distinguishablesong - Tumblr blog

distinguishablesong · 5 days ago

Text

A special interview with RAISE A SUILEN’s Ba.&Vo. Raychell-san to celebrate the BanG Dream! Animate Dream Fair 2025! – 7 years of history that feel like a miracle special to BanDori! [2025/07/12]

To celebrate the fair, we have held an interview with Raychell, LAYER's VA and the bassist and vocalist of the "greatest band who plays the greatest sound", RAISE A SUILEN.

She spoke in detail about her journey, from the 10th anniversary of BanDori, to RAS who will soon to start their 8th year journey, talking about all the challenges of shows and turning points they have faced, as well as her own challenges, such as her meeting with rock music and becoming a voice actress.

She talks with pride about the path that BanDori has "raised" to her and the "prosperous" 8th year that RAS will reach. RAS will continue to shine in their own unique way, as they riot with all they have.

——————

"My current self only exists because of BanDori”

— The first thing you said when you looked at the art from the products was "Wow, so cute"!

Raychell: Oh, yes! Everyone looks so cute in the mini white dresses, I might have gotten too excited~. They all look like princesses, and it's like all of them are main characters this time. Everyone looks the cutest! I'm really happy about this art and that my character received all these products too. I want a lot of people to see how cute she is and I hope they can cherish her~.

— I can see that you love BanDori, Raychell-san.

Raychell: I truly love RAISE A SUILEN and BanDori. I think that, if it wasn't for BanDori, my current self wouldn't exist… I can say that BanDori saved me. I hope that even more people get to know the project and that this feeling gets shared around the whole world.

— You said you feel like the project "saved" you… How did that come to happen?

Raychell: A lot of things happened, actually… I had been a singer for around 10 years when I first got involved with the franchise. I started out singing ballads but I also tried out pop music and dance music. I didn't have a lot of opportunities and, to put it bluntly, I wasn't popular at all. It was a time where I worried if I could continue singing at all. But then, I had the chance to do the ending theme for the anime "Card Fight! Vanguard G NEXT", called "Are you ready to FIGHT". It's a pretty rock song. I actually had the chance to work with rock songs previously but it was a genre that I had struggled with… To be honest, I think I didn't really like it back then.

— Oh, that's surprising!

Raychell: Right? (Laugh). So, I had decided if that didn't work, I'd just quit music. But, because of that song, I was able to perform at Bushiroad's 10th Anniversary live event. President Kidani saw my show and said to me "Let's make another real life band". And that's when The Third (temp.) was born, which led to RAISE A SUILEN afterwards. Hearing that from him really saved my whole life, and I think my current self only exists because I met the BanDori project.

— It was a turning point for you, perhaps.

Raychell: Yes, it was. Well, we had PoPiPa-san, and Roselia-san as our senior bands and as a team, they combine pretty well. But RAS on the other hand… Just a quick look can tell that we're a mess of very unique people (Laugh). We have an age gap as well as different backgrounds…. Natsume-chan was a longtime drummer, with that blonde hair and tall figure, Kohara Riko-chan was a guitarist turned into a voice actress, Kurachi Reo-chan and Tsumugi Risa-chan were both rookies at that point. Kurachi Reo-chan looked like a small animal while Tsumugi-san was very hyper… I feel like none of this has changed, though (Laugh). Thinking about it, the five of us probably wouldn't have met in our personal lives. Actually we've even talked about the fact that, even if we had gone to the same school, we probably wouldn't have been in the same group of people (Laugh). But, these five become one as RAS, and like that we get perfectly arranged. It's really fascinating and to me, that's our strength.

Looking back on RAS and BanDori's path

— All kinds of bands have been born from BanDori. Many things have happened in these 10 years but, is there anything that left a strong impression on you, Raychell-san?

