Gerard 1998: interview + live shots

In the early Nineties I discovered the Japanese progrock during a Progrock Meeting by the Dutch progrock paper SI Magazine. One of the reviewers from that magazine played the CD Empty Lie, Empty Dream and I was blown away because of the spectacular keyboard work sounded like a Japanese answer to Keith Emerson, Eddie Jobson and Rick Wakeman! But the harder-edged guitar play, the good Japanese vocals and the propulsive and dynamic rhythm-section were also worth listening, what a splendid, ultra-bombastic prog! The compositions contained lots of frequently shifting moods and the many soli were great, I was determined to get this Japanese in my collection! A few years later I succeeded in the largest Dutch record store Fame but I had to pay at about 35 bugs, a hell lot of money but I have never regret it. In the late Nineties I got the possibility to interview Gerard during their short European tour for .. SI Magazine, a progrock dream came true! Along with their manager Numero Ueno (the #1 Japanese proghead) I talked with the band, mainly with keyboard player Toshio Egawa because he was the only who spoke a bit English...

Toshio, listening to your keyboard play I have the idea that you are classically trianed very well?

Toshio Egawa:

“My mother was a piano teacher, she taught me how to play piano but in fact I am a self-taught piano player. I listened to rock music, learned to play by ear, imitated my heroes or bought their partitures. Although I love Beethoven and Chopin, at the age of 15 I got interested in rock music. On school in Kyoto I started to join rock bands, my first serious group was Rumble featuring Ikkou Nakajima who would later found Pageant and join me in the progrock band Fromage in the Eighties. After one year in Sheherazade I joined the legendary Japanese band Novela where I met Terutsugu Hirayama who later founded Teru’s Symphonia. Novela was a very popular band that made many albums but I wanted to start my own formation because Terutsugu wrote almost all the compositions as a guitar player. So I founded Gerard with guitar player Yukihiro Fujimura, our first two albums Gerard and Empty Lied, Empty Dream are still very acclaimed. After we decided to disband the first line-up Gerard, Yukihiro formed his own band Vienna and they made several albums. In the late Eighties I joined the hardrock band Eartshaker and early Nineties I made a reunion album with Sheherazade and I participated in the Queen tribute CD Bohemian Symphonic Project. Then I re-founded Gerard with a new drummer and bass player and singer Robert G. Suchy.”

 

 

Who are your keyboard heroes?

Toshio:

“First Rick Wakeman but later mainly Keith Emerson, he plays so fast with his right hand! Another hero is of course Eddie Jobson because UK is my favorite band.”

And what about Jon Lord who toured with Deep Purple in the early Seventies in Japan?

Toshio:

“I love Jon his Hammond organ play but Deep Purple is too heavy for me and Jon is too much focussed on playing on the Hammond. I prefer a more varied keyboard sound.”

Where is the band name Gerard derived from?

Toshio:

“In Tokyo we had a popular fashion shop named Gerard Fashion, their name seemed a perfect one for my new band. Above that they sold t-shirts with the name Gerard, a cheap opportunity to get t-shirts with our band name!”

How did the Canadian singer Robert G. Suchy come into the band and why he left so soon?

Toshio:

“We did a lot of auditions for a singer, then a mutual friend introduced Robert and I immediately felt in love with his distinctive voice! He had only played the blues but his voice matched perfectly with the sound of Gerard.Unfortunately his was too busy with his work to join Gerard on our European tour so he only played on our CD Meridian.”

On the CD’s The Pendulum and Meridian you have mixed new songs and new versions of tracks from the first two albums. What was the reason?

Toshio:

“The new Gerard line-up is different form the early line-up and we wanted to introduce some compositions of the early work to our fans so they could compare.”

What about the sales of the Gerard albums?

Toshio:

“Our first, eponymous album sold worldwide at about 10.000 copies, the other sales alternate between 3000 and 3500 copies but I hope that after this interview the sales will increase ..!”

The new line-up doesn’t feature a guitar player, what is the reason?

Toshio:

“Finding a balance between guitars and keyboards is always difficult. In my opinion the

sound of the guitar is too loud along my keyboards and my bass player is already quite noisy ... !”

What keyboards do you use on stage?

I mainly use the Korg Trinity synthesizer and the digital Hammond/Suzuki XB-2 organ, this combined with a genuine Leslie box. At home I use a Korg Grand piano, I have an endorsement with Korg: I can use use their equipment and they use myname for advertising, like Keith Emerson, my hero, does with Korg too, full circle!”

On your first, eponymous Gerard album I am sure to hear a Mellotron, what about this observation?

Toshio:

“Indeed, in those days I played on a Mellotron but unfortunately it went out of order. Nowadays I play on the Vintage Keys, a sound module that contains lots of great and interesting vintage keyboard sounds.”

During the concert you played some songs on a keyboard that looked like a guitar. What was that for an instrument?

Toshio:

“That instrument is a Key-tar, made by Yamaha. I can handle my Hammond/Suzuki and Korg Trinity with it, that’s called ‘midi-controlled’. It looks very spectacular, in fact it’s two instruments in one!”

What can we expect from Gerard in the forthcoming years?

Toshio:

“Tomorrow we finish our European tour in the French town Marseille, the French progrock label Musea will record it for a live CD release. And our new album Meridian has just been released, we hope it will please our fans.”

                              Interview and live pictures by Erik Neuteboom