Laurence02

One of the small joys of being a VK fan is the unique phenomenon of enjoying a band while having absolutely no idea how to say their name. And I don’t mean because a band’s name is in Japanese, I’m talking those band names that are ostensibly written in English but because of weird characters or punctuation you just have no idea how to properly pronounce or verbalize their moniker correctly (although most of the time the pronunciation just completely ignores the extraneous symbols).
 
Let’s try and trace the history of these unnecessary symbols and letters in VK bands’ names and highlight the influence (or lack thereof) of these punctuation provocateurs.
 
 
D’erlanger

 
The band: One of the proto-visual kei bands that began in the ‘80s and had an outsize influence on the first generation of post-X visual bands.
 
The name: D’erlanger kinda makes sense as a French word, so they themselves are forgiven, but it is apparent a lot of teenagers in the 80s who would go on to become players in the golden age of visual kei saw that apostrophe and thought “oh cool!” for entirely unintended reasons.
 
I said D’erlanger makes sense as a French word… but it’s not a very ‘band name’ kind of word. Can’t imagine throwing up the metal horns to a band called ‘from Erlangen’.
 
See also: L’Arc~en~Ciel, La’Cryma Cristi, La’Mule
 
 
L’Arc~en~Ciel

 
The band: No introduction necessary really. Almost certainly on the Mount Rushmore of VK bands, whether or not you like what they’ve done since the start of the new millennium (and I don’t). Pretty and melodious songs with just enough edge to appeal to a wide swath of fans. Not to mention a sexy frontman.
 
The name: Another word that makes sense if you’re French, but L’Arc~en~Ciel up the ante by adding some tildes for no reason other than young Tetsuya and Hyde probably thought they added an even more magical feeling to the word ‘rainbow’.
 
L’Arc~en~Ciel’s (making their name possessive *does* add a certain balance to the word…) popularity in both VK circles and a mainstream audience meant that adding dumb punctuation in the middle of your name for no reason was now completely tolerated.
 
Tetsuya has specifically denied he got the L’Arc~en~Ciel moniker from a cafe near where he worked as a teenager with the same name. It may have also been stolen from the D.H. Lawrence book ‘Rainbow’, but even that story is tainted because it includes the *movie* version.
 
See also: a million song and album titles with tildes in them, E’m ~grief~
 
 
cali≠gari

 
The band: Either groundbreaking, experimental rock that revolutionized and kick-started the ‘eroguro kei’ genre, or dissonant-sounding weirdos; depending on your tastes.
 
The name: Obviously lifted from the groundbreaking German silent horror film “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”; an admittedly cool source of inspiration for an art-y VK band. The name even has a cool rhyme and visual symmetry when written/pronounced in Japanese (カリガリ).
 
See also: a ton of also-ran bands that have stuck unnecessary equals signs in their names: Loz'a≠Veria, D≒sire, Kar+te=zyAnose, Eyes≒Mirrorge, PARANOID≠CIRCUS
 
 
ZI:KILL

 
The band: Early VK rockers that burned out too quickly to be mentioned among the all-timers.
 
The name: Originally formed as G:KILL, which doesn’t shed any light onto the inspiration for the name, but is an interesting fact. G/Zi:Kill both *kinda* sound like Jekyll when katakan-ized, and Visual Kei has no lack of love for that story.
 
You may be noticing a trend so far; early VK bands apparently hated having blank spaces in their names.
 
See also: La:Sadie’s, ru:natic,【_Vani;lla】, ha;qch, DAS:VASSER, L'yse:nore
 
 
Aliene Maφriage

 
The band: One of the harbingers of VK starting to get really dark and almost certainly offending the middle-aged parents of the teenagers listening to it. Lots of leather and hair... and in Aliene’s case; some good songwriting to back it up.
 
The name: In the book Freakonomics the authors cite a study that shows, all other things being equal, people are more likely to be asked to interview for jobs if the interviewer/hiring manager can pronounce their name. I have to believe this is why even Kyoka & Co. started writing their name simply Aliene Ma’riage eventually; they were probably tired of having to pitch things to record label execs who looked at their name and thought “pass” before they even heard the banshee wails.
 
I couldn’t find anything about the origins of their name. It is a vast improvement over their original moniker Autism though.
 
See also: √eight, ∋elf gravity∈, ZETSURIN⚡HAGUKI
 
 
Kagrra,

 
The band: The undisputed kings of beautiful neo-japonisme in VK.
 
The name: Even Kagrra,, who peddled a very classic Japanese aesthetic, weren’t immune to an unnecessary flourish such as a comma at the end of their name which, when spoken, led to a kind of hesitant mumble as if you were supposed to continue a train of thought which was still at the station. I mean, revisit that previous sentence I wrote, should it really have been written “Even Kagrra,,”? Kagrra,’s name certainly gave the editing staff at Shoxx a headache.
 
Kagrra,, originally called Crow, took their name from 神楽 (Kagura), a Shinto music and dance tradition.
 
See also: Thankfully the comma didn’t catch on much.
 