Raychell: Otsuka Sae-chan was in the same agency as me so I had the chance to watch her perform with PoPiPa way before RAS existed. I think I started out on their 3rd show ("BanG_Dream! 3rd Live "Natsu da! Ban-Odori!", 2015/08/15)! It was in Shibuya and the audience had an incredible energy. I hadn't seen a show like this before so I remember thinking the audience swinging their light sticks was incredible. After that, Roselia-san had a secret performance in Tokyo Dome City at "BanG Dream! 3rd☆LIVE Sparklin’ PARTY 2017!" and that was incredible too. The surprise was so exciting! I remember the feeling to this day. On that day Aimi-san said "BanDori begins here!" and so, starting there, all kinds of memories have accumulated over the years.

— I suppose we can say you gained a feeling of trust that lets you be passionate about those memories.

Raychell: That's right. There was PoPiPa-san and Roselia-san, and then we came as the third real life band. There's also Afterglow-san, Pastel*Palettes-san and Hello, Happy World!-san… the number of bands has increased a lot now. The people who led all of those bands to exist are really incredible. I respect them a lot.

— Do you have any particular memories from a RAS performance?

Raychell: Every single one of them is memorable to me, really… There's the first time we were introduced to the public as the backing band, for the "GARUPA Live & GARUPARTY! in Tokyo" event (2018) which happened on January 13 and 14, the 13th being LAYER's birthday and also my birthday! Me, Natsume-chan and Kurachi Reo-chan, as well as Otsuka Sae-chan, performed as a support band for Glitter*Green-san, Hello, Happy World!-san, Afterglow-san, and Pastel*Palettes-san's stages. That was when The Third (temp.) started. I still remember how much my legs were shaking when I announced we would start our activities as The Third there. Then, on our first show (“THE THIRD 1st Live”, 2018/03/25), Kohara Riko-chan was added as our guitarist. Later, on the 17th of July, we held "THE THIRD 2nd LIVE" at Akasaka (Mynavi BLITZ AKASAKA) and that's when RAISE A SUILEN officially began. Tsumugi Risa-chan showed up with her sunglasses as the DJ and I remember the audience going wild all at once (Laugh.) Then, on December 7th, we were in "BanG Dream! 6th☆LIVE DAY 1: Brave New World" at Ryogoku Kokugikan…

— I don't mean to interrupt but, it's truly impressive that you're able to remember all of those events, Raychell-san!

Raychell: Our characters share their birthdays with those shows so I think that makes them even more memorable to me. December 7th became CHU²'s birthday. I think the fact our characters have their birthdays on those dates is really emotional… The path we took until each and every member was added is something I'll never forget. For example, when we received our first original song! We were the opening act for "BanG Dream! 5th☆LIVE" as 4 members for both days. We performed "R・I・O・T" and had the chance to do a song from Glitter*Green-san too. Then, our characters were officially announced on Ryogoku Kokugikan (Brave New World). After that, we performed on Nippon Budokan for "BanG Dream! 7th☆LIVE RAISE A SUILEN: Genesis". That truly felt like a miracle special to BanDori. We were told we were the fastest girl band to ever perform on Budokan but, at that time, we only had 5 original songs… "R・I・O・T" and "UNSTOPPABLE", who we were known for and "A DECLARATION OF ×××" and "EXPOSE 'Burn Out!!!'" who had just come out. "Takin' my Heart" was also first performed on that day. The audience was allowed to record "EXPOSE 'Burn out!!!'" too and I think this was the first time they could do that, so it started with us! We had Pastel*Palettes' Maeshima Ami-san (Maruyama Aya), Hello, Happy World!'s Ito Miku-san (Tsurumaki Kokoro), Afterglow's Mizawa Sachika-san (Aoba Moca) and Glitter Green's Mimori Suzuko-san (Nishimoto Yuri) as our guests. We were the backing band for everyone but Afterglow, where I sang the songs instead. A lot of things happened on that show! We talk about things from that day even now. Those 3 days on Budokan could only exist because of BanDori.

— It's a wonderful thing, isn't it?

