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Japan, the birthplace of visual kei: "Westerners doing visual kei? Fxxking spicy, but what is visual kei, again?.. Z-z-z-z"

Patrik stop lurking.

I was in the first row for MUCC's culture center live in Mito last week, and when they switched parts for their first encore Tatsuro played the bass and I could see there was a guy holding a big cardboard sign in the gap between the seats and the stage, running after him as he moved on stage. Then I saw the sign had bass tabs written on it. He was still messing it up and it was very cute. It got even funnier when they used the smoke machine during Ranchuu and he was squinting to look at the tabs through the smoke. I'm a sucker for silly gags like this so it made me really happy.

yes because mh is full of whites. nothing but whites. this forum's color should be white instead of black. Fucking idiot, living up to both his name and the band's name (Bataar, more like Pataar, amirite).

Dunno about you guys, but every time I see people calling VK art I let go a tiny, but sincere chuckle

well as a useless baka gaijin I guess I'd better quit listening to vk and following vk bands and buying vk bands' CDs and merch and just giving a shit about vk at all then, if I can't go to lives ever, even though this is 2017 we're living in and everything gets consumed internationally these days through this magical invention called the Internet

I never thought of it that way before, but I'm totally fine with the idea of visual kei remaining a primarily Asian thing. I mean don't get me wrong, I have thought about it before. But Patrik's outburst really got me thinking about what visual kei is and why none of us can settle on a coherent definition. That's where the magic lies for me. I grew up as less than in a Eurocentric world, and was programmed to think of white as default. Everyone in my country is. History was white people history. World history was "this is how Britain almost won this last game of Civilization, but then America came from behind with a bullshit victory". Asian culture always felt more distant and is still marketed as more niche and ~exotic~. For me, there's a layer of separation between how I perceive the two cultures. I will always feel more familiarity with Britain or Scandinavia than Laos or Cambodia, even though I have never been to any of those places. In theory, I would be okay with visual kei becoming a world wide thing. In practice, outside of Asian circles it crosses the layer of separation in my mind and becomes something too familiar to be visual kei, and so it just doesn't work for me. Also I'm high as fuck whats up?

Iirc there was a pretty horrendous south american visual kei compilation that was uploaded on this board way back. They were kind of nu-kei-ish I recall, and also I think one of the bands had a member who posted here ( he might have in fact been the uploader. ) I do like how everything written here has been reduced to "white elitism." The only way shitty local rock bands can cope with flopping like they do is by telling themselves that everyone is a hater and that they're doing a public service by existing.

when people confuse elitism with actually having taste, oops

Yoshiki's water bottle hit me in the head.

unexpected spotify gems

idk how i missed this thread but

mods!

AvelCain: During gyakudive i was almost lying on vocalist's box (idk how to call it) and accidentally touched Karma's foot. He looked at me like a psycho and slapped my face with his palm. It was like more pushing palm into my face. Duuuuude. Saw how Kisaki and Karma hugged each other because Sui told them to do it (?). It was the coldest hug i've ever seen. lol Before that live i was lost and asked for a random people for help. They showed me way and stopped while saying "This is this place". I raised my head and saw AvelCain in front of me. So i thanked these people and was pretending i don't know who is AvelCain. SAVAGE: During gyakudive i almost didn't broke my nose because guitarist catched my hand and pulled me on someone. I felt pain in my nose for few days. At live i thought i was bleeding. Injured my back because Ryuka used my back as a table or a chair and the next day i was not able to sit or move. Chariots: Jin thrown smal sausage into me. D.I.D.: I came to venue before live because i want to check where the venue is because i'm a stupid gaijin and i'm always lost. And at that moment i saw D.I.D. arriving in their van in front of me. I got scared and started run away. Sel'm guys saw this stupid gaijin running like a crazy. lol. Lolita23q: After live one awesome guy gave to me his atari ticket and i've met Sou face to face twice. Lycaon: Fans wanted to go to toilet but toiled doors was occupied by Satoshi and surrounded by BORN members. Trans Note: Riding metro to Suzuya's live together with him. I wouldn't realize that if he wouldn't be staring at me TOO much. Like having literally no shame, turning to me and staring like a weirdo entire time till we left metro. etc. etc. so many....

