DEZERT on Their Self-Titled Album Marking 15 Years: "How to End DEZERT"
This interview was originally published in Japanese on barks.jp. Translated by VK Chronicle.
DEZERT Interview: 15th Anniversary Self-Titled Album Complete — “How Will We End DEZERT?”
DEZERT released their major label second album DEZERT on October 28th. Entering a new phase marking their 15th anniversary, this latest original full-length album is a massive two-disc set containing all 20 tracks. Moreover, it arrives as a work bearing the band’s own name as the album title.
Starting in June 2025 with their first-ever 47-prefecture tour, followed by a triumphant final performance at Makuhari Messe in March 2026, and then launching the new tour ＜study＞ roughly two months later—the band’s unstoppable momentum speaks to their excellent condition. From the Ken (L’Arc-en-Ciel) produced “「音楽」” and “火花” (the insert song for the Amazon Prime drama 人間標本), to new compositions featuring songwriting from all band members, this collection of remarkably diverse tracks proves the band’s high musical quality.
However, after the Makuhari Messe performance ended, DEZERT faced a serious situation. Chiaki’s words in this interview—”We’ll keep going as DEZERT, struggling and suffering all the way”—hint at something deeper: questions about continuing versus ending, about how to live in the present. What’s contained within the album DEZERT is the band at life-size, naked in their current reality. On this 15th anniversary year, we present an in-depth long interview with all four members discussing this fulfilling album.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Let’s Stop for a Moment at the Makuhari Messe Live” / “Those Two Months Were Important in My Life Too”
Q: The 15th Anniversary Hall Tour ＜DEZERT 15th ANNIVERSARY HALL TOUR 2026 “Welcome To My Beginning”＞ was held in three cities—Osaka, Nagoya, and Tokyo—this September. The final show at Tokyo’s Kanadevia Hall (TOKYO DOME CITY HALL) felt like a stage where you could see the band’s current state—powerful and vibrant without forcing anything. It seemed like a live that had good momentum leading into the major label second album DEZERT. How did you all feel about it?
Miyako: It was pretty much what we usually do—we just went up there with what we could offer as ourselves and as a band at that moment. Even though this was a hall tour, there were only three shows, but with each one we’d discuss things like “hmm, maybe not this way, maybe that way,” refining and brushing things up every time. I think we were able to face the final Kanadevia Hall show because of that process.
Q: SORA also mentioned in the MC, “There are tons of things I regret, but man, I really felt how fun the band is.”
SORA: I think the tour really lived up to its title ＜Welcome To My Beginning＞. It made me want to think more carefully about what Visual Kei means to us. Of course, music is the foundation, but I want to go on stage thinking more about costumes and makeup too. We want to put meaning and intention into those elements and do what we want to do. It was educational in that sense. If I’m being detailed about it, there were various things throughout the tour, but we only have room to grow. Nothing but potential ahead.
Sacchan: In terms of results or response, honestly we weren’t chasing that from the start. Like Miyako said, we “went up there with what we could offer,” and like SORA mentioned, it led to the realization that “there’s so much more we could be doing.” That awareness is maybe the biggest thing. We could sense unexplored possibilities in a positive way. In that sense, I think we did have a good response.
Q: In the previous interview when the venue-limited edition Alternate4 was released, Chiaki mentioned, “I want to show the four of us properly tackling ‘「音楽」’ on this hall tour. Whether the four of us can digest this song is key.” Did you achieve that sense of accomplishment?
Chiaki: “「音楽」” was completely different at all three shows. That’s the hot part. Personally, regarding “「音楽」”, Nagoya was the best, and Osaka was great too, but Tokyo—there was room for my own growth there. But discovering that “this song transforms its shape like this, that’s amazing”—that was huge. More than just playing it well, being able to recognize that all three shows showed different faces of the song… that was a major discovery for me.
Q: That brightness at the finale of ＜Welcome To My Beginning＞ seems to connect directly to the album DEZERT. First, at what stage did the idea come up to make this a self-titled album DEZERT at this particular timing?
Chiaki: SORA decided this one, right?
