BURRN! June 2025 issue THE JUGGLER snippet

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―――The idea of bringing a tribute band on the "Prologue" tour took me by surprise.

Naoto: The idea of a tribute band had been in my head for over a year, and when I spoke to the production chief, he said, "That sounds interesting." Tribute bands exist in many places, but ANTHEM is the only band that would think of taking a real tribute band on tour, so we decided to go for it.

"Since it's a band, we'll need a band leader," so I first thought of Shima (Norifumi/guitar). He's obviously got great guitar skills, and he might even know more about ANTHEM than I do (laughs). He has a good grasp of everything from equipment to song content, so I consulted him straight away. I think it was over a year before the announcement, but when I asked, "If this plan gets officially decided, would you be willing to join as band leader and guitarist?" he said, "Of course, if you'd have me!" and I replied, "I'll let you know as soon as the members are finalized, so by all means!" From there, I considered the members, and came up with various scenarios. When we decided to hold "Prologue" performances every Saturday and Sunday for a month from June to July, the options were narrowed down because professional band members have their own commitments, but I didn't think too much about that and just reached out to people I thought would be interested in performing.

Regarding the bass, the staff did ask something like, "Will Shibata-san play it?" But that defeats the whole purpose, and I want to see the ANTHEM tribute band too (laughs). So I contacted Katsuki, the leader and bassist of a band called SAISEIGA, whom I had met around that time and thought was musically talented. I saw his live performance and met him to talk, and he manages the band well, and I felt like I could see myself in him... I thought they were a great band, but when we talked I was amazed at the level of his musicianship. He's a five-string bass player, but he told me, "If I were to do an ANTHEM tribute, I'd play a four-string, and a Precision Bass, at that," so I don't think there's any problem with either his technique or his musicianship.

There were several candidates for the drummer, but they're all in bands already... One of them seemed very enthusiastic when we informally approached her, but it seemed like it would be difficult to keep her committed given her schedule. Having to constantly swap drummers is tough on a bassist, though. We really needed to have a fixed drummer, but I somehow asked Gacharic Spin's Hana through their staff about her, who seemed like my "last resort." Upon hearing that they were very enthusiastic, we formally proceeded by discussing it with Gacharic Spin's management. As for her, she is so talented that if I had known her for a long time, I would definitely have asked her to join my band. She sings, plays guitar, bass, keys, and drums... basically, she really loves music. I've known about her drumming skills for quite some time and thought it would be great if she could do it, so I'm glad she accepted the offer.

And then we were thinking about what to do about the singers, and at some point while talking with the staff, the idea of "It'd be interesting to have a male and female singer" came up. So, rather than limiting it to one singer, it would be interesting to have a male singer for one performance and a female singer for another. As for Marina Hebiishi, the chief of our production team happens to also be producing Mardelas, so I'd heard about her, and I'd also seen her cover of ANTHEM's "Venom Strike" on YouTube. So, when I went to see her live, I was surprised at how petite she was on stage, but incredibly gutsy, with a distinctive voice and a strong presence. So, to me, she's not a "female vocalist," but more of a "rock vocalist."

If we were to go with the basic idea of "male and female vocals," we needed another male vocalist. After searching through various connections for a while, an acquaintance introduced me to GAINER, the vocalist of HELL FREEZES OVER. From what I heard, he was a gutsy and very serious guy. His looks and speech are masculine, and I also heard that he likes ANTHEM. So I thought it would be a good contrast. So I called him directly, explained the concept, and we decided on him.

―――When I heard that you would be selecting members to form an ANTHEM tribute band, I honestly thought it would be a struggle to make it a reality.

Naoto: The most important thing was whether they would accept our request to participate as a tribute band. Of course, whether or not the schedules match up is a big hurdle, but even if we could overcome that, would they be willing to pay tribute to ANTHEM from their hearts? After confirming this with everyone, they said they would love to do it, so we decided to go ahead and announced it. There's no deep meaning behind naming the band THE JUGGLER, but if someone finds various meanings in it, I'm perfectly fine with them thinking that's the correct interpretation.