Plunklock is a relatively “new” ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei) band on the scene, only officially starting in November of 2010. The four members decided they wanted to create a band that could inspire the world through it’s music.
Their music is characterized by aggressive instrumentals and a steady line of melody, despite the different backgrounds of the members. If they have to give a genre to their music the basic melody should be pop, but they mix in different kinds of music like kayokyoku (which is popular Japanese music), rock and metal to balance out with their basic melody.
Surprisingly, the boys are currently on their second European tour, but for guitarist 政燮 (Seishou) it’s the very first tour with Plunklock, since he only joined the band to replace the former guitarist, 和希 (Kazuki), who left the band in December of 2012.
Anyway, let’s not waste any more time and let’s dive right into this interview, shall we?
There is no “formal introduction” at the start, but I will explain the reason for this later. For now,
Let’s start!
I understand this is your second time in Europe as a ‘relatively new’ ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei) band. Some bands don’t come to Europe for the first few years. When you started Plunklock, did you ever expect to be able to tour Europe now already?
春嘉 (Haruka): It was one of the things I wanted the most.
ハロ (Halo): Pinky and 春嘉 (Haruka) were posting on Facebook a lot in order to gather fans, and this year they’ve managed to father a lot more fans through that method so that’s why it was possible for us to come to Europe. Coming to Europe was one of our dreams when we first started the band.
Plunklock is a very unusual name, even for me (I have heard some really weird ones over the years). What was the reason you choose this name? Did you have any other names in mind too, or was this the only one?
ハロ (Halo): It’s a mixture of the words “plunk”, which is the sound a guitar string makes when you push it, and the word “lock”, like when you look a door with a key. The music is the key that opens up the door to our world. But there’s also a second meaning, it’s like the ticking of a clock, in which we want to show our plan.
Tonight you’re sharing the stage of Tivoli Spiegelbar with Calmando Qual, who have quite a name in the Japanese music scene here in Europe. How does it feel to be playing a show together with them?
春嘉 (Haruka): I am very happy to be playing with them, I’ve known them as friends for a really long time already.
ハロ (Halo): They’re all very cool guys.
Four different personalities creating music as one band
You’re currently on your 9th release as Plunklock. Did you ever expect to get nine releases in two years already, and do you feel like your music evolved through those nine releases already?
ハロ (Halo): With each release our sound goes in a slightly different direction but we’re still not done so it will keep on changing slightly.
春嘉 (Haruka): I don’t think we changed that much, and before we release something we don’t think “oh let’s do this now” or anything, it just happens.
Where do you get the ideas for your releases for? Do you take them from personal experiences or from for example, movies, other bands’ music or maybe even books?
政燮 (Seishou): I get my ideas from the heaven.
ハロ (Halo): Maybe god is blessing you with some good ideas. I get my inspiration from very good moments when I’m for example just walking around somewhere and looking for inspiration.
If you weren’t in a band right now, what would you most likely be doing? Since finding a job here in Europe is extremely difficult at the moment, would you even have a job at all in Japan? (And would you like that job, if any?)
ハロ (Halo): I would die if I wouldn’t be a musician now.
政燮 (Seishou): I’m not interested in work.
Pinky: I would like to get married and be a husband.
政燮 (Seishou): How many kids do you want to have?
Pinky: Two. Oh, no, nine! I want to train a football team!
春嘉 (Haruka): I can’t even think of it, this is the only thing I want to do.
In your time off from the band, what would you most likely be doing? Gathering new inspiration for music and image, reading books, watching anime, or something completely different like a walk on the beach?
ハロ (Halo): I drink alcohol… And when I have free time at night I like to bring some friends.
政燮 (Seishou): I play the guitar, I like to walk and I rest.
ハロ (Halo): You’re always in bed…
Pinky: I like cars, so I love to go for a drive.
春嘉 (Haruka): Watching American TV shows, dramas and movies.
What inspired you to go into the music scene? Were you in different bands before you joined each other under the name of Plunklock? Were the people around you supportive of your band(s) at first?
春嘉 (Haruka): Yes, I love music because I like it.
政燮 (Seishou): I don’t know why.
ハロ (Halo): Being in a band is similar to being alive, so if I wasn’t in a band, I wouldn’t be alive.
Pinky: I wanted to be popular with the girls…
ハロ (Halo): When I was in school I was the best in baseball and volleyball. After that I worked as a cook and I was a genius in that too so I decided to try something new, and now I’m a genius in music too.
Looking back on the entire European tour, what were some things you will always remember?
春嘉 (Haruka): There are quite a lot of things that have happened which I will always remember, so I can’t really choose anything that stands out in particular. I will remember the whole tour. When we were on a flight to Poland from somewhere in Europe I was sitting at the window drinking my favorite coffee I saw how beautiful the view was.
Pinky: When we finished the live in Sweden with a band called Overlord we had a really nice time drinking with each other, I will remember this because of the great time we had after the show.
ハロ (Halo): When we were able to eat sushi in Europe too. It wasn’t that nice though…
政燮 (Seishou): Because it was my first time in Europe all directions of the fans are a great memory because I didn’t expect this.
And finally, do you have a message for everyone who has been reading today’s interview?
ハロ (Halo): I would love to come back again next year but I don’t know if it is possible. I will do everything to make this wish happen, so please support us to make this dream come true! Even if everyone is getting a year older in this year, when we meet again during a live we will still be the same in our hearts so please continue listening to us!
政燮 (Seishou): Now it’s your turn to come to Japan, we will be waiting for you!
Extra information
Right, okay. I owe you an explanation for this interview being different than the others on Arlequin Magazine: this interview wasn’t done one-on-one. Instead there were two other interviewers present, so some of our questions overlapped, but we were asked to do our interviews at the same time. So we’ve used questions from each other, and since it was a little bit of chaos with a key being lost (and no, it wasn’t the key to the world of Plunklock, but actually the key to the second backstage door that didn’t lead to the stage!) we were stuck backstage, in the middle of all the chaos.
Safe to say we were all a little stressed, don’t you think? In the midst of the chaos we totally forgot to ask the guys to introduce themselves, since we had been hanging out for a few hours together already and had “met” already outside of the interview… Oops!
Follow Plunklock on social media
Plunklock has officially gone on an indefinite hiatus after their live show on October 10, 2013. This means there are no social media icons available for the band.
雪 (Yuki) is the owner and driving force behind Arlequin.
She originally started the project in 2009 as a photographer under the name of Arlequin Photography, but developed an interest in journalism and translation ever since. Because of these interests interviews and reviews were added to the project, until it eventually hit the limits as a "photographer" in 2021, and Arlequin Magazine was added to the mix.
雪 (Yuki) is a native Dutch speaker with a graphic design degree, which means she is also the main person behind Arlequin Creations.
After all these years she is still the main person who does interviews the interviews and live photos that you see on Arlequin, but also a large chunk of the reviews and behind-the-scenes work and communication goes through her.
She speaks Dutch and English on a native level, but also understands Japanese and German.