Hiroshi (Serotonin Mist)
SPB: The Bandcamp page on your new album states: No label, no producer. 100% DIY. Is DIY an important issue for Serotonin Mist (and why)?
Hiroshi: I believe that being DIY has both good and bad sides. The good side is that we can control every aspect of our work and our band activities exactly the way we want. It allows us to realize our ideas and philosophy without anyone interfering, and we don’t have to do anything we don’t feel comfortable with, musically or ideologically. In that sense, being independent is something very important and essential for us.
The bad side is that we have to take on all the hassle and responsibility that comes with it. For this album, we self-produced everything ourselves but, to be honest, there were times when we wished we had someone like a producer -- someone whose opinions and guidance we could rely on. Recognizing and improving the weak points of our songs and recordings from a third-person perspective was an extremely demanding process.
We also took the lead on everything -- from coming up with rough ideas for the artwork and deciding the overall direction, to handling the recording costs, CD pressing, and negotiations with various people (though of course we had help from many friends and artists along the way). There were many moments when I thought how wonderful it would be if we could just focus on making music. Working until 4 a.m. on weekdays and then dragging myself to my day job half-asleep is definitely not something I want to experience again, haha.
Going forward, if we happen to meet people or a label we can truly trust, I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea to collaborate with them -- while still maintaining our independence, of course.
The reason we deliberately wrote that in the album credits is because we’re proud that, despite all those struggles, we were able to create an album of a quality we can all stand behind.