 
+DéspairsRay+

 
The band: One of the rare examples of a band who can pull off unabashed zetsubou unironically and follow it up with soaring choruses and catchy melodies without sounding disjointed.
 
The name: Another band that dropped some of the more superfluous parts of their name as soon as they started to gain some popularity. If I had to guess, their name is probably one of the most mistagged in VK. I know for sure if I opened iTunes right now I’d have songs by +DéspairsRay+, DéspairsRay, D’espairs Ray, Despairs Ray and probably more in my artist lineup.
 
The members of the band haven’t commented specifically on how they chose the name, with Zero even saying “It's nothing special.” I interpret this as ‘we know it’s dumb, don’t ask about it please’.
 
See also: VAL+IX+LIA, MARRY+AN+BLOOD, Ti+Dee
 
 
Nuvc:gu

 
The band: Nobodies.
 
The name: I honestly was pronouncing this “nuv-ka-goo” until I heard @Biopanda say “New vogue” in a Rarezhut stream and the lightbulb went off. I almost want to give them credit for using the *shape* of punctuation to emulate letters, but then I realize that’s incredibly stupid unless you’re working with some seriously custom fonts.
 
See also: VΩID, k@mikaze, SHAD∞W, XOVER
 
 
Exist†trace

 
The band: Probably the most successful all-girl-kei band ever (which unfortunately isn’t saying much). Started out very gothy and have gradually transitioned to a more mainstream sound. They let the pretty one sing and it makes me sad because Jyou has come up with some flat out beautiful, haunting vocal melodies.
 
The name: Miko said in an interview that,
 
And let’s be honest, that explanation makes no sense. It sounds cool though, and really that’s what you need in a band name (and something unique that can be Googled).
 
My biggest problem with their cross symbol is that it probably shows up as a question mark or some other placeholder punctuation 20% of the time because who the hell has the time to look up the unicode symbols? (although I’m sure people who write about Witch-house bands have the code for the cross symbol memorized.)
 
See also: Serpentine†Ghost, Jail†Breaker, Vice†risk
 
 
xTripx

 
The band: A surprisingly endearing mix of oshare kei and numetal.
 
The name: Weirdly, I always pronounce the first ‘x’ in xTripx’s name but not the last one (ecks-trip). I actually think more bands need to come to terms with the fact that eventually the world will run out of new band names and everyone will have to resort to having a moniker that looks like a circa-2002 emo fan’s AIM screenname.
 
See also: xジハードx, 【TRiANGLE▼SONiX】, Noi’X
 
 
12012

 
The band: Undercode stalwarts that started out lo-fi and disjointed and nu-metal influenced but very charming, and graduated to poppier fare when they decided to take a stab at becoming famous.
 
The name: ‘Ichi ni zero ichi ni’ if you’re Japanese, ‘twelve-o’-twelve’ if you’re me. Allegedly named after a section of the California penal code that deals with illegal weapons… and that actually kind of tracks. It’s an extremely boring section though (besides we know Wataru prefers hand-to-hand combat):
 
 
Not a cool law for a band name. I think we’ve got a retconned term a la 420 and 311.
 
See also: Plenty of other band names that need a pronunciation guide:  0801弐209XX6* (zero hachi), …。(silence), 6→7 (upper)
 
*The guitarist of zero hachi should get an unnecessary punctuation in band names lifetime achievement award. He was in all these bands according to vkdb: †Zaide†,  Diod'honneur,  カレヰド, re:Make, 0801弐209XX6.
 
Be sure to add your favorite band name with unnecessary punctuation!

I found this Korean Black Metal band that is pretty depressing and good, Sad Legend. Shame their albums were so expensive.:
 

I am currently binging Gigaslave. So good.
 

I want to start out with two key points.
 
Firstly, I don't 'support' piracy, but without it there is no doubt that I wouldn't be this involved in the visual kei scene (and possibly probably not even where I am in my life right now, since listening to Japanese music back in JHS is what eventually led to me formally studying the language and now living and working in Japan, but that's a long story for another thread).
 
Secondly, I voted that piracy is instrumental in keeping the scene alive, but I only believe that to be the case in the international fandom. I would argue that it has little to no impact whatsoever on the actual living scene here in Japan, at least in my experience so far.
 
With that said, I'd like to go into a little more detail. Obviously piracy has been existent since the early days of home media - my uncle used to buy pirated VHS tapes of new movies when I was a kid, for example. With the arrival of the internet, and subsequent developments that have drastically improved our capacity to both upload and download data, it has increased the ability and reach of piracy to a global scale. And despite the cherry-picking of various studies to pin the blame for unsuccessful media on the illegal file-sharing community, the evidence shows that for the most part there is little to no impact whatsoever on sales as a result of piracy.
 
