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Liner notes from Nobuo Uematsu
It was around the third grade when my friends and I performed the Beatles onstage. It was my first live show.
There were about 230 people in that large auditorium, and I recall beingfilled with an excitement I had never experienced before. It was with theidea of again performing before an audience that I entered high school bent on forming a band. But it was a strict, study-intensive school in a period when teachers still raised their eyebrows at guitar rock. It wasn't easy getting a band going under those conditions. But that notwithstanding, we'd get our guitars and amps and drumsets out in empty classrooms after school and would play our shows (or should I say prepared for opening night).
Tetsurou Hamada (now named Tetsurou Oda and producing people such as Nanase Aikawa) led the band called The Potatoes. With a black Les Paul dangling from his shoulder, Hamatetsu (his nickname) played his Jimmy Hendrix and Deep Purple. But he confided in us that although he wanted to be in a band there was something else he needed to do. He soon left us for Tokyo due to his father's work. I soon joined the suddenly memberless Potatoes. But merely practicing grew boring. I wanted to perform before people. I couldn't shake that feeling.
I came up with the idea of using a practice studio on Saturdays to put onconcerts. I called it "Everybody's Song," although in retrospect it wasn't that great a name. I had recorded the shows and took the tapes down to the radio station with the idea of having them put them on the air. Now that I think about it, it was such an easy time for us to have gotten airplay.
After entering college, in addition to playing shows on campus, we also played at smaller local concert venues. Places like Head Power and La Mama in Shibuya, Jam in Shinjuku, and other places that are long gone by now. It was hell carrying heavy equipment like our Roland Piano and Synthesiser back and forth on the trains, but they were experience I can never forget.
I thought I'd be satisfied with just playing these clubs, and with graduation approaching we soon started thinking of life and work after school. But just leaving my dreams behind and entering the work force was impossible for me, and after graduation I kept playing in bands. One by one, those who had worked so hard with me were slowly dropping from the scene, leaving only me to continue. But with me not being particularly proficient and any instruments, the chances of continuing neared zero. I couldn't be someone I was not cut out to be.
After coming to grips with the realization that I wasn't to be a performer, I took my final walk off the stage and decided to become a composer.
That was when I was 24.
18 years have passed since, and on February 20, 2002, I took the stage again not as a performer, but as a composer. And I was moved on that stage. I can't quite put into words how I felt there. But the happiness I felt there came from the knowledge that there was a connection between me and the audience through my music. Perhaps it was like the happiness one feels after realizing, "I hate being alone and that I want someone there who can understand me."
Perhaps feeling this sudden happiness, and seeing all those smiling faces and hearing the applause spoke to me of what my motivation is. Just realizing that has made me so happy.
I hope I can continue making music and have the opportunity to again greet everyone's smiles from the stage.
March 2003 - Nobuo Uematsu
Translation by Richard Walker
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