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Unedited Feed from the MELL panel at Anime-Expo 2010. Transcription: zalas
Note: ( ) is usually commenting on the panel and was not said.

10:19:38 <zalas|MELL> In the panel now; they're playing a live version of Red Fraction on the speakers
10:20:16 <zalas|MELL> AX2010
10:20:19 <zalas|MELL> Geneon Universal
10:20:21 <zalas|MELL> MELL
10:20:24 <zalas|MELL> Focus Panel
10:21:09 <zalas|MELL> (The audience is filing in now)
10:23:28 <zalas|MELL> Hello everyone
10:23:34 <zalas|MELL> How are you guys doing at AX today?
10:23:47 <zalas|MELL> Are you excited to see MELL today?
10:23:52 <zalas|MELL> Yeah!
10:25:05 <zalas|MELL> Let's give a warm warm welcome from AX to MELL!
10:25:47 <zalas|MELL> Thank you for coming
10:25:51 <zalas|MELL> I'm from record label Geneon
10:25:57 <zalas|MELL> We proudly present the artist MELL
10:26:07 <zalas|MELL> M: Thank you so much for coming; it's great to see you here
10:26:15 <zalas|MELL> M: I am moved to see you all out here at such an early hour
10:26:37 <zalas|MELL> M: Did anyone come to the concert?
10:26:39 <zalas|MELL> Audience: YEAH!
10:26:47 <zalas|MELL> M: We sold out her album after the concert
10:27:03 <zalas|MELL> (err, last 2 M was Geneon)
10:27:14 <zalas|MELL> G: I've Sound
10:27:27 <zalas|MELL> G: MELL, KOTOKO, Mami Kawada, iko Shimamura, Love Planet Five, C.G Mix
10:27:47 <zalas|MELL> G: She has 5 singles and 1 album and 1 DVD
10:27:54 <zalas|MELL> G: We're going to have her next album in autumn
10:28:11 <zalas|MELL> Now availalbe in in iTunes
10:28:18 <zalas|MELL> 20 tracks in US iTuens store
10:28:34 <zalas|MELL> G: Red fraction, Proof no vain, RIDEBACK, KILL
10:28:56 <zalas|MELL> G: Anyone have questions?
10:29:20 <zalas|MELL> Q: How did you become associated with I've Sound label?
10:29:51 <zalas|MELL> A: Actually from a while back, we've all been friends and all had separate projects and we just came together
10:30:13 <zalas|MELL> A: (???)
10:30:19 <zalas|MELL> A: He does drums and dancing as his thing
10:31:13 <zalas|MELL> A: A lot of song are written by Takase Kazuya, all of the musicians involved have their own directionalities
10:31:30 <zalas|MELL> A: I was actually the first artist who came out with this; I'm old school
10:32:24 <zalas|MELL> A: Ipposhi Yasutaka (drummer)
10:33:06 <zalas|MELL> Q: Who inspired both of you, as a singer and as a drummer? (to the two people on the panel)
10:33:30 <zalas|MELL> A: We used to actually to get inspired over karaoke sessions
10:33:48 <zalas|MELL> A: We get together, once I was singing Madonna and was tipsy
10:33:58 <zalas|MELL> A: Ipposhi was "why don't you do this with our band?"
10:34:14 <zalas|MELL> A: But it was great to have a friend and Ifelt we could understand each other through music
10:35:06 <zalas|MELL> Q: It's been a while since MELLSCOPE, so when's the second album coming?
10:35:13 <zalas|MELL> A: It's going to be happening this year
10:35:25 <zalas|MELL> A: I'm in the process of making these right now
10:36:09 <zalas|MELL> Q: GMS Remix of Black Lagoon on the single, are you a fan or inspired by Astral Projection, MFG, Euphoria(?) psy-trance groups
10:37:08 <zalas|MELL> A: He (Ipposhi) was the one who was into GMS, it was his taste originally that got us all together
10:37:26 <zalas|MELL> Q: Is it possible if you're doing a tour and coming back to the US again?