Raychell: I think so too. I've been an artist for 15 years but performing on Budokan always felt like a distant dream to me. I was able to reach that stage only as a member of RAS but, thinking about it, it's still an incredible feat. To be honest… if I was alone back then, I probably would've given up.

— And looking back on those days, when do you think that the "RAS style" was established?

Raychell: Even today, among the other 10 bands, I still wonder "What is our style?"… I watched "Poppin'Party 10th Anniversary LIVE: Star Beat" the other day and it made me think about that again. PoPiPa-san truly is "sparkling and heart pounding", aren't they? Just watching them makes your heart race… They're a band that makes you feel like you're inside a dream. So, on that same note, I think that we have a theme of "unleashing feelings", with the two-stepping, headbanging, shouting our emotions and clashing… Our songs are very strong, from the lyrics to the melody, and everyone who comes to watch us is able to let all of their feelings out, exposing everything. I think that being able to have that experience in a show is our biggest strength. Back in the day, we performed under the assumption that people wouldn't know who we were, so we wanted them to see what we were all about, giving them the best time and engraving our mark on them! That's what we carried for every single performance. PoPiPa-san and Roselia-san were certainly the two biggest names and we definitely had times where people said "Who is RAS?" and this influenced our performances to this day. The headbanging, the two-stepping, yelling out "Raise your voice-!"… That's something you can't quite see in the anime or the game, only in our shows, so that's what I think the "RAS style" is. I want to give performances that will make people think "I can work harder tomorrow if I go watch RAS". That's how we perform now.

— From not liking rock very much to yelling out "Raise your voice!"… It's quite the change, Raychell-san (Laugh).

Raychell: Isn't it? (Laugh). I've actually just reached 15 years of debut. I was contacted by someone who helped me with voice training before I debuted to congratulate me on that 15th anniversary. They were watching a personal stream of mine and what happened was actually really memorable. That's because, I was talking about our performance on "ANISAMA WORLD 2025 in TAOYUAN". On that day, we did a cover of fhána-san's Rhapsody of Blue Sky, and the Anisama Producer said to me "So you can also sing in a cute voice, Raychell-san!" (Laugh). When I told that on stream, this person said "That's right, Raychell-san used to sing like that before, you know!" (Laugh).

— It's pretty different from your voice now, I suppose.

Raychell: That's right. I used to sing mainly ballads as an indie artist, in a gentler way than now. If anything, I used to have a very soft voice. Thinking about it now… It almost makes me laugh (Laugh). Now, I sing in a deep, rock, voice yelling things like "Bring it on-!" (Laugh). I don't think I could've ever imagined that.

— What made you develop this rock style that you sing now?

Raychell: It was listening to other people and learning from that. In BanDori, I listened to PoPiPa-san and Roselia-san's songs, as well as Mimori-san's voice and Afterglow-san's atmosphere… I stole a little bit out of everyone's singing styles in anime songs and rock songs and then brought it all with me for the "R・I・O・T" recording. Even now, I still do that whenever we have a new song. I always think "How would LAYER sing this song?" or "What will CHU² bring to this song?". I try to think about the story and how that will affect my part in the song, so I have to come up with something different every time. Thinking about those things is actually really fun. Personally, I think this is something that I could only develop in RAS and BanDori.

— LAYER gives you a dream but you're also the one who gives her a dream… It's a lovely cycle.

Raychell: It makes me truly happy.

"RAS will soon reach 10 years…"

— I believe you had a very busy first half of the year already. Starting on the new year, "RAISE A SUILEN ZEPP TOUR 2024-2025: PANDEMONIUM" took part…

Raychell: That's right. It was right on new years! (Laugh). But… I feel blessed. Our previous tour was during the COVID-19 pandemic, so the audience was seated, they weren't able to cheer and they had to use masks… But, this time, it was all standing and they could cheer as much as they wanted, without masks! They could jump and clap and enjoy the show completely freely… It was a lot of fun like that!

— It's nice how close you can get on ZEPP too, right? There's an exchange of energy between you and the public.