I'm happy Mejibray is taking a break. I really agree with the fact that they haven't really put out anything too great for awhile now and it could do their music wonders. Think about the Gazette. Whether you hated or love their Dogma project, it was a HUGE refreshment from what they were putting out prior. That almost 2 year gap between releases helped them tremendously. ----- that's all I have to say opinion wise on the matter. If you want to continue reading after this, I just jumped into the most recent debate for a quick spell. Nothing serious. ---- To say that the opinion of a fan who buys their products, but doesn't see their lives is unimportant is wrong though. Whether buying their ticket and seeing them live or buying their stuff, that money IS what keeps the band going. I don't think the band really would care if 5 people didn't show up to a show, but 5 people bought their DVD, CDs, posters, etc. at the same value as the ticket. Also, some people aren't able to make it out to a show (small venue, tickes sold out. Work schedule conflicts, etc, etc) or can't even get to be in Japan to see these bands. Their opinion might not matter to you, but it does matter. But I'm sure you've seen EVERY band live before you decided to criticize them or like them, right? I agree with this statement, except the studio album part. With the technology available to sound engineers, you can take someone who sounds as nasally and flat as Sakito (ex. Duel e Quartz) and make him sound as godly as Asagi from D. You can take anything from the "CRAPPY songs to cure people from rare indies bands obsession" thread and make it sound like L'arc en CIel or Dir en Grey gold. It has no indicate of the skill. In conclusion, all of your opinions are valid to a degree because that is what keeps the band alive. Buying tickets, buying products, and SPREADING THE WORD about the band whether good or band KEEPS THE BAND ALIVE because it all leads to monetary value for the band to continue. Sorry to go on and on and on. lol.

Saw MERRY in Liquidroom for their 2009 Underworld [BURST]Tour final and during the set, I was sub-consciously digging my nose (I know, I know....) and my eyes and Gara's met (I'm a Asian dude). Gara then smiled and proceeded to violently dig HIS nose with all his fingers, one at a time and then licked all his fingers while glancing in my direction with a crazed look. Good times!

Lycaon should have disbanded when Mío and Eve left.

I'm saying just because you haven't see a band perform live, it doesn't mean you can't criticize them. Studio albums are indicative of an artist's musical skill and songwriting capabilities. If a band has five albums and I only like one of them, I think it's fair to say that I don't like the band's music. Seeing them live won't change anything.

Haven't been doing much VK on my channel in the last few years, but I felt like returning to it recently. Hope you enjoy!

why white ppl gotta destroy everything first dabbing and now vk smh

I loathe the constipated vampire aristocrat gimmick so everyone from gackt to klaha to post-lareine kamijo and their ilk I can't stand for one bit. Klaha especially was only gauged to do good stuff with Gardenia because of the song writing, for which I presume he was not responsible. His previous band is terrible bush league nu wave and they even ripped off Billie Jean for christ sake.

He was singing in his natural voice. What he does in Versailles is forced as fuck imo.

cant wait to see japan debut at eurovision next year w/ this band

"live-limited" after all the waiting..ugh

Trinity is my winner. I love Sasha more but theyre not gonna let an art queen win.

you know mashiro is damn underrated when at 20 replies in no one still remembered THE LEGEND

Y'know what I'll bring this up with the rest of the staff. I mean, you're right, we gotta come correct and all! Correctness is everything. Also, those bataaaaaaaaaaar dudes are bullshit personified

I'm legit sizzling @ this, they actually got the aesthetics part right and it's a pretty authentic deal visually (given an all gaijin band with a matina production budget) the actual music tho

kazuki from screw spat in my eye it got really red and irritated for a couple of days

That's true. 2017 vk has been pretty average, so far. The only release I believe is an actual stand out was ORCALADE's debut. Solid as fuck. on unpopular opinions: DADAROMA gets more praise than they deserve. For each killer song, they have 5 or 6 that are forgettable at best. And its a shame, cuz I really liked Crazy Shampoo and NAINE...

