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Trying To Be Metal With Sailing Before The Wind (JPN)- Interview

Interview originally published Oct 18th 2023 If you haven’t yet caught Sailing Before the Wind across your IG feed, are you really on the metalcore side of the internet? The Japanese metalcore band has been making waves for their nostalgic metalcore style and energetic stage presence. While some have voiced their disdain it hasn’t slowed…

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Interview originally published Oct 18th 2023

If you haven’t yet caught Sailing Before the Wind across your IG feed, are you really on the metalcore side of the internet? The Japanese metalcore band has been making waves for their nostalgic metalcore style and energetic stage presence. While some have voiced their disdain it hasn’t slowed them down, in fact, it has been winning them more fans across the globe.

The band’s latest single ‘Inferno‘, featuring CØRTES from Zoume, drops today so we caught up with bass player Bitoku to find out a little more about the band, the new single and their place in the Japanese metalcore scene.

 
Social media has helped Sailing Before the Wind get more noticed outside of Japan, but many people may still not know much about the band. Can you tell me about how the band started?

The band started in 2011 as a kind of bedroom metal band project. There were only three members at the time of its formation. We gathered members to perform live and had our first live show in 2012. We were performing with more synchronized movements than we do now. Eleven years have passed since then and we have become naturally synchronized, but people are still angry about it.


There have been a lot of line-up changes over the years. Has changing members had a big impact on your sound?
 
All the songs are written by me, so there is no change in the basic musicality. Our vocalist Ryoichi co-wrote the vocal lines on some of the songs like ‘Drift Apart’ and ‘Southern Cross’. The experience of changing members over 20 times has made me tougher and changed the way I look at life. It has affected me in that sense.
 

Sailing Before the Wind has been in the Japanese metalcore scene for a long time. How has it changed since you started?
To be honest, not much has changed. Not us, but the people around us have changed. A lot of our friends quit and disappeared.


You are about to drop your new single, ‘Inferno’, can you tell us about the single and the inspiration behind it?
The theme of the song is to let our lives burn like an inferno until the day we burn out one day. We have always used elements such as the sea and blue as our brand colours, but this time we dared to choose red, inferno. I can’t reveal the reason for that just yet. The song features a guest guitar solo by great guitarist CØRTES from Zoume. When I first heard the solo, I was blown away. Can’t wait for you guys to hear the whole song.

The choreography you do onstage has really got a lot of attention. What inspired that kind of stage movement?
We are influenced by the constructed choreo of the bands like The Air I Breathe, early Like Moths to Flames, Memphis May Fire circa 2012, I, the Breather, From Atlantis, and Sirens & Sailors.
 

You handle all the negative comments so well but does it ever get you angry?
I stress when they make a point that is not true. I am not angry when they do emotion-based comments. If they don’t like what we’re doing, it’s okay. But objective facts are not the same as emotion so I’d like to correct that. For example, we don’t use click track, so comments like “It’s easy when they use a click track” is not true and I’d reply back with the truth.

 
What has been your favourite memory of playing bass outside of Sailing Before the Wind?
I did a demonstration video for Ibanez 6-string bass, it was a great honor. I also have a bass solo project under the name Nevrness, which is always fun.
 

Lastly, if you had to give somebody who has never listened to Sailing Before the Wind five songs to listen to, what would they be?

‘Inferno’, ‘Vanishing Figure’, ‘Rain or Shine’, ‘Neo Chronicle’, and ‘Iolite’. Almost in chronological order of release. Because the latest we are the best. All you need to do is listen to the five songs in order from the top on your favourite music streaming platform if you won’t search song titles. That’ll work 🙂


Stream ‘Inferno’ here.
 
 
 
 

Follow Sailing Before The Wind across their socials:
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