ghostpepper

You have to use your brain when dealing with customers but there is nothing intellectual about the host or kyaba industry here tbh. The talking aspect is different to strip etc. In the west but honestly in ways that makes more sense in ways compared to the masochist nature of money spending for a fake relationship with lots of bs talk in between or just wanting to show off. Clubs here are not really themed but the feel of minami (osaka) compared to kabuki (tokyo) is different and same for countryside too.

It is always a question of how far I can go without pissing some key figures off. Recently I tweeted in Japanese about these feelings towards the current seen and got around 600 likes, had lots of people DMing me saying they feel the same, but one person who does ghostwriter work got angry, can understand, we all gotta make a living.

That guy is a bit more oldschool in ways, overall top guys in kabuki are a bit different. One thing I can say is the image that the vice video and this video too give of the host industry is like a 10% view. Ive thought of doing a youtube video explaining what it is really like but kind of do not want to be mainly known for that if it blew up tbh. Now I do designs for host clubs in our group and help newer guys who come into our group so I still see it from behind the scenes everyday. Honestly lots of parallels to how vk guys do mitsu eigyou.

Not innocence, most of those guys are A-holes but hey, that is what the girls pay for haha.

Haha oh god, to make it simple: non suit wearing i.e. regular clothes (shifuku) cute look? Like how vk bands have a more cute young makeup style if that makes sense, does not drink alcohol often, sells on face instead of talk abilities. Hard to explain all in english terms in detail.

of newer groups? I am not really into any new groups and honestly was surprised by one of the newer groups I saw my coworkers acquaintance had made demos for. Basically an easy way to know a band is really doing it 100% themselves is like how I said before, do they have a gradual buildup in their work? Demonstration singles etc. and do the members who are "writing" have previous band history with similar sound? Now talking about current VK is like talking about WWE wrestling, the stuff behind the scenes is more interesting than what is going on at face haha. these times are just a phase hopefully and will die out or VK will become some shitty menhera appeal idol johnnys fake rock thing mainly forever. Hosts being in the scene has been going on since Yoshiki haha. But even Host culture has changed alot within the past decade. I had fun doing host work in the past but the whole "neo-host" wave is really bad @_@ ;; changed quite a bit in the environment.

Off the top of my head the one that impressed me the most is L'eveil en Roseraie

Yah Osaka is way stronger for sub culture in everything now. Some great bands have started recently there!

Even if you read the credits it would be falsely under a band members name. I will not name any active bands online but bands like Vivid used a ghostwriter and that guy is still making stuff for other artist. A good sign of fakeness is a band has no demo releases, no past history of members in bands with similar music, but suddenly these young dudes come out with a fully produced release from the start. I understand from the record label's point of view of making money and such but F%CK that. I work making designs for host clubs, kyabakura, and also do music composition jobs sometimes for idol, jpop, and once even the toyko government. oh if you ever come to Tokyo DM me. Yah the newer culture is fake, the women do not get really robbed, just mitsu culture. Getting money for going on dates or for even doing nothing or to the extreme of going to love hotel etc. the only thing i have heard close to robbing is "i want to borrow money." but they never pay it back. I hang out with the older generation mostly though like late 80's to early 00's guys. Their generation had mitsu and such, even hide mentioned it on his radio show, ghostwriters were prevalent in the past too but not anywhere near the level of the current scene. the older generation were more interested in the music compared to now where it seems most people I meet are more interested in getting attention. speaking of the main topic the ex.singer of NvM is like one of the wooorst guys I ever met here. if you read his Tanuki it is 100% true. haha.

Sadly lots of the real a$$holes are guys who are in bands that do not even write their own music. ex.Vexent guitarist and I work at the same place and he showed me some of his ghostwriter friend's work in the scene and I was surprised by some of the acts, others not so much. Sadly VK has become like idol groups with guitars. that coworker is a douche too tbh, did not care about VK history, just wanted to be like some kind of idol when he was in that band.