Raychell: Right! This tour brought some brand new challenges for us as well. We usually don't have MC sections in our shows, but this time, we could talk to each other, show off the merchandise… In Osaka, on the last day, we even tried to do the MC as our characters. This was all new to us so the tour brought that experience.

— And (at the time of this interview), "REBEL SOUNDWAVE" is approaching, on the 14th of June!

Raychell: Yes! It'll be here in the blink of an eye… We haven't been to a big venue in a little bit so that will be fun. The setlist is also really intense this time. From the very opening, I thought "Woah, this already?". We were all surprised! Our producer really put a lot of thought into it so it'll be a setlist filled with emotions. This time, there's a secret theme as well… I'm not sure if I can say this here, but I know everyone will get it. I hope our feelings are able to come across! I want this to remain in the hearts of everyone after watching us. (Theme: “Our music will resonate even in a soundless world”)

— And just before the show, your 13th Single, “HOWLING AMBITION” will be released, right?

Raychell: Yes! This song is pretty nice. I would even say it's one of my top 10 RAS songs… It's pretty explosive with energy and it came out sounding really cool in the end. Well, I guess RAS has a lot of cool songs, actually (Laugh). But, for this one, I really felt the high energy the moment I first listened to it, so it is definitely an "explosive" song. So, I hope that you listen to this single many, many times and watch the footage of our tour if you can (PANDEMONIUM from Zepp DiverCity is included on this single's BD version). Even if you've been distant from RAS recently, I hope that you still check out the song and the BD. Right now, I also try to post about a past show or a song of ours on social media every day… I want to reach people who might not know BanDori or are new to RAS. I think that we are a band that you want to see live, not just listen to the recording. The sound, the lighting, the ambience, the swing of the light sticks… I want everyone to feel the show with their five senses. I think all of this is included in "RAISE A SUILEN". It's alright if you didn't know us before… In fact, it's even better if you're a stranger. I would love to see everyone feeling that energy.

— We have talked about rock before but RAS isn't defined by just one genre… That's RAS' charm, I would say.

Raychell: I really think that too. That's why, I think you'll miss out on a lot of things if you don't come to our shows. Maybe if you like BanDori, but aren't interested in watching other bands… Please come see us if you have the time! I think you'll understand what I mean then. RAS will start our 8th year journey in December… We're living our "Lucky Seventh" right now and it'll soon become the "Prosperous Eight". We'll reach 10 years pretty soon… Thinking about that makes me work harder every day! But, we're still taking it step by step. I would like to keep the mindset of "once we reach 10, let's continue for 5 years more!" and so on.

— You're all very good friends, aren't you?

Raychell: We are! We have some big age gaps so it feels like a miracle we're like that. Although we have very different personalities, once we step on stage, we all become "RAISE A SUILEN". As professionals, everyone has a different way to approach music and I respect them a lot.

— "Professionals" really is the right word. You can truly feel everyone's strong beliefs and passions within the BanDori cast.

Raychell: You know, I can't really smile while singing (Laugh). Even now, I still can't smile while playing. That's why PoPiPa-san's "sparkling and heart pounding" performances are really impressive to me! I've told them that before but I really mean it. They can perform with huge smiles, no matter how difficult it is. And also, voice actresses playing instruments was definitely something not that common before. And now, it's been 10 years! I find that truly amazing.

— You are a singer turned voice actress… I believe that was a huge challenge as well.

Raychell: Thank you! I'm happy that I can continue to receive more and more challenges. Giving life to a character with my voice is really fun but the job of a voice actress is also really difficult…So, I'm able to have such wonderful days, every day. Whenever I see anime on TV, I'll always think to myself "Wow, the actors are great" but I also try to learn from them. I'm able to exist now because of all the people I've met, the paths I've taken… That's why, I want to continue on as RAISE A SUILEN to see more and more views.

