What do you feel about L’Arc-en-Ciel as you celebrate your 20th anniversary?
Tetsuya: Well we’ve grown up a lot. If you compared us to a man, he has reached his legal age now, so we can legally watch porn already. I mean L'Arc-en-Ciel is like a real man now.

How do you think you continue to be at the top after all this time?
Hyde: Don’t exchange your private email with anyone! Maybe it’s because of our way of working. Everyone in the band can create one of our songs. When one of us has a song in mind, the others will help and develop it. This way of working means our work is always fresh.

You have millions of fan around the world, yet many don’t even understand Japanese?
Tetsuya: It’s true that not all of them understand our lyrics. On the flip-side it makes me so impressed that our music inspires many of them many of them to study Japanese and try to understand our songs.

Where do you get the inspiration for your songs?
Hyde: I always take things that happen around me. If you go back to listen my old songs you will see me in that moment, what I touched or what I was thinking then. The lyrics portray the growth of my thoughts into everything around me.

You always do big gigs these days; do you ever miss the chance to put on a more intimate concert?
Ken: We do occasionally do small gigs, though not as often as the large-scale concerts. But I don’t think that one is better than the other. Big concerts are great as lots of people can come and have fun together while a small gig can bring more intimate feelings. We still want to do both.

You always wear extravaganza costumes at every concert, how do you come up with the ideas?
Tetsuya: I will talk to the designer about my concept then they will cut the new outfit for me wear.
Hyde: In the big concerts, if we dressed normally it would be too boring. Each of us has our own personalities and imagine what we want to be. We just make it more flamboyant for our outfits to be more attractive.

Why do you guys take the butterfly as the main concept for your new album?
Hyde: We feel the moment that chrysalis transforms itself into a butterfly is such a cool moment. L’Arc-en-Ciel takes 20 years to turn into a butterfly as well.

How much have all members changed during the past two decades?
Ken: I have more of a beard.
Tetsuya: My name.
Hyde: My hair is shorter.
Yukihiro: I finally became a member of this band.

Any message for your Thai fans?
Tetsuya: I plan to throw bananas as I always do but the Thai bananas are too small. I will try to find some big ones to throw.
Ken: I was quite surprised to see that the Thai fans are so passionate when they welcomed us at the airport. It was totally different from the Thai people that we see on the streets of Bangkok who are so soft and kind. I will wait to see if the same hotness of Thai fans will happen at the concert or not.