There aren't many bands out there that deliver as much energy to live performances than Japan’s finest Crossfaith. Their displays never fail to bring a room full of people together jumping or moshing in unison. Luckily for us we managed to grab a moment of the guys time while we were at Slam Dunk Festival, after they’d delivered yet another insane display.
Obviously we had to start with finding out just how much they’d enjoyed the last three days. “Slam Dunk, has been good!” vocalist Kenta Koie tells us. “We have been have touring with Enter Shikari in the UK, Ireland and Russia and Slam Dunk festival just has so much energy and a youthful crowd which is good.” Bass player Hiroki Ikegawa adds “this festival is great because festivals like Reading and Leeds have a more mainstream line up but Slam Dunk just focuses on what it knows best, which is rock music and the crowd is always going crazy.”
So have the guys been enjoying any of the other amazing bands on display over the weekend? “Well first of all Beartooth man,” Koie says. “I do a guest vocal for them which is always amazing, which started back when we did Warped Tour with them in America and we ended up doing it almost every day. We were playing almost every day on the same stage and we were hanging out and they just have the same vibes as us. Very chill. We instantly became friends.” Ikegawa jumps in with “from this tour, Deaf Havana are my new friends! James, Lee and Matthew; those guys are crazy! And so are we, so we all get on amazingly well.”
Crossfaith have toured the UK extensively of late with bands like Bury Tomorrow and Enter Shikari, as well as festival runs. So what do the guys think makes the UK crowds special? Koie tells us: “well the crowds here always create a special atmosphere, even before the shows there’s always music and everyone’s drinking and having a great time and they also love to sing which is good!” Ikegawa jumps in: “the venues here are always super special, and whenever we come on stage it’s like everyone is just ready to go, which we love!”
The Japanese rockers always bring a unique energy with them to any show they play but how do they feel the atmosphere here differs to other crowds around the world? Koie tells us “Back in Japan our fans like to do walls of death and circle pits, but without alcohol.” Ikegawa explains “people come together back home but it can sometimes be more serious, whereas here the crowds just give everything but look after each other at the same time.”
What do Crossfaith have in the pipeline for their army of fans? Koie fills us in: “well we’re gonna release a new EP in August and hopefully we’ll back over here as soon as possible so maybe next year.” A new EP you say? Well we just had to find out more, luckily Koie is happy to oblige us. “It’s already tracked and we’re just waiting to mix it now. This time we’re trying to describe the future which is what we’re always trying to do but this time we’ve focused on how our future has got to be.”
What inspires the guys when they’re creating music? Ikegawa enlightens us: “we’re always taking inspiration from Japanese movies like Ghost in the Shell and our DJ Terufumi Tamano almost sees himself as a visionary, and this time he’s created a totally different sound. We’re also influenced by other bands like The Prodigy for example and tonight we played ‘Omen’ so we just try to incorporate all of these things while making it as heavy as we can and even throw in some punk vibes if we can.”
Going back to the bands influences from Japanese culture we wanted to know what sorts of things specifically make Crossfaith what they are. “We watch a lot of anime and Ghost in the Shell is one of our favourites,” Ikegawa tells us. “There’s a new live action version of that out now which is gonna be kind of scary to watch because I’m a big fan of the original.”
Quickly running out of time Koie just has to tell us this before the band depart: “we just love England man, we can’t wait to come back here and hopefully one day we’ll be headlining Slam Dunk! So we’ll see you all there.”
With that, the guys leave us to play beer pong with Deaf Havana, which we may or may not have got involved in. Look out for that upcoming EP from Crossfaith and keep up to date with the guys over at their website here.