Formula Indie Sessions _ Interview with 湯ノ山かがり

What is your earliest memory connected to music?

As for rock music, I think it was when I first became aware of it that the dance song for our elementary school sports day was a Queen song (I Was Born To Love You).

How did your passion for creating music begin?

When I was little, there was a toy digital rhythm machine at home, and I think it started when I started messing around with it. I was so engrossed, I would spend hours alone making all sorts of arrangements of the nursery rhymes we learned at school, from rock to heavy metal, and I would spend my time playing around.

After that, I developed a love for rock music, got an acoustic guitar, and…that’s about it.

What’s the story behind your current music project?

It’s more like a story, or rather, a real one, about a slightly gloomy nerd person with a guitar, living somewhere between the real and the virtual, releasing music into the world filled with pain, revenge, self-healing, impulse, and a little bit of love.

How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?

A hard rock sound that’s edgy and aggressive, yet catchy, bright, and comical in its elements.

If I were to compare them to colors, there’d be the unhealthy red of blood, the pitch black that seems to suck you in, and the garish, neon-like vivid colors.

What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?

“Subtraction.” I started out from playing the guitar, but I tend to put too many different elements into one song (guitarists may be quite prone to this), so to avoid that, I try to create by thinking, “What is the most important thing I want to convey to the listener with this song?”

What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?

Paper, pen, iPhone voice memos, and acoustic guitar. It’s very helpful to be able to record my initial ideas when they come to me.

When it comes to the production stage of a song, I do everything from recording to mixing in Cubase.Also, since I’m a hybrid of real and virtual beings, I create my vocals by mixing my own voice with a certain voice synthesis software.

Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?

I’ve been really into the American band “Wednesday” and listening to their album “Bleeds” a lot lately.

I also really like the recent Japanese indie band “ASUNOJOKEI.”

I listen to artists and music from a variety of genres, not just rock.

How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?

I tend to write songs based on bad experiences, so all of my experiences form the basis of my songs.

My childhood, my unhappy school life, my poor ability to interact with people, and the various feelings I’ve had while working as a VTuber. I may be half virtual, but I write my songs from a completely realistic perspective.

What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?

The reality is that in real life and the virtual world, we often get overwhelmed by negativity, but I’d be happy if there were people who thought, “Oh, there are people who think like this,” “Maybe there’s salvation somewhere, whether in real life or virtual life,” or “Maybe someday I can become the person I want to be.”

Personally, I love the idea of ”an inherently negative person pretending to be positive, cheerful, happy, and catchy while rocking,” so I aspire to be that way myself, and I want to be an honest artist who can paint over negativity with anger, revenge, and humor.

What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?

Music may not save you.

But it will comfort you and never betray you.

What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?

My dream would be to perform live on the night stage at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France. I love motorsport, and it’s the venue for an international event that’s been going on for over 100 years.

If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?

This is a complete dream, but I would love to collaborate and write a song for the Japanese anime series “Aikatsu!”.

The first “Aikatsu!” is an amazing series that was one of the sources of energy that got me started. It’s already more than 10 years before…

I’m a pretty negative person at heart, but the characters in the original Aikatsu! gave me the passion to honestly think, “I want to do my best too.” With nearly 180 episodes, it’s going to be a very long journey, especially for people outside of Japan, but I would love for you to watch it.

Where can our listeners follow and support your music? (Website,Spotify, IG, links)

Spotify

Apple Music

https://music.apple.com/jp/artist/1716823653

On YouTube, I release music videos and stream live. Please subscribe to my channel and come visit!

YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHnKvGjVrgcYZCmE4YxBZAQ

BOOTH(Merchandise including CD sales for overseas)

https://yunoyamakagari.booth.pm

Official Website

https://sbpk2025.wixsite.com/yunoyamakagari

Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?

First of all, I want as many people as possible around the world to listen to my first album, “Revenge of Kagari Yunoyama,” and to remember my name. I guess my goal is to have listeners in over 100 countries.

Also, in the future, I’d like to gradually but steadily begin perform live, both in real life and virtually. I guess performing a solo live show is my goal for the next chapter.

What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?

I’d love it if they listened carefully to the sound of my songs, but also to the lyrics.They’re all born from my real experiences and feelings.

I’ve worked hard to add English translations to the music videos for my single releases, so I’d be happy if you read them and let me know what you think.

Also, I’m still a rookie who’s only just started my career, so I’d love for you to discover and tell me about charms that I may not even be aware of.

If you want here you can add a representative Youtube video to insert below the interview 🙂

1st Full Album “The Revenge of Kagari Yunoyama” Teaser movie (with crossfade demos of all songs)
This album is available to purchase on CD both in Japan and overseas, and is also available for download and subscription on various services!