Leaving a mark among the stars: auncia
Written by Amy O'deay
Since forming in 2006, auncia has moved from Indie to Major. A band consisting of very young members: TATSUKI on vocal, JIN on guitar, Yosuke on bass and Hikari on drums, they rocked it out at during the battle of the bands at Anime Expo 2009. In case you are unfamiliar with their work, they have released two mini-albums, two DVDs, and three maxi singles. Get to know them…
AF: Things have been pretty exciting in auncia's world! Anime Expo will be your first time in America. What was your first reaction when you learned that you had been invited to play at this convention?
(auncia) Anime expo is really popular not only in the U.S, but also Japan. I couldn’t believe that we were invited to play at such a big convention. We were so proud of it and excited.
Do you have any expectations or anxieties about playing in the U.S.? Is there anything in particular that you would like to see or do during this visit?
(auncia) We didn’t really worry about anything. We knew the barrier of language/culture wouldn’t be bothering us since we are able to communicate with U.S fans through music. There is one thing that we wanted to do during this visit; we wish we could have left our hand mark at the Chinese Theatre with other Hollywood stars. (Laughs)
What can we expect from an auncia live in the U.S.?
(auncia) You can expect that auncia’s live is absolutely cool, fun, and perfect.
The release of a CD in America by an independent visual kei band who has never even played here is an unprecedented move (but an impressive one!). Was there a strategy behind this release?
(auncia) The offer of that released CD in the U.S sounded pretty interesting. More exposure makes us more popular, so there is no demerit to start working globally. We’d never done it before, but when we imagined that international fans liked our music and would be looking forward to seeing our live show, we thought the offer & opportunity was really valuable.
What has been the biggest difference between working with smaller companies such as Red List and Heart Link versus a major label?
(auncia) Heart Link is owned by auncia. When we left Red List Entertainment, we decided to operate an original label by ourselves. Fortunately, we made a deal with Universal Music Japan as a label, Heart Link. Therefore, even if we debut as a major band through Universal Music, we are still able to work as auncia under Heart Link. So basically, there is no big difference as indie and major. Rather than that, smaller companies like Red List had more strict rules that we had to follow.
(auncia) We don’t have any specific plans, but we would like everyone to listen to the song. It doesn’t matter if you not Japanese, Visual kei fans. If you like music, we will sing for you.
Are there any more American music releases in the works?
(auncia) We are not sure yet, yet our plan is releasing PV of our new single KeyCase this coming winter in the U.S.
Please give a message to the readers of Animefood.
(TATSUKI) It was my first time to play in the U.S, and I was so impressed that fans are so exciting and energetic! We will come back again.
(JIN) It was a precious memory and good experience. We will definitely play in the U.S again.
(yosuke) I really enjoyed the U.S. I’m so looking forward to seeing you again.
(Hikari) With the fans, I promised that we are coming back to play in the U.S again, so we will make it true. Don’t forget us!
special thanks to auncia for the interview, and to Cure Media USA and Cure Japan for bringing auncia to the U.S.
Links to learn more:
http://auncia.net
http://cure-net.com and http://curemediausa.com