10:38:04 <zalas|MELL> A: At this point I don't have any concrete plans but I would love to come back if there's a chance; I'm looking forward to it; Thank you I'm so happy to hear that
10:38:45 <zalas|MELL> Q: I was wondering when did she and KOTOKO become friends and get close?
10:39:55 <zalas|MELL> A: She came in after me, and I really like what she does
10:40:02 <zalas|MELL> A: Her voice is so cute and big and powerful; impact and adorable
10:40:10 <zalas|MELL> A: That's what makes it such a perfect fit for anime
10:40:22 <zalas|MELL> A: On the other hand, I'm not so cute; I bring an air of violence
10:40:30 <zalas|MELL> A: As people, we get along very well; I like cute girls, so it's very cool
10:41:40 <zalas|MELL> Q: (telling her she had a great concert, bringing the band and rehersal and everything)
10:42:06 <zalas|MELL> A: That's great to hear; I was really nervous; I didn't think so many people were going to come out. The whole time I was thinking I gotta do my best; come full force with the best I can bring, like a storm
10:42:45 <zalas|MELL> Q: I personally thought the English you spoke was awesome. Only thing I couldn't hear because of the crowd. Could you answer the next question in English?
10:43:22 <zalas|MELL> Q: How do you believe you influence the Japanese music industry as a whole?
10:44:07 <zalas|MELL> A: I'm not all that bright, didn't get that good grades for English
10:44:21 <zalas|MELL> A: The MC I have to apologize, there was all this nervous energy
10:44:27 <zalas|MELL> A: I had to throw the love out there and hope it made up for it
10:44:35 <zalas|MELL> A: I'm jealous everyone's so good at English here
10:45:09 <zalas|MELL> Q: I'm sorry for my voice, I shouted too much at the concert
10:45:30 <zalas|MELL> Q: Are you going to come to Korea to give a concert; I came from Korea to meet you
10:45:55 <zalas|MELL> A: Sure, why not! (drummer guy)
10:46:09 <zalas|MELL> A: M: Boss's orders, we gotta do it
10:46:52 <zalas|MELL> Q: Rock on!
10:47:02 <zalas|MELL> A: Rock on! I'm going to spread this throughout Japan (she just learned the gesture)
10:47:13 <zalas|MELL> Q: When did you decide to become a singer?
10:47:46 <zalas|MELL> A: I wanted to be a pro singer since when I was 4, and I was wailing as a baby
10:48:19 <zalas|MELL> Q: When recording opening for movie or anime, do you record the short part first or the entire thing? How is it like?
10:48:44 <zalas|MELL> A: Red Fraction was recorded here in Los Angeles, Paramount Studios
10:48:55 <zalas|MELL> A: This was the first time I traveled here to the US
10:49:12 <zalas|MELL> A: When I went to the lot, "WHOA MICK JAGGER POSTERS!"
10:50:11 <zalas|MELL> A: With this one, I raelly wanted to pay a lot of attention to make sure that the emotion was aligned
10:50:18 <zalas|MELL> A: That my emotion was aligned with the song
10:50:58 <zalas|MELL> A: We record it all at once, beginning to end, there are multiple tracks, chorus separately, fix little parts like strange things or little mistakes like that. In the end we make it all together in that session into a complete track. That's the most fun and ejoyable part as far as my career
10:51:32 <zalas|MELL> Q: I saw the band leaving the hotel lobby, where did they go?
10:51:46 <zalas|MELL> A: Go back home (in English)
10:51:53 <zalas|MELL> A: But they had a great time
10:52:31 <zalas|MELL> Q: Only song I knew from you when I bought the ticket was PROOF, and when you sang that song, I went berserk; it was awesome.
10:52:53 <zalas|MELL> A: Thanks for letting me sing it
10:53:04 <zalas|MELL> Q: How long did it take you to record it?