“I want you to experience the different worlds of BanDori”

— And now, I would like to talk about the BanG Dream! Animate Dream Fair 2025 that will begin on July 5th. It seems like you quite liked LAYER's mini white dress, Raychell-san.

Raychell: I did! LAYER usually wears pants in RAS… I have the chance to use her GaRuPa costumes sometimes but she doesn't really have a lot of skirts like this one from the Fair. So, this feels like a dream! I suppose it is the "dream" Fair after all. I'm so happy that she looks so cute in this art! When I saw it I thought to myself, "So, LAYER can smile like this too…!". She came out so girly and cute…! She usually looks very different so I feel like I scored a "big win" (Laugh).

— Is there any specific merchandise that you liked?

Raychell I love sparkly things so I really liked the trading holographic blocks that have this sparkly liquid with glitter! (Laugh)

— I see, you even shook them just now!

Raychell: Yes~! Some of the glitter sinks to the bottom and I really wish I could see it~. But, well, better than that, the illustration for all 10 characters looks so sparkly! I think they would look shiny even without the glitter but, it really adds more to the cuteness. I love that it's 3-dimensional too, so they can stand up straight! I can see that this was made with the fans in mind so I'm very grateful! I actually have a "LAYER shelf" at the entrance of my house. I have merchandise as well as our CDs so it's a shelf filled with RAS' history. I'm excited to add this one there too! The memories of our activities until now grow with every new collection and I'm really moved by that.

— Perhaps it's a LAYER shrine! It's evidence of how important she is for both you and the fans.

Raychell: That's right. Well, this is a little bit off-topic but, I want to say that I actually used to visit Animate a lot when I was a child.

— Is that so-?!

Raychell: Yes! I used to go there with my older brother to buy things from our favorite shows. To think that, one day, I became involved in anime myself, and that anyone can have merchandise of my own character… It makes me really happy. Whenever I tell my brother about BanDori related things, he always goes "Oh~" (Laugh). But, I think he's supportive though.

— Did you like the same kind of anime as your older brother?

Raychell: Oh, not at all (Laugh). We would come together and then separate to look for our own favorite characters. We'd just say "See you later-!" and do our own thing (Laugh). It was fun though. Actually, I still go there with my friends who like anime, even today!

— Thank you very much…! If you could do whatever you want at Animate for one day, what would you do, Raychell-san?

Raychell: I want to make a RAS exhibition! Didn't MyGO!!!!!-san and Ave Mujica-san get a standing exhibit? I want a RAS one! For example, you could recreate CHU²'s studio just like in the anime… and then, have life sized panels of the characters to take pictures with them! I'd take one picture with myself, and one with every member…! Then, I would love to have a display of our costumes. Or rather, a corner where you could try them on yourself! I'm sure that you can make that happen, Animate-san. There's also a clothing line as well, right? Maybe we could have a line of things like hair accessories or other smaller accessories that have the characters elements but in a more subtle design. I'm sure the fans would love that and we would absolutely wear everything! Maybe merchandise with RAS' cat ears… Well, together with RAS, we have Morfonica-san who started out during the pandemic, so they couldn't interact with their audience directly. There was definitely a huge sense of distance, but now they have the chance to get closer to everyone. So, I think I would like to see an exhibition that makes you experience the different worlds of BanDori in general.

Photography: 胃の上心臓 Interview: 逆井マリ Editing: 鳥谷部宏平 Translation: @mightybee113

Source

----

A special treat if you reached the end! I found that Raychell's song "MY WAY" is very fitting to the contents of this interview. I think you'll understand after reading the lyrics:

#[post read]#AAHHHHHHH RAYCHELL IS SUCH A CUTIE SIGJLGJGOGKGNGMG #[Perhaps it's a LAYER shrine! It's evidence of how important she is for both you and the fans.]#IM MMAOING MY OWN LAYER SHRJNE RIGHT NOW !!!!#i love u raychell. and layer.#i'm so insane about them but theres no one i can find that matches my freak #bandori

4 notes · View notes