Boots

Well, that didn't take long. Soon as it became apparent that the Meji hiatus was permanent, my first thought was, "MiA is going to end up in some sort of supergroup unit." Yep, I was right.

Same here. I didn’t know Kouki was even among the roughly 6,543 people who’d been associated with Kisaki.

I’m just glad they’re not disbanding. When they put out a live DVD followed by a best-of, I thought it was a Bad Sign.

So . . . did they say anything about a tour, since we all know the usual BP cycle is release-tour-release-tour-repeat until infinity? Or is BP actually giving them a break on that part because of Kanagate?

I hope they include the promo clips they did for these lives as bonus material, because they were awesome. The Lucy one looked exactly like a vintage trailer for an ‘80s slasher movie, right down to the scratches and grain on the film.

Bloody hell, can good bands please stop having missing member drama, kthx? First Codomo Dragon with Kanagate, now this. (And, yeah, if Pitty was the main songwriter, they’re done, which would suck to the extreme.)

Oh, hell yeah! So great to see things happening with this band. They’re a breath of fresh air and precisely what VK needs right now, especially after the bad taste left by all the Meji drama.

I don’t recall a specific tweet, but the band did release a statement when they raised their cheki prices saying it was because Mahiro has a retina degeneration disease and his eyes are super-sensitive to light, therefore he could take fewer pictures.

PS Company will finally give up any pretense of being anything other than GazettE’s management. They will change their name to BlackMoral Enterprises and their remaining non-Gaze acts (Rave and Kra at this point, I think) will quietly be shuttled off elsewhere within Free Will. Mejibray’s disbandment will become official. Tzu and Koichi will be silent all year. Meto will join an all-star band one-off project. MiA will do a lot of fashion shoots and appear as a session guitarist with a couple of acts. Codomo Dragon will leave BP Records as a direct result of Kanagate. BP goes into panic mode since Kiryu’s future rests on the state of Mahiro’s vision issues and Royz nearly disbanded at least once. They will sign a neo-oshare act and force them to release even more material than their established bands. Sakito will do another nude/semi-nude layout to promote his latest Jakigan Meister release and look hotter than most J-rockers a decade-plus younger than him. A band with a substantial international following (possibly DIAURA) will sign with a major label and unleash a torrent of discourse about whether they’re going to be “ruined.”

1. DIAURA - the one current VK band that has never let me down, ever. 2. GOTCHAROCKA - Some of the most catchy VK melodies I've ever heard. Shortcake is an earworm that I would be happy to have stay with me forever. 3. SCREW - they deserved so much better than the industry gave them. (One band that would have been far better off never crossing paths with PSC). 4. GazettE - the Holy Trilogy of NIL, Stacked Rubbish and DIM alone would get them this spot. 5-7 - the three BP Records bands, Kiryu, Royz and Codomo Dragon. Yes, they overflood the market with singles, but when they're on, they're ON, and each band has a unique charm. (Codomo Dragon, in particular, has put out some gems - Viper has one of the best openings ever). 8. Moran - only found them after they'd disbanded, wish to hell I'd found them during their heyday. Wonderfully deep, layered, sophisticated music - there isn't much other VK that can honestly be described as jazz-rock. 9. Alice Nine - if only because they were my first VK love and they earn a spot on my personal hall of fame with Rainbows and The Beautiful Name alone. 10. Lycaon - They were a rowdy, dirty sex band, but they were a damn GOOD rowdy, dirty sex band. (The more toned down Initial'L incarnation just isn't the same). Honorable mentions include D=OUT, Mejibray, Fest Vainqueur, Morrigan, Jiluka, BORN, Kagrra and older Kra (I think a lot of people forget how damn GOOD they were from their launch until they lost their original guitarist).

All I could think of when I saw the name was an anime from waaaaay back in the VHS fansub day called Kaikan Phrase, which was about a band called Lucifer. In fact, I think the producers formed an actual band by that name to provide the music for the show.