Q+A INTERVIEW: Ryo Kinoshita – Crystal Lake

2019 has been a massive year for Japans CRYSTAL LAKE. The release of their fifth studio album Helix has arguably been the band’s biggest success. Not only being their boldest and most experimental album yet but one that has been brilliantly received by fans. After a few years of coming over to the UK too it feels like 2019 has really been the year where people over here take notice. Whether it’s because of the album or their performance at this year’s Download Festival that had people raving, CRYSTAL LAKE are now an established force in the UK.

This has all built up to them headlining the 2019 edition of the Impericon Never Say Die! Tour. Ahead of the London date of the tour we were able to chat to vocalist Ryo Kinoshita to see how he’s felt about the tour and just how good 2019 has been for CRYSTAL LAKE.

So the Impericon Never Say Die! Tour has been the biggest UK shows CRYSTAL LAKE have ever been part of, how has it been so far?

Ryo: Yeah it’s been amazing, when we came here for the first time it was like 10 people coming to see us. And now we’re here headlining this tour. I can’t believe my eyes when we’re on stage, it’s so sick.

So you feel like you’ve been building up a bigger fanbase here then?

Ryo: Yeah gradually but it’s still sick.

So do you think this year was when you’ve finally cracked the UK?

Ryo: Yeah, pretty much. Like you know we played Download this year and I think that was the turning point for us. Like even during the soundcheck people were moshing it was sick.

Aha that sounds crazy, so you think you’ll come back to Download on a bigger stage next time?

Ryo: Yeah, hopefully.

So does it ever feel a bit surreal coming all the way from Japan and being able to headline shows like this?

Ryo: Yeah sometimes it’s a bit weird. But you know, we’re the first band from Japan to headline this tour and it’s cool. But I’ve never really cared about how big we are anywhere like Europe or the UK. It’s just about having fun. We just love to play these shows and going crazy on stage. It’s just about the passion for us.

So all of this touring has been in support of your latest album Helix, does it feel like this has been your best received album?

Ryo: Yeah I mean I think it’s our best album in terms of diversity. It’s heavy and more progressive. I dunno we just make the music we wanna play and what we like. I hope people have liked what we’ve done here?

Do you think the direction of this album is something that has made more people take notice though?

Ryo: Yeah I mean I dunno how to fully explain it. We just tried to boost the stuff we are good at. Like when we’re being melodic we just wanted to make it bigger. It all came naturally, we never tried to force anything. Like we’re a metalcore band so we should be heavy but we still need to have that melody, the songs need to be catchy.

Even as a metalcore band, I think you’ve always drawn from lots of different styles. You’ve never really stuck to one rigid sound, was this something you always wanted from the band?

Ryo: Yeah we just don’t wanna be the same. We don’t just wanna be deathcore or typical metalcore. We just wanna be more CRYSTAL LAKE. We try to be different. You know we’ve tried a lot of things, we all love all different kinds of music. We love hip hop and EDM, but then we also love more experimental music. We try to bring that into the band.

I think that does come through on the album too. Like even down to your vocals, when you’re screaming it has an almost rapped flow to it at times. So you like to bring those influences into the sound of CRYSTAL LAKE rather than forcing the band to change to sound that way?

Ryo: I dunno, I just take my inspiration, whether its from what I’ve been listening to. I dunno though, like forcing rapping into metalcore is kinda trendy right now and I don’t necessarily do that anymore if it’s gonna feel like we’re just trying to be part of a trend.

So what is it that really separates the latest album from what you’ve done before?

Ryo: So like the previous album was our rock album. It had heavy moments but it wasn’t a heavy album you know. It was more focused on ballads and stuff like that. But this time we really pushed the heaviness. Like not only just with the sound. We took heavier themes with the lyrics too. Death and my depression, that kind of stuff. It was a more personal album.

Those sort of themes really come through on the more experimental songs, especially on a track like Just Confusing. Was this something you had as an idea going into the album or did they come naturally as you were writing?

Ryo: It came naturally. The song is about my personal struggle and relationships with my father and girlfriend. Like it was a really confusing time. The story is like I got this phone call and it just made me think of all these weird things going on. So that’s where we got the idea of having the phone ringing in that song. But yeah that one is really about the story. So bringing these stories into our sound was just something new.

It really helps to show the diversity of the album too. Like there’s some stuff that sound like straight up party songs.

Ryo: You mean +81 right? Honestly that’s actually an anti-party song. It’s like you see all these bands pretending they are party bands but I just wanna say fuck that attitude sometimes. We’re adults, we don’t have to be party guys getting trashed all the time. We wanna party like adults do, no “bitches”, no drugs. Just gimme a nice dinner and bottle of wine. It’s just a really sarcastic song when you compare the lyrics to the music.

It always feels like there’s a constant stream of new music coming from you. Like even in the years where you aren’t releasing albums there always seems to be an EP or some singles. Is this just from a constant creative process?

Ryo: Yeah we just wanna keep putting stuff out there. This is the streaming era, people want instant access to new stuff. They want new songs as soon as possible and we have to adapt to that. I think it works for us though.

So just to wrap up, once this tour is over what’s next for CRYSTAL LAKE?

Ryo: Straight into writing new music. We’re hoping to get something new out in the summer or fall. We’ve got some ideas and we can’t wait to get something new out there.

Awesome, well thanks so much for you time.

Ryo: No worries, thank you.

Helix is out now via SharpTone Records.

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