I felt that the audience really understood what we were trying to
express on stage.

You also mention that Junk Children’s power
marks the dawn of a new ear of Goth and
underground music. What was the power that
caused such a strong statement? How will
Junk Children be continued?

MIKITO: I believe that we have created a new facet on the underground music scene
here.
I think that a major factor that brought this about is that we only use artists and DJs
that are really dedicated to their craft. At each event, we prepare three “Deathly
Drinks",orginal cocktails based on the themes of the bands performing, and we have
also created a visual environment that captures the essence of BSL. With BSL, we
will never throw together a bunch of bands with the intention of throwing a typical
Saturday night party.

We will only ever promote bands and DJs that could hold their own in the more global
scene, and if we can’t get something that we're completely satisfied with, we'll
hold off having it at all.
If we were to decide on something that came short of our standards, we'd be no
better than those whose ways we can't stand.

Amongst your influences you only mention American and European artists, such as
Nine Inch Nails, Ministry or Atari Teenage Riot. Are there Japanese or Asian
influences worth mentioning?

MIKITO: Of course there are. Going way back, there are bands like Y.M.O. and X Japan,
as well as the band ZILCH that Hide fronted. There's also The Mad Capsule Markets,
and I listened to a lot of indies Japanese bands from the 80's.
I also listen to a lot of Japanese hardcore bands like LIPCREAM, ROSE ROSE, and
S.O.B., who I'm pretty sure have done tours around Europe.

What do you listen to nowadays?

MIKITO: A Perfect Circle, Punish Yourself,Combichrist, Ministry.

You operate a small record label called digiblade kustom arts TOKYO. Please tell us
more about it!

MIKITO: There is no industrial label in Tokyo, or even in Japan as a whole. Digiblade
kustom arts is a private label that was created as a meansto release Chronotrigger
products.
The BAAL CD will probably be released through BSL.
BSL is more than just a team that organizes events. We’re also planning for it to be
used as a platform for releasing CDs as well.
Actually, up to now we’ve been distributing free CDs at BSL sponsored events, and
we have been able to produce a fairly high quality product.
In any case, we hope people will look forward to subsequent releases from BSL.

We only know three BAAL tracks and two remixes from CDs and MySpace tracks.
When will you release a full-length album or do you have any new releases planned?
Are the new tracks in vein of the previous releases?

MIKITO: We’re planning to release an album in
the fall which shoul have 7 tracks on it. The album will basically chronicle what BAAL
have done so far, as well as some new more powerful hints of what’s to come.
It's difficult to go through the process of designing the jacket, recording, and
producing an album.
However, I refuse to release anything that I'm not completely happy with, and won't
compromise anything because I want people to hear our music the best that it can
be.
Also, we’re also working on releasing a DVD. I hope you would look forward to
this as well..

Your self-proclaimed style is “native cybernetic heavy industrial rock".
What does this style give you that others, such as EBM, breakbeat, metal or jazz
cannot?

MIKITO: BAAL is all of the music that I have ever been influenced by taken apart by
my mind and reassembled into none other that a “native cybernetic heavy
industrial” sound.
Within this sound are elements of EBM, heavy metal, and breakbeats, but I can't
express myself limited by the restrictions of any particular genre.
So many people don’t really understand what self-expression is. So many people
spew out boring, carbon-copy blogs about their daily life claiming it to be “
self-expression”. They are sadly mistaken.

When I speak of self expression, it means creating something that passes through
my filters, polishing it and fine-tuning it as it goes, and finally releasing it.
Because I am who I am, I could never express myslef by copying or borrowing.

My music is the same way. Down to a single synth sound, if it doesn't contain
something of myself in it, there's no way I'll use it.

Please tell us, what is a typical BAAL gig like, how long, harsh, hard, loud, shocking
and powerful is it?

MIKITO: A BAAL gig is really, really powerful. In extreme terms, metal is warped by
the sonic pressure and the ground quakes beneath your feet.
Something like that... We have an industrial sound compounded with a rock
impulsiveness that I think our audiences enjoy.
We approach our live performances with complete confidence.
It’s something that needs to be experienced.

The Japanese industrial scene previously was only known to us through obscure
movies such as Tetsuo, Akira, Burst City, etc. and Japanese noise acts like Merzbow.
When you have to mention books, movies or other things that connect the
industrial/underground scene - what would those be?

