Aural Vampire Interview @ Anime Matsuri 2008

Reporter(s): Drake
Transcriptor(s): K
Photographor(s): Roan Matthews
Location: Anime Matsuri, Houston, Texas, USA.
Date: March 21st – 23rd 2008.


During Anime Matsuri, I was able to attend a Q&A session with Aural Vampire. Due to problems with our recording equipment, I was unable to record the session. However, through the graciousness of another press team covering the event, NewsWireHouston, an Associated Press outlet, we were allowed to publish the transcripts of the Q&A here. For the original article, click here. For source galleries for images, click here for the panel gallery and here for the concert at Club AM.

Please keep in mind, the format of this interview involved a general audience, the band, and a translator to go between the audience and band (or rather Raveman responded to Exo-Chika who relayed to translator). All answers below are transcribed as responses from Bespa with the translator explaining the response.

What inspired them to use the name ‘Aural Vampire’
Well, the name ‘Aural Vampire’. In Japanese, we spell our words phonetically, so it can be taken as ‘oral’ and ‘aural’, and she liked both oral, the mouth part, and aural, the audio part, and the ‘Vampire’ part, she says, “Well, look at me, I’m a vampire.”.

Where did Chika and Rave Man meet?

They say they met at Monster High School.

They’re at an anime convention, but do they like anime?

Chika-san says she loves anime, and she considers herself an otaku in Japan, and she likes to watch Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, popular shows like that, and many other kinds too. She likes to look them up on the computer, or watch them on TV. If she had a choice, she’d watch anime all day long at home. She also likes video games. She’s really excited to be at a convention like this, where everybody is into anime and cosplaying, and video games, and things like that. She says, one day she wants to be in an anime. She says, “You might not think I’m an otaku, but I am.”.


What’s their favorite band?

Bespa Kumamero just asked Aural Vampire who their favorite artist was, and if you all were at Bespa Kumamero’s Q&A yesterday, you might have heard Chika-san saying ‘Aural Vampire’, so maybe Bespa Kumamero was expecting that Aural Vampire would say their favorite artist is Bespa Kumamero, but…No, Chika-san does like Bespa Kumamero very much, but you all heard Rave Man, next to me, saying “Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson!”.

What’s one of the biggest differences they noticed about Japan and America?

They went to eat steak, for dinner last night, and she was so surprised at the size of the meat. She says she was able to finish it all, though.


What is Chika-san’s most embarrassing moment?

She says she wears shoes with the very large heels, and she almost tripped once. That was her most embarrassing moment.

What are their favorite animals?

Well, Rave man likes all kinds of animals, like cats, dogs. And Chika-san likes reptiles, like iguanas and snakes.

What inspired them to become musicians?

Chika-san was saying that about the only thing Rave Man can do is music, and if you took that away from him there’d be nothing left. But, in Chika-san’s case, since her childhood she was interested in ballet and getting on stage, things like that. And, when the met at the monster school, she found the joy of singing and she was thinking, “Well, if I can make money singing, and doing what I like to do, sure, why not.”

A lot of her songs have very dark, seductive lyrics, but, since they’re in Japanese, a lot of the American audience can’t understand them. Does she get a kick out of this, or…? A: She said it’s okay, sometimes, if you don’t understand what the lyrics are saying. She doesn’t do it for kicks, or things like that. She’s saying it’s just like how people in Japan don’t understand English most of the time, they still listen to English songs, sometimes, just because it sounds so good, and, instinctively, you listen to it to feel good, and it makes you feel good. And she says that it’s okay, because music doesn’t have to have a literal meaning, and you don’t have to have lyrics that have a deep meaning. Sometimes they can be just interpreted as sound, and sound being good.

Are they planning on putting out another CD soon?
They say they’re planning to have one out at the end of this year.

What is Chika-san’s sexual orientation?

She’s bisexual. In her case, when she’s looking for a love interest, she doesn’t look at the person as male or female, she looks at the person. If that person is a wonderful person, or somebody she can respect, it doesn’t matter if they’re a male or a female.

What’s their favorite thing about America?

Rave Man says everything’s so wide here, and it’s so easy to spread out. Chika-san says that everybody’s so friendly here, and it’s so easy to make friends.

How old are they?

Chika-san is one-hundred and three, and Rave Man is two.

What kind of music do they enjoy?
Rave Man says he like techno, and new wave, but Chika-san says they don’t confine it to a particular genre. If they like the song, they’ll listen to it, no matter the type. She says she likes anime songs too; she does them when she sings karaoke.

What’s the hardest part of the recording process for them? Is it writing the lyrics, or coming up with the music, promoting, or…?

They say it’s planning out the music.

She says she likes anime, but what’s her favorite type, maybe stuff like Shonen Jump, or Shojo Beat?

She says she likes Shonen Jump.