The reason that I think piracy is essential for the international visual kei community is simply a matter of exposure. With communities like MH which share the latest news the moment it leaves the artist's mouth at a concert, or the second it's posted on social media or their official website, even the newest and smallest indie visual bands instantly get tens, hundreds, maybe even thousands more people's attention than they expected. But even with that awareness of band activity, there's no promise that the international community will put their money where their ears are and pick up their releases. With inflation increasing the sales price of CDs over the last few years in Japan, and the fact that many small VK bands release music only in independent record stores or even exclusively at concerts, simply buying the music you're interested in from half way around the world becomes a tall order. This is only compounded by the fact that on top of the costs of buying and shipping the item to you, it's likely that you have no prior way of determining whether you will really enjoy a release or get your money's worth. Hence, piracy becomes a method for fans who are willing to shell out for their favourite artists to sample and sift through the latest music to choose exactly what they put their hard-earned money towards.
 
However, this is speaking from a purely international standpoint. The truth of the matter is, domestic artists in Japan are not expecting to rely on international sales to any extent, regardless of the genre. This is particularly true for indies visual kei, which is far more concerned with gathering a dedicated fan base on their home turf who will repeatedly spend money on tickets and goods, where they make a lot more money than the pitiful cut they get on CD sales. Even bands that are aware of their popularity overseas will very rarely have the opportunity or financial security to consider promoting or performing there, especially on an indie label. For anyone short of a major record deal, purchases from abroad are probably like an unexpected bonus, and nothing more.
 
But the main reason I think piracy has little to no effect on the visual kei scene within Japan is simply that I don't think it's as common. In theory Japan has quite strict laws on illegal file-sharing, and the truth of the matter is that VK is not very big even in its home country. The scene was at its peak years ago when the philosophy of the frontrunners was more relevant, and media exposure was higher. Even if someone were to upload a new release, I just don't think there would be that many people to download it. The hardcore gya will jump on the latest release from their favourite artist, and anyone else is probably just not interested.
 
That's not to say that the scene is necessarily dying out though; if anything, the spread of the pre-owned market to online sales and auction sites (looking at you in particular, Mercari and Yahoo, with simple transactions and free accounts) provides a mecca for domestic and international fans alike. In particular rare items like live-distributed singles and signed goods can sell for tens of thousands of yen if the right buyer is on the lookout. It's easier than ever to get hold of VK music, and while the artists themselves don't see any financial benefit from second-hand sales, they do see an increase in exposure. In addition, devoted fans shell out time and again for not only multiple versions of releases, but also goods from clothing and towels to cheki, which are virtually like trading cards to the hardcore bangya. I would argue that the live scene and sale of goods is what really keeps the VK scene afloat, especially at the indie level. If no-one attends a new band's lives, it's far more damaging for them both financially and in terms of reputation than not selling out a 500-copy press of their first single (ignoring recording and production costs, of course).
 
I realise that this post has gone on for far too long now, but in summary: piracy is a necessary evil for the international community, but largely irrelevant to the success of the artists themselves and the scene in Japan.

I suppose I have a bit of a different perspective on this than most. I rarely ever download any music, and I buy the vast majority of my music via CDs (with some occasional digital purchases on Bandcamp). When I first started getting really into music in general, I did pirate a few things but even in those early days I mostly stayed straight. In high school I started collecting CDs, and I still do to this day. I can honestly say that piracy had very little to do with my taste in visual kei, Japanese music, or just music  in general. For me, it was just grabbing a few albums here and there based off of a clip I heard on youtube (could be an official one or not). Over time I got very good at judging albums based off of a song or a trailer and I rarely get any misses. Hell sometimes I buy stuff blind just based off of the members in it.
 
There are a handful of exceptions like when a band I like releases something that's just flat out impossible to get because it's live only, out of print for insane prices, or something like that. In those cases, I might grab a rip because I'm not going to just drop $100+ on a CD to some scalper on Yahoo Auctions (although I've done this before). In my case, I do have a pretty strong desire for a physical CD + booklet,  so I'm extra appreciative of Japanese bands generally taking the time and effort to make sure their CD releases are really nice (a lot of western bands are hackjobs in comparison).
 
Now, I understand that not everyone is necessarily in a position to drop hundreds of dollars on this stuff. My position is pretty fortunate since I have basically zero hobbies that cost money besides music and my expenses are very low. I won't pretend to be on a moral high ground either since I've got terabytes of anime rips on my hard drive right now. Hell talking to some other people around the world, the US actually has it pretty easy since we don't have to deal with ludicrous VATs/duty on imports which most of Europe seems to have. Those taxes drive the cost way up and make it even more unfeasible for some people.
 
However, I think that if you are able to afford it, you should support the bands you really like. It could be buying CDs, merch or whatever you want. If you truly value what an artist puts out, then I think you should support them if you can. These days there are plenty of online retailers (Amazon, HMV, CDJapan, etc.) that are pretty easy to use and you can get decent deals (by Japan's standards anyway) if you know what you're doing. Hell, sometimes I end up paying more money going after western CDs simply because I usually can't buy those all from one seller and have to split shipping across a bunch of different people (that adds up).
 
