* The first thing I should remark before all the articles is that GERO 56 was another name of GERO 30 for a certain period of time ; his name was GERO 30 in the beginning and now it is again [J.Y.]

1) Did you create music or Noise outputs before THE GEROGERIGEGEGE?

I had not released any pieces before the first tape. At that time, in 1985, I had listened to nothing but Noise music and the live albums of THE RAMONES which began with the shout "1,2,3,4". That was the original start of THE GEROGERIGEGEGE's "1,2,3,4" noise-core music. I recorded some pieces in that style in the beginning of 1985, when I did not have any name on my unit. One of them was included in the 7"EP KITANOMARU HYAKKEI which was released in 1993 from a Japanese label. By the way, in 1986, I first listen to the second tape of SEVEN MINUTES OF NAUSEA, a work which seemed to me the same as mine.

2) In 1985, what were the (musical or Noise) influences of THE GEROGERIGEGEGE?

___-NP (the NP SESSION TAPE, a friend of mine, was for sale in a limited edition at that time, but it has to be released in CD soon),
___-the live albums of THE RAMONES,
___-ZSF products.

3) The story tells that the members met in an SM club in Shinjuku - Tokyo... So, you had an interest in 'deviant' sexual performances before doing music... Can you explain the relation between SM, bondage Japanese specific 'culture' and the work of THE GEROGERIGEGEGE?

Even now, I am not interested in SM play between man and woman at all. In this period, I was working in a certain gay club, in Shinjuku, where I did some SM shows with GERO 30. In fact, I do not have enough knowledge to talk about Japanese SM. The shows I did had no back-ground music, which maybe made the audience more excited than it had. The contents of the show was nothing but to eat each other the shit of GERO 30 and mine and twist about in our pee and shit. While we played such performances, the audience, mainly middle-aged people, was jacking off. Anyway, all we could hear in the darkened space was panting voices of such men and excited snorts. Such experiences, beyond all description I could give, has been made most of the time in the pieces and lives of THE GEROGERIGEGEGE.

4) THE GEROGERIGEGEGE start in 1985 with you and GERO 56 (the exhibitionist !). It seems that there were a lot of other members in the band & that now, you are working alone... So, are you the only actual official member of THE GEROGERIGEGEGE?

Even now, the official members are two men: GERO 30 and I. But I do everything about the sounds.

There are so many people who took part in my lives that I can hardly remember the correct number of them. Two or three exhibitionists were in THE GEROGERIGEGEGE except GERO 30 at the beginning of the unit in 1985. I get on with them now as friends of mine, having not appeared in any lives and tracks after all. Oh, but only one of them was in the CD LIVE GREATEST HITS. The other exhibitionists sended me videos made while they were playing gay sex at the seashore and having fun with 12 candles in their assholes. They also had their own pleasure by working in an Art school as nude models. They said that their penises became so stiff that the juices dripped from the top of them. I will edit and release these videos in the future.

5) What are other members doing now (I heard than an ex-GEROGERIGEGEGE was involved in 'Scum-Rock' band MAMARRACHO...)? What is GERO 56 doing now ?

GERO 30 has been in hospital for a very long time. Sometimes he calls me from the hospital, saying that he wants to play on stage again as soon as possible and jacks off everyday as before.
Few people in the others have anything to do with music. MAMARRACHO is made from two members, who both took part in THE GEROGERIGEGEGE.

6) In 1998, you realize a very rare one-side flexi disc (2000 copies) called AI-JIN that you burned in a performance... In KITANOMARU HYAKKEI 7" booklet, you say it included <<the cover song of Teresa TENG [but who is T.T.?]. In front of a large number of fans who came to see flexi disk sales promotion event held at Enoshima Beach (sea side), all 2000 copies were burned out, leaving only a few of them that forgot to burn.>>
Can you develop and explain what happened & tell what was the main idea of this "burned flexi-disc performance"?

2000 flexi discs were made to be burned out in live from the beginning. So I had advertised it, on any kinds of musical magazines, as "Release Memorial Performance". Many many people came on that day. Of course, they expected some performance, but all they could see was that I burned out all the discs in front of them. The remained discs were simply were simply forgotten there to be brought... Well, I cannot answer your question "why ?" but can only say that this is THE GEROGERIGEGEGE ! While I was burning out them, GERO 30 was having fun with his masturbation.
(Teresa TENG is a taiwanese singer who once hits explosively the numbers in Japan.)

7) Considering some of your covers showing 2 males in love, the sounds of masturbation used as an obsession and the fact that THE GEROGERIGEGEGE performed a live at the Tokyo Gay Center in 1989 (LIVE AT THE TOKYO GAY CENTER limited edition 7" of 10 pink vinyl copies, on VIS 'A' VIS AUDIO ARTS), do we have to say & pronounce <<THE GEROGERI-GAY-GAY-GAY>>?

The name "GEROGERIGEGEGE" has nothing to do with 'gay' in Japanese, but comes from vomiting (GERO), diarrhea (GERI), in Japanese, and the letters GEGEGE. I was conscious of a feeling of freedom by choosing this name. But I am very glad if you pronounce it "GERO-GERI-GAY-GAY-GAY". Very good!!!

8) THE GEROGERIGEGEGE appears as a special 'multi-genre' band: from harsh noise (ALL YOU NEED IS AUDIO SHOCK 7" 1995, for example), conceptual (NIGHT 7", 1993), very very scum rock / Noise (INSTRUMENTS DISORDER (170 SONGS) CD1994) to... ambient (NONE FRIENDLY CD, 1999).
It seems a great, strange and quite unusual discography based on freedom... But what the hell is the key to understand THE GEROGERIGEGEGE work? Is there a GEROGERIGEGEGE philosophy?

Personally, I think that Noise is also music. I have made music by thinking so far that there are no genres, no distinctions and that Noise is music, since I sended the sounds themselves off. My specific appreciation on music is maybe the reason why many people have been designating my work as "multi-genre". It is often said that every piece turns out to be the contrary of the fans' expectations, which is not intentional (but was true for some lives). If I made music intentionally everytime, there would remain no pleasure for me at all. Anyway, I can say that, from the start, I have always created what I wanted to do. And so will I. The two main points concerning THE GEROGERIGEGEGE are: "Do not copy others" and "Human feelings", in our own sense.

9) How was created the label VIS'A'VIS AUDIO ARTS? Who manage it?
It's great because the label offered flexi discs (I particularly enjoyed THE HATERS one called "FUSHAIT" -30 copies...), then LPs and now is making CDs...

The name "VIS 'A' VIS" came to my mind earlier before the recording of the first LP. The label with that name was created by me for those releases. French and the meaning of the words [=opposite, facing], both I like them. VIS 'A' VIS is run only by me.

10) Do you often perform lives? Is a live always as anarchic as we can imagine (naked people...)?

Since GERO 30 cannot play on stage, I play alone. I am very glad to hear some good opinion about my solo live performances.

11) Considering all the records, as all seems very chaotic, can we say that there's a prepared plan in THE GEROGERIGEGEGE work? What is your evolution?

As was almost mentioned in reply 8, the most important thing is to treasure the core of THE GEROGERIGEGEGE. For ever. "Evolution" is not a big matter for us. We only do what we want to do.

12) What's the story of NONE FRIENDLY CD (this one is really special for you)?

As for NONE FRIENDLY, of course, I made it because I wanted to. It took a very long time before its completion ; since this track born, it acquires a great meaning for me. for the story, as was written in some Japanese magazine, NONE FRIENDLY is just as its title.

2001
[English translation : MANO GEN]