Ave Mujica, who lets out “a light within the pitch black darkness”; interview with guitar-vocalist Rico Sasaki (who plays Doloris)

The heavy metal band from the BanG Dream! franchise, Ave Mujica. In January 2025, they will have a feature anime telling their story, BanG Dream! Ave Mujica.

Here at Ongaku Natalie, we wanted to do a feature article on Ave Mujica’s music to lead up to the anime’s release. This feature includes an interview with Doloris’ (guitar, vocals) actress, Rico Sasaki. She told us all about how she tackles singing the songs, which are so unique within the BanG Dream! franchise. With their new mini album ELEMENTS as the focus of the conversation, we unraveled the truth behind these girls’ music.

Translated by Seine (@hanamukes)

There are things that can only shine within the pitch black darkness

――It’s been a year since Ave Mujica’s activities as a band began. And the coming January, Ave Mujica’s anime will finally air.

 Sasaki:  There hasn’t been many times where I’ve poured so much time and polish into something and then released it into the world after so much time, so I was pretty nervous at first.  We’re really putting our entire souls into this... But we’ve held so many concerts, and I think there’s things we’re able to express and put on specifically because it’s prior to the anime airing. I think really sitting back and thinking about that kind of nuance is what makes Ave Mujica so fascinating.

――In June 2023, you held your first concert, Ave Mujica 0th Primo die in scaena. All of the members wearing masks and robes for it was pretty memorable.

 Sasaki:  It was an easy way to convey what Ave Mujica was all about to our fans who knew nothing about us, so I think it’s pretty genius. It was as if our eyes, ears and brains were being etched into their minds, and we weren’t just playing our instruments, we were also trying to spin a narrative and put on a sort of gambit for the audience. That’s the kind of concert it ended up being. The robes were pretty intense, but they fit the worldview of the concert well, and it was like the impact of them furthered the impact of the songs we were playing. Ave Mujica songs aren’t the kind of thing you can just perform for fun. You really have to get inside the mindset of Ave Mujica, and we’re able to do just that the second we put our masks on. I think things wouldn’t be the same without the masks.

――In episode 13 of the 2023 anime BanG Dream! It’s MyGO!!!!!, Ave Mujica had a concert scene. Starting with a recital of the English folk song Greensleeves, it tied into a play sequence. It made for a really unique sequence.

 Sasaki:  In the context of Bandori as a whole, Ave Mujica is very unique. There’s no sparkling and glistening, they show the grayness of the human heart. Ave Mujica sings about the parts of people that aren’t so black and white. I think there’s probably a lot of Bandori fans who were shocked by it, but if it clicks with someone, it really clicks. Our worldview is akin to being dragged into a muddy swamp. The main theme of BanG Dream! It’s MyGO!!!!! started with Tomori, who feels “communicating is hard but at least I have music,” and each member of MyGO!!!! was very different, but they all walked the same path. They’re kind of a sunny presence, telling you that even if you’re lost, to keep moving forward. I think Ave Mujica is more like the light from the moon.  They can’t radiate light on their own, but when other people look at them, a light glistens from them. By people embracing that light, both are able to shine and glisten, sharing that light with one another, like the light one would see from the moon. I think there’s some light that can only be seen in the pitch black darkness, and on that same train of thought, Ave Mujica has things that can only be conveyed through gloominess, and things that can only be unlocked through it as well.

――In BanG Dream! It’s MyGO!!!!!, Ave Mujica’s members more or less join the dark side.

