Interview with Da-iCE

Now that Da-iCE has made their major label debut, the group - comprised of Yudai Ohno, Taiki Kudo, Sota Hanumara, Toru Iwaoka, and Hayate Wada - is in Los Angeles, working hard to take their career to the next level. JaME managed to catch up with them for a quick interview.


Please tell us your names and a little bit about yourselves.

Hayate: Hello, I'm Hayate, the youngest member of the group. I'm a dancer and I'm very confident in my dancing skills! *laughs*
Taiki: I'm Taiki, the leader. I'm also a dancer, and I help to compose our songs. I really like Japanese anime. A show I'm enjoying right now is "Kill La Kill."
Toru: I'm Toru, a dancer. I'm also the oldest member. For me, I'm very natural, you know... carefree and funny. *grins*
Yudai: I'm Yudai. I look the oldest, but I'm actually the seconded oldest! I'm a singer, and really like sewing, things like making clothes and stuff.
Sota: I'm Sota, a vocalist. I really like cola, but only Japanese cola. It just tastes different from American cola, I think. Also, my voice is pretty feminine, so sometimes when I'm singing, people say it sounds like a girl is singing. *laughs*

What is the meaning of your name, Da-iCE, and how did you pick this name for your group?

Yudai: Well, I came up with it. It's sort of a stylized version of the word 'dice' but with five letters because there are five of us...but you know, a die has six sides, so that extra space - the sixth side - that's our fans.

Have you been in Los Angeles for long?

Taiki: We've been here for about two weeks now. We're rehearsing a lot and working on production and composing new songs. We've also been working with some with local artists like Damon Sharpe.

Have you been able to do any sightseeing so far?

Taiki: No...*laughs* We are really busy with rehearsals and stuff, so we haven't had any time.
Yudai: But we did do a little shopping in Melrose and Hollywood!

What inspired each of you to go into the music business?

Sota: I've liked music since I was three years old! But I only really got serious about it as a career when I was selected at the Avex auditions.
Yudai: I started liking music when I was in kindergarten. When I was waiting for my parents to pick me up, I would watch a lot of Disney movies and sing along to all the songs. As I got older, I got to know a lot of street performers, and I started to feel like it would be great to perform in front of others.
Toru: I've been interested in music for a long time. I started performing in middle school, but I wasn't sure I wanted to continue down that path so I ended up going to university and thought I'd become a businessman. But I still dreamed about being an entertainer and decided to pursue that dream.
Taiki: I can't even remember when I first became interested in music, but according to my mom, I was always singing and dancing when I was little. *laughs* I ended up choosing to take dance and vocal lessons in high school and that was that.
Hayate: I started dancing when I was about four or five years old. I had a friend who was also a dancer, and his parents told mine that we should dance together. Then in middle school I participated in the Avex auditions and felt it was really easy (the others laugh) so now I'm here!

Do you have a favourite dance style that you really enjoy?

Taiki: Our dancing is very dynamic and fast, with a lot of popping and sort of an animated presence. We prefer adapting different styles to our different songs.

What kind of dance training do you have?

Taiki: Oh, Yudai has been studying dance since he joined, but everyone else has some dance background, whether it's jazz, popping, house, break dancing…

Your recent single SHOUT IT OUT ranked fourth on the Oricon charts. How did you feel when you found out about it?

Yudai: We actually found out during a live performance. It was during an MC, and one of the staff came over with a note saying that we were at fourth on the Oricon! We were really excited, I think I may have cried a little bit. And after, we celebrated. It was great.

What are your plans for the near future?

Taiki: Well, we're not really a completely new group. We have a lot of work from our indies era, and we'd really like to work on those songs and release them again, now that we've signed with a major label.

Could you please give a message to your overseas fans?

Sota: We really want to introduce our music to everyone and promote J-pop overseas. I don't speak much English, but I love American music, so I know music can overcome any language barriers. Our music can reach anywhere. And I know K-pop is pretty popular here, so I hope we can do the same and become as popular as K-pop – and even overtake it!
Yudai: I hope everyone will want to get to know us and remember our names. We're on YouTube, and we have blogs and Twitter accounts, so please follow us for updates! Hopefully one day we'll be able to perform here as well!


Many thanks to Da-iCE for taking the time to speak with us. JaME would like to thank RESONANCE Media and Tune in Tokyo for arranging the interview.