ASTERISM Band Interview: 2023 USA Tour, Animetic, Anime Expo

Japanese metal band ASTERISM spoke to The Natural Aristocrat® in New York City about their 2023 USA Tour, Anime Expo live performance, ‘Animetic’ album, Tokyo Ghoul “unravel” cover and much more!

ASTERISM Band. Pictured from left to right: MIO and HAL-CA. Photo captured from live footage provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT (NIR REGEV): How were your recent concert experiences over on the west coast in Santa Ana and Anime Expo 2023?

ASTERISM – HAL-CA: When we performed at Anime Expo, over 3000 people came to our show! We performed a lot of our anime song covers, which got a lot of the crowd very excited.

Watch Anime Expo Performance Below:

We also bused across three locations, not just in Santa Ana. That was our first time doing that in the US.

It was cool to have a really excited & engaging audience and to have people throwing tips during our set.

Watch Santa Ana Performance Below:

People that saw us at Anime Expo came to see us again and it got so lively! It was a lot of fun for us.

ASTERISM Band. Pictured: HAL-CA. Photo captured from live footage provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: An Asterism fan on Reddit claimed the police tried to shut down your show on Santa Monica beach. Which is as metal as it gets. Can you tell us what happened?

ASTERISM – HAL-CA: ‘Cause we were playing on the street without a permit.

Apparently, people need to get permits to perform there and there’s a lottery to get those permits. We didn’t have a permit and were very loud with a large crowd.

That kind of irked the other people that did have permits… And so they called the cops on us saying, “Hey, they don’t have permits and they’re performing here! They got lots of people here and it’s not fair!”

Japanese metal band ASTERISM in New York City. From left to right: MIO, HAL-CA, and MIYU. Photo provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: Your cover of ‘unravel’ is so authentic it feels like it could have easily been on the original Tokyo Ghoul broadcast.

What was the creative process behind the cover and the music video?

ASTERISM – HAL-CA: The arrangement for “unravel” was actually our first time covering an anime song. So it was really important for us to keep what made the original so good.

ASTERISM in New York City. Pictured from left to right: MIYU and HAL-CA. Photo provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

We focused on making sure we kept the best parts of the original song and letting that shine through. While at the same time, also including our own personality into the arrangement.

ASTERISM Band. Pictured: HAL-CA. Photo captured from live footage provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

We’re originally an instrumental band and have very technical elements… As well as very metal and kind of like crazy vibes! (laughs)

ASTERISM Band. From left to right (MIYU, MIO, and HAL-CA). Photo captured from live footage provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

We try to find a balance between staying true to the best parts of the original and inserting our own flavor. So that’s kind of how we went about putting “unravel” together.

ASTERISM Band. From left to right: MIO, HAL-CA, and MIYU. Photo captured from live footage provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

For the music video, we wanted to maintain the concept of it purely as an instrumental cover. It’s a lyric video for an instrumental song.

Japanese metal band ASTERISM performing at Anime Expo 2023. Photo captured from live footage provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

We were referencing how the speech bubbles are used in manga especially, and how certain sounds are expressed in anime.

ASTERISM Band. Pictured from left to right: MIYU, MIO, and HAL-CA. Photo captured from live footage provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: What’s the most challenging song for ASTERISM to play live, if any?

ASTERISM – MIYU: Everything on Animetic is really difficult.

ASTERISM – HAL-CA: “Fiction”, the first song from the ASIDE album is the most difficult for me because the singing is really difficult.

ASTERISM – MIO: In Santa Anna, we performed a song called “DAWN”. It’s a nine minute song. It’s very, very proggy and that’s the most difficult one for him.

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: It seems playing at Zepp Yokohama is a right of passage of sorts for every great Japanese band, can you tell us about playing at the venue?

ASTERISM – HAL-CA: It’s a venue that everybody wants to play. Zepp Yohohama is a venue that bands go through before moving onto the bigger stages.