If a band's release is in print and easily available, I will absolutely buy it if I want it. I won't even "download a copy in advance" while I wait for the CD to arrive (I know someone who does this sometimes). Even if something is out of print and not exactly easy to find, 99% of the time I won't download it either. I'll generally put that album on the backburner and wait for a good time to lurk Yahoo Auctions or something.
 
I suppose I also will differ from most people on streaming. I personally can't stand the idea of streaming in any shape or form. Even if there was the magical perfect streaming service that had every artist I wanted, I still wouldn't use it. Streaming isn't truly ownership to me because you don't have any real control over the files. You just get whatever the host serves you. Just on principle I dislike it. This also extends somewhat to digital purchases. I will not purchase any digital downloads unless they offer lossless (so Bandcamp basically). Not because I'm dumb enough to think FLAC sounds better (it doesn't against decent lossy encodes). But I don't like not having the freedom to use the codecs and/or transcodes I want (since lossy downloads basically lock you into that format). And yes, I have actually re-encoded my portable library before (switched to Opus from Ogg Vorbis a while ago). I don't feel I have the real deal if I don't have a 1-1 copy of what's on the CD.
 
As for Japan's music industry, they're in the unique position where their music industry (for now) is still dominated by physical sales. This is rapidly shifting though. They never really got into downloads over there, but they're rapidly getting on the streaming bandwagon. Is this a good or bad thing for the quality of music? I'm tempted to think it will mostly end up being a bad thing overall if music gets driven by a more streaming-like market instead of a core base of dedicated fans. But maybe I'll be wrong. Japan has magically avoided a ton of trends that the West has gone through, so it's hard to predict what will happen.

To preface this, I'm not in the vkei scene (neither Japanese nor international) and I don't know about its situation in regards to piracy. Aside of DIR EN GREY, I own maybe 30 albums/DVDs physically, and none of them is vkei stuff. So this is more about general piracy in the music scene.
 
I hardly knew about MH before joining, I almost never use it for vk downloads since I only listen to DEG (and their related bands) anyway, so I'm not here to grab any rips from random no-name vkei bands. I also have never been on batsu or used jpopsuki before.
 
But I have been using piracy for 99.9% of all music I've ever acquired. I don't say this with pride, but with indifference. I don't care if the artist doesn't make as much money because of me, because there's no scenario in which he would. Even if I wouldn't download the album, I still wouldn't buy it and I'm not a fan of streaming, either. So there's no potentially lost money, because there is no potentially won money.
 
And while I'm aware that this position makes my vulnerable to those with the moral high ground, I won't change this either. I currently have 100 artists scrobbled on my last.fm, that's about 1/5th of all artists I've ever pirated an album from. Imagine if the only way I'd be able to listen to those artists would be by buying their music.
It would be impossible. I would not even be able to DIR EN GREY alone if I'd only listen to their bought music (and I do buy their music, of course).
 
So the logical conclusion to me is: Either I pirate their music and listen to the band without paying them, or I don't bother with them and they won't get my money, either. It's a lose/lose situation for them.
 
And I think that this sentiment won't change, ever. Most people simply don't have enough money to buy all the music they like, it's literally impossible. So from my perspective, the artists are asking us to either chose them (for the purchases) or don't listen to them at all. I don't think that's the way to handle their fanbase, since the band needs the fans, not the other way around. I think that instead, the band needs to find other way to make money. They need to go with the flow, they can't be stuck in the "if we act like this, people will surely buy our music instead of pirating it". Nope, that won't happen. People will simply drop you and listen to other bands.

To begin, we must pleeease understand that the correlation of piracy = loss of a sale is FALSE. People pirating releases ARE NOT making musicians lose money, period. If people hadn't shared, I don't know, batsu game's latest release, I would NOT buy it. I would simply go on without listening to it, because I don't care enough for them to go out of my way to buy a physical copy of something that would cost me 3 USD if it was an itunes release (btw the single sucks). This is true to 95% of the vk listeners, and has been widely discussed in sample pools much larger than a niche japanese music scene, like videogames for example. People buy what they like, period. If you do not let them at least try, why the hell should they buy your music?
 
That being said, people vastly, VASTLY overestimates the importance of western fandom to the scene. We are not the main target, we are not their main income source, the music isn't made for us. We are a plus in the scene, and every single release a westerner fan buys, it's an EXTRA income for the band. They are not counting with our money, people gotta understand that most of the bands simply don't care if we are listening to them or not, as long as their onemans are filled with japanese girls doing dance steps at their songs. Very few bands have the desire for more international exposure, and if that's the case, they sure have to adapt to our ways, as we are not obliged to accept their 90's thinking in the age of streaming. IF japanese fans started pirating instead of buying, THEN we would have a problem.
 
