Battttty
says "Irasshai SITN e" to |
|
|
|
|
Kon'nichiwa, Ritchie! Tell us first (in English, please!) when did you start your website? I don’t remember the exact date but according to the What’s New page, I seemingly started a personal website in the spring of 1996. I think I started my Michael Schenker site several months later and one of my earliest posts was a concert review of MSG Story Live in Japan on March 19th, 1997 which was a superb show. In those early days, I had only English pages. When the UFO 1998 Japan tour was announced, I started a Japanese-language Schenker site. At the time, was that the only Japanese-language Schenker site? No, there were already some in Japan. Recently I have only updated the MS news pages, and as for my personal site, I have just noticed it has not been updated since May 2001! I have thought I should shut down the personal site since I no longer have time to update it. I haven’t done this so far just because it is bothersome to do it. More people might start reading it now that I've made you famous, so maybe you should update it! What made you start a website dedicated to Michael Schenker? Unlike the other webmasters, I started my website without any unshakable determination. I got my first computer in December 1995 and one day I took a whim to study how to create websites. I found it fun and easy. |
|
|
|
|
What about from the fans? Support from the fans? That’s what my website is all about. You can say my site is based on their support. I don’t do anything special. They provide me with the information and I just post it. It cannot exist without their help. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your encouragement. As you know, here in SITN, we're well into the 'community' side of the whole fan-thannngggggg. Do you have a similar thing going on with the Japanese fans who come to your site? Or is it much more about the music? Do you think your site would ever go the way of SITN, with competitions, interviews, readers' pets etc., hahaha - or maybe even go as far as having a photo of your microwave on there, like in SITN! If I had more time, I would try to expand my site with some interesting additions. I have no time to spare to start anything new though. As you can see, I have updated only my news pages for a long time. That’s the best I can do in the current situation. But, via my site, I have come to know many Schenker fans both from Japan and abroad. I sometimes go out for drinking and karaoke with these people off-line. It’s really fun! yeh! What percentage of the people who visit your website are Japanese-speaking, compared to English-speaking? Recently I introduced an access analysis service to my site. According to its report, the ratio between access to my English page and to my Japanese page is approximately 2:1. So I guess about 30-40% of the visitors are Japanese. |
|
|
Did
you ever run an equivalent website for Ritchie Blackmore? No
- I sometimes listen to Rainbow and Deep Purple stuff but I
don't even own any Blackmore's Night CDs which Ritchie has made
with his girlfriend. Me
neither. Give me smoke on the water any time! |
|
Which era of MS do you prefer - Scorpions, UFO, MSG, his solo work, or what? What do you think is his best work from each era? That’s a tough question. I can only rate it based on how many times I have listened to each album. I think I listened to Assault Attack most except for two great live albums (i.e., SITN and Budokan). It was too short to be called an era, though. I am also a huge Bonnet fan. Probably Barden Era No.2 (Built to Destroy) follows. On the other hand, the lowest is the Scorpions era. And the McAuley era is relatively low-rated although Unplugged Live is an amazing album. How did you feel when you first heard Walk On Water, after all the time Michael had been out of the band? First I felt amazed by how Michael’s guitar work had evolved. His fast but smooth playing with hammering-on and pulling-off which can be heard in songs like Venus and A Self Made Man sounded quite new to me. I have a story about this album. When it came out, I participated in a prize competition held by the Young Guitar magazine to celebrate the comeback of Michael. The winner was supposed to get a Flying V guitar signed by Michael. A condition of the competitions was to send to the magazine the message showing how each applicant loves Michael’s music. This message must be written on a single post card. It was impossible for me. I wrote my message including the analysis of his new playing style etc. using more than ten postcards like one card being one Chapter. Maybe for that reason I lost the competition. I should have kept that report. They should have let you win - how can anyone possibly fit the reason they like Michael's music on a postcard... unless maybe it was a postcard 20 feet by 12 feet, huh? How do you see the future of UFO with Vinnie Moore? Do you think Michael will come back to UFO one day? Do you want that to happen? Regarding the UFO with Vinnie Moore, I am sure it will work out great. However, as I am basically a Schenker fan, I personally don’t have so much interest in UFO without Michael. And yes, I want Michael to come back to UFO some day. The chemistry created by Phil, Pete and Michael is one and only, you know. Yehhhhhhhhhhhh..... |
|
Which of Michael's tunes hold the most depth of meaning for you, and why? Well, I guess Rock Bottom does. This tune is one of my first encounters with his music. Without that, I would not be here doing this. This is the song I have played at the gigs most since I was a high school kid. Before I came across this song, I had thought Brian May was the best guitarist. Which of his tunes do you most like to play on your own guitar? Probably Broken Promises from the Assault Attack album. I think the lead on this is one of the best in the entire history of Michael. Perfectly constructed with an amazing tone! Tell us about your guitar (amps'n'valves!) Don’t ask me about amps and valves. I am totally ignorant of music gear. All I can say is I don’t like Marshall amps very much, especially the big stack-type ones. About guitars, I have eight guitars and one bass guitar. My first guitar was a Yamaha Les Paul model which my parents bought me when I was twelve. I have four Flying Vs, three of which are Gibson. Other guitars include an Ovation acoustic guitar, a Greco Brian May model and a guitar for MIDI. My main guitar is a white Gibson Custom Shop Flying V. I don’t know when it was manufactured (I got it in 1989 at the second-hand shop). I changed the pick-up to a Seymour Duncan one, but I forgot which model it is. I really don’t care about the equipment. If it sounds good, that’s enough. Blimey darlin - if only there were more like you! |
 |
|
How many times have you seen Michael play Live - with UFO, MSG etc? And have you seen him outside Japan? I think I have seen him play live seven times. One and a half times with UFO (he walked off the stage in the middle of the show once), and the others with MSG and McAuley Schenker Group. All the concerts were in Japan. I have some friends who went to see him play live outside Japan, but I am not such a die-hard fan. !!!!! What
was the first Schenker gig you ever saw? Before
I went to university in 1985, I lived far away from the big cities
like Tokyo and Osaka and could not go to his concerts. So, the
first gig was McAuley Schenker Group live at Budokan in 1988.
