All contents of this website © Industry 2002-2004 except where otherwise stated.

Eve of Destiny © Haruhiko Ash 1997-2004.

Bern, Switzerland, Club ISC, 2002.11.02 (around 2am)

The interview was more-or-less fixed with Yuko Tsukamoto (webmistress of the official EOD site) through email, so after the concert ended I was wondering around the backstage door, waiting for her to show up and when she did I introduced myself and asked if it's ok to make the interview now. She went back to the dressing-room for a moment to ask them, then returned and said it's ok. :) Since I don't know Japanese, Yuko and a girl named Manami helped me with the translation (many, many thanks to both of them!) However the language barrier was still a bit too huge sometimes, so there are some parts that got lost in the translation.

'H' - Haruhiko Ash, 'K' - Közi and 'C' is me (Case)

C-What influenced you to become a musician?
H-My first and main inspiration was punk music.
K-Same for me.

C-How did your attention turn towards dark/goth music?
H-I was fascinated by the subculture of dark/goth music, because ever since childhood I was very interested in the dark things.... books, films, art, etc...

C-Which bands inspired you the most?
H-I got inspiration from many kinds of different music and bands, not only gothic.

C-What did you do between the Zolge and EoD?
H-I didn't play music, but I did many kinds of other things, like writing, modelling and I was active in the media. I worked for magazines and television, etc...

C-How did you start EoD?
H-When I finished the Zolge I was still writing music and the name Eve of Destiny came from a song title. Eve of Destiny is not really a band and I don't feel that I need a band around me. However I found a good guitarist (looks at Közi, who smiles ^_^), so now we play together, but I'm still not interested in having a real band.

C-Why did you start Club Eve of New Church?
H-I started it in 1997, because there was absolutely no gothic scene in Japan.

C-(for Közi)-How did you meet Haruhiko and joined EoD?
K (actually it was more Yuko explaining what happened, so I wrote it as she said) He was in the crew of the Zolge in the very early times, so they've known each other for a very long time. The autumn of last year, they met again at a goth party which club Eve of New Church supported in Osaka. After the party Haruhiko called Közi. Közi respects Haruhiko as an artist and also as a person (as he said in  the message he sent by postcard to his fans when he announced that he joined EoD.) He wanted to try his own capabilities in different scene, in another world. So, it was very good timing.

C-Do you want to keep EoD only as an international band and not play in Japan at all?
H-I also want to play in Japan and in Asia... we played in the Philippines already, but now I'm in the lucky situation to play world-wide. And we don't want to accept every offer, we only want to play in places where both the venue and the audience is good and suits our taste. For example this venue and timing is excellent. So we want to choose a good place, time and audience. And in Japan we can't really find the kind of audience we want.

C-Are there any other lives planned?
H-Yes

C-And where?
H-Early next year in Germany... It is not yet confirmed, but we will probably play there in a festival next spring. And there are some other European gigs planned too, but nothing is sure yet.

C-How did you like the Leipzig and New Zealand live?
H-They were very different. While Treffen was a huge, world-wide festival, the one in New Zealand was very, very small, only a local festival, but it both places we had equally excellent audience!

C-Are there any new bands that you like, and are there ones that inspire you?
H-Only Eve of Destiny (laughing) But the bands we played with in the Philippines and New Zealand were really excellent.

C-Do you have contacts with any European or US bands?
H-Yes, with the American Razed in Black. I have a very good relationship with them, and the new Razed in Black album, which will be released next year will include an Eve of Destiny remix. And we also keep contact with several European bands.

C-Are you working on the Eve of Destiny CD?
H-Yes, we are recording it. And we are also planning to appear on some compilation albums in different countries and labels.

C-And when will the album be released?
H-Next year... maybe early next year.

C-(for Közi) Do you have any other projects going on beside EoD or do you plan to join any other band?
K-I'm also working on music beside Eve of Destiny, but I'm not involved with any other bands. Right now I'm working on a solo project, involving other media formats... I'm making music for a novel and the book and the CD will be released together.

C-The Leipzig Eve of Destiny line-up included Mizz. Who was he and why didn't he play in the other lives?
H-Ohh, I knew the Manipulator (he referred to Mizz as the Manipulator all the time) from before. Now he lives in London, and since London and Germany are close to each other, when we came to Leipzig I called him and said "We will play close to you, so please come and join us". He said OK, so we played together. Also in Germany we were in need of him, but now it is clear to us what we want to play, so we don't need the Manipulator's help anymore.

C-Do you write the new songs together?
H-Yes. I write the music and do some of the programming, then I pass it to Közi and he does the arrangements. Then we discuss and finish it together, so basically we work like any other band.

C-(for Közi) What do you think about the visual scene in Japan?
K-I don't follow what happens. I like to play music and for me it doesn't matter if I'm in a visual band or not as long as I like the music I make. So for me both visual and not-visual is OK. For me it feels the same to play in Malice and in Eve of Destiny, so I'm just continuing to do what I like.

C-(for Közi) Do you still keep contact with the ex-Malice members?
K-Yes, sometimes I meet with some of them.

After this we said thanks, I took a photo and went back to the club to chat with the others and listen to all the great music the DJs played... and felt terribly happy that everything went so well.. :)