frayed

Maria Cross will be the lead singer.

One thing I'm upset about as a bassist is that I've checked that chick's YouTube channel and she started playing the bass a couple months ago and has a begginer level.
Thus
- She didn't record SoD's first music, that's for sure, MiA did it
- She probably will do like Koichi and pretend to play bass most of the time, which is extremely frustrating for musicians who purchase a ticket to see people "playing live".

That probably bothers just me anyway.
MiA probably met her at some Gucci/Versace party and was like "oh your fanbase be huge let's make a band, don't mind the music, just mind the money" and that's disappointing coming from such a talented person. He can make a living and be an honest musician too, he has the fanbase for it...

I got wind it was diff. when I watched the "Pledge" cover. I don't rescind my previous statement, as his voice is not that bad.
That being said, the whole thing reeks of JPN Youtuber antics, which is definitely not my cup of tea. IMO I find John's channel content obnoxious (staged drama & clickbait (sort by popular)), but he could be a genuinely good person behind the scenes.
 
It's not that he's a gaijin that I find "off", it's the people MiA has suddenly gotten involved with that has turned a lot of heads. That being said, it's totally MiA's choice since he started the whole thing. All in all, if they sound good I'll give them a shot. 
 
Everyone here is just poking fun at it considering how bizarre this all is. 

Why "ex. Mejibray"?
They didn't disband officially 

God guys, quit clowning around already.
 
Tomo looks good but I’m not really feeling the rest. It feels like Takashi took his last look (which I really liked) and then just made it worse.

Pretty sure it's mainly because we can all agree with the fact that Yoshiki is an egotistical dickwad who only cares about playing celebrity instead of actually doing his job.

Because they are slightly better than the average musicians, their live performances were honestly interesting, their compositions had somewhat of a signature... there are several reasons, including the one that they didn't suck as much as people want to imply. It's nice to make fun of what teenagers enjoy, specially when you've been around for 10+ years and have seen all kinds of trends going up and down, but that's just us old people being old. And that doesn't take away the fact that meji was a solid band all around...

I think it's a fair blanket statement to suggest that this scene attracts many 'damaged' individuals. I'll probably take heat for that, but it's so obvious.

I like it for the music and 'originality' of it all personally. Looks are fun, but after listening to this shit for a decade I'm past the stage of imagining bandomen are my friends lol.

God yeah, I saw shit like that back in the Livejournal days. It’s ridiculous. People have literally implied that I followed the band because I wanted to sleep with them - meanwhile I’m quietly laughing my ass off as a genderfluid queer ass individual with my fiancée sitting next to me. 
 
It’s honestly like toeing a middle line between fans like that and other fans calling MiA a stuck up frog man or something because they aren’t into him. I wasn’t really that in touch with the overseas fandom because I only got into them when I was living in Japan, and frankly it kind of sucks that now after the hiatus and living here it’s really hard to find sane people to engage with.

SO MUCH THIS, yes, same. I really hate this attitude. It’s exceedingly festishist imho. 

I used to be really stubborn about getting into new music. Being with my girlfriend broadened my perspective a lot, so I’m way better than I used to be.
 
Some bands/songs appeal to me right away. Some take me hearing the right song. Sometimes it about hearing the right song in the right context, or hearing the song enough times to be able to find something I like in it. Some bands I can only enjoy live, and then when I go home and try to listen to the CD they do nothing for me. Some bands put together a kickass CD and then I go to the live and wow I think they’re awful in person.
 
It’s the vocalist I usually get the most hung up on. It can be an objectively good voice, but if they don’t do it for me it’s really hard to give the music a fair chance.

I don’t know. I feel like it was a damned-if-they-do-damned-if-they-don’t situation with regards to the collapse. If they cut it, they’re further censoring the band than they already have been, and that doesn’t work when everyone was already reporting about it and everyone knew it happened. On the other, leaving it on the DVD can come off as kind of exploitative; but it’s also the last release for Mejibray for the foreseeable future, so maybe they’re hoping it gets people to buy the DVD for one last surge of cash.
 
I don’t really know how to read a lot of the shit that went down with Mejibray since May, but it felt like there was a lot of frustration and lingering sadness. If anything, if it -was- a PR stunt, I think it was more for the benefit 8P-SB. Forum (the label) really did not come out looking good in all this, and I know a good number of the regular gya were flat out boycotting the DVD. 

So here we have I guess Tsuzuku and Koichi’s new project?
 
https://www.instagram.com/8psb_official
 
 
Thoughts?

I don’t know. I feel like it was a damned-if-they-do-damned-if-they-don’t situation with regards to the collapse. If they cut it, they’re further censoring the band than they already have been, and that doesn’t work when everyone was already reporting about it and everyone knew it happened. On the other, leaving it on the DVD can come off as kind of exploitative; but it’s also the last release for Mejibray for the foreseeable future, so maybe they’re hoping it gets people to buy the DVD for one last surge of cash.
 
I don’t really know how to read a lot of the shit that went down with Mejibray since May, but it felt like there was a lot of frustration and lingering sadness. If anything, if it -was- a PR stunt, I think it was more for the benefit 8P-SB. Forum (the label) really did not come out looking good in all this, and I know a good number of the regular gya were flat out boycotting the DVD. 

Haven’t watched it yet, but I’ve seen gifs - it wasn’t cut.

Hopefully things didn't turn DUGLY between the band members....
 
...I'll see myself out 

So here we have I guess Tsuzuku and Koichi’s new project?
 
https://www.instagram.com/8psb_official
 
 
Thoughts?

So here we have I guess Tsuzuku and Koichi’s new project?
 
https://www.instagram.com/8psb_official
 
 
Thoughts?

So here we have I guess Tsuzuku and Koichi’s new project?
 
https://www.instagram.com/8psb_official
 
 
Thoughts?

So here we have I guess Tsuzuku and Koichi’s new project?
 
https://www.instagram.com/8psb_official
 
 
Thoughts?

So here we have I guess Tsuzuku and Koichi’s new project?
 
https://www.instagram.com/8psb_official
 
 
Thoughts?

nice eau de toilete ad

So here we have I guess Tsuzuku and Koichi’s new project?
 
https://www.instagram.com/8psb_official
 
 
Thoughts?

Seconding that the bands aren’t really losing money from people pirating, and no, not everyone is in the position to be able to buy things so easily. This goes double for casual fans. And honestly if not for piracy, most people wouldn’t have a way to get to know these bands in the first place, myself included. 
 
On the flip side, just to be real: not true for everyone, obviously, but man I’ve met a lot of cheap vkei fans. I briefly offered to do a shopping service kind of deal once and fuck, never again. Only for friends. It’s just not worth the stress of being nickeled and dimed by people when the prices aren’t even your decision. Moreover, if or when someone goes to the trouble to rip something - it costs less than cash to thank someone for their effort, but it’s like pulling teeth. Much less asking for anyone to link back to the source on the rip. And then people get demanding for more rips and it’s like ????
 
I don’t forsee any change, but I just wish people were kinder to each other in this regard I guess.

Buck-Tick’s Gessekai was used as the opening theme for Nightwalker (which shamelessly borrowed some ideas from Interview with the Vampire lolol). I’ll always remember it fondly because I randomly grabbed the DVD off a shelf at Blockbuster and it was my first encounter with Buck-Tick. Also shout out to La’cryma Christi’s Mirai Kouro as the ending theme. Memories...