SAGA Electro Night in Belgium – AWAKENING World Tour 2015-2016
*AfterGlow had the chance to held an interview with the Asian Pop group SAGA at their show in Liege, Belgium at LE GARAGE CREATIVE MUSIC on 13 November. Kevin was photo shooting so I held the interview with Rio and Ramy. They were really friendly to answer my questions.*
Nice to meet you, I’m Soubi from AfterGlow. We mainly focus on Jrock bands so it’s a nice change to be able to meet a unique group like SAGA. I would like to ask you a few questions.
1.Can you present yourself to the people who don’t know Saga yet?
Rio: Hello my name is Rio , first of all this is Saga, nice to meet you. We call ourselves “united Asian group” I’m a DJ and that’s vocalist Kevin from China *points at Kevin who is doing a photo shoot in the background*
Ramy: I’m Ramy from Korea.
2.It’s your second time to perform in Belgium, right? Do you enjoy?
Rio: Belgium is my third time, Last year , like around this time in November, and then the second time was this summer. So this is the third time. Actually it’s a very beautiful place, we shoot our last music video in Belgium, that was very beautiful and I was very impressed because all the cities are beautiful , also the nature.
3.Did you had a bit of time now or last time to do sightseeing?
Rio: hmm Not quite but yes, some.
4.What did you do before SAGA, did you already have some other musical careers?
Ramy: I was student, college student. 4 years ago I lived in china, that was also cool, Japan and China.
Rio: Me, I was working as a music producer and then doing like producing music, organising events and making music media’s online and also I or past group called also SAGA, in Japan.
I: There was another group before called SAGA?
Rio: Yeah yeah, there was another group and then this time I really wanted, like how to say , make a reborn of SAGA so I gave the same name to the new group. And make SAGA 2 , yeah Kevin he was like, also a college student like in one of the most famous Chinese acting schools. So he was working as an actor also . and then then like 1…. hmm 3 years ago we met and started talking about music together. And then I talked about the concept of SAGA and he was really “OH” exiting, “let’s do it together”. Then we made a China, Japan united group and then we decided to add a Korean member also, like a 3 country group. That’s why we were looking for her. * referring to Ramy*
5.Who is your own favourite artist?
Rio: My favourite is many but the first one who guided me to the music world is Yoshiki from X JAPAN.
Ramy: Many , many , many but eh? *laughs* Not an artist but I get inspired from Disney.
Rio: Kevin’s most favourite artist is Michael Jackson.
6.Is there any place or anything that gives you inspiration to make music?
Rio : To me, you mean in everyday of my life or ant specific place?
I:Like any place you go to for inspiration or not?
Rio: For me it’s exercise, I go swimming every day and it’ll refresh my body and refresh my brain.
I: And that keeps you inspired?
Rio: Yes! If I can’t swim, I do muscle training or running. I was running every day in Belgium . Yeah… That was beautiful.
Ramy: I usually go to get coffee , and then working and yeah …. Get inspired.
7.Please explain, How do you start on making new music?
Rio: Always, I make my vision first. Okay what kind of sound do I want to make this time? And then …..hmm…. what kind of vibration , what kind of message, what kind of energy. What kind of style and then I try to face the computer. And then start looking for the sounds, making beats or sometimes play the piano to look for the melody and then sometimes *humming* singing . Then. That’s the beginning. After that just…. “shoeew” *or any sound like that* Yeah “shoeew” *laughs*
8.When did you start making music? At what age? What did make you want to do music?
Rio: 12 ..no like when I was 12 I was doing lyrics only and maybe 13 or 14 years old I started making music on the keyboard and programming. That’s the beginning, yeah. Why? Because I watched X JAPAN on TV . that was a big shock. That was like a special moment. I still can remember, that was like “Waaaaw” . and suddenly realized. This is what I want to do in my life. Suddenly in a moment I realized. So after that I never changed.
Ramy: when I was in high school. Why? Because I want to . Since I was child I liked to sing .
9.What are your dreams and goals that you want to reach with SAGA?