Haha, yes back then it was so crazy expensive too. remember begging my mother to see the logic of paying around 80-100$ to get me miyavi's solo cd for xmas and nothing else. (≖ᴗ≖๑)ﾆﾋｯ

Legend of Legaia after a long time. Nostalgia feels to the maxx ❤️

Miyako is my favorite album but the mini albums before that are really the ones that have the deepest ties to my heart. The urei single's B-side track is soo amazing too. Every time I listen to kagrra though I cry like a little B. (/ _ ; )

I mean Kisaki's history is crazy as furrrk but the guy did help out lots of bands, even minor groups outside of his labels, and though his financial exploits are famous the guy did use money he gained (and didnt pay in taxes.) To help prop up his operations and help VK in many ways. Had this conversation with an ex.bangya friend recently and she had the same necessary evil view of him "dont like what hes done but respect what he did for vk."

Shinpei drunk: "oh sing linkin park!! Sing linkin park!" Haha. That dude just loves music.

Yah it is always a risk to meet musicians you like because it often can lead to big let downs : ( but on the other hand it is always great when people live up to your expectations. Sadly some people in vk who are artistically great but bad at normal life end up having to do weird things to have money and time to be active in the scene too, a case of "dont hate the player, hate the game." comes up often too so : ( like almost all job listings in tokyo that say "any hairstyle is ok." Is a lie and when a local goes to the interview theyll say "oh if you dont have black hair and look normal cant do this job" so it all just breeds and produces more of the bad than good.

Yah but Yoshiki caused lots of trouble in the past. 2 former ecstasy label staff once asked me at a bar how I got staff only old X t shirt and when I asked about working for Yoshiki both old guys had this response of remembering tons of stress haha. now he is chill(er) but in the old days? 😂 Pretty much all musicians are assholes tbh. Just what degree of A-hole are you. Shinpei from SuG seems to be a really good guy too from when met him.

Fukusuke from Metronome, super good guy.

Yess, I think generally only fans will really think this is ok. Even if you think it is ok, to post this on your artist account shows complete lack of sense. Not supporting them anymore, if ever see a member of them again going to ask about this too haha. Vk is just uggggh sometimes🙀💦

Yah Devil Kitty is "yakuza band" Just dealt with their old bassist and that dude is crazyyyy. There are too many sketchy vk band men, I had lots of seniors tell me to get mitsu and such but once your image is set in that there is no going back. The dudes in Nocturnal Bloodlust are some a$$hats for sure. Stealing band account money and then saying it was staff was not cool. Even if you choose to be a manwhore. Dont F over bandmates. . . Have heard that from too many mutual associates for that to be a rumor. Know so many lame people who ask for line account from girls so quick. Even some guy who borrowed money from a costume designer and did not pay back🤔

Lynch, not the tiger king but dogdong king? Idk I showed my coworkers now and they were like "wtf does he want to do?" So not all japanese are cool with this🤔

The most important things to me were the complexity of the music and the juxtaposition of heavyness with beautiful things(melody and visuals). The unique sound of 90s VK has specific musical qualities that define the genre and those are the things I enjoy about it mainly. Have no interest in the newer generation of クソガキ who have no knowledge of vks roots but just use the image along with djent, metal core, nu metal etc. Have sadly met tons of guys like that. But of course if thats what you like, that is cool, different strokes for different folks. Love the pre-vk having a name roots bands as well, lots have become friends and it is always fun to hear how they all where all mixing western influences at the same era though in different parts of Japan. Those older guys who were all crazy and real rockers, not menhera appeal host looking things are infinitely cooler to me ❤️

have enjoyed some korean pop songs before like one from Lena Park, but these are not the modern "This is Kpop" stuff by any means. Lots of it seems ,even for pop, to be a bit too contrived. Hats off to them for using their cultural complexes to fuel a thriving industry though. Great production value but nothing with any soul. Like over using Quantization on a performance to the point where all life has left it but you sure do have something that lines up on every beat. If that kind of music makes you happy though, different strokes for. . . At a club I do designs for I saw some BTS on their TV backgrounds and it was all kinds of ridiculous watching these super skinny baby faced guys trying to act hard and imitate black gangster culture.

X-Japan - Rose of Pain Hide - Honey Blade Prince & The Revolution - Computer Blue Vidoll - F stein to M NIN - Somewhat Damaged

Honestly not into any new bands but Jiluka maybe will tickle your fancy!