DEZERT Discusses Their 15th Anniversary and First Experiment 'Alternate4': "How We Face Music and Live Going Forward"
This interview was originally published in Japanese on barks.jp. Translated by VK Chronicle.
DEZERT Discusses Their 15th Anniversary and Unprecedented Band Initiative ‘Alternate4’: “How We Face Music, How We Live Going Forward”
DEZERT will release a venue-limited CD Alternate4 during their nationwide hall tour ＜DEZERT 15th ANNIVERSARY HALL TOUR 2026 “Welcome To My Beginning”＞. The release marks a first for the band, featuring 4 songs composed by each member—千秋 (Vo), Miyako (G), Sacchan (B), and SORA (Dr)—with instrumentals included for a total of 8 tracks.
The four recorded songs distinctly showcase each member’s individual musical character and colorful palette. In that sense, while the band continues to push the boundaries of their sonic landscape, what pulses beneath is unmistakably their own blood and flesh. Ahead of their 15th anniversary restart, this finished product proves both their unchanging core essence and their ever-expanding potential.
With the opening date of the hall tour ＜Welcome To My Beginning＞ just around the corner, we sat down with all four members for a lengthy interview exceeding 12,000 characters. They spoke candidly about the emotional shifts they’ve experienced through their Nippon Budokan performance, their 47-prefecture tour, and the Makuhari Messe performance, their present state as a band entering their 15th year, and the venue-limited CD Alternate4.
“We had no objections to everyone composing—even though Senshi was doing 99.9% of the songwriting”
Q: You’ve reached DEZERT’s 15th anniversary and the ‘DEZERT 15th ANNIVERSARY PROJECT’ has kicked off. I’d like to hear about the band’s current state while looking back on your activities. First, starting in May, the past album reproduction live series ＜DEZERT LIVE TOUR 2026 “study”＞ took place. After four Tokyo performances, this was the first time you’ve expanded to eight total shows adding Nagoya and Osaka. The tour looked back through to the recent work The Heart Tree (released 2024)—how did it feel?
SORA: Reflecting on it, we’ve been through so much as a band, so for me personally, the 15th anniversary is about focusing on life itself—the joy of continuing as a band and why we continue. Songs are what allow us to be a band, right? We perform them live, so not only do I experience it, but our fans get energy from their daily lives too. That’s what a band is to me.
Q: The ＜study＞ tour allowed you to look back on that, didn’t it?
SORA: When you perform older songs, you unconsciously remember how things were back then. During this tour, I felt more strongly than ever before at past ＜study＞ tours that “from today’s perspective, I think this way.” It’s a kind of happiness to be able to think, when playing now, “I could do this better”—which is obvious—and I’ve been hitting the drums while really savoring that feeling lately.
Q: Sacchan, how about you?
Sacchan: As far as the live experience goes, it wasn’t really that different from our regular shows, but because the concept is to “fully recreate the album that the subtitle references,” there are just so many songs, and the setlist is completely different every night. With that in mind, to be honest, things I could easily do years ago—I’m finding I can’t always pull off exactly as I’m imagining now. Whether that’s because there are so many songs, or because my body has aged a bit compared to back then, I’m not sure. But what I can say is that this tour forced me to face my own condition, my body, my mind. In terms of the “study” title, I got the impression this tour was especially a learning experience for me.
Q: Since the tour covered such a wide range, from early works through The Heart Tree, there must be a lot on your minds.
Miyako: The ＜study＞ tours in Tokyo have happened many times before, but it always feels challenging and tough. Because you’re doing every song on the album, you end up with songs in the setlist you don’t usually play, and this time, going through The Heart Tree too. But having toured 47 prefectures and played quite a variety of songs during that, the songs were pretty embedded in our bodies. Within that, I think it was a major experience that we could pursue what ＜study＞ made possible—like “let’s try this flow for the setlist” or “let’s play this while taking the rhythm this way”—discussing these things in the studio and all seeking new learning together.
Q: Senshi, what about you?
千秋: Within the limited time of a one-man show, we can’t play as many different songs, but so many people come. That’s incredibly fun, isn’t it? This kind of opportunity doesn’t come around any other way, so it’s simply a matter of gratitude. Seriously, that’s all it is.