10:53:12 <zalas|MELL> A: 2 days
10:54:51 <zalas|MELL> A: Hayate no Gotoku, this was the ending song, over a period of 11 days and read the entire manga series
10:55:00 <zalas|MELL> A: 5-6 million dollars quivalent in debt
10:55:08 <zalas|MELL> A: Wanted to get back and get a "proof" of having paid off the debt
10:55:20 <zalas|MELL> A: Feeling of impetus was also mirrored in our production agenda
10:55:35 <zalas|MELL> A: All these questions and all this detail; I'm moved
10:55:53 <zalas|MELL> Q: Where do you find the stamina to last all through the concert?
10:56:06 <zalas|MELL> A: Energy drinks
10:56:42 <zalas|MELL> A: I was really excited and just ripped that open, it didn't taste too good, do you guys like it?
10:57:42 <zalas|MELL> A: It's been a pretty tough schedule, getting over jetlag; took a lot of work to get stage ready, etc.
10:58:10 <zalas|MELL> A: I see this energy drink here, I'm stoked, rip it out, and then go bleurerwiojfadsk;l, and then I started alternating that with water, just trying to get it down
10:58:20 <zalas|MELL> A: It's all due to the energy drinks
10:59:03 <zalas|MELL> Q: Much like KOTOKO, she has released under I've as Outer, it's been rumored that you've also released under Orihime, so if it's true, why did you choose that name?
10:59:34 <zalas|MELL> A: (she's looking at the other guy)
10:59:40 <zalas|MELL> A: Tough to answer, don't want to make a mistake here
11:01:09 <zalas|MELL> A: It's sort of a long story, it comes from the Tanabata legend (7/7) legend that says that a celestial prince and princess and only on that night, the two lovers can join across the milky way
11:01:17 <zalas|MELL> A: I took the inspiration from that
11:01:26 <zalas|MELL> A: You took a lot of effort who looked it up, awesome
11:01:31 <zalas|MELL> A: Awesome, ROCK ON
11:02:17 <zalas|MELL> (10 minute warning)
11:02:31 <zalas|MELL> G: We'd like to show you a black lagoon video
11:03:40 <zalas|MELL> (promo for the 3rd season)
11:04:42 <zalas|MELL> G: We'd like to ask producer Mitsutoshi Ogura from record company Geneon about how they got together with MELL
11:05:19 <zalas|MELL> O: This was MELL's debut work on BLACK LAGOON
11:06:03 <zalas|MELL> O: In producing this song, KOTOKO also helped in the process
11:06:39 <zalas|MELL> O: So they were really top in the JPOP music especially as anime songs
11:06:46 <zalas|MELL> O: We wanted to get together with them and get a rock feel to it
11:06:54 <zalas|MELL> O: We asked them earnestly and fortunately they agreed
11:07:29 <zalas|MELL> O: Takase Kazuya was our contact/go-to person on that and he helped us get it together
11:07:56 <zalas|MELL> O: Ended up we were doing it here, and communicated to him about it, from there, with that general impression we proceeded
11:08:00 <zalas|MELL> (here=America)
11:09:00 <zalas|MELL> M: We went over to guitar center in los angeles and we got a whole bunch of equipment and we took it back to our hotel
11:09:05 <zalas|MELL> M: We tried different combinations and different sounds
11:09:15 <zalas|MELL> M: I was in the other room, waiting for how it's turnning
11:09:32 <zalas|MELL> M: Meanwhile, I'm writing the lyrics and I'm trying to capture the feeling of the violent character
11:09:41 <zalas|MELL> M: It was a hard debut, tough project but a great memory
11:10:44 <zalas|MELL> M: When we recorded in 2005/6, I never thought anyway that it would be such a big hit in America; I'm happy to see everyone enjoying it here and it's just fantastic
11:14:37 <zalas|MELL> M: I'm tired from last night, but you know today being with you guys and your smiles and your loving questions and comments and that. I'm totally fueld by you guys. Thank you. Look forward to seeing you at next sections. I'm hoping you guys get to come to Japan; I'll see you there