[Interview] Chilli Beans. : going beyond the “Girls band” label
After discovering the band through their first two albums, we now have the opportunity to ask directly them our questions! From the band’s creation and musical formation, to the One Piece theme song and their place on the Japanese music scene, thanks to their European label Black Screen Records, you will get all wanted informations!
Introduction of the members and origins of the group
Journal du Japon : Hello to all three of you, and thank you for your time!
First of all, could you tell us a bit more about this rather atypical trio formation, with only a guitar and a bass, but three female singers?
Maika (bass& singer) : We met at a music school called Voice (音楽塾ヴォイス). Originally all three of us were enrolled in the singer-songwriter course, where we played acoustic guitar while singing. So naturally from the formation of the band until today, every member is also simultaneously a singer.
Lily (guitar and singer) : Because all three of us used to strive to become a singer-songwriter and through meeting at the music school, we consequently became a drumless band with each member being the lead for different songs depending on our vision we want to convey, which now became our style.
Moto (lead singer) : Each of us write songs so I think that’s also what naturally evolved our style we have now.
JDJ : It seems to me that you all took a fairly general “singer-songwriter” course at the same school. How did the division of roles and specialities came about within the group?
Maika : The assignation of the instruments were decided at the time where we formed the band. Until we established Chilli Beans. I never seriously played the bass before but through recommendation of my teacher at the time I became in charge of this instrument.
Lily : I just love the guitar. There was a time I even considered focussing more on guitar rather than singing. So at the start of this band, I was kindly given this role.
Moto : Lily being so incredibly talented in playing the guitar, Maika knowing how to play the bass.. the roles just naturally fell into place, I think.
JDJ : In concrete terms, what’s it like to evolve as a group of female musicians on the Japanese music scene at the moment?
Moto : It’s fun! We present our many shapes and colours that come from us within to the outer world, and when people can draw power out of that, it makes us really happy!
Lily : In Japan, female bands are called « girls band » and up until now often than not many of them, their only identity seems for us to be solely the fact that they are girls, enforcing this image through their outfit and lyrics. Us, our band, we are predestined to be classified in this same category although we would like to be seen simply as a human and we feel comfort in expressing our feelings that we felt as a person, regardless of gender. Not being held back by labels, we would like to showcase the range of emotions and make music that come naturally to us so we can grow both musically and as a human.
Maika : We fall under the label « girls band » and get divided in this way although I personally don’t notice any difference in treatment by the outside.
Regarding the production, it’s fun to make music through the lens and perspectives of a woman and there are people who appreciate it and see it as a strength.
JDJ : Regarding this “ongaku juku voice” school, I saw that Vaundy was your classmate there, and that YUI also took part! Is it a well-known school in Japan? What exactly is the curriculum and what did it bring you personally?
Moto : Personally, song writing and performance lessons are what stuck to me the most. I have loved YUI so that was the reason for enrolling into this school.
Maika : I came to know Voice through YUI and Ayaka and enrolled in it through their influence. I believe that many of the people thinking about applying to Voice have similar reasons as me. We learn about covering western songs and performances, in-depth song analysis and music theory among other things. Especially performance practices at Voice has been really useful for our live concerts as well as learning about song analysis for doing song production.
Lily : Through dissecting music and learning about how songs are made but also acquiring performance skills independently were some of the key things we did there. Understanding music is obvious but more importantly, we made a lot of thoughts about how I want to present myself or my music. To me now that has been my biggest strength.
JDJ : It seems to me that « Andron » has a particular story where Moto came to share it with the rest of the band, almost finished, with lyrics and melody. Could Maika and Lily tell us about their first impressions?
Lily : « Andron » started with Moto’s vocals and guitar demos. I fell in love with the lyrics as well as the whole atmosphere of the song, so I was like, « We need to finish right away! »
At the start of making « Andron », we noticed that we haven’t made a song like that so it was a new challenge to put together the guitar part and the arrangement. With all the members we tweaked the melody to perfection which became a sentimental kind of pop song and I really love it!
Maika : « What a sweet song! », was my first impression. It has a very soft and gentle vibe. A girl pops up in my head, which through the wonderful lyrics I feel like I can sense her feelings so vividly. I can imagine that this is a song a lot of people can relate to.
JDJ : Apart from this rather exceptional song, how is the production process in general? Do you all work together on lyrics and instrumentals?
Lily : All members can do music arrangements so there are many ways we produce music. At the demo stage, there are times where we take a piece of something a band member made and expand it together and or other times where one person produces a song from start to almost finish.
Moto : As Lily said, either we take a piece that a person brings and build on top of it or a member produces it completely alone where we then finish it by adding lyrics or instrumental parts.
Maika : Yes, our most common method is where someone makes a base for the song and afterwards all 3 of us shape it to its final form. We also have songs where 1 person completely produced it and also songs where 2 members produced. Depending on different phases, we change up our production process, so there are no set methods.
JDJ : It also seems to me that Lily later specialised in music production, so she’s the one who does the final mix and works on the melodies?
Lily : The final mix is done by professional engineers.
Moto : Sometimes, because we do have a precise vision, we fix some vocals and instrumental sounds on our own.
The band’s influences
JDJ : Most of the clips (Andron, My Boy, 105) have a retro aesthetic, with sepia tones, the 8 mm format and “noise” on the image. I get the impression that there’s a current trend towards nostalgia for the Heisei era and the 90s-2000s, both in Japan with the recent ending of the anime Makeine in reference to LOVE 2000; and in France with a group like VIDEOCLUB. Is this a conscious approach for Chilli Beans?
