Well, here's the second part . . . it's not as polished as the first part, at 
least not as much as I'd like it to be.  It's another character piece, sort 
of . . . um . . . enjoy.

METROPOLITAN BLUES
By Murmur
"This city is what it is because our citizens are what they are"-Plato

02: INTERVIEW

VELVET UNDERGROUND MAGAZINE

IRONIC COMMERCIALISM: THE PRISS ASAGIRI INTERVIEW

Critically acclaimed and hailed as the greatest live act to play the 
Mega-Tokyo area in decades, PRISS AND THE REPLICANTS are well known for their 
adherence to their club scene roots, having never played for an audience of more than 
four thousand despite ample chances.  In keeping with this reputation for 
eschewing traditional stardom is their infamous reticence when it comes to talking 
with the public or the press.  But now, breaking the wall of silence is 
REPLICANTS' lead singer, Priss Asagiri.

VELVET UNDERGROUND: So, why the break from tradition?  Why the interview?

PRISS: Well, your editor kept on begging and begging, it was sort of 
pathetic.  [Laughs.]  No, well, really, it was `cause we figured it was time.

VU: Time?

PRISS: This whole 'mysterious silence' thing, it wasn't meant to build some 
bullshit mystique or whatever.  It's just `cause none of us, none of the 
REPLICANTS, had much to say to anybody outside our music.  After you say, 'Thanks 
for listening, now give us your money,' there's not much else, is there?  
Everything just felt redundant.  

VU: And now?

PRISS: Well, now, um.  Yeah, so when one of us, Roy I think, found an article 
describing us as 'reclusive and antagonistic to their fans,' we knew that our 
not talking was doing us more harm than not.  That we'd have to just suck it 
up and play the game a little or we'd alienate everybody.  I mean, it's total 
bullshit but there you go.

VU: So, how's it feel to be selling out?

PRISS: Ah, it's a mountain of hassle after hassle, but what the hell.

VU: And is there any particular message that you're trying to get out with 
this interview?

PRISS: Particular?  Well, just that we, all of us, are just normal people, 
like you guys.  We're not mysterious or reclusive or anything.  It's not like 
we're Michael Jackson or anything, hiding in our gated compounds and watching 
Ice Station all the time and saving our urine or anything.  We're normal people 
making the kind of music that we'd like to listen to.  That's about it.

VU: And the fame?  The stardom?  Is there a particular reason why you shun 
the limelight?

PRISS: I don't think we do.  I mean, we're out there all the time, playing.  
But if you mean being brand-name celebrities, I guess it's because none of us 
are interested in that.  None of us wanted groupies, which is the main reason 
most people get into music, I think.  And that explains the general level of 
music around.

VU: But what about the money?

PRISS: Oh, don't get me wrong.  We like money.  Please, give us more!  We 
like money, but it's not like it's the most important thing to us.  None of us 
are into a life of excess.  We're all more interested in financial stability 
than just buying more and more stuff.  And, despite what you were told, it 
doesn't take that much money to be financially stable.  We've got enough in the bank 
to keep us all, and any families we might build, reasonably well-off for the 
rest of our lives.  And now we're in this `cause we enjoy it.

VU: Let's talk about that.  Let's talk about families.

PRISS: Okay . . . 

VU: Do you plan to start a family, someday?

PRISS: Well, sure, someday . . . 

VU: Are you seeing anyone?

PRISS: Whoa, that's pretty damn personal.

VU: Well, this is an interview . . . 

PRISS: [Sighs.]  Yeah.  Well, to answer your question: no, I am not seeing 
anyone currently.  Doesn't mean I won't in the future, just not right now.

VU: Okay.  So, does this financial stability mean that you won't be playing 
any large arena concerts?

PRISS: Guess not.  I don't want to rule anything out, but probably not.

VU: Why not?  Beyond the money factor, what is there about the club scene 
that is so appealing?