A lot of bands go through these kind of venue sizes. There’s not a lot of venues of that size in Japan and there’s a chain company called Zepp that owns them all across Japan.

ASTERISM Band. Pictured: HAL-CA. Photo captured from live footage provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

So quite often as bands start touring you’ll end up playing at Zepp locations. But the one in Yokohama is like the center of it all right now to a degree, just because it’s also the newest one.

Zepp Yohohama is a place all the bands in Japan will go through as they level up.

ASTERISM Band. Pictured from left to right: MIO and HAL-CA. Photo captured from live footage provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: Do you feel there’s a different crowd response when you play for an American audience compared to Japan?

ASTERISM – HAL-CA: In America, the reactions are for better or for worse, very honest.

If you play very well, you get a great response back from the audience, which has been really fun.

ASTERISM in New York City. Pictured from left to right: MIYU, MIO, and HAL-CA. Photo provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

It’s something we got to experience in both Santa Ana and at an Anime Expo. I think there’s an honesty to the crowd in the US that’s different from Japan.

ASTERISM Band. Pictured from left to right: MIYU, MIO, and HAL-CA. Photo captured from live footage provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: Do you feel your recording process has evolved a lot from album to album?

ASTERISM – HAL-CA: For Animetic, it was our first time recording in Tokyo or at least for an entire project that’s been released.

ASTERISM Band. From left to right: MIYU and HAL-CA. Photo captured from live footage provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

Until then we mostly recorded in Fukuoka. It was also the first time we worked with our now regular guitar tech and engineer. It’s kind of like the beginning of the current chapter that we’re in now was the Animetic record.

ASTERISM in New York City. Pictured from left to right: MIYU and HAL-CA. Photo provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

We’ve found a great team to work with in our move to Tokyo.

ASTERISM Band. Pictured: HAL-CA. Photo captured from live footage provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: What was the recording process like on the “Ignition” album in comparison? I feel “Light in the Darkness” and “Midnight Hunter” there capture the essence of your sound really well.

ASTERISM – HAL-CA: I remember that it was right around the time I graduated middle school! I remember going straight to the studio from graduation, still wearing my uniform and recording like that.

Back then we would still record live. Most recently, we usually go instrument by instrument and layer the drums and the bass et cetera.

ASTERISM in New York City. Pictured: MIYU. Photo provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

But back we were recording each song live and finding a good take as a starting point. So I think that that’s a bit different from how we record now.

ASTERISM in New York City. Pictured from left to right: MIYU, MIO, and HAL-CA. Photo provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: The bass intro to song “Kyouran Hey Kids!!” on the Animetic album is extremely catchy. How did that come to you?

ASTERISM – MIYU: I didn’t really think about it all that much… But it came to me from listening to the other instruments, then using my imagination to try to find something that was original but made sense within the context of the music.

ASTERISM Band. From left to right: MIYU and HAL-CA. Photo captured from live footage provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: How did the three of you first link up as a band? Where did you all meet each other?

ASTERISM – HAL-CA: We first met about 10 years ago at a music contest. I was performing guitar on my own solo.

They (MIYU AND MIO) were performing a drum and bass duo. A producer who saw us wanted to combine us into a band. So that’s how we met.

ASTERISM Band. From left to right: MIO, HAL-CA, and MIYU. Photo captured from live footage provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: Have you been friends ever since then basically?

ASTERISM – HAL-CA: (laughs) Well, I mean definitely we’ve been in a band together since then… But it took us three years to actually be able to have a conversation! (laughs)

At the beginning it was really just about the music. I’d say we conversed through our music.

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: What artists growing up inspired you to become musicians?

ASTERISM – MIYU: The bassist from Mr. Big, Billy Sheehan, was who made him want to play bass.

ASTERISM – HAL-CA: For me it’s LOUDNESS, a metal band from Japan.

I was originally a drummer but then I saw LOUDNESS and it made me want to switch to guitar! And I soon started playing guitar right after.