MIKITO: In terms of performance art, Ameya Norimizu's M.M.M. group's “SKIN”
series cannot be omitted from any discussion of cyberpunk.
Simply excellent work. You’d also have to add Shozin Fukui’s film "Rubber's Lover"
and “Pinocchio-route 964.”
These works earned him agood deal of praise and recognition from other
film directors. He possesses an amazing talent.

What is the Japanese copyright system, how do you protect your copyrights?
What do you think about MP3, how good it is to use filesharing programs and
for what?

MIKITO: Independent artists like ourselves aren't exactly well-off, and getting all of
our work covered by copyrights is very difficult.
In fact, we found one of our tracks that was on a German compilation being sold on
the net.
We’d like to keep control of how and where our music is being used, so we make
no claim to be advocates of the whole mp3 file-sharing thing.

The work of BAAL is not just about the music, but also the jacket design and other
artwork.
When someone claims to have a BAAL release, whether single or full-length, we feel
it should mean the all-inclusive package.
Regarding mp3 files, I think the basic problem lies not so much in the copyright,
but in the quality of the sound.

What will Japan and the Japanese scene be like in 15 years? Please share your
thoughts with us.

MIKITO: It’s a rather pessimistic outlook, but I feel that Japanese society will
become colder and crueler. Technology is advancing with new products making our
lives more convenient, but that is not making our world any more peaceful.
There's too much peace in Japan right now...
wait, let me rephrase that. It's not peace, but rather the mentality that the wars
and strife around the world are distant and irrelevant.
But that kind of thinking isn't going to be able to continue, is it?
This is a society that will need to someday come to grips with the fact that there is
death and sadness all around.

Thank you so much for honoring us with this interview. Do you have any final
message to the DOSE readers?

MIKITO: Thank you for expressing interest in Japanese culture. I think it's great that
The DOSE seeks to expose its readers to different cultures and scenes around the
world.
In thesetimes, there is a lot of information out there, but I would home that The
Dose readers would search through it all to find something that they like and believe
in their own feelings. I feel that people should believe in themselves and do what
they want to do.

This is how we have come to where we are and we have made many friends in other
countries.
There’s actually a chance that we will be touring over in Europe in the fall of this
year. If that happens, we really look forward to meeting everyone who read about
us in The Dose.
We promise you the best album and the best performance we can deliver!

THANK YOU all for reading.

Mix the harshness of digital hardcore with the speed of crossover, the anger of punk
and serve it with a sauce of Welthass - and all this comes from the depths of the
Tokyo cyber-industrial clubs. The music straining from precise-to-the-point energetic
punches of three-piece BAAL is self-appointed as Native Cybernetic Heavy Industrial
Rock - and that's true, letter by letter.

However raw and industrial does BAAL sound, we find them to be the catchiest band
in the Tokyo industrial underground - sounds digestible, brings wonderful images to
the mind (we evoked lots of them from abstract flash-anims through fullfledged
action sequences to extreme close-ups of viral injections) and they are the best
introduction to bands you'd be shocked to know at first, like Despair, drawing some
bigger attention after 2005’s Wave-Gotik-Treffen.
The accessible material of the band is a twotrack maxi which admirably features
distorted bass, pumping beats, transposed leads, all causing you to headbang,
hysteric vocals with some layered riffs - gigs. This is what we say.
We need gigs.
Let all three of them live on our retinas, we'd love that, we'll take care of them there.
The two additional remixes we've received on CDs were separately distributed at
the Junk Baptism and Junk Children events stop us for a second in our momentum.
The Wreckage: The Dead World (-Broken in it-) remix brings a slow-and-steady trip
in EBM lands between Numb and Neotek, perfect for both listening and on the
dancefloors.
As for the Bloody_logic_communication (Devil’s Smash Engine remix), it's more like
the Laibach remixes done for Morbid Angel - just as if the band would be aiming at
your heads right from a water tornado.
We'd actually love to see that.
If the sights of Japanese cyberpunk are Tetsuo, Akira and Ghost in the Shell,
then BAAL is the new sound - it creeps through to the other end of reality and
feedbacks itself back on us.
We hear them perfectly - the images are just echoing.