Download the Animation Liberation Magazine - Winter '07 edition

BAND PROFILE
Name:
LiN CLOVER
Members:
Yuri (Vocals), Nao (Guitarist),
Ren (Bassist)
Formed:
2002
Albums:
LiN CLOVER (2004)
Strain Gage (2005)
Nut (2006)
Selected Tracks:
‘Higanbana ha mama’
‘Rinkaiten’
‘Risou Deshiberu’
the name come from? It turns out there is quite
the story behind that alone. Well the obvious
answer is that the Japanese kanji creating the
first half of the bands name roughly translates to
“getting things together in life” well the addition
of clover was simply for its happiness. However,
the band has delved far greater into their name
and truly developed it into a child, with an
interesting back-story to go along with it. As
Yuri described it, LiN CLOVER is the name of a
young, virtual Japanese girl who grew up during
a horrible war. This has made the band’s titular
avatar very emotionally strong, much like the
b a n d m e m b e r s w h o s t a y t o g e t h e r t o
metaphorically care for the child as a family.
When asked where each band member
started their musical training and interest, the
answers spread across the board. Yuri began her
musical studies at the young age of five, a
member of a local chorus. Nao found his
musical beginning in his brother, taking up
guitar much like his older sibling at the age of
twelve. Ren, far more direct, simply chose to
share that he began learning bass at the age of
eighteen. Though one can not simply define a
band by their musical ability, we had to further
find origins in their influences. Well Yuri takes
many of her ideas from the fictional settings she imagines, Ren sees his music as more of
an escape from reality and his influence follows him. Nao, once again sharing a quite
intriguing answer with an unforeseen calm, told us that his influence comes from time
spent in the bath tub. There, Nao submerges himself beneath the water, where the silence
reminds him of being in his mother’s womb.
“Between playing live and recording in the studio, which do you prefer?” is a
question ever so commonly asked in all the cliché interviews ever done with bands, but as
always it can never be avoided. In the case of Yuri, she has enjoyed all her lessons
learned in the studio but cannot find any comparison to the power of a live crowd, much
like her band mate Ren. Ren says that he loves the crowd and his direct contact with them,
wishing to stand out during the performances with antics that often leave Yuri quite
worried. Nao, on the other hand, is a self-proclaimed geek who likes to record and mix
his music in the studio. This is highly understandable for the handsome looking celebrity
as he has dealt with his fair share of stalkers. Nao feels as if stardom has removed any
sense of privacy from his life, even returning home to letters sharing his daily events
from an eerie alternate perspective. Nao adds that he loves his fans, however sometimes
fears that they have made him their “thing” and forget that he is indeed a person.
Of course stalkers aren’t the only flaws seen in being a public persona in the
music industry. As Ren put, you have to deal with the constant frustration that if you
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