[Translation] Doctrine Doctrine - Darlington Interview by CDJournal 3/7/2018
Doctrine Doctrine "Darlington" Interview
Original link: CDJournal
Interviewer: 高岡洋詞
Interviewee: Doctrine Doctrine (Miyashita Yuu 「宮下遊」 and seeeeecun)
Translator's Notes:
- M: Miyashita Yuu
- S: seeeeecun
This interview is quite entertaining, it's funny because miyayuu is just being the usual straightforward miyayuu, self-roasting himself lmfaoo. oh and we get the origin of the name DoctrineDoctrine!! go read it it's HILARIOUS
It seems that the starting point of Doctrine Doctrine's formation began when Yuu-san uploaded his covers of seeeeecun's Vocaloid songs.
M: If we start from the very beginning of it, it started when I discovered his songs. I thought they were good and then after doing a cover, I followed him on twitter and we briefly spoke to each other there. Then one day when I went to VOC@LOIDM@STER convention, it so happened that he was selling his CDs there as well, so I dropped by his booth to say hi and basically it just rolled to "Hey, let's do this together."
S: I listened to a lot of Yuu-san's covers before, so when he followed me I was like "What?!". He told me if I could compose 3 Vocaloid songs he'd be happy to sing them. I like him myself and he's also popular with listeners, so I thought this might just be a perfect match.
M: But during that time, we only talked for a few minutes before I went to see other booths. And after that I was quite busy with my own stuff, so there wasn't any further discussion for around 2 months. It was in January this year that I contacted him on Skype and brought up that collaboration idea again. Actually, at first we didn't take it seriously, but after the topic was brought up again, we decided to pull through and were able to release a CD.
S: Everything went insanely fast. At first I thought we were going the usual doujin way of selling our CDs at conventions/events, but he objected.
M: I disagreed right off the bat, didn't I? (laughs) I intensely said "since we're making so much effort to plan and produce it, let's not do the same old thing again, let's move to a new field!"
By the way, how old are you guys?
M: I am 26 years old.
S: 28 for me.
M: I started uploading videos when I was 16, started composing songs and releasing mini albums at around 20 years old, and had one major album released at around 24 years old. I thought it'd be nice to try a collab with someone soon, and therefore I aimed my white-feathered arrow at him... and took a shot.
S: I got shot. (laughs) During that time I was frustrated and depressed by the situation in my company.
I took a few days break but I was troubled the whole time, and when I was thinking to just press on without quitting my office job, Yuu-san approached me with the collab discussion. I thought "Maybe this is fate! Let's aim for a major one then!"
M: The timing was good.
See-kun, how long have you been posting Vocaloid songs?
S: It's been 4 years this year. I was in a band during high school, but it was a cover band so we never composed songs. 4 years ago, my cousin introduced me to Vocaloid and I thought it was something that I could do once I have the equipment. I started exploring more into it from then on. When I started posting, the response was good so it gave me the motivation to continue uploading.
I did a little check before coming here and it seems that your videos had more than 100,000 plays, and this started about last year? What are your thoughts?
S: Even 10,000 views is totally fine for me, one of my songs ("Takeout Suici/de") from last year rolled off with around 1,000 views for the first time. Just when I thought I reached a goal, I was shocked when things escalated and it became 100,000 plays. Like "whaaat?!"
In this album, five songs were your published Vocaloid songs, "Guilty Dance Never Sleeps", "Heresy Question", "White Doubt", "Chignon Soldier", and "Takeout Suici/de". Am I right?
S: Yes.
And 3 songs which Yuu-san has covered, "Unsan Mushou", "Ressentiment Club", "Nonai Zakkyo", and "Lo-fi Times"?
M: That's right.
There are 3 newly composed songs, which are "Nugirenu", "Modify", and "Barbarian Cinemas".
S: Yes!
M: You're right!
Yay! It was worth the stalking.
M: Sorry, we're all over the place so it's probably confusing... There's the Youtube, NND, and CD as well... I'm so sorry.
No worries! Knowing that Vocaloid songs are usually made for Vocaloids, did you face any difficulties when singing these songs?
M: When I first listened to his songs—I mean I have this habit where I start off with songs that make me think "This song seems difficult to sing..."
While I was singing, I had the urge to tweak things around (laughs). It's possible to sing them normally, but I wanted to try various things. I tried using different voices, I piled on the choruses... There was a unique experience when singing his songs.
Perhaps they stimulated your "inner singer"?
M: It's like "I want to sing it that way!". There were also times when it's like "I'll sing it like this, I bet others wouldn't expect it to be sung this way."
S: I'm the type who takes the originals seriously, so it's a bit stressful when the arrangement is weird/off. However, I felt none of this stress when I listen to his covers. Instead, it's like he presented another answer that's different but correct. I am not good in arranging harmonies, so there would likely be sounds that don't fit into the scale. In that aspect, Yuu-san helped to sort things out so it gave the songs a new appeal.