Moto : It is not a conscious approach. We just presented ourselves however way we could at the time.
Lily : Yes, it’s not our intention. I love distortion and I listen to a lot of shoegaze and indie rock music. Noisy vibes and unadorned grunge style, we love the honest portrayal of our daily life.
Maika : Although it’s not an intentional approach, the colour grade and texture of the music videos, I wouldn’t be surprised that many people would come to this conclusion. Maybe the generation we grew up it just sneaks into our production very naturally.
JDJ : You often talk about your pop, rock and electro influences in interviews, but I find we talk far less about your jazz and funk side, which is nonetheless a central element of several songs! Especially in its characteristic bass lines.
Maika : I love funk so the bass line has a lot of influence from it!
Lily : Yes, I feel a lot of funk elements in Maika’s bass line. In fact that how I receive my funk influence.
Moto : Well, Maika loves funk so no doubt that plenty of our bass line are of this sort.
Meaning of the songs
JDJ : In 2023 you had the opportunity to perform One Piece’s Ending 19. Is working on an anime song really different from working on a personal song? And were you a fan of One Piece before? Because I guess you have to know the series to write lyrics about it!
Moto : I watch ONE PIECE since childhood and have been a fan from that moment! This song actually wasn’t made for ONE PIECE at all but when it was decided become one, we changed some lyrics of the refrain and made it appropriate to be a ONE PIECE song in the end. It was a lot of fun!
Lily : « Raise » is a song that was built upon a demo Moto had made when she was 20 years old, one of the first songs we arranged and finished back when we just formed the band. Moto was and still is a huge ONE PIECE fan, listening to every ending song so far, so it was heavily influenced by that. As we applied for doing the newest ending song, we deliberately chose this song. Reason being that the whole arrangement and atmosphere was already pirately themed because the song was full of Moto’s energy from at the time. Just before putting this song on anime, we made last minute changes, we replaced a word in our lyrics that reference to Moto’s favorite ONE PIECE scene and the song was finally completed.
Maika : This song started with Moto singing and playing the acoustic guitar and we took that and arranged it together as a band. It was something we made, not long after forming the band and through evolving to an ONE PIECE song we changed the start of the refrain to « Kakageyou! » (Raise!), to fit into the world of ONE PIECE. Apart from that change, we left the lyrics and arrangement as is. It’s a pretty deep song for something that our initial impulse in our early days created but I think maybe it’s precisely that matched our mood at the time. Being chosen by a wonderful production like ONE PIECE, we are so blessed and satisfied.
JDJ : From my side, I really like this song, you’ve brought in that nostalgic atmosphere typical of Chilli Beans but also typical of certain anime endings (like the very first: Memories); and at the same time it’s very “shonen jump” and makes you want to go on an adventure!
Moto : Thank you so much!!
Lily : By sticking together (as a team/family, etc.), every adventure can be exciting! We made a song that reminds us how we felt at the time. I’m happy this energy conveys to the outside world!
JDJ : For non-japanese speaking people who can’t understand the lyrics of your songs, could you tell us about the themes addressed by Chili Beans in general? What messages are you trying to convey through your songs?
Moto : The sadness and loneliness that is inside oneself, a world no one understands, these are common themes we mainly focus on. Being able to relate to us, thinking things like, « being able to live is enough, » expressing irony and fooling around and maybe being entertained by us. If we could somehow be an influence in this way, we would be happy.
Lily : Making songs about things that didn’t work out well, and being able to make fun and bring lightness and silliness to oneself that is feeling down, I would like to continue to create playfully and with humour.
Future projects
JDJ : I know Lily has been for a long time a big fan of DTM, but I feel like there was even more of it in Welcome to My Castle, especially on songs like « My Life is saikooo ». Is this a direction you’d like to continue exploring in the future?
Lily : I started with DTM around the same time as the band. All the members make music according to DAW but we wanted to create a creepy and interesting world in « Welcome To My Castle » so we went heavy on DTM elements. Personally, I am attracted to the charm of the pure sound of instruments like never before, so I would love to improve my skills in DTM.
JDJ : Are there any other styles, instruments or sounds you’d like to explore?
Moto : There are plenty! I would like to try a lot of things as well as play and produce different sounds. The more I think about it, the more ideas comes out.
Lily : I want to continue to try and learn whatever style the heart desires at the moment and makes me excited. That makes me incredibly happy.
Maika : I am hugely influenced by the music I listen to at the time so going on forward I would like to continue to absorb whatever music I discover and reinterpret it for myself, and I’m really excited for it!
JDJ : I understand you use this technology for drum sounds in particular? Have you ever wanted to integrate a regular 4th member to play live in this position?
Lily : We never considered it. Chilli Beans. songs sounds like Chilli Beans. songs because we make music with the 3 of us.
Moto, Maika : Yes, agree.
JDJ : Finally, is a European tour on the cards one day? How do you see the European market at the moment?
Moto : We don’t have any plans at the moment but if one day we get the chance to meet everyone overseas we would love to!
Maika : I love music from Europe and it has a big influence on my core so I would definitely want to go!
Lily : Europe tour would be my big dream come true…
When one day this day will come I would be very happy.
JDJ: Thanks to all three of you for this interview, and we hope to be able to attend one of your concerts very soon!
The band’s networks :
Black screen Records : Official Distributor (CD and Vinyls) of the band in Europe