ASTERISM Band. From left to right: MIO, HAL-CA, and MIYU. Photo captured from live footage provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

ASTERISM – MIO: For me, it’s difficult because I have too many to choose one! But I would go with King Crimson.

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: Will you be doing more Rage Against the Machine covers like “Bulls on Parade” and “Sleep Now in the Fire”?

ASTERISM – MIO: No plans at the moment, but I’d like to do “Testify”.

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: Will Buckethead be joining you for a one off gig in the future? Maybe even just for that legendary Sweet Child ‘O Mine solo?

ASTERISM – HAL-CA: We’d love for him to come! Actually, we reached out to him on Instagram since they were coming to the US this time, but they never got a response unfortunately.

ASTERISM Band. From left to right: MIYU, MIO, and HAL-CA). Photo captured from live footage provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: I’d really love to hear you cover Death Note songs “Zetsubou Billy” and “What’s up People” by Japanese metal band Maximum the Hormone. Would you consider it?

ASTERISM – HAL-CA: I’m a really big fan of Maximum the Hormone! On Instagram, I’ve done solo covers of their songs but we’ve never done it as a band. We’d love to do it at some point!

We’d love to do all sorts of covers. Especially, this tour we’ve been covering Ozzy Osbourne! We were going to do a Guns N’ Roses cover but decided not to do it yet this time.

But yeah we’d love to expand what we do with covers and continue trying different things.

ASTERISM in New York City. Pictured from left to right: MIYU and HAL-CA. Photo provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: Can you tell us more about the September EP you have in the works and your future plans?

ASTERISM – HAL-CA: It’s called ‘BESIDE’, following the ‘ASIDE’ EP we released earlier this year.

It’s our first record where you can hear us singing vocals on it. We’re currently mixing it.

ASTERISM has been focusing a lot on what we call mass metal and bringing metal to the masses!

ASTERISM in New York City. Pictured from left to right: MIYU, MIO, and HAL-CA. Photo provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

We want to make metal more accessible to a wider audience. And so to that end, we’re not too concerned about sticking within a specific box around metal.

We’re very interested in exploring all sorts of different sounds in our future works.

ASTERISM Band. Pictured from left to right: MIO and HAL-CA. Photo captured from live footage provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: Thanks everyone!

ASTERISM – HAL-CA, MIYU, MIO: Thank you!

ASTERISM Band. Pictured from left to right: MIO and HAL-CA. Photo captured from live footage provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

ASTERISM US TOUR 2023 SET LIST:

M01 STARS

M02 Gunfire

M03 Rising Moon

— MC —

M04 Kaikai Kitan (廻廻奇譚)

M05 unravel

— MC —

M06 Before I Forget(cover/vo有)

M07 Crazy Train(cover/vo有)

M08 LIVE HOUSE(vo有)

M09 BLAZE

— MC —

M10 Fiction(vo有)

M11 Light In The Darkness

— MC —

M12 DAWN

About Japanese Metal Band ASTERISM:

ASTERISM Band. From left to right: MIYU, MIO, and HAL-CA). Photo captured from live footage provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

“ASTERISM is a three-piece instrumental heavy metal band consisting of HAL-CA (Guitar), MIYU (Bass) and MIO (Drums).
 
All three have enjoyed music since childhood. HAL-CA worked solo, MIO and MIYU performed together as brothers. In 2014, the three met at a musical competition and ASTERISM was formed.
 
The band has been active both domestically and internationally since 2019, touring the US and Asia, including an appearance at SXSW. The band made their major debut from Sony Music Labels in March 2023.
 
The band is aiming for further global expansion with a new genre called “MASS METAL” which stands for metal music that reaches, resonates, and is loved by the masses, through their meticulously composed music and unique pop sensibilities.”

– You can follow Asterism on social media on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

– Follow HAL-CA on Twitter and Instagram

– Follow MIYU on Twitter and Instagram.

– Follow MIO on Twitter and Instagram.

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ASTERISM Band. Pictured: HAL-CA. Photo captured from live footage provided by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ)

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