If I’m not mistaken, you spent no less than four years in order to
make a complete work out of “Deranged Angel"... why did it take so much time?

- Well... After years of struggling to establish our sound, we needed to go back to what we were in the first place once. Music freaks! We felt we started doing things to get attention from major labels, rather than doing what we love to do. We wanted to be recoginized by what we are... rather than trying to play for their attention...
We felt we needed to establish our sound ourselves before moving on to the next step, no matter how long it takes. TOOK us 4 damn years!! We wanted to controll this album in every sense imaginable. We can honestly say this album is the experimental result of our hands-on approach. We actually PLAYED all instruments here (no samples). Recording, mixing, packaging, everything are done by ourselves. Although there are obviously short-comings(?) but we are glad we were able to show our-naked-self this time. For us, these four years are not wasted at all. We are now more sure of our music and our life. We are hoping listeners would not mind those short-comings.

Have you arranged any sort of promotional campaign? What has it resulted in? What kind of feedback did you receive? Were there any negative reviews?

- We were invited to play some gigs in Hong Kong / China by ARMS record HK. And did some gigs in Japan to promote CD as well last year. We just had to stop touring a last couple of months due to recordings for Japanese animation film "Guilstein" soundtrack.  The soundtrack CD will be out soon in Japan and the movie will be released in Asia, North America and Europe sometime this Summer. Some of songs from "Deranged Angel" will be used for the film as well.  In Japan, "Deranged Angel" will be out on shops after the soundtrack CD.  We are now reheasing like crazy and are geared up for
DERANGED ANGEL tour.  We are hoping more people around the world would call up promoters in their countries and we would play around the world!!(we will go anywhere and kick ass!!! So CALL US UP). Feedback on the CD is rather positive so far, although we have not started to promote it with a full force. Few web magazine even called "Deranged Angel" the best alterna / goth CD of the year! Yei! That is encouraging! There are some who are saying the CD does not fall in any category and our music is too pop or too dark... but we feel those are all positives as well..!

What was the most ridiculous interview you’ve ever answered (I hope,
not this one ;)))) )?

- Mug had to answer which brand of toilet papar he would love to have if he was left alone on the deserted island.... His answer of course was that he does not need one. He will only need LEAVES.

Atmospherically, “Deranged Angel" appears as rather sensitive, or more likely, even feminine piece... this is what you wanted it to be, I assume?

- Yes. When we decided to go with this project, we wanted to make sure we would be ourselves.  I am a female singer....and could be a very sensitive person (I suppose). The whole band, especially Mug was very careful to create the sounds that fits and rather enhance the atmosphere.

Your voice (or perhaps, it’s just the singing manner?) is quite similar to the one possessed by Alastrelle (courtesy of France’s DEAD SOULS RISING). Are you familiar with any works by DEAD SOULS RISING? Whom would you name amongst your influences when it comes to vocal department?

- I regret to say that I don't know DSR. We can hardly find French bands in Japan except for those french idols. I will look for DSR though.. Fmmmm.........Vocal influences......  I loved Robert Smith of THE CURE and NEW ORDER...Loved Siouxie and THE BANSHEES. Oh, yes I loved Anna Domino!!! and Tracy Thorn!!! and Natalie Merchant of !0,000 MANIACS!!!!

Most of the songs “Deranged Angel" comes with, lyrically deal with love, don’t they? Therefore: what is love to you? Would you consider it a particular sensation or rather various feelings put together?

- Well, love is all, isn't it? (it is NOT - ED) Love is the greatest sensation to life. All your happiness, all your joy, all your hates, all your sorrow, in fact all your emotions, all your feelings are related to LOVE. For love of it, or lack of love for it...or whatever. Loving or hating someone, job, life, music....are all related to LOVE. I just wanted to cover as many aspects of love and life in "Deranged Angel".

“Cracked!" definitely stands against the background of typical ADENOSINE-TRI-PHOSPHATE’s musical canvas, being kinda industrialized piece. Actually, it doesn’t really fit what A.T.P. is all about, consequently let me wonder why did you decide to feature this tune on “Deranged Angel" amongst others?

- Well, "Cracked!" was written and recorded right in the middle of whole project, around 1998.  While I always wanted to be true to myself, I never realized until then. That....there is that strong inner need within me to shout out. Although we might not show it nor might not even want others to sense that we have it. Maybe it is devil in myself.... I discussed my need with other members, and they came up with the sound.  They enhanced my feeling perfectly I thought.

... and what about those bonus tracks?

- It was Mug's idea...! We are getting a lot of complaining mails saying their CDs were broken for god's sake. Well, I have to admit that I voted for him when he said "Hey, let's put a tricky bonus track! Didn't you love to find secret tracks in some CDs?" Actually, I would like to secretly confess here that I regret, to ever voted for his silly idea... What do you think?

Who came up with an idea of mirror-reflectioning the song titles (the
ones placed at the back cover)? Looks pretty weird, y’know.