Okay, I've been reading a lot of people here saying they were one of the most successful and popular bands out of this latest generation and my question is: were they? I've always felt they are far more successful among the western fanbase than in Japan, which honestly means absolutely nothing to determine their status in the scene. They don't seem to sell that well, the biggest place they held an oneman was Zepp Tokyo (in 2014; other than that they seem to have reached a plateau at Akasaka BLITZ, meaning they've been stagnated for years now) and it doesn't look like they're leaving much of an impact within the scene (if any at all).

I don't know how unpopular this is but K-Pop >>> J-Pop. God, I hate so much, I had forgotten about it until I went to a japanese music event and they put a lot of that awful J-Pop, then I remembered why I could never listen to that. The voices, I just can't do it, nope, they make me want to rip off my ears and the music is soooooo corny. At least K-Pop singers sound like normal people.

Even live DVDs don't fully capture a live performance, especially since those end up being edited and polished just like anything else. I fully understand the idea of some bands being better live than on record, but it's silly to imply that you can't judge a band until you see them live when they don't perform internationally.

Sure, but it's not like seeing Mejibray live is just a matter of buying tickets and driving to a local venue for anyone outside Japan.

Hello all MH users! With the suggestion of @chemicalpictures, I bring you an analytical discussion of a song lyric I've chosen, along with its PV. Seems like this is the first time anyone has done this here so to get things pumping, and hopefully make this a success, I chose to pick a song from the increasingly popular band DEZERT. Being quite well-known for their food-related themes, as you can tell from their song titles and album titles, DEZERT do not only bring a dark and grimy atmosphere, but also present an unpleasant and repulsive feeling to your gut and mouth. If you ever took the time to read their lyrics you may never look at food the same way again. But hey, I love them for this. @Zeus Let me know if there's a better section for this. Since I'm discussing about both lyric and PV I thought I'd put it in the general section instead. Let's get right down to it and take a look at the original Japanese lyrics for the song, 胃潰瘍とルソーの錯覚 from their album タイトルなし(Title Nashi), which was written by Chiaki, and then the translation, which was done by me. Kanji: 胃潰瘍とルソーの錯覚 -taken from rocklyric English: Gastric Ulcer and Rousseau's Illusion 胃潰瘍とルソーの錯覚 is a song about love and the fear of the truth and the future, written in a grotesque manner. Looking at the song title, 'gastric ulcer' ties into the food and cannibalistic theme, and after reviewing the lyrics and PV several times I've concluded that the gastric ulcer represents a kind of punishment for one's sins. A punishment for killing the ones you love and eating them to the bone, obviously. It is there as a reminder of your sins. Another piece of information we get from the title is the name 'Rousseau'. Who could this Rousseau refer to and why did Chiaki choose to use this reference? (Unless the word ルソー means something else?) The first name that comes up on google is a philosopher named Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Apparently, he advocated freedom politically and made an influence during the French Revolution. I can see how 'freedom' may play a role in this, but am still puzzled as to why Chiaki would reference him specifically. If anyone is willing to dig further into this, please do. Something else worth speculating is the way Chiaki divides the lyric into (A), (B), and (A.B), like a story with chapters. But then why (A.B) at the end? Maybe it's a middle section between A and B? It's possible, but I think A and B might refer to Boy A and Boy B (since he mentions 少年A under the (B) section), where as A.B refers to them both of them together at the end. If you have thoughts otherwise, please comment below~ I know there's still a lot to speculate about the lyrics, but let's get to the fun part and explore the peculiar PV. As if the lyrics were crazy enough, here we have additional themes like gender, homosexuality, and the butterfly motif. A young boy puts on lipstick, kills butterflies, and gets together with other males as he grows older......to kill them for their flesh and bones. The PV follows well with the lyrics, but what intrigued me the most was the butterfly motif. We see the butterfly appear when the young boy plucks its wings and smiles, and in a few flickering screens of an injured butterfly throughout the PV. Then, at the very end we see it once more in the form of a tattoo on the left arm of the man who kills the boy (see pic below). What an ironic turn of events, seeing a butterfly, which you have mistreated in the past, the moment you die. However, since the butterfly has been depicted as being weak, being robbed of its ability to fly, I think it also serves as a representation of his weakness for not being able to face the truth and the future. In Japan, people also believe that butterflies carry souls to the dead, or represent souls of the dead, therefore adding to the irony of his fateful death. I don't want to write too much so I'll leave the rest open for discussion! I'm sure there are deep-thinkers here who have something more interesting to share. Or if not, point out something you find interesting and analyze it, even if it's something little. It could mean something more than you think. For example, you think those wire mannequins in the PV might represent anything? Or maybe it's just a piece of decoration. For those who have knowledge in Japanese, please share thoughts about the original Japanese lyrics and other possible translations too. Have fun! ^^ Feel free to leave any critiques as well~

