Interview with KanonxKanon in London

Before their first London concert that marked the end of their first European Tour, KanonxKanon stepped out of their 2.5 dimension world to chat with Rokkyuu about the band, their inspirations and walking on Abbey Road the right way around!

[Note: Kanon Wakeshima is noted throughout the interview as Kanon♀. Kanon of An Cafe is noted as Kanon♂]

69: Please introduce yourselves and tell us something about the other Kanon.
K♂: I’m Kanon from KanonxKanon. Kanon-chan likes cute things very much; she even thinks tulip bulbs are lovely. [laugh]
K♀: Hey, that’s my father! [laugh]
K♂: Anything that is cute and girly are the things that she really likes.
K♀: Hello I am Kanon from Kanon x Kanon. During the tour Kanon has been making new many compositions. He’s someone who really likes work.

69: You describe yourselves as a ’2.5 dimensional music unit’, can you explain what that means?
K♂: It’s a reality like living in anime but we are in reality so…
K♀: At the beginning our first and second songs were made for anime and so we decided to become artists who are otaku friendly. In Japan, animation is regarded as coming from the animated world, but we are from the 3D world. But our music is otaku friendly so we are between the 2D and 3D world.

69: You both seem to like anime very much, so if you could be any anime character, who would you choose to be?
K♂: Hmm, not really a character but I want to wear an eye patch and have fire power from my hands, like a hero. [laugh]
K♀: Eh, what I wonder? I want to be like a maiden surrounded by many butlers.

69: Like Kuroshitsuji…
K♀: Yes, like Kuroshitsuji. [laugh]

69: Your singles have been used for two very different animes, Kanon♂ how did you approach the composing of those singles?
K♂: The songs are… when I see a picture of the anime or an illustration, or when I watch the opening movie, a song title will just pop out at me and I think of what song will fit the particular movie. From the impressions I receive from the videos I come up with composition for the songs.

69: Your latest single, Koi no Doutei, the music video and your website description are both really fun. You say it is a song like a prescription for love, so how did you decide on this theme? Was it driven by the anime or your own ideas?
K♂: The base material is about a 30 year old virgin, so as it’s a love story I took those ideas to come up with the music.

69: If you had one lesson for love, what would you teach us?
K♂: ‘It’s bad if you push too hard.’
K♀: If you have someone that you love, sing the song “Koi no Doutei” for them as the love prescription.
 
69: Thinking about the first single, Calendula Requiem, it has a very different feel. It has a very ‘wa‘ (asian) feel to it with interesting imagery such as the PS3-headed and the bucket-headed people. What was the concept you were aiming for in that video?
K♂: The period of Shiki (for which the song was made) is set in a small old Japanese village, so I thought a very wa feel to the video would suit the song. We decided on ideas for the video that would suit this feeling well, but more than that the video exists in the 2.5 world so it doesn’t have much feeling of ‘reality’, so I used CG to show the different world.

69: Why the different heads on the people in the video?
K♂: We thought of and gathered things that reminded us of Japan. The things behind me are all gadgets of modern Japan while Kanon-chan has symbols of old Japan following her, so it created that sort of Japanese sense.

69: There will be many lolitas here this evening. What do you think about the spread of lolita fashion around the world?
K♀: In Japan, Japanese people took the idea of old European fashion and invented into a new form in Lolita fashion, and now in reverse, people overseas are enjoying Japanese fashion and I think that is really great for communication between companies.

69: This is your first European tour, what are you most excited about and what are you most nervous about?
K♂: The encore is the most enjoyable part for me.
K♀: And about being nervous, I don’t really get nervous, honestly.

69: You have both been to the UK before but is there anything you both really want to do while you are here?
K♂: Before, when I came with An Café, we went to Abbey Road to take a photo shoot like the Beatles did crossing the road but we went the wrong way! So this time I want to try and do it again the right way around.
K♀: I went sightseeing when I came here before, but I really want to go shopping this time.

69: Ah, which shops do you want to go to?
K♀: Penhaligon. It’s a perfume and bath goods shop.

69: Finally, can you give a message to our readers at Rokkyuu?
K♂: Thank you for reading through until the end. [laugh] There are people who don’t know us and people who do know us, but if you can get a better idea of KanonxKanon reading this I will be very happy. From now on, please continue supporting us.
K♀: Hello everyone. Thank you for always supporting us. I was so surprised with the British cupcakes last time I visited; there were lovely candy colours in green and pink in the box, they were so vivid! [laughs] Please continue supporting us!