Saturday 29 January 2011

Exclusive interview with Stein Gar Coo


Stein Gar Coo is an interesting circle, in many more ways than just a curious name. Although their first album 「stein gar coo」(November 2008) wasn't billed as 電波系, it's not like it's too far off the mark. The focus was on "yandere-rock" and they delivered admirably, especially with (the ridiculously long-titled) 「一方的な感情は理想的な結末を導くのか?」 which features twisted guitar licks and tormented vocals, both male and female. Then you have 「めざせ!モテカワスリム」 which is borderline moe-song, even though that was probably unintentional. "Cute girl" vocals will do that!

They followed this up with a hilarious superhero-squadron CD 「読瓜戦隊ハラレンジャー」 (August 2009) which included OP and ED theme songs as well as 50 minutes of voice drama comedy! In fact you can sample the hot-blooded opening theme and the entire first story with this illustrated video. Denpa fans probably only started paying attention to Stein Gar Coo with the release of their third album 「sweetCHU kiss」 (October 2010) which featured three brand new original tunes. As if that wasn't enough, they even got BB Lemonade on board (おでんぱ☆スタジオ and Melo9) to inject some denpa expertise into these songs, giving them a familiar and comforting sonority in the process.

Currently, the Stein Gar Coo members are working on their fourth project 「いらない子ゲーム」, which will be a visual novel! For more info, please refer to their website as well as official blog.


- Please introduce the doujin circle Stein Gar Coo and its members.

Our circle "したいがぁるくぅ" features three main members. We have two singers: "kick" (female) and "椎夜" (male). "めがね" (male) plays the guitar. Of course, we are always open to cooperation and frequently recruit collaborators when making new work.

First album 「stein gar coo」 (yandere-rock)

- What's the story behind your circle name?

The name "したいがぁるくぅ" has a double meaning in Japanese: "The corpse walks" and "Corpse girl 「kuu」". On the other hand, "stein gar coo" is also the title of the first album. It's a mix of German and English. It can be broken into: "stein" (German for stone), "gar" (extremely) and "coo" (a murmur). It kinda looks like the pronunciation for "したいがぁるくぅ", so we decided to use it!


- Why did you decide to make your third album denpa-style?

Two reasons, really. First, we wanted to make a sequel to our drama album 「読瓜戦隊ハラレンジャー」 by giving these characters their own songs. Since we wanted to make these songs cute and lovely, we turned to denpa and it was a perfect fit.


- Will future albums also be denpa-style?

There's a strong possibility that we will make more denpa songs from now on. However, it depends entirely on what kind of music we feel like making at any given moment. Of course if we want to make more lovely songs, then we will definitely produce another denpa-style CD.


Second album 「読瓜戦隊ハラレンジャー」(superhero drama)

- Why did you decide to enlist the aid of BB Lemonade?

We met BB Lemonade through various social network services sometime ago. Since we wanted to make a denpa CD, it only made sense to seek the collaboration of a specialist. We asked for his help and he ended up arranging all of the songs on our latest album.


- How does it feel to sing denpa songs instead of regular songs?

kicK: Since denpa songs allow me to become our characters, it makes me feel great!

椎夜: Actually I do not feel much of a difference in terms of singing. However, I can appreciate that denpa allows me to sing about things that would not normally be "allowed" in regular songs!


- Your fourth project 「いらない子ゲーム」 is a "Psycho Suspense Visual Novel" game. What information can you share?

The plan right now is for us to complete the game by December, because we want to sell it at the next Winter Comiket (C81)! The script is as good as complete. As for the artwork, we have hired はびら to help us out. She is a well-known artist and her style will definitely match our game. Of course, we will take care of the music. In fact we plan on selling the "opening song" CD at the Spring M3 event this coming May 2011.


Third album 「sweeCHU kiss」(denpa-style)

- What is the relation between "WHAT a WONDERFUL WORLD" and Stein Gar Coo?

"WHAT a WONDERFUL WORLD" is one of the bands "めがね" used to be in. After that, he founded "したいがぁるくぅ".


- What are some of the hobbies the Stein Gar Coo members enjoy?

椎夜: I enjoy taking landscape photography, as well as singing and performing with my voice. Of course I like to watch videos on "ニコニコ動画" NicoNico Douga.

kicK: I like collecting goods from "My Melody", going to Tokyo Disneyland and petting animals!

めがね: I love to travel!


- How will the HARA RANGERS save us from Kim Jong-il??

"With positive thinking as a battle mode, we will definitely reach North Korea's heart!"
(Lyrics from our song 「地球征服でGOGO!」)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"Iranaiko-game" reminds me of 999! Could be very interesting.