Current Keio University student with a deviation of 72, Terusei: “Why I joined a YouTuber girl band instead of job hunting.”

I’m in the final stages of my thesis,” he says. I have already finished analyzing the data, and after this interview, I will discuss the discussion part of my thesis with my seminar professor. The theme is “Research on music therapy for the elderly. It doesn’t really matter which genre of music is played, but one thing I can say.” One thing that can be said is that training with music is effective for brain diseases. It is hypothetical, but it is thought that the movement of drums is very stimulating to the human brain. Brain damage can be quickly cured by rehabilitation using a drum pad that “beats on a lighted spot. Because drums produce sound as soon as they are struck, the brain is delighted by the speed of the feedback, and it seems that the brain circuits are quickly repaired. …… What, are you looking for a job?　Not at all (laughs).”

Is there anything I can do to help my brother, who suffers from an incurable brain disease that affects only around 200 people in the world? As a music lover, I wondered if there was anything I could do to help. After a frantic search, I found Professor Shinya Fujii, a researcher and drummer who has a Music Neuroscience Laboratory at Keio University’s Shonan Fujisawa Campus.

Kirara (22), a guitarist in the YouTube girls’ band “Stemi Rates,” is a talented fourth-year student in Keio University’s Faculty of Environment and Information Studies who passed the difficult test of a 72 deviation score after only one month of study . The reason is that “I am making enough money while doing the music I love.

Although he is not affiliated with a major entertainment production company or a well-known label, he is able to make a stable living based on YouTube. Moreover, “Stemi Rates” has only been in existence for one year. The number of subscribers to their channel continues to increase, so the base of their monthly income is steadily rising. The band is far removed from the conventional image of the “poor band member who spends more time working part-time.

At the start, I was a YouTuber with zero subscribers, so I thought, ‘This looks interesting, but there’s a chance I could make a lot of mistakes,’ and at first I thought about job hunting. However, after about six months, the number of subscribers to my channel exceeded 100,000, and I was able to get on track rather quickly. At this point, I have 340,000 channel subscribers, Last month’s salary was enough to buy a used mini-car. I worked hard!　So I am doing well even if I don’t sell well. The band I was in before had debuted in a major label, but I was paid 50,000 yen a month. ……”

There are only members who know each other by heart, and there is no sexual harassment or power harassment. There are no quotas, no pressure, and stable earnings. There is no such a cozy place to work–the experience of once playing guitar in a girl band belonging to a major label may have made Terusei think so.

I was sent to Utsunomiya Junior College High School, the second most mammoth high school in Japan, with 36 classes per grade (30 students per class). Because of the large number of students, sports were held once every two years. The classes were sorted according to grades, and the class with the highest grade was class 1, which is a very unusual school ……. Class 1 was a specially selected class with a deviation score of about 69, but because entertainment was prohibited, I was suspended from school while playing in the band (laughs). I convinced my teacher, “I will definitely go to SFC and make a record! (laughs), I managed to get the teacher to allow me to do so. The label for “The Coin Lockers” was Warner Music, a major music label, and after passing a selection test in which 20,000 people applied, we made our dream major label debut. ……

The Coin Lockers” is a girl idol band that has been in existence for three years. Terusei laughs, “I wanted to be a female rocker like Avril Lavigne, but when I realized I was an idol,…… life is difficult.”

After the screening process, I had an interview with a Warner employee. The audition took about three months with a performance, self-introduction, and Q&A. We managed to get through the audition, but there were 39 members when we formed the group (laughs). (Laughs). There were 15 guitarists, including me. We were a selective band, and the guitarist was different every time. and it was different every time. In the early days of the band, I was a reserve member. I was a bench member. There were nine “visual selectors” who appeared in the media and six “technical selectors” who were active in live performances, and I was the technical selector (laughs).

I taught myself how to play the guitar, and before joining “The Coin Lockers,” I was a member of my high school’s light music club, doing things like copying “Queen Bee. I studied chords, but I didn’t do any correspondence courses or go to any schools, and I learned to play while I was copying. I was poor in dexterity, so I could do anything rather quickly. After I made my major label debut, I took a guitar lesson with a teacher to improve my technique. In “The Coin Lockers,” I did some songs that were very idol-like! We did some idol-like songs and wore cute outfits. At the end of the third year, the members and staff split into two factions: “the faction that wanted to sell the songs in an idol style” and “the faction that wanted to sell the songs in a rock style. At the end of the third year, the members and staff split between “the faction that wanted to sell it like idols” and “the faction that wanted to sell it like rock. ……”

After the one-man live concert held one year after the formation in December ’18, 25 members left the group. The Coin Lockers” transformed into a 13-member girl band idol. Terusei was the last remaining member, but the group disbanded in December 2009.

I was a high school student when I joined “The Coin Lockers,” but I was a college student when the band broke up. For about a year, I didn’t belong to any band, and I was just a college student, occasionally working as a sound engineer for the background music of video games. What did you get paid for your performance work?　About 10,000 yen per piece. Then, when I was in my third year of college, I heard that “Stemi Rates” was holding auditions, so I applied. At “Stemi Rates”? I am allowed to do whatever I want, and I am also making good money. There was no need for me to get a job or change my environment. I entered SFC because I thought, “No matter what kind of life I lead, I’m worried about not having an education,” but just the thought of joining a big company and going to work at a certain time from Monday to Friday is terrifying (laughs).

I dare to say that I am anxious about my current life. …… Getting drunk and going wild at a bar owned by an acquaintance of mine is my way of relieving stress, but I guess it is related to that. I’m not going to brush my teeth with a deck brush for cleaning toilets, but I’m not going to goop punch a chandelier to smithereens (laughs). I’m a guitarist, so I have to protect my fingers. From now on, I’ll make sure to frame myself in a pair of 16-ounce boxing gloves before I destroy the chandelier!”

Terusei comes from a family of educators, but both of his parents support his performing career, and he sometimes watches videos uploaded to the “StemiLates” YouTube channel with his family.

Sometimes I upload my own material, so it’s very awkward when it hits them during a parent-child viewing party!

With a laugh, Terusei got back on his bicycle and rode off to a session with his advisor. In February 2012, when his graduation thesis is finished, “Stemi Rates” will go on a nationwide tour, starting with the Kawasaki Club Citta.