 Sasaki:  There’s a darkness they have, with wishes they can’t convey to others, and feelings they can’t express through words. Ave Mujica’s music follows instinct a lot, and I sing them based on instinct as well, but they’re not just deep and heavy, there’s also this sort of delicateness and beauty to them as well. Us members talk about all sorts of finer details and nuances to how we want to perform them. Even then, we try not to force ourselves to stick to every idea, and we just play how it feels best. We really get a strong feel for the music and create this worldview while having a lot of fun with it. I really get into my role, as if she possesses me, and I love it a lot. It’s so much fun to me. I think our strong point is that we don’t just sing, we’re also spinning a tale full of expression, and it’s like I’m singing from all sorts of walks of life... Watching Ave Mujica concerts is almost like watching a movie in a way. Each song conveys a lot from each of us, and we have a lot of fun performing them, so we’d like to keep on conveying this worldview for everyone to enjoy without letting up.

Doloris, who only gets more mysterious the more you learn about her

――One of your specialties as a singer is that you let yourself get “possessed” by your role, and that lets you change the air about you as well as your tone of voice. Your character Uika Misumi isn’t just the guitar-vocalist of Ave Mujica, Doloris, she’s also a member of the electropop unit sumimi. She’s a rather multifaceted, genius character.

 Sasaki:  I’ve been performing in musicals since I was a child, and I’ve always loved that feeling of turning into my roles, whatever that may be. It’s like I’m meeting new sides of myself I didn’t know existed whenever I act as them. Like Tomori-chan, I’m not the best at expressing myself through words, so I’m definitely the type who pours my entire soul into my singing. When I step on stage, it’s like I’m stepping into the world of music, like I’m falling into a rabbit hole, and it makes me wonder “Is this how Uika feels too?” The parts of my soul that I can’t usually unleash are unleashed when I become Doloris on stage. It’s like I’m breaking through all of my limits, and even that is a lot of fun, feeling that kind of sympathy. sumimi is bright, pleasant and “fresh,” while Doloris is a dark character; she takes a complete and utter change. I’m the type who has a switch on and a switch off, so I wonder if Uika is like that too. She’s so mysterious, and she only ever gets more mysterious the more you learn about her. It really pulls you in. She’s the kind of character who at a certain point you get scared to learn more about her, so I hope everyone’s excited for that.

――There’s all sorts of interpretations in the comment section of Ave Mujica’s YouTube channel, which are a lot of fun to read.

 Sasaki:  It makes me really happy to see people online asking “is this performance supposed to be interpreted this way?” We still have all sorts of tricks up our sleeves, so we still have a ways to level up.

――Ave Mujica has 7-stringed guitars, a 5-stringed bass and double kick drum, which really makes for a low, powerful sound.

 Sasaki:  I’d played guitar before but never a 7-string one. I’d also never heard a double kick drum or 5-stringed bass so up in person before, which really taught me there’s still a lot I have to learn about the world of music. I’ve sung since I was a child so it’s a strength for me, but I’d never sung this genre of music before, and there were times where I felt defeated and as if I wasn’t doing it well enough, which really showed me my own weakness. I’m really learning a lot about life. If I don’t pour my soul into my guitar playing my fingers don’t move right, and I won’t be able to sing while I play it. It’s important to play by impulse of course, but to produce the metal sounds, which are logical and calculated, proper technique is required to pull off those finer nuances. It’s really fun and satisfying mastering those. Everyone’s working so hard, and watching them encourages me to do my best too.

――You claimed once that Ave Mujica isn’t just about showing growth, it’s about showing off a perfect world. It really doesn’t give room for imperfections.

 Sasaki:  We’re always conveying Ave Mujica’s worldview in a way that doesn’t compromise; we’re always putting our all into it. You never know if things might all end for us tomorrow. So we want to just enjoy getting across our souls as we feel them at that very moment. That’s the serious mindset I have as I record and perform live. Bandori’s narrative is tied together with an anime, and the theme of “leaving your life in someone else’s hands” is a big one. So I really want to fill our music with a sort of persuasion to it; that even if my nails were to break and my shoulder was to be crushed, I would still do my best to enjoy playing the songs.

――I can only imagine what playing a 7-string guitar must do to your nails...