- Obviously... It's his idea again... MUG. We recieved many inquiries from fans again saying theirs are misprinted!

If I’m not mistaken, you still don’t have a record deal, huh? Seems
like you prefer to stay independent?

- Well, we would like to have a record deal though if it is with a GOOD LABEL.... Or to find someone to manage and promote us.  We are pretty sure now of what we are and what we are capable of.  If there is someone who like to promote us with a sense of understanding what ATP can achieve, we would love to work with them. It's just that someone is hard to find...especially in Japan...

Lyrics in Japanese?! Hey, that’s pretty unusual nowadays!

- We first thought to do it all English, then again we wanted to present ourselves to all other non-English countries, So instead of doing it in 1000 languages we decided to do a few songs in Japanese. We chose carefully the songs which fit Japanese ring, besides, we love English. French, African, Russian, and or Romanian songs ourselves, so we say why not Japanese this time for you.

Should we reckon A.T.P. to the dark wave genre? Furthermore, what about Japan’s metal / goth scene?

- Don't really know what genre we fit in... We are rather dark for sure, and we love goth bands ourselves, but we are not really typical dark wave band either... We get fan mails from both worlds, from goth fans, from pop / rock fans, from grunge fans... All fan mails seems to say we are an alternative to whatever genre they like. I guess we are like a joker in playing cards if I should put it in a positive way.. but then again we maybe are Useless Far-Out Drop Outs...:)) I guess it's up to you music journalists to decide what genre we are in... As for Japan metal goth scene..... Well, I don't really know too much here either... Today, Japanese Swedish (??? - ED) pop scenes and Japanese hip / hop or punk / core scenes are getting big in Japan I hear. But still 80-90 % of record sales in Japan are of Japanese country music or of teen idols... You see we are out of main scene...so how do I know... I will attach herewith a review of Japanese magazine we got years ago... In a way they are saying we are FAR OUT!! "ATP is like sudden shower of meteoric stones!!! At first listen, I thought I was listening to someone from 4AD. There is no Japanese pop element in their creation. They are definitely not a trend follower. They are in fact revolutionizing the sound! Their crystalline sound somewhat reminds me of DURUTTI COLUMN, and for those of us who are accustomed to patterned J. Pop, listening ATP is like being hit by sudden shower of meteoric stones. Their sound is not sugar coated, and with their punk spirits, they will revolutionize Japan. ----- Hisae Odajima, Rockin on Japan"

Do you know anything regarding Russia? Any metal bands coming from the country of mine you’ve heard lately?

- We actually feel pretty close to Russia... We are in fact only a ocean away. We loved Russian movies and all. Love borsch! Piroshki! (am I hungry or what?) While we know a bit about the perestroika / glasnost and we see economical news every few days from Moscow on Japanese TV, we don't really know music scenes in Moscow nor a life in Russia in general. We would really love to visit Russia one day and meet people there. We had been contacted by Russian band "Karamazoff Bike" (??? - ED) about a month ago. They were so kind to send us a praise and an encouragement. We had exchanged a few emails since then. Other than them we are not too familiar with Russian bands. Oh yes, I saw a film a year ago of the Russian band. I forgot their name though.... I think they were touring with SCORPIONS in Germany....

Lastly, let me dare to wonder what does your moniker stand for?

- Well, I don't know if I should tell you this... I was a little chubby I guess, years ago... A friend of ours started calling me taata... (actually, I meant "what does A.T.P. stand for?". Anyway, take a look at the picture in order to figure out what it is yourselves - ED) He said it means "Big Breasts".... Nobody knows what language it was.... Nobody knows why it was for this skinny woman like I was.... It was all jokes within the band, then it became jokes among fans and they started to chant Ta-a-ta. And it was too late for me to stop... After many years it lost it's meaning and now nobody can hardly even imagine that I once was sexy woman....:))

Thanks for taking time to answer this questionnaire, Taata! Anything to be added?

- Kai, thank you so much for your interviewing me. I am hoping I did not mess up or confuse you with my answers.... I also hope my English is understandable enough... I really appreciate you for supporting our music. It means so much to us!! Best regards from all A.T.P.!!!!!! Hope we can meet someday soon and have a glass of vodka (killer stuff it is!) together. For Vae Solis readers, please check out our "Deranged Angel"!! Or you can visit at <www.mp3.com/ATProom> for free MP3 downloads and listens. If you liked songs there, RUN and GET our CD through <www.CDbaby.com/adenosine>. Or you may contact your Radio DJs or Live promoters!! Hope to see you all soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Until then, LETS KEEP ON ROCKING!

Taata / A.T.P.

http://www.mp3.com/ATProom for mp3 preview...Free Downloads http://www.ATPmania.com Official site/Guest book(please come sign)
http://www.CDbaby.com/Adenosine our new CD "Deranged Angel" available

Email: atp@tm.kcom.ne.jp
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