SORA: After the Makuhari Messe one-man ＜DEZERT 47 AREA ONEMAN TOUR GRAND FINAL 「僕らの音楽について」＞ in March this year ended, the four of us got together and had a talk about “what’s next for DEZERT.” During those conversations, I selfishly said “I want to keep the band grounded,” and while each member has their own thoughts, my fundamental conclusion was that “continuing the band is my dream.” Whether it’s a band or anything else, “continuing” is difficult, and I really wanted to face what DEZERT is more deeply than before.
Q: So that led to the self-titled approach.
SORA: Like KOЯN releasing the album KOЯN, right? I didn’t want to forget that childlike “oh, that’s cool” feeling. I thought “this is the only album title I want to hear right now.” But as each member started writing songs and the tracks came together, important words that became hooks—like “live”—emerged. So I thought maybe the title should be something like “to live.” But ultimately, the feelings I mentioned were stronger, so we landed on “how about just DEZERT?”
Q: A self-titled album is kind of a milestone in a career—you only get to do it once, right?
SORA: No.
Chiaki: There’s ◯◯◯◯ 2, right?
SORA: I didn’t want to be trapped by conventional thinking. There could be DEZERT 2, or since we’re the kings of ridiculous arguments, it could be DEZERT 0 or DEZERT 1.5. As long as there’s meaning in it, I think that’s fine.
Chiaki: Or in katakana—デザート.
Q: So after that discussion at Makuhari Messe in March, songwriting began?
Chiaki: Actually, I started writing songs from last year.
Q: So you were composing while doing your first 47-prefecture tour ＜DEZERT 47 AREA ONEMAN TOUR ‘25-‘26 「あなたに会いに行くツアー」＞?
Chiaki: Yeah, but it was more like “let’s pause at the Makuhari Messe live,” you know? We had this period of about two months where it felt like everyone went home. Originally, we’d planned to release the album in August this year with the record label, but there were things we needed to talk through as a band and problems to solve. That’s why the album release got delayed. Those two months—I think they were important to my life too.
Q: Was it something serious? Did you decide abruptly after Makuhari Messe that “we need a break”?
Chiaki: The ＜study＞ concept tour was already set to start in May, and we knew things would get tough later, but we decided “let’s take a break for now.” We’re dealing with the consequences of that decision now (laughs).
Q: During those two months, I imagine each of you took time to reflect on yourselves and the band. Miyako, what were you thinking about?
Miyako: Rather than thinking about something specific… I’ve been in various bands besides DEZERT, and I think bands don’t go on forever. So with all this activity—the 47-prefecture tour and everything—when it became clear we needed a break, I really reconsidered things. I realized that releasing a CD, doing tours, doing interviews like this… none of it’s a given. My head understood that intellectually, but it had become routine somehow. Taking that break made me feel how important rest time actually is. On live days you only think about the live, during tours you can’t touch anything else because the tour consumes you. We spent about a year doing the 47-prefecture tour, so my head was full of it constantly. Being able to refresh from that felt like a good period for both me personally and for the band.
Q: When you decided to stop, was there already a sense of when you’d get back together?
Chiaki: (shakes head) It ended up being two months in the end.
Q: Hearing that makes you grateful the album is finally here, but what happened with the band?
Chiaki: It wasn’t anything particularly dramatic, really. We’re just four people, and with staff and friends around us, I realized how important it is to walk side by side. I used to think that a band could create a world even if one person or two people were running ahead, or if someone was off their game or someone else was on fire. That works too. But when you make “continuing” the priority, it gets complicated. It’s about what it means to continue, you know? You can’t keep going if you run out of money. All these problems pile up because we’re human. Some organizations might be fine just sweeping things under the rug, but ours isn’t. So we said “let’s talk about everything.”
Q: Right.
Chiaki: I’d always prioritized getting DEZERT known to as many people as possible, but if DEZERT disappears, that’s not possible. We all came to that very simple shared understanding, and now we’re continuing the band from that point. It wasn’t some “Jump manga” moment where we naturally gathered again after resting. Four messy adults took time to slowly get back together.
Q: That’s what those two months were like, then.
Chiaki: With all these issues at hand, like we talked about last time, we decided “everyone write their own songs and bring them in.” As we started churning out songs, I felt a lot of things and put them into my tracks while they all came together. Time-wise it was demanding—there were songs we squeezed in at the last minute, things we could’ve done more of—but “this time, how about these 20 songs!” I definitely feel like this is DEZERT right now.