commmons SPECIAL

It's been three years since the activity of THE MAD CAPSULE MARK ETS (hereinafter referred to as MAD), which has been active all over the world, has stopped. Takeshi Ueda, who was a key player in the band as a bassist and a songwriter, is finally back in front of us! He started a solo project called AA= and dropped the album “#1” in February. First, I asked him how he started spinning music again. Then, three years have passed since it wasn't so short, and by this time, it wasn't just the question of "what kind of music would you like to play next?" It seems that there was considerable deliberation, including the social background.

“When the band I used to play was stopped, I reconsidered various things. What was my task to do? I thought about various musical styles. I was thinking of doing an ordinary rock band, or just trying to type in a computer by myself, but in the end, I realized that it wasn't what I was, and it took me so long to realize it. I was always worried because I wanted to do something that wasn't a band I've ever been in.''

Certainly, MAD is too big, even though it was built by Ueda himself. However, the suppleness that MAD expresses music of all genres such as punk, techno, and heavy rock through its own filter with the era was the most attractive. And "#1" is also a work that makes you feel really supple. As you can see, Ueda says that he was able to land on the current musicality after pondering that he realized that "what he wants to do is not changed, that is his own style."

"(MAD) started with a punk band, but from the beginning I was originally interested in techno and driving, so in the end I was the one who was anything. That was my current musicality. And I think you are"

However, there was a time when I was worried about what kind of musicality I was going to, but my willingness to continue playing the music did not shake.

“I just love making music, and I thought it made sense to do it, but I thought that I would continue to sell music on a commercial basis. What does it mean to make music in Japan? It's unpleasant if you just sell music because you made it."

In this era, music is often treated as a consumable item instead of art. Ueda began to clearly set out AA= as a way to overcome the sense of incongruity that had accumulated over the years as he continued his musical activities on the front lines. One of them is that we decided to release it to commmons.

“I think it would be different if commmons didn't have such a shape, but I think that commmons fits nicely when it takes such a shape, or I was satisfied with the idea of commmons itself. Selling music as commercial It's a company that does business, but at the same time I'm thinking about environmental issues. I think it's a label that isn't aimed at making money, so I think it's not easy. I think it's very encouraging. I think the sound of the image of commmons is a little different from my own sound, but I think that the part of the idea beyond that kind of thing fits in, so it's the best.”

Actually, "#1" is a package that also shows the attitude of protecting the natural environment, such as 100 yen per CD sales is donated to WWF and it is a carbon offset product.

"Paper jackets, carbon offsets, commmons are often done originally, but that's where I can nod myself. So donations are something I want to do somewhere when I start my musical activities. I was looking for a label that had the purpose of wanting to use it when I made a product and made a profit there. Even when I was a MAD, I sold T-shirts under my own name. I was doing it for the first time, but it's my first time to do it with my own sound source, and I think it makes sense to think of it as the center of my music activity.”

In addition, there are probably many people who are interested in the origin of the project name, AA=. Here, as well as environmental protection, the meaning that seems to be a distortion of modern society is put. The trigger was George Orwell's novel Animal Farm. "ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL" written at the beginning-a sentence that all animals are equal. "I just think the meaning is good," he named it AA=. The content of the novel is, in short, a story in which society is corrupted by power. I can't help wondering if there is a backlash against it.

"The novel itself is a story from the Soviet era, but I think that it still holds true in this era. I want to say that I am one of many animals. By the way, I don't know what's ahead of me. It's more of a contradiction than a sense of crisis for the present age. I want to say I hate what I hate."