[SPECIAL] Interview with FLOW, September 2015

It’s already a bit past 10 pm, the first day of Anime Festival Asia Indonesia (AFAID) 2015. A lot of people were still in the halls used for the anisong concert. The concert had started almost three hours earlier, and the audience had been jumping and waving their glow sticks the whole time. But when FLOW came on stage, the audience who had been taking a break during set change quickly got back to their feet, screaming and putting their hands in the air. Together with FLOW, they jumped, shouted, and sang along to the band’s well-known, well-loved songs. Double vocalists KEIGO and KOHSHI energetically bounced everywhere they could on the stage, riling the audience, while of course showing off their singing prowess. Guitarist TAKE stunned with his guitar skills, while bassist GOT’S and drummer IWASAKI provided the dynamic rhythm that invited audience to dance. Some attendees in the General Admission (GA) section just couldn’t contain their excitement in one spot – they literally ran around among other attendees on the floor.

The performance reached the climax, an explosive one, with the final song, GO!!, an opening theme for the hugely popular anime series NARUTO. Handclaps roared as the band left the stage, bowing and waving at fans.

In an interview held the day after the live, the band themselves admitted that they were surprised by the enthusiasm of the audience. Being the last performers of the day and with the night already long rolled in, and it being their first live ever in Indonesia, they didn’t expect that they would get such a fiery welcome by the fans. They hadn’t known much about Indonesia either – they had known about Bali, of course, and the beautiful seas, and “Nasi goreng! Mi goreng!” TAKE claimed, triggering laughter from everyone in the room. Despite that, the audience had greatly impressed them, making them really happy.

Speaking of NARUTO, the band of course has a special fondness for the anime, which has helped spreading their music to the fans of the anime and beyond. In fact, their latest soundtrack project is also for NARUTO: a song titled Niji no sora, which they also performed in AFAID 2015. No wonder that when asked which anime they have worked on that has left the biggest impression on them, TAKE answered firmly, “NARUTO!”

As well as providing soundtracks for the anime, FLOW has also worked with Matsuoka Koudai, who starred as Uzumaki Naruto in NARUTO live spectacle (musical), recording their version of Hikari oikakete, the image song. At the end of the musical all the cast sang the song together, and FLOW then included Matsuoka Koudai in the recording of the song for their CD.

Each member of the band also had their own favourite NARUTO character. TAKE chose Shikamaru, KOHSHI said it’s Kakashi, IWASAKI picked Rock Lee, while GOT’S decide on the main character Naruto himself. KEIGO could not just have one: he said he likes Obito, Rin, and Kakashi and the story of the three of them.

Other than NARUTO, GOT’S said that Eureka Seven is also an anime that feels special to them. In Japan, the anime was broadcast early in the morning, 7am, which was unusual. He loves how the music really fits the anime. We told them that DAYS from Eureka Seven is their song that we love the most. At this, TAKE quickly said, grinning, “Sorry, we didn’t perform the song in the live yesterday! Sorry. We’ll perform the song next time. We’ll come again.”

So does that mean there is a chance for FLOW to comeback to Indonesia for a one-man?

“Yaritai desu!” (We want to do it!)

“OF COURSE!”

When we heard such confident answers coming from them, we started crossing our fingers for their one-man here to happen!

But being a busily touring band, do they still have any pastime that they like doing? TAKE answered cheerfully, “Kintore (weight training)!” KEIGO said that because he likes football (soccer), he uses his time both playing and watching football. Lately he has also played football with TAKE. GOT’S loves camera, so he spends his free time taking pictures. While KOHSHI takes the chance to drink, because when they’re busy working, he can’t have much of the alcoholic drinks that he likes. How about IWASAKI, the oldest in the band? “I’m tired…” The band sniggered. “…I’m also already old.” Now they laughed outloud, jocularly calling him an old man. “So I just sleep…”

Overall, the interview with FLOW went like that: a lot of laughter and jokes. They’re really a nice group of people to be with. They even showed us what they’re going to wear in this year’s Tokyo Odaiba Halloween Park, but they said it’s ‘top secret’ so we could only advise you to wait and see as not to spoil the surprise!

But like all good things, the interview must be put to an end, because there would still be photo/video op with FLOW, and FLOW would fly back to Japan that very day. Before we moved to the next session, they once again stated how happy they were because of the blazing-hot appreciation they got during the live on the previous day.

And what’s their biggest dream that they still want to reach now? To hold a live in Indonesia, they answered. “A long live in which we will perform DAYS,” GOT’S added with a smile.

Here’s a message from them: