2011.12.19
In 2011, ex-Karma, Da'vid/shito:aL, pleur member Pietoro has returned to the musical scene after a decade, even though he never quit music in itself.
He kindly accepted to participe on an interview about his past, his band experience and future.
Thank you, Pietoro!


Misa Shito x Pietoro

Special Interview


-Pietoro, first of all, I really appreciate your time and willing to do this interview for your fans.
Personally I really admire all your works, as are all the people reading this site I'm sure.
We know that you joined Da'vid through Rietto who was your childhood friend, and before that you were a drummer, is that correct?
Do you remember that band you played drums for?

Pietoro:
Karma, wasn't it?
Rietto asked me to do support drums for Karma and we began to play together.

Later I switched to vocals.
I jokingly said: well, I'll sing
It's the band that makes me remind of when I became a vocalist

-Your singing style is very unique and a trademark.
When listening or watching a video of Da'vid, you get the impression that it's a child actually singing.
Are you planning to sing again sometime? Or are you 100% focused on drumming today?

Pietoro:
First Misa would make the melody and sang it
I just couldn't reach the range much.

Although my voice is also fairly low, it was a little too low.
I remember it was really difficult to sing that way.

When we listened to our recordings there was something missing.

When Da'vid was formed, it was decided that there would be twin vocals and twin bass.
The boy who dreams in the world of fairy tales called Pietoro was conceived.
Since I had a similar vocal nature as Misa, the compelling sense of that world did not came out in the music
So I tried to sing an octave above Misa to make a contrast with him.

Then, the world of Da'vid we envisioned was finally there.

However singing started to be more difficult than when I sang with a lower voice... (sweatdrop)

About if I'd want to sing again,
I have a very narrow range, I realized
If I was to become professional, I would fall in the narrow range, really.

The music as a whole can only turn out narrow as a result,
So I don't want to sing.

If I start doing more than one thing I won't be able to see the surroundings
since I'm a devoted type of person, I want to focus on drumming.


-The lyrics in Da'vid songs are 100% original fairy tales.
Are they based in other fairy tales, or in Pietoro's everyday life?
For example the one about Myura (the evil paraoh) or Korero and his apple pie.

Pietoro:
In 1 BOX I wrote lyrics about real life with a Da'vid-like style.
Then, in the old fairy tales there were a lot of scary, cruel things, weren't there?
When writting the lyrics I wanted to express that right.

-Do you remember the initial reaction from the public back in 1997?
Da'vid was very different from other Visual kei bands. However it was decently successful: being in labels like Kreis or appearing on TV shows.

Pietoro:
david would be accepted at the time,
during that period many bands used the intense Kuro-kei (translator note: Black-stlye, bands wearing all black clothes)

Karma was also amongst them.

I still can't forget, in the live house called Nagoya Music Farm (birthplace of Kuroyume) in Japan,
during a live performance, there was a visitor from Nagoya in a seat,
Kiyo-sama (Kiyoharu from Kuroyume) was looking at me...
I've been told he was listening

I was extremely unpleasant.
At first I yearned for singing like Kiyoharu, then I converted to vocalist.
I was aware I shouldn't just imitate another person.

I had to represent v-kei from a different angle
I couldn't think otherwise.

Triggered by this I left Karma,
the search for members to form Da'vid began.

The most important thing was the first impressions when people looked at me.
It's funny, people hardly ever told me I was cool or anything.
I was often called to be rather cute with a baby face and whatnot.

But since I was a little kid I had a baby face complex,
in reaction, I wanted to be cool.

But when I was performing, that was just obstructive.
If people kept telling me I was cute
why not accept it?
I thought about it, and draw the first sketch.

I draw a boy who was holding a balloon and wearing a dunce cap.

From there, the picture started to move,
I remember a lot of ideas came out.
Almost like Pinocchio...
And so, Pietoro was born.

Then the members of Karma (with whom there was discordance) came and asked if I wanted to sing again, this time with Misa.

I remember I was really happy,
Rietto gave me a Final Fantasy game as a present.
I remember he told me to come back.

I showed them a picture of Pietoro, in a band based on the world of fairy tales.
They said they wanted to do it, and asked me to join.

Rietto is even until now one of the most talented persons I've met, he was a rival but also a close friend.
Rietto exposed me to a variety of ideas, in order to realize my ideas one after another.

There would be no such thing as Da'vid/shito:aL in this world without Rietto.

And then, in the world of Kuro-kei bands,
Da'vid/shito:aL was born.

Then when Da'vid was on float,
it was time to cause a disturbance to the public, it was the main point.

There was no way of telling what the V-kei fans wanted those days, but they welcomed us wamrly saying they were waiting for something like it.

-In the song "1 BOX" there's a reference to a "Noah's book". Does such book exists?

Pietoro:
It's Noah from the story of Noah's Ark.
so, animal cries were put in the intro of 1box.
so I think I'd say it exists ^^

-Was &Mio Da'vid's own label? We never really heard of other bands under that label.

Pietoro:
That's right, it was Da'vid's dedicated independent label.
The staff person was referred to as mio, so it was &mio, yes.
Those days, since the records were carried out by independent work, many bands sold by making a label for themselves.

-During live shows, Kuro Pie would take over the stage!
Is Kuro Pie a different character, or is it another part of Pietoro's heart? a harmful side, perhaps?

Pietoro:
At first, Pietoro admired the Joker from the playing cards
and in the middle of the live performance, I would cosplay the Joker

It became popular amongst fans, and it was started to be called Kuro Pie
Later, the bad side of Pietoro became a separate character known as Kuro Pie.

In Da'vid lives, balloons would be handed to the fans in the front row while Misa performed an instrumental piece.
then in the Kuro Pie part, he wanted to bash the balloons with a stick
I had to do that (laughs)

Don't come to david lives by any means! I've warned you (sweatdrop)

-pleur was a new band born from the ashes of Da'vid.
Eruze became Noble and a new bassist called Kuruto joined, so the twin bass sound remained.
Most of the new songs were written by -F-(Pietoro's character in pleur). Was it hard to write songs for 2 bassists instead of 2 guitarists?

Pietoro:
This was a difficult period.
To be honest I wrote 10 songs in one week..
There was a one-man 1 month after the formation, and before that we had a tour.
On tour we went to hotels carrying all the equipment

I wrote 3 lyrics per day...

On the other hand, it was easy to make the twin bass work later on.
Since there were violins and other intstruments, they were transposed and played by Kuruto on his bass.

-During pleur live shows, Kuro Pie would occasionally take over and turn pleur into "Kuro Da'vid/shito:aL", and performed Da'vid songs.
On this songs, Misa's voice was heard as playback tracks during the performance (for example in 1 BOX).
Has Misa ever performed with pleur on stage at least once?

Pietoro:
Misa was in Klein Kaiser at that time.
He was too busy so he never participated in pleur

I sang all the Misa parts too, to which I would sing sync to.
Since I have originally a low voice ^^

-Pietoro, you've been away from the music scene for quite some time.
Was there something special that made you decide to return?

Pietoro:
I've stopped perfoming on stages
However, I continued making music for myself and for someone close to me.
But since I returned to drums, things changed a lot.
However, that's a personal story.

Receiving an interview this way about david,
All the sympathy to us from overseas fans,
I was impressed when I saw all the support on the net
That's the biggest thing.

-Finally, please tell us about your current project and future plans.

Pietoro:
I want to help people who love music by playing drums
Then I also wish to make a genre that surprises people again.
I want to do it freely and enjoy music regardless of being on a big or small band. ^^

-Pietoro, thank you so much for your time and dedication, we hope to listen to your music in the near future!

Pietoro:
Thank you.
I will do my best so that you can listen somehow at least a little.