Q: Earlier you mentioned the 47-prefecture tour. After the Nippon Budokan performance in December 2024 and the 47-prefecture tour in 2025, followed by the Makuhari Messe Event Hall performance—through these two arena shows, where is the band heading from here? Have you had those kinds of conversations?
千秋: For me personally, I didn’t want to make excuses through music. After Makuhari Messe ended, I was thinking about life itself—how we all live together. If I wanted to live alone, I could live alone, but I can’t live alone, so I have my bandmates and fans. After 15 years, what I’m thinking now—not denying the past, but—is “how are we going to live from here on?” That’s what I’m focusing on.
Q: Is this a new feeling for you?
千秋: I had a vague sense of it before, but I became aware of it. Everyone has their own circumstances, right? Balancing respecting the other person with being selfish—I wonder if that’s what living is. I think about things like “what is happiness?” or “is my own happiness the same as everyone’s happiness?”—philosophical things like that. And given all that, how do we relate to other people? Since we’re using music as a tool, how we face music itself has become a huge theme.
Q: I think that ties into the content of this venue-limited CD Alternate4, so let’s talk about that. This time you’re including 4 songs, each composed by the four members. This is DEZERT’s first time doing this, so what made you choose this approach at this moment? And who came up with the idea?
千秋: It was… SORA, wasn’t it?
SORA: Yeah. After doing the Budokan, the 47-prefecture tour, Makuhari Messe—everything—I was feeling something similar to what Senshi just described: “How should I live?” I started this band with the childish idea that I only wanted to do what I wanted to do, thinking basically “I only want to do bands.” But continuing the band through everything that’s happened, when I thought about how to continue, there were times I thought it was getting too hard. Talking with the members about it, and hearing Senshi say “I don’t want to use music as an excuse”—I became stronger in thinking we need to face music more seriously.
Q: What do you mean by that?
SORA: DEZERT has operated with Senshi as the main composer. That’s wonderful, but I think we all got complacent, like “it’s fine as long as Senshi writes songs.” And in that way, the band maintained balance—”well, I’ll do something different.” But if you’re in a band because you want to make music, it’s lonely not having your own songs in the band you belong to. By composing, our perspective changes, we understand Senshi’s feelings and what it’s like to stand on stage, and we’ll grow. Combined with my feeling of wanting to become a musician and wanting to do the band properly for the 15th anniversary, I guess I brought it up like, “Why don’t we all write some songs?”
Q: Do you remember roughly when that was?
SORA: Around mid-April this year, I think. After Makuhari Messe, I ran away to overseas—not really to center myself spiritually, but… Walking through unfamiliar foreign streets, I was hearing music from all these places. I was unconsciously taking notes: “What if DEZERT did a song like this?” “We should make a video like this.” And I thought, “Well, maybe I should try doing some of that myself.”
Q: When you suggested “Why don’t each of us try writing a song?”, what was everyone’s reaction?
SORA: The feeling was that we wanted to do the band properly, so it was like “Sure, why not?”
Sacchan: This band has had Senshi write 99.9% of the songs, so it might’ve been an “Oh!” kind of moment. But Miyako—or “Mii-chan”—has naturally been someone who could write songs throughout her band history, SORA can too, and I’ve had one or two of my own songs in DEZERT. So it was more like, “Oh right, that’s something we’d want to try, now that you mention it”—just remembering that opportunity. There might’ve been some feeling like “No, this band doesn’t make sense without Senshi writing songs,” but there are four of us, so there’s no reason to say “this song is by so-and-so” or whatever. Everyone’s writing songs for the band, and I had no objections to that whatsoever. It felt completely natural.
Q: So after that suggestion, each of you went into composition mode?
Miyako: Yeah. Makuhari Messe had just wrapped and we had time, so I think each of us threw ourselves into it.
Q: By the way, how many songs did you write, Miyako?
Miyako: I think it was five. It was my first time composing in a while, and it was something challenging for me. For instance, Senshi’s songs are amazing even at the demo stage, so I was thinking, “What kind of songs could I write in that context?” Starting from there. And since I had the chance, I wanted to offer different types, so I made them with variety.
Q: You wrote quite a lot. Did you too, SORA?
SORA: I think I showed everyone around 20 songs. Setting aside quality.
千秋: I’d say 20 to 30.
Sacchan: I wrote two.