Music is dogs eating dogs everywhere in the world, why would be different for japanese boys in make up? Bands that are actually good, or at least are able to gather interest in their music will flourish, no matter what. People fail to understand that the scene is small because of it's characteristics, because boys dressing like girls and shredding guitars is niche and most importantly, it's foundation is what holds it back. No ammount of western pirates will make or break a band, period.
 
fun fact, UNiTE. shared most of their discography on Spotify, I don't know if it is restricted in japan (which would be a smart thing to do). Yeah they are bigger than most vk acts around, but that does show they are not following the outdated tunneled vision most bands are, and see us as what we are. Extra income, if they get to book a concert here and there, fine! If not, fine aswell, their focus is where it should be, their growth in Japan, without closing their doors to us, the outsiders.

I have very, very mixed feelings concerning this topic, so all I say may sound confusing. I may sound cocky too, but you guys asked for opinions. I also tried posting this under spoiler but phone won't let me...
 
Brace yourselves, rant is coming:
 
Of course, just like any foreigner, I got into this thanks to piracy. Of course, I do download pretty much everything shared on the VK section, even if just to sample it and delete it half an hour later (I no longer hoard music I do not like).
 
And, just like many people, I occasionally share rips because I know some people will enjoy them and some others might discover a band they will like and support.
Yet I truly despise when my rips are shared outside of this community, even though my common sense (who usually sounds like Yuyo) dictates it's the right way to preserve and spread it.

Maybe it is because here it stays within a community of people who also buy and share their rips and it feels more like an open trade. Key word: feels like.
 
But feelings are not meant to be rational, right?
 
I support about 10-12 active bands. A good portion of my salary goes towards VK. I make certain sacrifices in order to make sure my honmei can have their rice and redbull. Hell, I even pay people to get me goods at lives so they can get more money from me in a more direct way than buying second hand stuff.

Maybe that is why I feel I 'earned' the right to trade rips of the bands I do enjoy yet don't love enough to include in my monthly spendings. And I feel people who share rips here kinda earned the 'right' to get my rips for free. Because they support the scene too.
Sometimes I even dl rips from the bands I do buy from because I'll buy the release with the next paycheck or the following, or sometime in the future when I stop blowing my money on chekis (sorry, Diaura).
 
Which is why it kinda bums me to spend hundreds of dollars on music, share it with people who also support the scene as far as their wallets allow it, and then it gets leaked to people who not only don't support the scene, but feel entitled to be given rips anyways 'because they love the band so much, omg they mah favez!!'
 
I don't mean to say I am a better fan than they are, or a better person, or whatever. I'm probably a pathetic chick who blows her paycheck on asian drag queens who attempt to play metal instead of in... idk whatever shit regular people spend their money on. But it really gets on my nerves to read so many people on social media, especially Hispanics, viewing piracy as a 'right'. Demanding for HQ rips, whining about those 'fucking selfish japs/gringos who get everything and don't share fast enough'. Fuck you! If I buy a release I do not have the moral duty of posting it online. And in those very same communities I see a handful of people leeching, bragging about 'their collections' (virtual collections of course) and sharing our stuff just to make themselves popular. 'Look, I'm such a VK connaiseur because I have two hard drives filled with VK I got from MH. I'm a true fan cuz I have rarez. Now kiss my ass if you want me to share the rip I didn't even originate'.
 
I know a dude who's considered the 'wikipedia of VK' because he's always talking about the many bands he knows and buys. Turns out he doesn't buy shit, he leeches from JpopSuki and here AND HE FUCKING CHARGES FOR IT. HE IS SERIOUSLY MAKING HIMSELF A NAME AND MONEY SELLING OTHER PEOPLE'S RIPS. AS HIS OWN.
 
I understand the role piracy plays in the scene. I know it's exposure, and it helps spread the music and make bands popular. It preserves files online (though I've been all day looking for geek sleep sheep's albums and I cannot fucking find a decent rip, I swear). It also gives way to interesting discussions about music.

But I also understand it fucking pisses bands off, many have told me so. It even pisses off western VK bands I know when they see their music up for grabs where they didn't post it. It's sorta disrespectful in a way, to say "yeah, man, I love your art but I ain't paying for it'. I have literally read those words online.
I don't know if my point is even understood here... I've even defended piracy when talking to a few bandomen, saying that it actually promotes their music and gains them new fans. And I understand without piracy most of us wouldn't be here today. Boy, I really wish someone would share those Amai Boryoku live limited EPs. 

But I hate so much that downloads bring people here only to leech instead of for all the other amazing features this community has to offer. I hate that people outside of the community get popular or even get money spreading our rips without even mentioning Monochrome Heaven. I hate the way they talk about us when we don't share fast enough, like we owe them the rips. Like it's our duty to share the day before the release and in HQ...
 
With so many bands posting their previews on youtube, full releases on Spotify and iTunes, is such an open piracy still necessary to promote the music they work so hard to make?
(I refuse to use youtube and Spotify, I hate them, so I'm being cynical by just bringing them up myself). All the people who say 'I don't risk buying releases I don't know I'll like' can now hear the previews on youtube/spotify, right?
 
I think I'd really like to keep the DLs here to the community and the people who contribute, so maybe people elsewhere will stop taking us for granted and have a solid reason to complain about us...
 