M: Because I'm changing the entire harmony. (laughs)
It's as if Yuu-san is involved in the composition process as well.
M: Maybe it's a given. In the end, no matter what, there will be cases where you need to fix the harmony or change the melody and such.
Perhaps there are cases where there's a need to have some dissonance to capture the full nuance?
M: If you want to have a downer feel, you fill the harmony with minor keys. For example, instead of the textbook 3rd note choice, you insert a different melody into the harmony to create a sense of dissonance. That way, you won't mess up the ambiance.
Where did you study music theory?
M: I didn't have any formal education on that, I am doing everything from gut feel.
I take it that you are confident with your sense of pitch?
M: Not at all. When I first started out, I was friggin' terrible at everything.I can draw, but when I was a kid, I was dreadfully bad at it, and my singing was also a total disaster. If anything, I never believed there's such a thing called 'talent' within me. It's that bad. (laughs) This was the result of hard work and perseverance.
It's all because of the effort you put in.
M: There's nothing I could do except work hard.
S: You said something interesting before, "I don't have a talent in singing, but I'm good at recognizing." If you think you are talented, you probably won't know if what you're doing is objectively good or subpar, isn't it so? You can only start improving yourself when you are able recognize what's not good. If you never recognized it in the first place, you wouldn't work on improving. I think it's quite true.
M: When I finish a work, I question "Was this a work that shows my 120%?" And to ensure that it is, I'll keep listening for dozens and dozens of times to make sure that I can spot any mistake. That kind of persistence.
I see, by thoroughly searching and analyzing your own mistakes.
M: I have to be very strict for even one tone off, otherwise I can't get better.
S: We have a different working style. I'm quite loose, I prioritize speed and I'll only nitpick on the general atmosphere/ambiance and make sure those are correct. On the other hand, Yuu-san has speed, and yet also detail-oriented.
M: Both should be done concurrently if one wants both speed and quality. I just have too much free time, I guess. (laughs)
S: I think it's a good balance.
There are 3 new songs and 2 interlude tracks. Did you specifically decide the tracks in such order?
S: We decided the order of the tracks pretty early. Yuu-san suggested "Takeout Suici/de" should be the last track, and for the rest of the songs, I was the one who decided on the order. I was set on putting "Nugirenu" on the third track, so track 1-5 would have a powerful start. Sound-wise they are on the stronger side, hence I inserted a soft electronic song in the 6th track "Modify" to put in the accent. A lot of my favorite artists' albums have this kind of composition, so I think it influenced me to a certain extent.
Modify is my favorite song from the album, in fact.
S: Awesome, it's very popular.
M: Unanimously so. (laughs) It's honestly my favorite. I think it's the best track so far.
It's the only song in the album that has a different direction.
S: I like UK rock, but lately I got a bit bored and I thought that I wanted to try US RnB, something like Bruno Mars'. But obviously if I suddenly went into that direction, everyone would be like "Huh? What happened?" (laughs) So I guess maybe I should try with only one song, it would likely suit Yuu-san's voice as well. (T/N: it did!!!!!! IT DID I LOVED IT)
M: I tried to make this song as simple as possible. Normally, the harmony in the chorus would be more audible, but in this song, there's only one alongside the primary tunes. In terms of the singing, I practically stick to the base and did not swing too much. This was also a challenge for me.
You said you like UK rock, could you tell us about your past history in music as well?
M: I played football from kindergarten to junior high for about 8 years.
S: What, really?!
M: Yeah, I did.
S: I didn't know that! It doesn't suit you at all! (laughs)
M: I played volleyball in junior high school. I was originally an arts student who grew up without any music background.
When I first went to karaoke with friends, I thought "Woah, singing is fun". Then I started watching song covers online and with confidence that sprouted out of nowhere, I had a thought like "Huh, I can do this better" (laughs)
That's why I didn't own many CDs, I also didn't really listen to music everyday. I listened to music only when I am searching/looking for it, and when I'm playing games.
How did you polish your music skills?
M: I think I owe it to drawing. I get the same feeling when I sing and when I draw - I approach singing the same way I approach drawing. They use different organs though, so it took me some time before I could get used to it.
Yuu-san's vocals seems to "transform" freely, it's a set of amazingly diverse voices and ways of singing. And you gained this singing style not from music lessons, but by practice?
M: I can achieve this because I think "I want to do this" "I want to do that" all the time, and I just kept adding more things to my bucket list and obtaining them one by one.
I love whispery voices so 2009-2010 was all about whispery songs, and next I wanted achieve a clean pitch and harmony, I wanted to improve my rhythm, I wanted to sing in a rougher way,......and the list goes on. That's basically it.
