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Translation & Subtitles: thoseguiltyeyes | scandal-heaven.com
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Hello! RINA here.
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I'm in Fukuoka right now.
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We just came here at the end of April for our tour,
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(Thanks to everyone who came to our tour!)
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and I'm really happy I get to come back again so soon at the start of May.
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I love Fukuoka no matter how many times I come here.
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I flew in in the morning.
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Today, I'm not here for a concert--
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our new single is out on May 10,
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which we're releasing physical CDs of,
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and since we're making CDs in this streaming era,
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(Releasing CDs is now a special, huge event)
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each of the band members are going around to different areas,
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doing promo on radio and TV programs.
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It feels like forever since we last did this. I'm really happy.
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And right now I'm recording for a lot of radio programs,
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doing a live broadcast soon,
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and recording for TV programs.
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And at the end of the day, I have a signing event.
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We'd thought we'd do our first signing events.
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(Thanks to everyone who came♡ It was fun!)
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They're being held at Tower Records branches.
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That's how my schedule is today.
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It's so nice and fun when it feels fresh.
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Each of have a staff member going around with us,
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and the staffer with me...
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We have an imprint label called "her,"
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and my staffer is a very young man nicknamed Manatee.
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This is our first time traveling together.
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He's so adorable.
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My...
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Yes?
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Thanks.
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I'm filming a YouTube video.
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(Manatee appears)
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Wow.
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You're certainly a hardworker.
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I'm filming. Thank you so much!
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Ah, a hot drink. That makes me happy.
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I was just talking about you.
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This is our first time traveling together.
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I'm saying that it's interesting.
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What is this? The first time...
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It's pretty interesting.
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-It feels way too fresh.
-That's true.
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-What did you buy--
-How long have you been with SCANDAL now?
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-It's been a year.
-Yeah.
-May.
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-We first met then.
-Yeah.
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-It feels like it's been longer than that.
-Really?
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We got close really fast.
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So cute.
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Thanks.
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Thanks for all of this.
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This is funny.
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Thank you.
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-I appreciate it.
-All of you can eat it tomorrow.
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(They bought a lot of Kyushu-only snacks)
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Those look like ones the members would like.
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-Are those only sold in Kyushu?
-I think.
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-The "her" imprint label.
-That's right.
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-Does it feel like you're part of "her"?
-It does.
-Really?
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It felt like I was when I was interviewed.
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I'm really happy to hear that.
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I first joined as part of Colourful [Records] and Victor [Entertaiment].
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Not as part of "her."
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-Manatee's generation--
-What does "her" actually mean?
-"her"?
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At first, we also had no idea what direction to go in.
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We had no idea what to name [the imprint label].
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But what we had treasured during those previous 10 years
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definitely had to have been being an all-girl band.
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It started from that thought.
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We thought that going with a word that made you think of women just by hearing it would be good.
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That's all we needed to decide on it.
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Also, it'd look cute in text form.
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You sometimes hear of all-girl bands being looked down upon.
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We're not angry about that at all.
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It wouldn't be surprising, given that you value and have that as your identity.
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I totally get both stances.
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There's been a big increase in all-girl bands.
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Yeah, ones in their first year of high school.
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All of a sudden there were a lot.
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-There are a lot of younger girls.
-Right? There are.
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It's a lot of fun.
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It was sad when there was a dip in all-girl bands.
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It's getting good again. It's getting exciting.
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It really is hard to continue being an all-girl band.
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That fleetingness is also cool somehow.
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-It is nice.
-There's nothing fleeting about SCANDAL now, is there?
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Wait, this is embarrassing!
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This is embarrassing.
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I mean, you're celebrating your 17th anniversary.
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-You've been in the band for half of your life...?
-More than that.
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-I've been in it since my 15th birthday.
-That's awesome.
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I was invited to join when I was 14, decided to do it,
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and the day the four of us decided to go ahead with it
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just happened to be my birthday.
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Wow.
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August 21 this year is when they have their anniversary concert,
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-but it's also RINA's birthday.
-That's right.
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-Do you not like that?
-No, it's not like that.
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I think of it more as our formation day.
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-That's awesome.
-We age together.
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-In what sense...
-Yeah, there's lots to celebrate then.
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There's always an event on her birthday.
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I end my birthday feeling anxious.
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When the band first formed,
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were you to be the drummer from the start? Or...
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The vacant position was the drums,
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but I was fine with any position.
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When I met the other three,
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I thought, "I really want to do this with them!"
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So it's like the members took priority [over what position I'd be doing].
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Any similar bands?
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Including changes...
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When you compare the band from then until now, it's totally different.
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You've been gradually changing.
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-It's interesting.
-It really is.
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But you still totally perform songs from back then.
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You guys didn't start after reaching a certain level of maturity--
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you've been doing this long before [you became adults],
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so there's quite a huge difference from other groups.
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There really is.
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It's because we started from not knowing how to do anything.
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Pretty much anything.
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You're still totally incomplete as a human being when you're a middle schooler.
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That's true.
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-Adolescence was the band as it were.
-For real.
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14 years old, huh...
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I have a little sister who's currently a first-year high schooler.
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-Right now?
-Yes.
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There are a total of 5 kids in my family.
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-You're the oldest?
-Yes.