Mitch Perry was on stage too. What
was the best gig, and why?
The best gig I ever saw was the Story Live in 1997 which was later
released as the double CD. Performance was superb. They played
30 songs for three hours. Who could ask for more? I was lucky
enough to share that special moment. Have you ever felt let down by him? If so, what helped you to keep going with the site, when so many other people, even devoted fans like yourself, might have given up working on the site? And if he did ever let you down, what was the thing that made you 'forgive' him? (As you know, I play Rock Bottom, and forgive him for everything!) He dashed down Leon Lawson’s Flying V and left the stage in 1998. Of course that show, as well as the remaining dates, were cancelled. His acoustic live tour was cancelled after tickets were sold. And, most recently, the last MSG Japan tour was cancelled just before tickets started to be sold because he broke down in Palo Alto. These happenings didn’t let me down. I felt worried about him. I just hoped he would overcome the hardships and continue music. And he did continue. I am so happy about that. However, in his recent interview with the Burrn magazine, I felt he mistakenly blamed other people on the misfortunes which had happened to him. That was a kind of letdown. I think he should be more responsible for what he is doing. As he stated in his message to the fans that “This time I make sure to do the administration myself and to keep my eyes on things”, I am sure he can be more responsible now. Anyway, nothing could change my love of his music. These things have never made me feel like giving up working on the site. Michael - I hope you're reading this!! You have some very special people supporting you - stick with it for THEM, ok! (And for yourself too, of course!) |
 |
OK
Ritchie, tell
us about the bands you have worked with - and about the cds you've
made - especially about the ones with MY name in the credits (yeeee-haaaaahhh!).
I
have four Schenker tribute bands, namely Yamaguchi
Schenker, Assault
Attack, Dr.
Bottom and Queen
of The Deep. As every bandmember has a job, we play live only
at odd intervals. Like Michael, I plan a gig with those who are
available on each occasion. We made live CDs from time to time
just for ourselves and not for commercial purposes. We also distribute
the CDs to those who are interested. You can check these CDs at
my music
clip page. Yes, your name is in the credits of Acoustic Assault
Attack, Strangers In Tokyo, and Nightmare Half Live. And Strangers
in Tokyo includes the review
you kindly wrote for us! Good
man! |
|
Do
you play tributes to other guitarists? Actually
I have just formed a new band which has yet to be named. As
long as the word 'Battttttty' is in there somewhere, you can call
it what you want! This band will basically play MSG but
probably we will do some Blackmore and Malmsteen stuff at the
first gig planned on January 31, 2004. This band will be a kind
of combination of Bonnet-type singer, Cozy-type drummer, Tony
Franklin-type bassist and myself. I think it could be promising.
I am now persuading other members to play Broken Promises, my
favorite as I mentioned earlier. What is happening on the music scene in Japan at the moment? I have no idea. Hahahah! Brilliant answer! I’ve never listened to Japanese music for the past twenty years. Blimey - but you MUST make time to listen to the B'z, ok, cos Barry Sparks is with them at the moment, playing sold-out gigs in stadiums right across Japan. During the ‘70s, I listened to both Japanese and foreign music. During the ‘80s, I listened to only foreign music (mainly U.K. and American). During the ‘90s, I listened to ‘70s and ‘80s music plus a limited number of new music from bands like Metallica and Queensryche. Now I listen to ’70s and ‘80s plus the new releases of Celine Dion only. What????? Celine Dion? That's a joke, right? Not a joke??? Blimey. And of course, I still listen to MSG and UFO all the time! Of course! |
| You've recently been over to America - what were the things you liked most about the way of life (or anything else) in America. And was there anything you disliked? Not so recent, but yes, I went to America for vacation in September 2002. I stayed there for two weeks. I drove for about 2,000 miles by a rental car. L.A. and Las Vegas were a bit boring to me. But, I was moved by the marvels of nature such as Grand Canyon, Yosemite Park, etc. What’s good about America is the land is huge. People live in big houses. We Japanese live in dog-kennel-size houses with a pocket-handkerchief garden. It seems at least superficially that they are much wealthier than us. What’s bad about the U.S.? Well, I hate Bush’s policy on Iraq. Killing innocent people is always a part of their history (native America, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc.) But I am pretty sure they have a much healthier democracy than us. Our government also supports Bush’s Iraq policy but there has been no such large-scale rally against it in Japan unlike the ones in the U.S. One of the highlights of my trip was a visit to Michael’s studio in Scottsdale with Linda and little Miky. At that time, there was only a huge console left in the studio. Unfortunately it was auctioned by the bank a couple of months later. (Click on the photo for more pictures from America). |
 |
| What do you hope Ritchie Blackmore Araki will be doing in 5 years time? And 10 years time? In 5 years time, we will have organized the first Michael Schenker/UFO Convention either in Japan, U.K. or U.S. where most of the SITN members get together. If Michael cannot attend, I will play live instead. I believe you will accept a position as co-organizer. I certainly will! In 10 years time, I hope I will be still playing in a band - and so will Michael. And I will have won 300 million yen in a public lottery and live quietly and happily ever after. Sounds good to me! I'm dreaming of THAT summer too! Arigatou, darlin, for taking part in the interview. In fact.... arigatou with orchestra, bagpipes and harmonica! |
© Batttttty - November 19th 2003 |
|
