The Reverend

Great live report(s)! I dislike any band making the audience kneel because then I stick out like a sore thumb (more than I already do) for being 2 seconds slower than everyone else 😅. I like the triforce in the middle of all the pentagrams on that hoodie.

Shoutout to @helcchifor the awesome banner btw!

A Dramatic Retelling of the Time the Dude from Undeux Went Missing but then Ordered a Pizza With the Band's Line Account by The Reverend ACT ONE FADE IN: EXT. TOKYO ALLEYWAY, ENTRANCE TO IKEBUKURO BLACK HOLE -- EVENING CUT TO: INT. BACKSTAGE DRESSING ROOM The vanity shelves are filled with various makeup and hair products. Members from various indies VK bands are milling about; applying makeup, styling hair, strumming vacantly on guitars. As we pan to the rear corner the members of Undeux are half in costume chatting while getting dressed. (If writing is visible it is in Japanese. All speech is in English.) AL (GUITAR) Can you believe this asshole? He was supposed to be here like two hours ago? What if he doesn't show? Luchat turns away from the mirror while affixing feathers to his wig. LUCHAT (DRUMS) Can any of you guys sing? AL Riku couldn't sing! Anyone willing to get up there and just kinda shriek occasionally while pointing into the audience and making up some furi? Koji is sitting on the floor applying fake blood to his face. KOJI (BASS) No can do. You guys are already making me play bass; I've got enough to try and remember. AL Damnit. Kai walks through the door in full stage makeup buttoning his bloody white shirt. KAI (GUITAR) Hey has anyone heard from... AL No. KOJI No. LUCHAT Nope. KAI Damnit. AL Alright we can't not go on stage now... Al spots a couple of boxes (formerly containing hairspray bottles) near the corner of the room and raises his eyebrows furtively. AL (CONT'D) I've got an idea! CROSSFADE from Al cutting one of the boxes with a pair of scissors to the band performing on stage with a 3-foot tall cutout of a person taped to a mic stand instead of a vocalist. The cutout has been splattered with fake blood. FADE TO BLACK as the band performs. ACT TWO EXT. A NONDESCRIPT APARTMENT COMPLEX IN EDOGAWA. TWO DAYS LATER. -- NIGHT CUT TO: INT. A SMALL JAPANESE APARTMENT WITH LOTS OF BAND POSTERS ON THE WALL. SOME FLOWERS/CARTOON PLUSHES/PRODUCTS THAT INDICATE IT IS A WOMAN'S ROOM ARE VISIBLE. A 20-SOMETHING GIRL IS LOUNGING ON THE BED MESSING WITH HER CELL PHONE. RIKU is sitting Indian-style on the floor with a laptop on his lap. There is some hard (but not offensively brutal) rock playing on his laptop speakers. RIKU (VOCALS, UNDEUX) You hungry babe? GIRL on the bed does not look up or to check whether or not her response is heard. GIRL Hmm? RIKU Want to go out? GIRL Ehh. RIKU Well *I'm* hungry. Let's go grab some food. GIRL I don't get paid till Friday, I'm kinda broke. RIKU has stood up and is rifling through the small cupboard and refrigerator. RIKU Damn, me too. I'm sick of instant noodles though, I'm gonna order some pizza. Whatchu want on your half? GIRL Where you ordering from? RIKU That Italian place downstairs. You can just hit 'em up on Line to order. GIRL Corn and mayo! RIKU Gross, fine. RIKU grabs his laptop and starts typing. SFX: PAN OUT THROUGH WINDOW TO WIDE SHOT OF APARTMENT BUILDING WITH GATHERING THUNDERSTORM IN THE BACKGROUND. MUSIC: DRAMATIC ORCHESTRAL HITS. FADE TO BLACK: ACT THREE EXT. SAME EDOGAWA APARTMENT COMPLEX. TWO HOURS LATER. -- NIGHT INT. SAME APARTMENT. MOSTLY FINISHED PIZZA/BOX SIT ON THE TABLE. GIRL IS STILL MINDLESSLY PLAYING WITH PHONE BUT LAYING WITH HEAD ON FOOT OF BED. RIKU is finishing a slice of pizza as he sits down at his computer again, looking very satisfied. MUSIC: OMINOUS BUT FAINT RIKU is reading intently on computer when his face drops and grows pale. He instinctively covers his mouth with his hand while continuing to scroll. RIKU Oh fuck. GIRL Huh? RIKU Oh fuck oh fuck. GIRL looks up from phone at RIKU. She is still lying on the bed. GIRL What's up? RIKU stands and begins pacing on the small apartment floor. RIKU Oh man this is not good... I was logged into the