Rock It! #17, February 1994
Question&Profile, Interview with hide
Translation: w_b


Q: The brand and model of your main guitar?
hide: Fernandes Mockingbird.

Q: Which necessities do you always take with you on tour?
hide: Contact lenses and glasses.

Q: What do you always do to insure the show goes smoothly?
hide: No water or food beforehand.

Q: What do you always do to insure recording goes smoothly?
hide: Drink lots of alcohol.

Q: How long does rehearsal last on average when you're touring?
hide: Takes about 12 hours when we have one, otherwise we do a run through, like for Tokyo Dome.

Q: Do you have perfect pitch?
hide: I don't.

Q: Your grade in music throughout junior, middle and senior high?
hide: Less than a 3 on 5 I think.

Q: Your favorite subject in junior, middle and senior high?
hide: I think...English?

Q: Your least favorite subject in junior, middle and senior high?
hide: Math.

Q: When you were young, how did you mainly come in contact with music?
(1) In which way?
hide: At a friend's house.
(2) Approximately how old were you at the time?
hide: First year of middle high, give or take.

Q: When you were a child, did you have to listen to music as part of an enrichment program?
hide: Never.

Q: How would your ideal TV appearance go?
hide: No run-through, lots of time in between, no showing my face on the screen.

Q: How would your ideal magazine appearance go?
hide: Alcohol, no photos, front cover *laughs*.

Q: Who of the following would you compare yourself to? Nobunaga, Hideyoshi or Ieyoshi? *
hide: Ieyoshi.

Q: Your part time job history?
hide: I did things like moving Yoshitada mannequins.

Q: Your drinking history?
hide: I really didn't like it much until I met Pata and we started drinking together, and things went from there *laughs*.

Q: Your gambling history?
hide: Games like Oicho-kabu in my hotel room. **

Q: Your dating history?
hide: I'm a late bloomer.

Q: Favorite dish?
hide: I could spend days making curry, I like that. I cut the vegetables and all.

Q: What do you want from your fans.
hide: Nothing. Come to my shows, buy my records, that's it.

Q: What do you want from your staff (the office & record company)?
hide: Bring money when we go drinking.

Q: What do you want from the film crew?
hide: Please stop forcing me to jump *laughs*.

Q: What do you want from the lighting crew?
hide: Nothing really.

Q: What do you want from the editor?
hide: Same as above.

Q: Which professional baseball team do you cheer for?
hide: None. I think baseball shouldn't exist.

Q: Any hairstyle changes and the reason behind them?
hide: My hair's always the same.

Q: Have you cried during a show and if so, when and why?
hide: Wish I could say I never have but you'll see me cry on the video that's coming out *laughs*. I'll refer you to that.

Q: What would you do if you had a hundred million yen of extra income?
hide: Think I'd spend it all on horses.

Q: The type of person you like or idolize?
hide: Someone who doesn't get angry even though drunk.

Q: Habits?
hide: I've heard I talk a lot when I drink.

Q: Something you would never want to do.
hide: Aquatic ballet.

Q: Something you'd like to do for your fans.
hide: Tokyo Dome. When's it coming out? (It did in January.) We played at Tokyo Dome *laughs*.

Q: If you were to be in a movie, which role would you want to play?
hide: Dr Lecter. (Silence of the Lambs)

Q: How do you deal with groupies?
hide: They're welcome around.

Q: On the main menu after a live?
hide: Two shots of Nihonshu. ***

Q: What would you be happy to see thrown onto the stage?
hide: Nothing.

Q: What thing or piece of equipment do you find convenient if added to your stage?
hide: An air conditioner.

Q: Which recent world events concern you the most?
hide: None, even with TV I rarely follow them.

Q: The one person who has had the greatest influence on you?
hide: Not that he's an influence, but I wouldn't be sporting the hair I am now if I hadn't met Yoshiki.

Q: Which country do you want to visit the most and why?
hide: None really.

Q: When was the first show you ever went to and which artist?
hide: BOW WOW, when I was in middle high. I was a total groupie.

Q: Which Japanese artist influenced you the most?
hide: BOW WOW.

Q: Which foreign artist would you like to talk to?
hide: Perry Farrell from Jane's Addiction and Porno For Pyros.

Q: Which Japanese artist would you like to talk to?
hide: None.

Q: Which Japanese artist would you like to perform with?
hide: Kanako Higuchi.

Q: Which foreign artist would you like to perform with?
hide: Perry Farrell.

Q: If you were to do a cover, which artist and song?
hide: I can't think of any.

Q: At which age did you discover rock?
hide: First year of middle high.

Q: Where did you play your first show with your current band?
hide: In front of an American military base.

Q: The show that left the biggest impression on you?
hide: Osaka-jo hall. The guards pissed us off so we jumped down and beat them up.

Q: The name of the first song you wrote both lyrics and music for, since your debut?
hide: It's on BLUE BLOOD.

Q: Do you ever listen to your own albums at home?
hide: If I can't sleep at night.

Q: What have you lost by becoming a professional?
hide: My liver.

Q: How do you decide on a list of songs for your lives?
hide: By majority rule.

Q: The brand of shampoo and conditioner you use?
hide: No idea. I like the ones that make you smell like a high school chick.

Q: The number of shoes you own and your preferred style?
hide: No idea. Wouldn't know how to describe them.

Q: What do you look at first, in a girl?
hide: The line of her shoulders.

Q: The age at which you became an adult?
hide: I'll try to be one in the future.

Q: What type of girl do you like? Be specific.
hide: One who drinks, one I'd hit it off with.

Q: Your personal life-long goal?
hide: I wanna disappear without a trace. Completely.

Q: What is the goal you strive for as a band?
hide: The world.

Q: As a band, how long do you take to create a new song?
hide: Way too long.

Q: Which role in the band would you like to play aside from your own?
hide: None.

Q: Are you interested in going solo and if so, what kind of solo would it be?
hide: Something that'll be less trouble than X.

Q: What do you always do when on tour (other than give shows)?
hide: I do nothing but drink.

Q: Where do you always go while on tour (other than your hotel and the concert hall)?
hide: The local bar.

Q: What soudproofing measures do you take when practicing at home?
hide: I just don't play that loud.

Q: Do you have a way of reducing stress?
hide: There's really only booze.

Q: What excuse do you give when you're late?
hide: "I'm sorry."

Q: Living alone or do you prefer the issues and limited freedom that come with living together?
hide: I see no issues.

Q: Your salary (net income)?
hide: Please, pay me.

Q: What do you need before bed to insure a good night's sleep?
hide: Alcohol.

Q: What would you eat if you had 500yen/day to spend on food?
hide: Grape bread and milk.

Q: What do you like best in your miso soup?
hide: Spinach and cabbage.

Q: What is your karaoke repertoire?
hide: I hate karaoke. But I'll sing "toki no sugiyuku mama ni" ****

Q: What are your favorite snacks when drinking? Your favorite entree and meal?
hide: Anything.



Notes:
* Oda Nobunaga, Hideyoshi Toyotomi, Ieyoshi Tokugawa
** Oicho-kabu is a card game: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oicho-kabu
*** I translated it as "a shot" however, the quantity mentionned is equvalent to 0.18L. So 0.18L times two.
**** "Toki no sugiyuku mama ni" is a song by Sawada Kenji