On Smash Hit ‘Dai Zero Kan,’ Latest Tour – Billboard
The animated film THE FIRST SLAM DUNK has become a smashing success in Japan, grossing over 12.2 billion yen at the box office as of March 21, 2023. Fueled by its success, the film’s ending theme, 10-FEET’s “Dai Zero Kan” stayed in the top 10 on the Billboard JAPAN Hot 100 Songs Chart for 12 consecutive weeks.
Billboard Japan spoke to TAKUMA, singer and guitarist of 10-FEET, about the thoughts he put into creating the film’s title song and background music, his experiences working with director Takehiko Inoue, his music co-writer Satoshi Takebe and more as part of this monthly feature series focusing on today’s outstanding artists and works.
Their “10-FEET ‘Collins’ TOUR 2023” began on January 16th. How excited are the fans and how motivated does the band feel?
For about three years, entertainment wasn’t really what it should have been, and now it feels like all that pent-up excitement has really come to the fore. I think there are fans out there who are having fun and are aware that live shows are possible again and there are others who come to the shows with a more passionate spirit – more impulsive. It feels like the live show scene is making a comeback.
Have there been any changes in your attitude towards or approach to live shows due to the pandemic?
It’s been three years since people could really stand shoulder to shoulder at a show. I’m sure there are some people out there who are asking, “Is this really okay?” So we need to play music and put on really powerful shows that sweep away those fears and tensions. I think if we can do that, we can turn that fear and tension into drive and excitement.
About three months have passed since the film THE FIRST SLAM DUNK came out. How was the reaction around you?
Some friends from back then got back to me, which was great.
Looking at the comments on the music video, it seems like there are listeners all over the world. What do you think of the fact that your music reaches beyond the borders of Japan and reaches people all over the world?
The lyrics are almost entirely in Japanese, so it seems strange to me that people hear it outside of Japan.
It has been in the top 10 on the Billboard JAPAN chart for a few weeks. I think that shows that it brought you a lot of new listeners.
I’ve heard a lot of people say they’ve never heard of us before or that it’s the first time they’ve heard one of our songs, which is a real honor. We made music all the time hoping that many people would hear and enjoy our music.
They had a few other possible theme songs like “SLAM”, “Blind Man” and “Shinkaigyo”. What made you feel that “Dai Zero Kan” goes best with the title track?
I personally think they would all have been great. We presented the film production team with about eight or ten songs as possible theme songs. However, the director and music director each time said the song didn’t fit their image for the film. Then one day the music team asked us for music for one of Rukawa’s scenes. So we renamed “Odanshi” (the song that later became “Dai Zero Kan”) to “Rukawa Odanshi” and sent it in. (laughs) Director Inoue said that Rukawa Odanshi was like a bolt from the blue. It seems like both the music director and music producer both said, “That’s it.” We made some additional changes to the arrangement of “Rukawa Odanshi,” and that’s how it became the “Dai Zero Kan” that we have now . I didn’t originally plan for “Dai Zero Kan” to be performed by 10-FEET or as a solo song, so I just wrote it how I felt without thinking about it. I wrote it just after the pandemic started and I just wanted something really danceable and heavy.
For a while, it was in the top 20 of Billboard JAPAN “TikTok Weekly Top 20” for weeks. Looking back, what do you think of how it was received?
We were lucky that the catchy tune became popular on TikTok thanks to the movie. I think the key part of the chorus’ melody is its rhythm. For example, in “Scatman,” the melody and rhythm of the “ski-ba-bop-ba-dop-bop” part is really unique, isn’t it? Ever since I started playing in a band, I’ve always liked those rhythms and melodies that if you listen to them all day, you’ll remember them for the rest of your life. So I was able to take that kind of rhythmic sensibility from Western music, write lyrics in Japanese, and create more original music with 10-FEET. I think the rhythm along with the pacing of the lyrics makes up about 90% and melodic elements make up the other 10%.
I understand. I would also like to ask you a little about the accompanying music. When you wrote the music, did you want to express the feelings of the members of the Shohoku and Sannoh teams, or convey the feel of the game itself from a more objective perspective?
When it came to the accompanying music, I thought about how I would express Inoue’s cinematic concepts musically. For example, when Inoue asked me to write music to use when Kohoku was on the ropes, I wrote what I envisioned as music that embodied being in the middle of a crisis. Then, when I played it for Inoue, he expanded his concept for the scene and said, “The sense of Kohoku in crisis comes across really well, but in this scene Sannoh also goes on the offensive. Sannoh aren’t just bad guys, they’re a really strong, cool team. So that scene is also an exciting scene where Sannoh got in the zone on her offense and went all out.” Then I came back later with new music and said, “I think that has the feel you’re going for. What do you think?”
In “Slash Snake” the snare sound was reminiscent of dribbling.
Sound designer Koji Kasamatsu edited the background music I provided. For example, drum snares often occupy the same frequencies as people’s voices—the lines that characters say. I think he paid a lot of attention to where the snares could be heard and how they adjusted their volume, level, equalization, range and such. In rock and music like ours you can often hear the snares running all the time, but he’s done a great job making adjustments and editing elements like that. If there were any scenes where it felt like the noose was in sync with the dribbling, that would have to be Kasamatsu working its magic.
At the film’s climax, the scene using “ZERO” stands out for how it uses “silence” and “movement” for different effects.
I think there needs to be a lot of switching between times when the instrumentation is very full and sparse, where the sound really pushes you and when it’s more open, when it’s quiet and when it has a dramatic, floating feel. It was my first time making this type of music, but no matter how long it took, it never felt like a chore. It was time consuming but also very rewarding, so I created and submitted a lot of music.
So it was the first time that you wrote incidental music.
This time I wrote background music for SLAM DUNK, this is a manga that I really loved. If I got an offer to create scores for an adaptation of a work I wasn’t familiar with, I’d want to look at the original it was based on, film adaptations, TV adaptations, anime adaptations, and the like. I really want to internalize this story – make it a part of me – before writing music for it. I have no experience with starting from scratch together with the production team and creating output with my own sensitivity. If the opportunity arises, I would like to try it.
When you were writing music with Satoshi Takebe, was there a direction or discussions that stuck with you?
He really was a wonderful teacher. I was a bit nervous because I figured if I responded too excitedly and passionately I might come across as rude and annoy or upset him. But Takebe took the lead and said, “You need to speak up more.” He started by creating that environment where I felt free to speak up, and from there we could really connect.
Finally, what year do you hope to make in 2023?
In 2023 I want to go back to the basics and study music from scratch, reeducate myself musically. If you’re always working with music, you can lose sight of that passion and impulsiveness. I really want to bring those feelings back to the fore.
—This interview by Tatsuya Tanami first appeared on Billboard Japan