The alphas of J-rock, MAN WITH A MISSION are celebrating their roaring 15th anniversary milestone this year with their spectacular lineup of projects including their most recent EP XV and their single ‘Against the Kings and Gods’.
We caught up with Jean-Ken Johnny to learn more about what the game-changers have been up to as they celebrate this landmark moment in their illustrious career. From discussing their evolution as a band so far to talking about the process behind creating their latest musical projects and the heroic and mythological inspirations behind them.
We also got a chance to nerd out about their process behind creating the theme songs for critically acclaimed anime My Hero Academia and Demon Slayer.
First I want to begin by saying congratulations on 15 years of MAN WITH A MISSION!
Thank you. Appreciate that.
How has the group's dynamics and creative process evolved since the band's early days?
During these 15 years, I'm not really sure if the songwriting has changed that much. We've, it's always been like a slogan or like a motto to assemble all the elements in music that's really changing rapidly these days, you know, the trend, stuff like that, kind of gather the elements and try to absorb that and make it sound rock as usual and never betray what we've come from, like all the rock music that we've been listening to.
So I'm not really sure if the writing process has changed, but I guess I really enjoy still sticking in the music scene right now, creating music, just savoring and saving the happiness and the fun, still being a band, yeah.
Your latest XV EP blends new material with live recordings. What was the idea behind mixing studio tracks with live performances for this release?
The live performance, I believe, was the shows in Mexico and it was great. The show itself was great, the performance, but above all, the crowd was so crazy.
We wanted to make everyone listen to what our show sounds like in a live atmosphere. The enthusiasm was really what the crowd made that day. The chemistry was so great, so yeah, we decided to just put it all in the EP.
'REACHING FOR THE SKY' feels like an anthem for growth and ambition. Looking back, what were the band's goals and aspirations in the beginning? Which goals have been achieved and which are you guys still working on?
I'm not really sure if we achieved anything. (Laughs) I mean, it's always, you know, a lot of people ask us what were your goals and what do you guys want to achieve, stuff like that. But like I said at the beginning, it was us, you know, it might sound awkward, but without being shy or blushing, it was always part of a dream for us to be a band, be known all over the world and maybe just make one song that everyone knows all over the world, just like the bands that we've followed, we've been so obsessed with.
So compared to that, I'm not really sure if we have achieved anything. All our ideal bands, all the greatest bands that we've ever listened to are way above our imagination, and I still believe that we're really just reaching, like the title says in the song, you know, we're still reaching for something.
Something that's vague, but really we have an image or a vision that we want to reach there, kind of like that. Yeah, we're probably still pursuing, just chasing that goal that we have inside our hearts.
I'm not really sure if we're ever gonna achieve it, but the most beautiful part of that is when you're trying to reach something. That's the greatest part of going for something, just searching for the one thing that you really want, even though you don't have the right words to explain it, yeah.
Your latest single 'Against the Kings and Gods' makes a bold sonic shift for the band. What pushed you to explore this darker, heavier sound and how did it challenge you creatively?
The first thought of making that song was, I wanted to make a song that we've never actually made. A really heavy, slow but heavy and aggressive, also kind of magical song. Both lyrically and in the aspect of sound, I just tried to make it sound totally different from what we've made before.
As a story or a method or something like that, I chose all the stories that people can check out in myths, mythology and stuff like that, when all the human heroes tried to encounter all the supernatural gods and kings, the creatures that are way above your power.
I tried to make that sound like a myth, but at the same time, I believe not only me but all of the people all over the world have that feeling, you know.
You have to face something that's way above your hands, and at the same time you just have to struggle and keep on fighting, and the strength, the power, the belief that you should never yield to anything. I kind of dropped the message, including the message like that, in the song.
Actually, speaking of mythology, that ties in beautifully to our next question. So you mentioned using mythology as a motif in the new single. What mythologies or symbolic figures inspired the story behind the track?
First of all, it was the image of the European, like the Greek myths. A lot of dramas and movies that I've been watching were mainly about the European kind of gods and stuff like that, and I believe that a lot of myths and stories from that area are all about betraying human beings and betraying your family, gods and stuff like that, trying to reach another level of their own lives or something like that. And well, I guess that happens all over the world, but the first thought was, yeah, it came from that kind of myth.