Rio: Ah so many! So big! But I want to make something bigger then Tomorrow Land! *Ramy laughs* You know, such a small country like Belgium could make such an amazing number 1 event in the world, You know. So everything is possible. I’m so surprised. Because, woah where is it , where is it? He?! Belgium?! Where is Belgium?! I started looking for the map and Hooooo this is Belgium! Woo waaauw ! And I said okay, I want to play at that Tomorrow Land and someday , I will make something bigger. That’s my hope.
I: Good luck ;)
10.If you weren’t doing music, is there anything else that you would like to do?
Rio: Interesting….. Ahh *thinks* Like maybe some person to , how to say, study about the universe. Not like an astronaut who go directly . More like scientific but like people who like discover about the universe. Space scientist yes yes.
Ramy : Hmmm ....
Rio: Housewife … !
Ramy: Maybe traveller ?
Rio: Traveller?! Yeahhh
11.Do you plan to bring any new single or album in 2016?
Rio: Oh yes for sure! Now we already released like a tour a tour album in Europe but only in Europe. It’s kind of special for Europe. So we want to like to release our very first album in 2016. And then hopefully, we want to do a bigger world tour.
12.What was your most favourite place to perform until now?
Rio: Naaaaah ! It’s kinda hard to compare because there are so many amazing moments. But…. personally, personally, the last show, the one before here was Paris and was , sorry to say, one of the most, like most hardest place to do the live because there was no lighting, the sounds system was crazy, music stopped all the time and we had to just….. but that gave me a chance to realize , how to entertain the fans , our audience under any kind of situation. Whatever happens, my mission is to make them happy and excited. So, we can’t say “Oh sorry guys, our music stuff sucks so like we want to go home and blablabla” I’m not happy but we can’t say it. We just, whatever it is, we have to make them exited. So I tried my best to do that and then , that also gave me like a new discovery and energy so I’m really surprised actually. So even though the environment was really bad, my satisfaction was really high, so I want to keep trying like that.
13.Is there any place you’ve never been before, you’d like to go?
Ramy : *Sorry did not understand from the recorder*
Rio: For me Brazil, South America and then Africa, yeah.
14.Can you tell us a few places where we can buy or listen to your music beside here at the concert, like online?
Rio: www. Sagaunity.com !! If you want get our merchandise , cd our like t-shirt go to store Sagaunity.com com com….. If you want to listen music online , I recommend you to go to Spotify and insert SAGA. Oh Youtube “Saga Online TV”.
15.Before we end, a random question! Please tell one funny or special fact about each other.
Rio: About Kevin, he is an amazing cook. He can cook sooooo good.
Ramy: *about Rio* When he drinks alcohol he becomes such a cute guy *laughs*
Rio : *About Ramy* Ramychan’s secret is…hmm…. She makes weird sounds when she finds some kind of insect. You wanna hear the sounds she makes when she finds a cockroach? * screams like “Whroooooh” and Ramy laughs xD * Usually she’s like *does high voice and then crazy low whrooooow* That’s kind off interesting right? If you want to hear this sound, you should bring some bugs to the live. *Ramy laughs* that’s a top secret.
Rio:*to Ramy* what is my secret?
Ramy: You don’t have a secret! Always like this.
Rio: Always like this, yeah. Always like this. Yes. Yes. Yes.
16.At last, do you have any message to our readers?
Rio: *in high voice* Ooooh I love youuuu!! We love you so much.No actually I still can’t believe that more and more people come to support us and listen to our music It’s such a wonderful thing I still can’t believe because I remember the time is was making music all by myself and oh I wish my music would go anywhere in the world and many people were listening I was hoping that and it start happening and that’s all because of you guys. So I really wanted to say , thank you so much. Please support us, more and more , and more, please, please come to the live show , please , please. Not just watching Youtube videos, please come to the show. And then let me, let us see you guys. Face to face, okay? Thank you
Thank you very much for you time, it was really nice to do this interview with you. I wish you a lot of fun tonight on stage and on the rest of your tour!
*Even though I wasn’t able to stay the whole show due to transport problems, the first part I got to see was very fun. They had a very enthusiast public and also SAGA themselves were very active on stage. Be sure to not miss them if they’ll come to your town! *
Here are the links to SAGA’s social media.