I'm ready for the MH trolls to go berserk on my feelings and opinions. Keep in mind these are just rather irrational feels and opinions and that my opinions stem from my own experiences and my own reality, which is not the absolute truth and does not account for other people's experiences.

Literally same. We were having so much fun and I blinked my eyes once and the whole internet exploded. 
 
Also, from what I've seen in Japan with some friends who are into vkei, they don't really seem to spread things online but rather copy them on cds or dvds and give them to their friends (especially the old stuff that you can't get your hands on anymore or anything that was limited). They don't seem to share their treasures with just anyone and kinda get scared when it comes to that. I see when it comes to international fans we literally like to share amongst our fellow fans by uploading them on sites. I'm also trying to understand all points of views because tbh I've never actively done this before, aside from sharing music with my best friend.
 

The vkei facebook groups are full of white knights who feel they are above piracy from a moral standpoint, and listen to their music through YouTube while completely disregarding the irony that the vast majority of vkei on that platform in fact comes from piracy (and to add on another level of irony, said music most likely stems from this board).
 
I have a lot of thoughts on the subject that I'm having trouble putting together, but most of it boils down to "Westerners don't buy CDs + can't go to a gig in Japan, and the Japanese don't like streaming + have no interest in playing here, so unless one side gives no one is going to be happy."
 
That being said, vkei has a lot of novelty tax associated with it because no one actually buys it, so they're trying to make as much money off of each sale as they can. Pressing 400,000 copies of a U2 album is probably a lot more cost efficient for everyone involved than pressing 100 copies of the next Datura single.
 
I also get that music isn't free, it costs money to produce it, you're being entitled, Ayn Rand was a good writer, etc etc etc but for as much as people come across as entitled, the counter argument is hard to not interpret as rabid gate-keeping.
 
 
 
As an aside, here is an article a friend shared on facebook regarding Streaming:
https://pitchfork.com/features/oped/how-to-be-a-responsible-music-fan-in-the-age-of-streaming/
 
Basically, streaming doesn't yield a lot of money to bands either, and the author's proposed resolution is pretty interesting.
 
 
 

Multiple bands of the same era will hold a memorial live. 
Details:
松村達明 追悼LIVE 
GAZ presents「Chain」
2018.7.8(日)目黒鹿鳴館
開場16:00 / 開演16:30
前売4,500円 / 当日5,000円
 
『出演』　 
theNightBreezeZinnia
黒蝪蝶 
GRIMM THE CAPSULE（tsubaki,TAKUYA）
堕天使 
superbrunch
Little Vampire
他
詳細は随時発表
拡散希望！

Really? I never had any problems with it, to be honest. They accepted bands like +Sadist+, Das:Vasser, vellaDonna and others. I even submitted few bands, like Remage, Smoky Flavor and Mother Earth and they all got accepted. I believe a band to be accepted has to have at least one metal release. Of course, something like Alternative or Nu metal is not metal for them because it's not 'true' or whatever. Maybe because of that, bands like Diru never got accepted? 

On the other hand, scarce and bands with little info can't just be accepted that easily. I remember submitting Xadow and Parasite, both relatively unknown bands. I had the audio proof, and some japanese sites mentioned their singles and demos - but that just wasn't enough. 

Submitting Noisia, wish me luck. lol 

Finally somebody talking about old school visual kei. Personally, I really dig the old, obscure and underground sound of the old bands, especially from the early 90's. Here are some songs that I still love today, after listening to them thousand times.
 
 
THAT BASS. Like La'Feerie, they released just one EP, appeared on few omnibuses and disbanded. All of their song are amazing, have progression and have the old school sound of visual bands that I love.
 
 
Probably the best band that wasn't on a big label. Man, the arrangements, progression and song structure are so unique. Probably the best visual band that went nowhere, sadly.
 
 
Visual metal at it finest. Their early releases were far better than their second album (tbh, I dig some of the songs there, like 'Sad Song'). Apparently, they disbanded somewhere in the late 90's, which is a shame, because the X-Japan/Blind Guardian + Visual Metal combination was really good and well received, as far  as I know. 
 
 
The 7-seven- version of the song is also good, but I prefer the original. This has that old school sound to it. =D 
 
 
Fine, mad, fast and trashing visual metal. Can't believe they went nowhere, just like L'yse:nore. For fans of Antique Doll, Ezra and Fast Draw.
 
 
Call me crazy, but this seems like the obscurest band I ever listened to. I absolutely don't know anything about this project/band. I also think this is their only recorded song? Anyhow, 'Stalker' really fits on the omnibus, and is a personal highlight of mine. 
 
 
Edgy Visual metal #2. The drummer Reo, played in +Sadist+ which I also love.
 
I probably missed some bands. lol
 
 

if anyone is curious about the lyrics to the 皆殺しの歌 ～a song for massacre～ it's:
 
You die in sea of maggots.
 
 
 
...that's it lol

Någon timme därifrån med tåg, så det är inte så farligt. Ifall jag har tid och har vägarna förbi, såklart!