You've created iconic anime theme songs from My Hero Academia to Demon Slayer. How do you approach writing music for such massive franchises?
Well, it is a great challenge. We are really aware of how Japanese animation is really huge all over the world, and it's a really challenging moment. Especially when we wrote the songs for Demon Slayer, we were really aware of how big that franchise was (Laughs).
So yeah, it was challenging, but at the same time it's an honor. I'm a big fan of manga, animation, the culture itself, so it's always a lot of fun. It's like trying to be a storyteller to another person, to tell them about that story, that novel.
Usually when you write a song for an animation series, it's not just that one series, but whenever I write a song, I try to introduce the message that the whole story has — the philosophy or the message or whatever that story has.
Not only for the one season or series, but just like a storyteller, trying to be a character inside the same animation, but at the same time trying to tell the whole story to another person. That's how I write an animation song.
I mean, as a fan of Demon Slayer, I thought the song was great, yeah.
(Laughs) Thank you.
The first time I presented the lyrics to the director, he said this song talks all about the whole story, but could you focus on the series more? I was first told that, but yeah, of course I said, oh, OK, I'll do that, but at the same time I just wanted to stick to my own image and own ideas.
So it was really great that a lot of fans kind of reckoned that song as introducing the whole story of Demon Slayer. A lot of fans of the franchise reacted like that, and I was really proud of that.
Your 10th anniversary documentary captures your growth over the years. Was there a particular moment you revisited during the filming that surprised or moved you?
Yeah, it was about the history of the whole band and it was a lot of fun. You never do that, look back at your history as a band, and try to make all the other people who actually helped us a lot talk about the band.
We really appreciated a lot of people, especially when the interviews were mentioning our band a lot. We are a rock band, but at the same time it's always about the people you meet, the people who help you and stuff like that. It was a really appreciating moment, watching all the people answering the interviews for us.
The HOWLING ACROSS THE WORLD 2025 tour is upon us. What excites you the most about this tour and are there any countries or venues that you're particularly looking forward to?
Well, I definitely say Singapore is one. Yeah, it's been two years since we last toured in the Asian area, and the last time it was such an amazing moment. We've been there a couple of times, but that was our first time doing a decent headlining tour and we had a lot of fun, so yeah. We've been waiting for this for a long time, and we can't wait to meet you guys there as well.
It's always, as I said, traveling all over the world and just performing, making songs and just watching people reacting to our songs is one of the best things that we've wanted to do since we formed a band. It's always such a pleasure and an honor to do that, and we're glad to do it once again.
We're looking forward to having you guys in Singapore in December!
Thank you!
As you step into the final stretch of the anniversary, what's the message you want to leave with fans as you look ahead to the next chapter?
It's been 15 years as a band. I guess that's not that long. A lot of bands have been on the road for much longer, but these 15 years, we are a very lucky band having a lot of incredible fans all over the world.
It's such a pleasure and an honor to see people who love rock music reacting to our songs, and still, every day, they are supporting us, they're waiting for us. We appreciate it. It's above words, it's more than words, we can't appreciate it enough.
For the next future, as I said, when we first started making music, it was all about showing the world what we had, and we were probably full of ambition, maybe arrogant a little bit, as a rock musician can be, trying to show the world what we had.
But now these days we are feeling and savoring all the happiness and fun in being a band and being in this music industry, just having fun with all the music lovers. We'll just keep on going, so I hope you guys will walk with us too.
Finally, you're returning to Singapore this December. What can fans expect from your show at Capitol Theater this time around?
I hope you guys liked it the last time. It was three years ago, and it was a really magical moment for us, but I can definitely assure you it's gonna be a lot crazier, so I hope you guys are ready because we are.
I think fans are definitely ready, yeah, after three years, yes.
The band will make their long-awaited return to Singapore on 9 December, performing at Capitol Theatre. Tickets are now on sale via ticketmaster.sg, with prices ranging from S$108 to S$208 (excluding fees).
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