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My sister, who is I think the fourth sibling overall,
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is a first-year high schooler.
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We debuted when I was a second-year high schooler,
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so when I think about how many years have passed...
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-You see her as your own kid.
-Yeah, I do.
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And it makes me think of how amazing mothers are.
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You need to have a lot of courage to say "Go ahead!" to your kid
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who's suddenly moving to Tokyo at that age.
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Mothers are amazing.
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-You were also suddenly employed.
-That's true.
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That really is true. And I've never had a part-time job, either.
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-Are you the only one in the band to not have had one?
-TOMOMI as well.
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-You started a career in music around the age that you'd work part time.
-Yeah.
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That's impressive.
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But now that's one thing that I wish I had experienced.
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-You've never had a part-time job in secret?
-No.
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I have a lot of respect for those in all kinds of occupations.
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I don't think I could do any of that.
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We talked about this a little earlier,
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that my convos with friends have changed
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in regards troubles they have now and what they're thinking about.
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Like buying a house,
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where they should live in the future,
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having kids.
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What they worry about keeps changing,
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but the only thing I ever worry about is music.
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-That's true.
-That's wonderful, though.
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Your friends are probably jealous of that.
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They tell me that I always have a dream I want to come true.
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Everyone's dreams and values differ.
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-If you have kids, you need to put them before your own dreams.
-Yeah.
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I have two daughters,
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and if they wanted a guitar, I'd be like, "Yes!"
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or a keyboard, or anything that I liked,
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or something related to my job,
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I'd give it to them in a heartbeat.
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But they'd never keep it up.
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-It makes you happy when they show an interest.
-Yeah, you want them to have an interest.
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That's nice. That's fun.
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There's a luxury of having both:
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It's a luxury to be able to focus on your own life
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and spend all the time you want on things you want to do.
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I think a life like ours is very luxurious.
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I'm sure it's tough, but I'm sure it's also fun
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when people's lives change as they start families.
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SCANDAL debuted when you guys were still students--kids--and now you're adults.
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I don't know what's next for you guys,
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but it seems like you guys would still be a band even if you started families.
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I think it's really impressive when people can do that.
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There are still phases like that, too.
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Those close to you guys might think you guys should time it right.
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But like, that's totally...
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For example, if we decided to have kids and it ends up being around the same time,
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the band might temporarily take a break that could last for a few years.
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If that seems doable,
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it'd be great if we could keep our energy and stamina that we have right now.
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That's what I'm worried about.
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Hopefully we can do that,
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and go back to our current peak.
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Well, each generation has their own approach to things,
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and you might do another approach different to what's being done now.
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-That's what veterans do, after all.
-True.
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Everyone's so awesome, seriously.
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Might as well do what you can then.
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Don't know, though.
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At some point, you might do band activities without all of the members.
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That's something that's the least likely to happen.
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That's inconceivable.
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We can't do anything if the four of us aren't doing it together.
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-That's why SCANDAL's truly an interesting band.
-It is.
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It's like, "What'll happen in the future?"
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Yeah.
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-There's no other choice but to turn our lives into music.
-Yeah. That's awesome.
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It's all uncharted territory after we set the Guinness World Record.
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It's like, "What'll happen?"
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(It'll be like an experiment after August 21st this year)
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It'll be hard to find out how to do that.
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-It's like, is it doable or not?
-Yeah.
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(17 years of our activities are being meticulously inspected)
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Who is the current record holder?
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Well, no one has petitioned Guinness about it before,
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so there's no official record for it.
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We'll be establishing the record.
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SCANDAL will be creating the category.
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-Are periods of hiatus included in this?
-Yes.
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That is included.
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-You guys have never done that.
-Yeah.
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No member changes, either.
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There aren't any other [bands like that].
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This would usually be impossible.
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I think it's impressive even for bands to be together for 5 or 6 years.
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It seems like they'd be strict about what a "hiatus" would be.
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But SCANDAL has never stopped their activities even once.
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We're endlessly on tour.
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You do always tour every year.
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It tends to be common for veteran artists only release things every 2-3 years.
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They also don't tour because they don't release anything.
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I kind of admire that too, though.
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Like, "Wow, it's been three years? They're so cool!"
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When we established "her,"
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we talked about how it'd be good to release an album in three years or so.
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But we've released quite a bit since then!
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We're coming out with a lot of them.
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(We have 10 albums out right now)
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We've always done things at a rookie artist's pace.
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-I'll go check on things.
-Okay.
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It's something to be grateful for.
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I really like the two albums that SCANDAL has released under "her."
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You've always said that.
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I am with Victor, after all.
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That's part of it, of course.
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But it is impressive.
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You've always said that at meetings.
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It makes me happy.
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I also really like our recent songs.
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All of the things people say about them are interesting.
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It's like, "They're still saying things like that?"
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I think there's a whole different level of progress for those who understand [our songs].
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This tour really was amazing.
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It affirmed how connected we are.
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It feels like we as fellow humans, and our hearts, had grown closer together.
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I'm glad that you guys show your emotions upfront.
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I felt like crying on opening day of the tour.
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-I cried on the first day.
-It was awesome--you cried?!
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I'm off.
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-That happens often.
-You cry often?
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-Yeah.
-I see.
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That makes me happy to hear.