PRISS: It's the intimacy, I guess.  You really can't beat the feeling of 
being in front of an audience, knowing that they're feeling great and alive and 
connected and also knowing that all of that was because of you.  It's something 
that you can't get at a large stadium concert.  There's too much distance 
between you and the audience.  Everybody's in rows, everybody's just sitting or 
standing in their places.  It's too controlled for us.  Too tame.  Music should 
never be tame.

VU: All right.  Fair enough.  So, not many people know how all of you met.  
In what little biographies are available, there's absolutely no mention of the 
circumstances surrounding your creating this band.

PRISS: Isn't there?  Huh.  Well, it's no big deal.  We were all in orphan 
factories; different factories, but what with one thing and another, we all got 
together.  You know, come to think of it, I'm not sure how we really 'got 
together' as a band.  I know that we were friends, first.  We all liked the same 
sort of music, and we used to go hunting through weird little music shops to 
find what we were looking for.  I guess we listened to all the music we liked, 
and so we decided to make our own.  I guess.

VU: So what were these influences to your music, then?

PRISS: Someone that all of us loved was Ayukawa Madoka.

VU: The song writer and composer?

PRISS: Right.  Hell, we even loved her early commercial work.  Did you know 
that she used to write theme songs for cheesy soap operas?  Bad shows, but good 
theme songs.  Anyway, there's her.  And, uh, Tailhook.  Their guitar player, 
Mim Bracca?  There hasn't been a female guitar player to match her until Kaori 
hit the scene.

VU: So you've listened to Kaori's new album?

PRISS: What, you mean "Bastard Tetsuo Die, Die, Die"?  Hell, yeah.  She's 
such a small girl but she has a lot of pissed off energy and it shows.  Hell, we 
should do a couple gigs together.  Maybe an album.  I'll have to talk to her 
about that, next time I see her.

VU: So what plans, if any, do you have for your new album?

PRISS: Well, frankly, and this is just me, but I'm hoping that we can do some 
studio work.  I know that all our previous albums have been either live 
albums or us just going into the studio and recording songs that we've been 
performing.  But now I think that we need to do something new.

VU: Really?  Don't the rest of your band mates want to work in the studio?

PRISS: Well, Roy keeps on going on about the "purity of the live act."  
Fucking moaning on and on about it.  I told him when he forced me to do this that 
I'd say that and I said it.  So fuck you, Roy!

VU: And what argument do you use against that?  About studio work affecting 
the live act?

PRISS: I just tell them to grow up.  Bowie and David Byrne did some of their 
best work messing around with the Stone Age synthesizers in their studios.  
And have they not listened to a single Pink Floyd album?  You know, talking 
sense to them.

VU: And what are you looking to do in the studio?

PRISS: I don't know.  That's the point.  We need to experiment and we haven't 
been doing that nearly enough.  I think that a period of reexamination and 
reinvention is the key to being a successful band.

VU: How do you mean, successful?

PRISS: I don't mean financially successful, of course.  I mean by being both 
innovative yet true to ourselves.

VU: And you do that by . . . ?

PRISS: All right, here's a pretty famous Walt Whitman quote: "I am large, I 
contain multitudes."  And I believe that.  It's not about reinventing yourself 
that I'm talking about.  I'm saying that you reinvent your music by taking out 
and showing different parts of yourself.  

VU: So I suppose this means that you're against the trend of niche marketing 
and microcasting?  This is surprising, given that you've been touted as the 
model for microcasting.

PRISS: There's nothing surprising about that at all.  I mean, I understand 
where these guys are coming from.  And I know it sounds weird for me to say bad 
things about microcasting, but, really I find all that too . . . umm . . . 
incestuous.

VU: Incestuous?  Really?

PRISS: Microcasting just makes sure that the only things that people hear are 
the same things that they've heard before.  Musicians trapped in microcasting 
are being encouraged to only listen to the same people that they're in the 
same niche as.  It all leads to a terrible loop that finally degenerates into 
noise.  I believe in the power of alloys.

VU: Well.  I suppose that's about that.  Any last words?

PRISS: Yeah.  Roy?  Next time, it's your turn!



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