 Sasaki:  My nails exist at the convenience of my guitar (laughs). I don’t let them grow out too long and I can’t really make them look cute or put stuff on them because I put my music first and foremost. Though I’ve gotten advice from Yuzuki Watase and Mei Okada and they gave me tips which allowed me to make them cute for just a little bit (laughs). All of us members put our all into Ave Mujica and are always thinking of ways to improve it. I think this is possible because all of us just love music so much.

――In the anime It’s MyGO!!!!!, there’s a bit of an awkward atmosphere to the relationships―which is its appeal―and the lyrics to MyGO!!!!! songs are very frank and straightforward, almost as if the songs are a weapon. On the other hand, Ave Mujica characters undergo the same experiences and narrative, but their sound as a band is much heavier.

 Sasaki:  I think there’s people out there who feel saved by that “darkness.” I know I do. Ave Mujica isn’t just telling you “it’s fine to stay as you are,” but rather it nestles up to you with this idea of “we’re alike, you and I, I feel the same way as you.” For instance, there’s this anxiety of “if I told you all about my life, I wonder if you would still come to like me,” and that’s a kind of past that everyone’s experienced, and there’s no reason to say the things you don’t want to. I’m the same way. Let’s just enjoy the time we have together now. It’s okay if you don’t move forward. Yield yourself to this moment... I think that’s the kind of message this band is telling you. I hope that this light radiating from the darkness can empower everybody.

Lyrics that give you the sensation of diving into the deep sea

――Ave Mujica’s mini-album ELEMENTS just released. You’ve had two now with one of them feeling like an introduction series. This one feels more “conceptual” in a sense.

 Sasaki:  All 5 songs really showcase the infinite possibilities that exist within Ave Mujica, and I think they unravel the essence of the band in a sense. They all have their own emotion to them. As if compiling them all into one collection represents Ave Mujica as a whole, all 5 songs on ELEMENTS are required to be there in order to represent each precious aspect of Ave Mujica. Each song showcases the personality of the band very well, and I think it’s something that will really break people’s stereotypes of what Ave Mujica is supposed to look like.

――Most of Ave Mujica’s lyrics are done by Diggy-MO’, which has become a big topic.

 Sasaki:  Diggy-san loves music a lot, so he really puts his soul into his work. You can really feel a lot of individuality in the world he writes. It’s not something anyone else can imitate, and it’s really impressive how firmly formed the worldview he writes is. I never imagined I’d end up singing songs written by him, and I’m always finding myself plunging into the deep sea that is the lyrics as I sing.

――While it’s not featured on this CD, the line “don’t be serious” from Angles felt very like him. It’s interesting seeing such a dark band like Ave Mujica have lines that tell you “take it easy.”

 Sasaki:  True, there’s been a lot of things like that where I thought “so he used this kind of phrase or word here!” Before I sing each song, I make sure to hand write the lyrics down into my notebook. I’m always looking into the meaning behind each word, and jotting down what the English means and such... Diggy-san also designates different places to take in a breath as I’m singing, and at first I didn’t really understand the meaning behind it, but as I practiced, it was like I understood why they were there so well it could bring me to tears. For this CD, this happened in Symbol III: ▽. I write stuff down in notebooks for my solo music too, but I’ve never written down as much as I do for Ave Mujica before. I write down information on the other band members, and stuff I realized while performing live; all sorts of things get jotted down.

Sasaki’s notebook, which is densely filled with notes.

――We spoke with Diggy-san the other day, and he said “Sasaki-san loves music a lot, so she has a lot to say about it.” Seeing your notebook really brings that idea home.

 Sasaki:  Thank you, Diggy-san! There’s so many things I really think need conveying with our world we’re crafting. Though I think there’s no “right” way to interpret the lyrics, and I find a lot of joy in getting my own interpretations out of them. So I don’t really ask Diggy-san about the meaning behind his words much. I trust my own imagination, and let the songs just hug me as I sing them. There’s a lot I realize in doing so, and I tend to sing while enjoying the sensation of unraveling the mystery behind the songs.

