Welcome, newcomers!　Part 1: "Cellchrome," a band from Nagoya with a rock sound and POP melodies, colors "Konya Kareshi" (convenience store café)

With more and more anime songs being released every day, newcomers to the anime song scene are also appearing on the scene one after another. Akiba Research Institute has started a series of in-depth interviews with "newcomers" of interest to Akiba Research Institute!

In this memorable first installment, we hit the rock band "Cellchrome," all of whom hail from Nagoya!　We asked them about their musical roots and songwriting episodes.

The four members have different musical roots!

───Please begin by introducing yourselves!

tatsuma I am tatsuma, a drummer. I'm tatsuma, the drummer, and member 1, the party guy.

All of you (laughs)

Mizki I'm Mizki, the vocalist. I'm into anime these days.

Yosuke I am Yosuke, a guitarist. I am the most meticulous of the members.

Niwaken I am Niwaken, the bass player. You can probably tell by my appearance, but I am the most austere member (laughs).

─ ─ "Cellchrome" has many unique members, but how was the band formed?

tatsuma Originally, the three of us except for Yosuke were in a band, but I met Yosuke during my musical activities, and we decided to form a band together, which led to the formation of "Cellchrome".

Mizki The band was formed in November 2015.

─ So it took you less than two years to make your debut!　What kind of music did you originally listen to?

tatsuma When I was in elementary school, I liked J-POP and often listened to "EXILE" and "CHEMISTRY". From there, I started listening to "L'Arc~en~Ciel" and "Janne Da Arc," which are considered early Visual Kei, and from there I started listening to Japanese rock and Western music as well. SIAM SHADE" was probably the biggest influence on me.

Mizki I also had a friend in my hometown who liked Lark, and we used to listen to them together. From there, I started listening to a lot of 90's Visual Kei, and then X JAPAN, LUNA SEA, and Janne Da Arc... I followed that path. Later, I started playing the guitar and became interested in riffs and techniques, and that is when I started listening to technical anime songs. I could hear the studio musicians really playing in ani-songs.

─ How about you, guitarist Yosuke?

Yosuke: I started playing guitar when I was in junior high school under the influence of my father. I started listening to 70's rock music with "Led Zeppelin," and I was listening to "Deep Purple," "Eric Clapton," and other royalty. When I was playing the guitar, I gradually came to like more technical songs, and in high school I was really into "MR. So the songs are hard rock. So, I think the roots of my musicality lie in songs that are hard rock but have pop melodies.

Niwaken: My mother listened to rock bands, so my ears were naturally exposed to their music. For a while, I was into "Maximum the Hormone" with my mother, and the first live concert we went to was the stage of "Maximum the Hormone.

─ Your mother and Hormone!

Niwaken: My first live concert was with Hormone, so it was a shock for me in many ways (laughs). Ue-chan on bass was really cool, and that was the first time I recognized the bass guitar as an instrument. I started playing the bass guitar, and I realized how cool an instrument it is. After that, I was into music such as mixed music, loud music, and metal music, but recently I have been trying to incorporate various kinds of music, including jazz, because I want to create a more austere and colorful sound as a bass player.