I don't particularly hate them, but I wouldn't really call them "visual kei" per se.
While many would argue otherwise, for me, the term "visual kei" is a term which has sprung from the Japanese underground and indies movements, which has roots in the Lost Decade and therefore is uniquely Japanese in one way or another. Because of this, I am hesitant to call Seremedy "visual kei", as much as they are a "visual kei-inspired" band. And I don't hate those kinds of bands.

Awesome post! I think generally 2ch VK forums basically just migrated to Tanuki? Like after Tanuki took off there wasn't much of a need of for 2ch any more. I also remember that it wasn't uncommon for some non-VK fan trolls coming into the VK forums on 2ch to insult people/VK and the like, so the desire to get away from non-fans might have also been a partial motivating factor to move off of 2ch completely.
 
The same happened with Mixi. Mixi used to have fan communities where (not only limited to VK) fans would trade goods, buy/sell tickets, etc. but Twitter now serves this purpose and offers more, so Mixi is pretty much dead for that now, at least as far as VK is concerned.
 
Back in the day, I remember a lot of doujin and oekaki/fan art were distributed on personal sites/fan sites, and many had their own BBS to chat and trade. Beyond forums like Tanuki, they were connected by a series of web rings catering to certain interests. (I'm sure anyone over 30 on here who has ever made a webpage on Tripod or Geocities before remembers these types of things.)
 
Also, I feel like most BBS in the Japan never evolved past their ugly layouts because some people still use the old Japanese flip phones (garakei) that don't have "regular" browser support and wouldn't be able to support a forum like MH. Japanese people have always used their phones to connect online over landlines, and long bus and train commutes have no doubt influenced this and the development of better portable gaming devices. When I first moved here in 2005 most people were not hooked up to the internet at home. Even now, schools don't assign a lot of projects requiring internet research and besides university, reports and essays are handwritten and not typed. Heck, even resumes are still painstakingly handwritten except for rare exceptions. Although at least now I'd say most people do have internet at home.
 
I once translated and article about how idol fans communicated and stayed informed pre-official sites, Twitter, and SNS. Because artists could not communicate immediately with their fanbases, and very similar to it, VK fans had to search out and engage in communities to learn information about releases, gigs, etc. So something that has changed is that, while Tanuki is mostly used for gossip and shitposting now, the previous 2ch boards, BBS, and communities were also places to spread information to the larger fanbase. Likewise, I think this is why over time these sites and communities have mostly died out (even in the West), because largely there is no need for them and you can get all the info you need in one or two places.
 
I would love to hear from some other people that remember the old 2ch and communities, tho! I wouldn't be surprised if my memory is fuzzy and I've forgotten some things...

Pretty much no. The only time anything other than individual foreign fans came up that I can remember include:
-Jrockanonmeme on LJ making Aoi flip out on twitter
-Dir en grey overseas tour rumors and happenings; like the incident where coffeebunnies posted pictures of herself with the band at a strip club on LJ
-Tanuki/gossip translation tumblrs being mentioned here and there, particularly in regards to Satsuki drama (which directly involved foreign fans)
 
It seems like unless our venues of discussion kick up a huge storm and involve both Japanese and foreign fans, no one cares.

We arranged our second night last weekend in honor of the screenings of the We Are X documentary and Yoshikis visit to Sweden. Here's the setlist:
 