――Symbol II: Air has that part in the chorus where it goes madamada yo mada ne madamada sa mada (translation: “It’s not enough, not yet, it’s still not enough.”). The repetition of “mada” here is very Diggy-san. While you might want to throw in varying words there, in a way, the simplicity of it and the tune of the song along with that repetitivity makes for a real earworm.

 Sasaki:  I agree. It made me think, “who knew words could feel so playful, this is so fun.” From that first line alone you kind of feel the feeling of “being fed up with the world” right away, and this sense of futility and aloofness... I really want to dig into the composition of the song too, and I think I’ll be able to do so as I sing it more. I think there were a lot of people who were surprised the first time they heard the song. Us members were too when we first heard the demo, actually. But when you give it a closer look, you see that the song doesn’t betray the feeling of Ave Mujica, and it has a sort of “it looks happy but is actually not at all,” so I sang it with that idea in mind.

Ave Mujica can become anyone and anything

――Symbol III: ▽ only has a piano and a cello.

 Sasaki:  I was surprised the first time I heard it. Even though the song has Oblivionis playing with Doloris singing, it’s not really like it feels like “just the two of them” performing it; it still feels like all 5 of us are there doing it together. The first time I sang this song live was at Ave Mujica 2nd live Quaerere Lumina’s Aichi stop in July, and I could really picture all of the other member’s faces in my head as I sang it which brought me to tears. Even though just the two of us were playing, all of the others were there in my heart, so to me, it’s a song where I feel all of them so strongly...

――On the other hand, Symbol I: △ and Symbol IV: Earth go back to Ave Mujica’s typical heavy sound. Both include some very beautiful melodies and chorus work.

 Sasaki:  With both songs in particular, I can feel Akane Yonezawa’s (Amoris/Nyamu Yuutenji, drums) drumming really resonate with the soul, like it’s sending a jolt through my brain. Aside from their instrumental playing, the other members did the chorus and it felt so complex that it really shocked me. It had this sort of choir sound to it, which really brought out Ave Mujica’s more delicate side. This world is one we all craft by supporting one another, and these songs are ones that could not be done without these exact 5 members.

――After the 4 Symbol songs released, Ether came out.

 Sasaki:  It feels like a song that borrowed a lot of components from the Symbol series. It felt as if our ray of light had greatly expanded all of a sudden, and I remember picturing all of the other member’s faces in my mind as I recorded it and tearing up because of it. When I was singing the line “I want you to know of such a true radiance,” I thought that perhaps there’s things out there that you wouldn’t think are light, but are in fact light, and that the light that you can only see in the darkness might actually be the true light. I really love the lyrics for pointing that out and making sure you don’t forget it. I think this song will be a guidepost for Ave Mujica going forward. The Symbol songs play with the things you can find on earth, while Ether is like becoming so free you’ve gone to outer space. It’s a song that really shows the grandness of unlimited possibilities.

――Finally, could you give your thoughts on ELEMENTS as a whole?

 Sasaki:  It’s a work that conveys “music as a production” I feel. There’s so many elements to the songs, and it proves that Ave Mujica can become anyone and anything, almost as if it were a declaration of war! I’d like to keep going while betraying fan expectations―in a good way―and I hope everyone becomes bathed in the appeal of Ave Mujica. I do feel a lot of pressure, but even that is a big encouragement to me, and we have a lot of tricks and ideas up our sleeves that will absolutely exceed everyone’s expectations, so we’ll keep doing our best to craft this world we’re creating. The anime that airs in January will feel as if you’re watching a movie. When I was watching it, I became lost for words, and before I knew it I was crying. I think it’s a work so shocking that it will overthrow your memories of all of the anime you’ve watched up to this point, so I hope everyone’s excited for it to air!

https://natalie.mu/music/pp/avemujica01