GreatNorthernVK

The song itself isn’t too bad, the high pitched chorus is probably the worst part. I can tell that he was having...fun...with the mirror and distortion effects on the video editing software.

Guess he got tired of LARPing as an Idol.

Other Japanese acts do this as well, but it’s always genres where the image of the artists is very important (ex. Idol groups). From a foreign lens, yes, it seems counter productive. The only reason why some bands don’t allow pictures overseas is because they don’t want word getting back to Japanese fans that they allowed it. Kiwamu and Dada have explained that the reason for the ban is due to anxiety that it will detract from cheki/photoset/DVD sales. To them, it’s worth it to lose the outside exposure because it encourages the most dedicated portion of the fanbase to empty their wallets on their favourite band.

Do you know what channel it’s available on?

Echoing what a couple of people have gotten at, the turnover of VK fans to K-pop is largely due to the accessibility of the fandom (or lack thereof, in VKs case). The main difference is... the Kpop industry actually wanted the west’s engagement. Even if it’s just “share the fuck out of our music videos, and spam pictures of us on Twitter”. The VK industry’s response to this was “How did you get those music videos!? How did you get those magazine scans!? Region lock everything!!” Eventually, western fans got tired of having to beg for crumbs, spend twice as much as Japanese fans for half the experience, and having any rare overseas lives still be more about flexing to their domestic fanbase than about catering to the foreign fanbase. The irony here is that the “boom” of VK in the west was precisely due to the same promotion methods that Kpop acts use today (though on a smaller scale, as most of the groundwork occurred prior to the popularity of social media). The management of the bands that came over, however, were largely oblivious as to why this happened. So they just assumed they could do exactly as they did in Japan, but half-assed, and their fanbase would continue to grow. This just built up hope that VK would eventually be more accessible, only for the momentum to die down once management realized that it wasn’t as simple as they thought. This discouraged many, and they lost interest after ~2010, even if they had been a fan long before 2007. Most of my friends fall into this category.

Just pre-ordered the vinyl. I don’t think they’ve actually done a vinyl release since ~1990, so psyched for this.

The thing to keep in mind is that Gackt’s solo career was signed by a subsidiary of Nippon Columbia (MM‘s label), where as MM retreated to Mana’s indies label. I don’t trust Gackt when he says that he was the one kicked out in this situation. Everyone else was.

About a 50/50 chance of telework next week. The PM’s wife has tested positive, so the government is taking it a bit more seriously now.

I agree, they need to consider scheduling, and budgeting. Someone on Facebook was saying “Oh, well if they liked Dimlim, they should have bought tickets no matter the cost! Even if it was more expensive than the Super Bowl!” Yeah, people don’t have that kind of money to throw around. Especially not most people in Mexico. Especially if people have to travel to the city. It’s one of the reasons why Gazette’s Toronto show was only half sold. Because people aren’t just attending from Toronto. They’re flying in from numerous cities. And not everyone can keep doing that for every Japanese band that comes.

Eins Zwei Drei Vier

Don’t know what they expected. If they’re pushing for an international audience, renouncing VK isn’t it. There are basically four camps: 1) Those that will only listen to VK, because the aesthetics are slightly more important than the music. 2) Those that mainly listen to VK because of an interest in the scene, but who wouldn’t stop listening if a band dropped their image, if the music was still good. Won’t seek out non-VK bands regularly . 3) Those that listen to all types of J-music as long as it’s good. Doesn’t care one way or another if it’s VK. 4) Actively avoids VK, either because “it’s gay”, or “I hate the fandom”. Won’t listen to a band that used to be VK either, because of fandom crossover. So basically, there’s very little reason for a band to drop the “VK” label, especially in the foreign market.

If they do release the vinyl, I’ll be the first to buy it, but I’m not paying 3,300 ¥ plus shipping for a CD-R with a photocopied insert.

This album sounds like a weird hybrid of Dance Gavin Dance and (new) Bring me the Horizon

Sho and Koichi have the same sugar daddy.

Still holding out for that LP they teased...

Worst: Gackt Job

3000 yen for a digital album? Fuck me. Where is this vinyl they teased?

That might apply if they were trying for the bro-metal scene. Post-hardcore/metal-core was a different beast entirely.

Agreed. They could have had an important ally in someone like Kevin, but even MUCC, D’espairsRay and The Underneath’s management teams messed that up by screwing him over while he was planning the Canadian leg of that tour. Somewhere along the line, they told him that they weren’t doing the Canadian dates, which caused him to try and scramble to salvage something to no avail. The attendance at his Canadian shows never recovered, and Taste of Chaos only lasted one more year, with record low attendance. He’s invited other Japanese bands onto Warped Tour after that, but *never* another VK band.

This goes back to the Japanese style of fandom vs Western style of fandom. Which was one of the major barriers when bands started coming over here. I read an interview at the end of 2007 with Warped/Taste of Chaos organizer Kevin Lyman, where he was explaining why he went with the Visual Kei bands for Taste of Chaos 2008. He explained that MUCC/D’espairsRay/The Underneath weren’t even his first choices, initially. He approached several other bands, and said that their management just didn’t understand why they would benefit from being invited on a 50 some stop North America tour with seven other bands. To them, their fans are their fans. Not some other band’s fans. So they didn’t understand why people who wanted to see Avenged Sevenfold would ever consider listening to their band’s music, let alone paying for it. To them, playing a gig with seven other bands is what you do when no one on the bill can fill the venue by themselves. So by brushing off the demographic of “people who could be interested in our music, but they aren’t devoted to us exclusively, so fuck them”, they didn’t exactly win any friends. Instead, they just made things harder for themselves by not connecting with either Western bands or even other Japanese bands. Dir en Grey seems to have been the exception, but even they’ve stopped touring with other bands for these last couple of tours.

The reason why VK hype died out is because it was entirely fan driven, and the bands and management themselves didn’t know what they were getting into. They assumed that they could come over here and do everything like they did in Japan, and people would just accept it, because they received x amount of fans without even trying. What they needed was *connections* to keep the western market engaged and active. They failed, because management of the bands assumed that they were too good for trying things a different way and integrating into Western markets. The connections they did make ended up being alienated. Both industry and fans. That’s why only die hard fans are left, perhaps with the exception of Dir en Grey or Miyavi crowds.

The only thing “avant-garde” about this project is the teaser imagery and the ironic dread that we all feel watching this unfold.

Just noticed. They better not be faking me out on this...

At metal shows, you typically get two types of people. Those that scream, yell and mosh, and those that stand there stone faced with their arms crossed. It seems that Kyo gets annoyed with both of those types. Well sorry, this isn’t a bunch of teen girls doing furi. This isn’t The Gazette’s Overseas shows. One of the reasons why Dir en Grey has been able to reliably come back every few years and have people other than VK diehards remember them is because of their ability to integrate into the North American market and compromise with us.

Is it just me, or was this album basically created by creating 15 seconds of hook for each song, then Koichi asking “how can we stretch this out to 2 and a half minutes for each track?”