y and h on halcali

From QuickJapan#54

全曲セルフ解説　Halcali on the songs of Halcali (part 1)

1st. Album Halcali Bacon (Released 2003/9/3*1)

1. intro. HALCALI BACON
Produced by O.T.F/music and sound- DJ FUMIYA (O.T.F)
*instrumental

2. Tandem
(1st single. Released 2003/1/8) Produced by O.T.F/Lyrics-RYO-Z (O.T.F)/Music-DJ FUJIYAMA (O.T.F)

This is the first single released in January 2003. How did you feel when you received your first song?

Yukari Before our debut we were practicing a lot of different songs and we had no idea that this would become our debut. Suddenly it was decided that Tandem would be it. It seems to be the case that your image is decided by your debut though.

Haruka After the debut song was decided and things started moving, we really had to pull our socks up.

Y We aren't the type to give up! We had our vocals at full stretch.

3. Giri Giri Surf Rider
(3rd single. Released 2003/7/9) Produced by O.T.F/Lyrics-Ryo-Z (O.T.F)/Music-DJ FUJIYAMA (O.T.F)

Y There were so many phrases I couldn't make sense of in this song that I had to keep asking Ryo-Z about it.

H But we learnt a lot from it too.

There's that really cute phrase in it, ビーチョー("beechyo"), but what does it mean?

Y I thought "ビーチョー" was just "Beat Yo!" in English, right? Isn't it? Well, maybe not...

The line is 二人乗りのビーチョー(riding together on the 'beechyo'), so I thought it was a vehicle of some kind.

Y Er...no I don't think so. (laughs)

H It's great that he can come up with phrases like that though.

Y Yeah, he's constantly pulling them out of thin air.

4. Ah, Halcali Sensation!
Lyrics and music- M.Koshima, S.Matsumoto, Y.Matsumoto/Produced by SDP (Schadaraparr)

Y This was the song that made me realise that not only would singing be fun in itself, but if we could rhyme when we rapped, it would be even better.

H After I started listening to Schadaraparr's stuff properly, I really noticed the similarities in the music between their songs and Sensation.

Y They're putting an album out soon aren't they?*2 It's an interesting listen, a lot of the lyrics from that album are similar to our song too.

5. A Tiring Summer
Produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka (Fantastic Plastic Machine)/Lyrics- Tomoyuki Tanaka/Music and arrangement- Tomoyuki Tanaka, Masayuki Kumahara

This is another interesting one. It's rare that you hear a song which allows you to be able to picture this kind of love story so vividly. Can you relate to the story? The subject matter feels fairly serious.

Y No, not really.

H Well but, the part about guys staring at girls is talking about something quite common.

Y Like those creepy old guys who stare at you on the train.

H Yeah, especially if i'm wearing a mini skirt or something, then I can really feel people looking at me.

Y There's people who do nothing but stare at you the whole time, it makes me sick.

H It also makes you wonder if it's wrong to wear a skirt. Some of them even talk to you.

Y Like, "you must be cold!"

H Or, "you're really showing of your legs" or something.

Y I just want to tell them to piss off.

6. Halcalism (we are the) Candy Hearts
Produced by Kohei Japan/ Lyrics and music by Kohei Japan

H It's Kohei! I love this guy, i've been his fan for ages.

Speaking of old guys, this song is likely to bring back some old memories for them. I'm talking about the line キウイ　パパヤ　マンゴー ("kiwi, papaya, mango") You don't know about it, right?

H No, not at all.

'君たちキウイ　パパヤ　マンゴーだね' ('You guys are like Kiwis, Papayas and Mangos' (?!)) was the title of a huge hit song for Meiko Nakahara.*3

H so when we say that line, they'll be reminded of that song?

Naturally.

Y So it's just us who didn't know. We don't have a clue do we?!

7. Conversation of a mystery
Produced by O.T.F/Music and sound-DJ FUJIYAMA (O.T.F)
*instrumental

8. Peek-a-boo
Produced by O.T.F/Lyrics-RYO-Z (O.T.F)/Music-DJ FUJIYAMA (O.T.F)

Y When we were first starting out we were using this as the first song in the set, so when I hear it it always makes me feel nervous.

But now you're using it as the first song in your encore right?

H Yeah that's right. It works pretty well like that, with us chanting our names at the start and everything.*4

Y It's a cute song. I really love it.

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*1 For the release dates i'm using the same method as the Japanese use, and of course how they were published here. So this is 3rd September 2003.
*2 She's talking about The 9th Sense. If you're interested, you really should take a look at what they're making with Denki Groove now. Especially if last April's single Twilight is anything to go by.
*3 This song was on the album The Fruit of Lotos, released back in 1984, before y and h were even born.
*4 "My name is Haruka in the house!" "My name is Yukari in the house!"