It's indeed the result of endeavor. How about See-kun's music history?
S: When I was in primary school, I only listened to V6, and as I grew up to junior high school, everyone around me was all about [conventional] Japanese music, so I knew a lot from there. And in university, I had this friend who were into UK rock... He told me "Anyways just listen to these 100 songs" and I did... Before that, most of my favorite songs are J-pop which are mostly the typical A-B-Chorus, but listening to UK rock made me think "Woah, it can be great even without a chorus!" I was pleasantly surprised and got hooked from then on. I brought it back 2 years after I began composing songs. Before that I mostly composed J-rock songs, but a lot of others people were doing the same thing, so I thought I should return to my roots. After listening to Radiohead, Blur, Oasis, I composed "Nonai Zakkyo".
M: I started following you around that time.
S: Yes. After "Nonai Zakkyo", I wanted to do something more loose like "Lo-fi Times".
The lyrics seem to express your anger.
S: They're prickly, yes. (laughs) I've always been the type that gets bullied. I can't straightforwardly say what's on my mind, I can't get mad, I can't say "stop it!". In this predicament, music is my only channel of expression. I really like Mr. Children, and Sakurai Kazutoshi seems like a nice person, but aren't his lyrics brutal? It inspired me like "That's it!! That's what I want to do!"
You write lyrics to flush out your negative emotions.
S: When there's something upsetting, I'll think "I shall turn you into lyrics!" (laughs). That's how I think everyday.
The stores listed "J-music / anime / games / Vocaloid / utaite" genre but people who like anime/game songs would probably think "This doesn't sound like the usual anime/game song."
S: That makes me glad. I don't want to be tied up by labels like "Vocaloid" or "Utaite". Frankly, when you categorize something as Vocaloid, suddenly it also gets associated with anime, right? There are a lot of alternatives in Vocaloid though.
M: Well, essentially, all of them belong in the 'music geek' world.
Actually, I can see why it attracts such a group.when we see the illustration featuring the 2 characters drawn by Mitsuki Sanagi, as well as see-kun's videos.
M: In the first place, his songs combined with Mitsuki Sanagi's drawings create a certain atmosphere. Sometimes music becomes better when accompanied with illustrations, so we requested for the characters to be drawn.
So Mitsuki-san is like the third member?
M: Yes. I can draw, but I'm sure Mitsuki-san could come up with something better.
S: She always illustrates for my videos, but she also has her own illustration works. When we pair these together, it became "Hey, it's something fresh!". It was our style and made Doctrine Doctrine alive.
I forgot to ask the most important thing. What is the backstory of the group name?
S: I keep a list of words that have a nice ring to it, and Doctrine was one of them. I thought, "If we repeat this word 2 times, it sounds really cool!" That's the first. Another reason is that the two of us created something with a very strong and distinct theme, and the word Doctrine really suits it.
At first, I proposed a combination of See and Yuu, "SEE YOU", but it was instantly rejected. (laughs) The second option among the three choices was Doctrine Doctrine - we both agreed with that name and I was glad.
It was the correct choice indeed. Right now it seems like an incognito unit, but you guys are going to have a live concert on July. Do you not have reservations about revealing your faces?
S: More like I want to my face to be shown.
M: Personally, I don't want to hit my 40s or 50s with only photos of my back floating around. (laughs) If I think about it, I'd rather put a face to my name, at least.
Will you start covering yourself by wearing a hat low over your eyes?
M: Maybe I'll start with "facing about 10 degrees off diagonally" and then someday it will become "Hey, it's the full face this time, you know!" (laughs)
Translator's Notes:
SJHKSFDGS YUU-SAN!!!!!!!!!!!! HE REALLY DID THE 10 DEGREES DIAGONAL THING THO OMG. I was in his Kyoto concert @ 22/9/18 and he fkin really did that i'm not kidding the only time he faced the front was when he's singing and it's blocked by the mic agkfdkgdsf miyayuu i love u but also u are killing me
imeannnn he did face the front once in a while and in that split 2 seconds i just bask in his light
he's cute ok
oh and the SEE YOU part..... WOW. is it wrong that i would like that name too?!?! skffhfgjd i love it?!?!?! i mean i love the vibe of DoctrineDoctrine too but im a sucked for puns?!?!! lmaoo
speaking of which, i wonder why mitsuki-san choose a sister as miyayuu's character......
imeannnn he did face the front once in a while and in that split 2 seconds i just bask in his light
he's cute ok
oh and the SEE YOU part..... WOW. is it wrong that i would like that name too?!?! skffhfgjd i love it?!?!?! i mean i love the vibe of DoctrineDoctrine too but im a sucked for puns?!?!! lmaoo
speaking of which, i wonder why mitsuki-san choose a sister as miyayuu's character......