2017.10.21 Pub Lunacy vol.1 - 『We are X -The Afterparty-』

Luna Sea - Mechanical Dance | 1992
X Japan - I'll Kill You | 1988
Dir en grey - 【KR】cube | 2000
GLAY - TWO BELL SILENCE | 1994
X Japan - Blue Blood | 1989
hide - EYES LOVE YOU | 1993
Aliene Ma'riage - 撲 『しもべ』 (Boku [Shimobe]) | 1999
D'espairsRay - 「モノクロ」になった最期の日 (Monokuro ni Natta Saigo no Hi) | 2001
sukekiyo - ANIMA | 2016
BUCK-TICK - ドレス (Dress) | 1993
Guniw Tools - Fancy Pink | 1998
Plastic Tree - ナミダドロップ (Namida Drop) | 2006
Pierrot - Adolf | 1997
X Japan - Rusty Nail | 1996
Luna Sea - PRECIOUS... | 1991
Sleep My Dear - Ask for Eyes | 1995
D'erlanger - XXX for YOU | 2007
KEEL - Water Lilies | 2015
DENTAKU - チョコロッテ (chocorotte) | 2009
the GazettE - Cassis | 2005
MUCC - 極彩 (Gokusai) | 2006 
D'espairsRay - ファシズム (Fascism) | 2001
X Japan - Stab me in the back | 1991
Dir en grey - GARDEN | 1997
Luna Sea - Dejavu | 1992
hide - D.O.D. (Drink Or Die) | 1994
Versailles - The Revenant Choir | 2007
Moi dix Mois - Monophobia | 2004
X Japan - Orgasm | 1989
Deluhi - S[K]ape:goat
和楽器バンド (wagakki band) - 戦 -ikusa- | 2015
L'Arc~en~ciel - Caress of Venus | 1996
X Japan - Art of Life (Shortened Lunacy ver.) | 1993
Dir en grey - Cage | 1999
La'Mule - ナイフ | 2000
黒夢 (Kuroyume) - 十字架との戯れ (Juujika to no Tawamure) | 1993
D'espairsRay - Gothic | 2002
ムック (MUCC) - 遺書　(Isho) | 2004
ねが (Nega) - quadrangle | 2007
lynch. - ADORE | 2015
the GazettE - Filth in the Beauty | 2006
Malice Mizer - 月下の夜想曲 (Gekka no Yasoukyoku) | 1998
蜉蝣 (Kagerou) - 絶望にサヨナラ (Zetsubou ni Sayonara) | 2005
deadman - Lunch Box | 2003
Buck-Tick - 蜉蝣-かげろう- (Kagerou) | 2006
X Japan - Week end | 1989
D'espairsRay - Garnet | 2003
Dir en grey - OBSCURE | 2003
ムック (MUCC) - 路地裏　僕と君へ (Rojiura boku to kimi he) | 2004
Malice Mizer - Beast of Blood | 2000
hide - DOUBT | 1993
メトロノーム (Metronome) - 絶望さん (Zetsubou-San) | 2006
FLOPPY - ヘルタースケルター | 2006
Schwarz Stein - New vogue children | 2003
Malice Mizer - Illuminati | 1998
Közi - Honey Vanity | 2003
D'espairsRay - Dears | 2005
X Japan - 紅 (Kurenai) 1988
Dir en grey - raison detre | 1999
hide - PINK SPIDER | 1998
Dir en grey - The Final | 2004
X Japan - X | 1986

So - I had planned to attend this event, but unfortunately shit (a.k.a. life) came inbetween
 
However! I'd prepared this mix for the occasion, with the intention to present it to the organizers: @WhirlingBlackand @Takadanobabaalien
Even though a physical "release" came to naught, I think it turned out quite nice ...so I figured I'd just go ahead and publish it here in case somebody's interested.
No real theme or anything, just a couple of (IMO) nice tracks
 
 
Tracklist:
 
01. DAZZLE - Sleepless Night ('93) 
02. NALSIST - Ice Crim of Love ('95)
03. ROSES OF DEAD ESSENCES - Fall ('96)
04. SHAZNA - Clear ('94) 
05. DIANA - Shadow ('95)
06. BE FREE - Moon ('96) 
07. CAM-FLAGE - Secret Jealousy ('93)
08. DUXLL - Neo-Spychdelic ('95)
09. BANANA FISH - Winter Tales ('93)
10. GLASSTIQUE "BLUE" - sé・ré・nade... ('92)
11. ZELIACORT - I Can't Stop Loving You ('96)
12. SAKRUN - たとえば××× ('94)
13. ZINX - Too Deserted To Speak ~淋しくて声も出ない~ ('93)
14. EX-ANS - Habit Of Sex ('90)
15. LA~BIAL - Caress ('94)
 

Multiple bands of the same era will hold a memorial live. 
Details:
松村達明 追悼LIVE 
GAZ presents「Chain」
2018.7.8(日)目黒鹿鳴館
開場16:00 / 開演16:30
前売4,500円 / 当日5,000円
 
『出演』　 
theNightBreezeZinnia
黒蝪蝶 
GRIMM THE CAPSULE（tsubaki,TAKUYA）
堕天使 
superbrunch
Little Vampire
他
詳細は随時発表
拡散希望！

hope you're prepared for the usual stale arguments of
i don't understand the language which means its better because western lyrics are usually bad!! glorious nihonjin make ongaku better than white devils something about not being mainstream  
 
also cheers

The YouTube video is legit. Several songs still in their demo forms leaked around the same time the band was touring the US and Hot Topic was selling the zombie pirate t-shirt and their Warcon albums in 2006. Conceived Sorrow and The Fatal Believer were two that I remember leaked. 
 
I have a backup thumbdrive somewhere that has all the demos. 
 
I also have a backup CD that has Vulgar demos too. 
 
I’ve moved so many times that I’ve probably lost them somewhere. HOWEVER Im pretty sure I posted about TMOAB demos and rumors on my LJ. 
 
Im going to log in and see what all I can find and I’ll post back. 

Those titles popped up on 2ch around the time those aforementioned leaks were in talks (August 2006)
 
http://mimizun.com/log/2ch/visualb/1155087647/
 
You could guess already some final titles there since parts of those titles can be found or somehow deducted from their final lyrics. I am quite surprised that they still insisted on starting out with Conceived Sorrow. "Bodaijyu" (meaning "Linden" in Japanese) on the other hand could relate to Namamekashiki's demo version with Shinya's poetry instead of Kyo's rendition, and so on.
 
By reading some of those comments back then, I might as well believe those are legit.

It's a pre-production version. I don't know where it comes from, though.
I also heard about the alleged tentative names for the TMOAB tracks, but I don't know if they are real...