It was announced at "MEGA VEGAS 2017", the release of the New Single "SHINE" was decided on June 14, 2017! Also, from this release, Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas will be transferring to Warner Music Japan. [CD Track List] 01. SHINE 02. Something to Gain After the Pain

I've always been rooting for Nina, but these last eps I've been like But at least this week's Untucked was kinda more fun, haha. Also, hoping for a Valentina/Shea/Sasha top three.

what happens in Vegas should stay in Vegas tbh

Basically because it applies its own rules of resizing & [re]compressing if you don't follow their rules first hand. You can find those rules here; https://www.facebook.com/help/266520536764594/ And there are other things to know and tricks as well if you really care about the quality, but I don't want to get into detail here - you should be able to easily find guides on that on the web; just google a bit... or ask me if you really want to know it.

They used to be my favorite band, but I've been gradually losing interest in them during the last... 2-3 years? The start was good, then they became to sound the same, and also weren't present online as much as they used to, stopped releasing funny making of videos, etc. For a foreign fan it's a huge difference, because it's not just the music that's important when you can't experience anything else about the band. I also think that there are better bands in the vk scene, but I just liked them anyway... until they started losing unity in their image (each member began to look way too different than each other, and it was a mistake, in my opinion), and ran out of new ideas for the music.

i saw that one 7+hr live Royz did where they played every one of their songs, so i've basically accepted my life peaked at that point only other thing i can kinda brag about; my first live i ever saw was Naitomea when they left Japan for the second time in their career to play a con that was 4hrs from my house - i'll never in my life be that lucky again .-.

LOL I agree, why can't Ru eliminate them both?! Also, y'all hear the leak rumor yet? Damn, next week gonna be scandalous! lmao I approve the top 3 too!

krillin from dragon ball listens to vk once

Band: Gargoyle Yeaaaars ago I went to this live they did where it was basically them on stage getting crunk and passing the audience beers while they played whatever they felt like between random/hilarious MCs. Band: Kuroyume My friend and I paid 30,000 yen+ a piece to get scalper tickets to their sold out "last" live, because we didn't want to regret not ever seeing them. Then Kiyoharu got desperate for some coin and got the band back together like one-two years later. Our seat numbers were horrible, and behind the stage, so the only view we got was of Kiyoharu's ass. Band: Psycho le Cemu One of their Nagoya shows was particularly memorable for me because I got saizen, the set list was on fire, and I befriended a bunch of gya that still keep in touch outside of lives. Also the Osaka show of their last lives, where the gya invited many of us non-Japanese fans in attendance to write a message on a gift they had prepared for the band. Their "last" live and mid-hiatus anniversary/Epilogue final. So much ugly crying and wailing. The image of all the gya leaning on each other for support as they processed their sadness over an era in their lives coming to an end has been hard to shake. Strangely, having already gone through this stage with Malice Mizer, I didn't cry. Emotions were running high, especially as there had been a few gya who had taken their own lives after speculation that the band would go on an indefinite (read: permanent) hiatus. Also... every live I have ever worn uncomfortable shoes to just to "complete an outfit" or "stand taller". Don't do it guys, you will always regret it, lol.

You can't put a price on seeing some internet people act heartbroken and shocked over such an announcement from a band whom they claim undying devotion to yet.... ..not devoted enough to know VK bands work. Like they are REALLY surprised as if they think some unforeseen tragedy has taken place to cause this. They don't seem to realize how much in excess their output was... probably see no difference in the quality of releases either. I guess they assume songs just kind of write themselves if you spend enough time being cute and all. The boys do give that impression.. Stay on hiatus until their short-term attention span dies out, then quietly come back and.... try to build a better fanbase. I'm a fan of MEJIBRAY and I think MEJIBAY fans deserve everything they've got coming to them in life lol