JELLYFISH : MUSIC X VALENTINE Part 1

A week before Valentine, Kojacon Report had a chance to meet one of successful local bands who often performs in Japanese event in Indonesia. The name is Jellyfish, the band consists of 6 members and we managed to have a special interview with 5 of them. Jellyfish are Aria (vocal),  Bio (guitar), Taku (guitar), Riyo (synthesizer), Neita (bass), and Tian (drum). Since something came up, Aria wasn’t able to join us in the interview though.

They started their band as indie band, going from one event to other event and finally debuted in major label with Nagaswara in October 2010. However they’re still highly influenced visually with Japanese visual kei style in their fashion. Although they no longer joined Nagaswara, they still develop more in the music as they are going to release their own album this year. And Neita is the latest member joining the band.

We asked them about their music inspiration and their valentine experience. Let’s just check out the first part of the interview.

-Jellyfish and their music inspiration-

K : Can you tell us a bit about Jellyfish and how did you decide to start a band?

Tian : We were formed in March 2009. That time we just felt that we have same passion in music and our characters just fit in each other. I think since then we finally had decided to start playing in a band together.

K : How is your family reaction when you say you want to start a band?

Taku : They pretty much support us. My parents only advice me not to get involved in dangerous and bad environment.

Neita : As for me, because of our visual is like this even in our daily life, well you see I wear this mask everytime, and also our hair is bleached, many people will talk bad about us. They also underestimate us. However my family advice me not to stuck in my idealism when making music, that i also have to concern with the trends in community.

K : What’s your inspiration in making music?

Taku : Our band is trying to mix rock music from Indonesia and Japan. Visually, we wear Japanese visual kei bands fashion style so we get much influence from them. However for our music, we get a lot of inspiration from our daily life and also from our fans. For example, there’s a number in our single, ‘Sahabat’ and the inspiration for that song came from our relationship, between Jellyfish and Jellyfriends.

Taku emitted serious aura

K : You have ever released a single called “Maafkan Aku” before, do you have a plan to release a new single/album soon?

Tian : We are working on it now.  And it must released this year. Hahaha…

Neita : In this album, various sounds will be included. We personalize the music with each characters of ours. We insert electro sounds, and even dubstep!! Please look forward to our new album!!

K : What do you guys think about the development of Japanese music scene in Indonesia?

Tian : Eventhough it looks like it’s growing positively now, but I personally think it’s not stable. Sometimes the hype is high, sometimes it’s not. However we kept our visual in Japanese Rock mode. We hope to introduce more about Japanese music from our visual.

K : How does fans mean to Jellyfish?

Taku : We called our fans as our 7th member. We named them “Jellyfriends”. I think without them Jellyfish means nothing. We really treasure them.

K : According to you personally, what is the charming point of Jellyfish?

Taku : We were often called as arrogant band by some people, but I think we’re not. I think we’re very humble and we want to be known as humble band. I hope Jellyfish can meet that expectation.

Bio : Hahaha, yeah sometimes we also drop off our fans to their house if the event is late. I think it’s our special fanservice hahaha….

Tian : Our fashion and our easy listening songs.

Riyo : We’re a friendly band!!!

Neita : Our style!! Jellyfish music is not only to be heard, but we also want the audience to enjoy our performance too. We want them to see how good our visual is on the stage.

Neita, the latest member of Jellyfish

K : Who is your role model in music?

Taku : I really love western musicians like Coldplay and Bring Me The Horizon.

Tian : I like Shou from Alice 9, Ruki the Gazette, and The Rev from Avenged Sevenfold.

Riyo : Akira Jimbo, the drummer from Casiopea!

Neita : Reita the Gazette, but the first person whom I looked up to so I started learning the instrument is Tetsuya from L’Arc~en~ Ciel.

Bio : From local bands, I like Padi and Sheila on 7. For Japanese band, I like Alice Nine.

K : Before performing do you have any extraordinary ritual?

Bio : I never take a bath before performing hahaha….

Neita : At the backstage, we pray together hoping the performance will succeed.

Taku : I join a Koran reading session. It makes me feel peaceful.

K : What makes you feel energetic during performance?

Taku : None other than support and screams from fans. We want them to hype up when we perform energetic songs, and sing together with us when ballad song is performed.

K : What is your best memory with Jellyfish?

Taku : We had holiday before in Bali together and it was our best memory. Also during our performance in Solo & Semarang.

Neita : In 2012, we were invited in an event in Solo. Most of our fans, Friends, even willing to come to Solo to watch our performance. That makes the event felt so special.

<to be continued>