... I missed that particular interview, but what the hell. I always thought it was more a case of Dynamite Tommy trying to push them into a more Dir en grey-esque direction to get more of that delicious yen. I guess one should never forget the influence of the dreaded senpai... I knew Kyo and Gara have been connected in some way for a longer time (wasn't Gara a roadie for Dir en grey at some point or something, or am I mixing him up with Daisuke or Satsuki here?) but I didn't know Kyo was THAT influential on Gara.
Anyway, yeah, that Beautiful Freaks era was definitely.. messy, to say the least. Its honestly quite weird, considering under-world was far from a bad album, and the more raw, straightforward punk sound actually worked quite well imo. I enjoyed under-world a lot more from the get-go than I enjoyed M.E.R.R.Y. (tho that one's grown on me by now too) That whole Beautiful Freaks era saw Gara doing far more harsh vocals than ever before at any point up 'til then.. From what I recall, his voice actually sounded somewhat weaker or more strained than usual in live footage from that era. I honestly wonder if he was pushing himself too hard with those songs. I actually haven't really been keeping up with their live performances since then, but have things improved?
Also yeah, those old song covers were cool. I'd honestly like to see Merry do something akin to Shinjuku Gewalt's Kaizou Tape, where they just give their own spin to some retro tunes.