BEAT NAVIGATION:
Biography PT2
1998 - 1999
Daisuke (ds) leaves. A break in activities.
Beat Navigation (BN): So Fatima started with "Downer," but what other types of songs did you have?
Lay (b): "Blind," "Love me," "Candy tripper," "Fortune"... ones like that. The songs themselves haven't changed all that drastically.
Sanaka (vo): But, I think that what we still have from that time has expanded a little.
Lay: Our appearance and staging have changed though.
BN: Your first live was ...?
Sanaka: June, 1998.
Lay: About a half year later in December, we released "Downer."
BN: The recordings on that maxi single "Downer" and "Love me", when listened to now, are strangely refreshing. But I feel that it sounds completely different from the Fatima nowadays.
Sanaka: I don't know about that with "Downer," but "Love me" does sound a bit out of place possibly.
Lay: We were young so we had to work hard (laughs). But, even if I listen to them now, I still think they're pretty cool.
BN: It's really hard to imagine that those songs which aren't as complex, to have come from Fatima. The rhythm has especially changed, huh?
Lay: The reason for all that was age (laughs).
BN: The nurse outfit that you wore to the oneman (May 11th, 2002 at Takadanobaba AREA) was from this period of Fatima, wasn't it?
Lay: That's right. We started doing this before the big medical boom. I was the nurse, Sanaka was all wrapped in bandages, Daisuke was a surgical doctor and Mizuha was a doctor.
Sanaka: We'd done the fashion, and soon enough there was a huge boom of it. Western clothing, accessories and the Red Cross mark were being worn. Then afterwards, the number of bands wearing these types of things increased.
BN: And you did lives with this type of clothing?
Lay: Yes.
Sanaka: I'd have to wrap myself up until I looked like a mummy boy (laughs).
BN: What was the reaction you received at the live?
Sanaka: It was cold wasn't it? (laughs)
Lay: Yeah. Cold ... (laughs)
Sanaka: The audience must have been expecting the concert to continue on like the band that had previously gone right before us. And so we didn't really suit about half of the audience. (laughs)
Lay: After all, that half of the audience really liked happy shows (laughs).
BN: But with those reactions, as far as Fatima, your true feelings were that that was what you wanted to do?
Lay: That's right. Because there wasn't any other band out there like that.
BN: In June 1999, Daisuke decided that he wanted to pursue different things and so he left the band. And so afterwards, you had a period of inactivity for a year and two months, right? During that period of time, what did you all do?
Lay: I made music and practiced. I feel that during that period I improved my bass skills (laughs).
Mizuha: I..... don't really have any memories of that period of time (laughs).
Sanaka: I participated in session bands and did other various things.
BN: So during this period of inactivity, you still kept Fatima with you.
Lay: Somehow, that time period was pretty bad. Daisuke had left the band just about a year after we'd put out the single. And perhaps there was also the option of breaking up. We'd just found the perfect band, and so I still had this really strong will to go for it. And so I thought we would continue it. Inside of me I knew there would be no way we'd break up.