band's account when I ordered that pizza! GIRL Didn't you quit that band? RIKU I did! But I guess I hadn't logged out and into my own Line on my laptop. Shit! I didn't show up to our last show those guys are gonna be so pissed at me! GIRL sits up. GIRL Why were they expecting you at their show? RIKU Well, I quit the band... but didn't really tell them it would be *immediately*. They've been texting me non-stop. GIRL Oh my god, you idiot. RIKU I was trying to let them down easy! GIRL Just pay them back. RIKU I'm not worried about the money! GIRL Is this really that big a deal? RIKU Oh my god yes, you don't fuck with Rame and get away with it. I need to call my lawyer. GIRL *Your* lawyer? Who do you think you are? You definitely don't have some lawyer on retainer. RIKU I... you know what I mean! Seriously, I could be in some shit. SFX: PAN OUT THROUGH WINDOW TO WIDE SHOT OF APARTMENT WHILE RIKU IS PACING AND DIALING A NUMBER ON HIS CELL PHONE. IT IS RAINING HARD AND A SINGLE CROW IS CAWING ON SOME POWER LINES BELOW THEIR APARTMENT WINDOW. FADE TO BLACK: ACT FOUR EXT. AN UNIDENTIFIED AVERAGE TOKYO STREET. MANY PEOPLE ARE GOING ABOUT THEIR BUSINESS IN STORES ON THE STREETS -- DAY INT. A LUXURIOUSLY APPOINTED OFFICE. THE FOUR NON-VOCALIST MEMBERS OF UNDEUX SIT ON ONE SIDE OF A LARGE WOODEN DESK. A LARGE BALD BODYGUARD-TYPE MAN STANDS NEAR THE DOOR WEARING A SUIT AND SUNGLASSES. THE BAND, IN CASUAL CLOTHES, ARE FACING THE BACK OF A STATELY LEATHER OFFICE CHAIR ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DESK. The chair slowly spins around to reveal RAME of the record label GLKingdom and former bassist of VK band Vidoll. RAME is wearing a charcoal suit and a black tie. RAME Thank you for meeting me. Let's discuss how we can resolve this unfortunate... 'incident'. KAI Well... The members of Undeux look at each other nervously. AL Well, we want to keep going. We were hoping, you know, that maybe you knew a vocalist who would be interested... RAME laughs softly. AL (CONT'D) ...in joining the band. RAME Yes, yes. That can all be arranged. I was speaking more about what to do with Riku. LUCHAT Wha...? KOJI We still haven't heard from him. AL Well, other than the pizza thing. LUCHAT Yeah, what a dick. RAME pulls a white envelope from a drawer. RAME First, he quits the band and no-shows despite promising me he'd keep performing till the summer. RAME (CONT'D) Then, he hides and doesn't return any of my calls or texts. And finally... RAME opens the letter contained in the envelope. RAME (CONT'D) ...I get a letter from a lawyer claiming that the record deal you all signed was invalid and Riku not showing up was not a breach of contract at all. The members of Undeux are fidgeting in their seats but do not say anything. RAME (CONT'D) Our friend Riku needs a lesson in respect and honor. KOJI What do you...? RAME nods at the large man standing by the door. The bodyguard nods back and exits the room. RAME Let's not worry about Riku any longer. The members of Undeux look slightly afraid but don't move or speak. RAME (CONT'D) Now, about finding you guys a new vocalist... have you heard of the band QEDDESHET? FADE TO BLACK: ACT FIVE EXT. A GRIMEY TOKYO ALLEYWAY. IT IS RAINING LIGHTLY -- EVENING RIKU runs around a corner and places his hands on his knees to try to catch his breath. He is looking from side to side very nervously. RIKU starts walking quickly, while often looking over his shoulder, toward one end of the alley. As RIKU approaches a large man in a dark suit appears at the end of the alley that RIKU is headed toward. RIKU, panicked, turns and begins running in the opposite direction. RIKU is sprinting and splashing through puddles of the alley. As he nears the corner he appeared from originally another man in a suit emerges holding a black handgun. RIKU No! Please... The second suited man emotionlessly aims the gun at RIKU and pulls the trigger. The man wipes the gun with his pocket square and lays the gun down beside Riku's body. The suited men walk away quickly but confidently. OVERHEAD SHOT: Camera slowly pans upward as the blood from RIKU's gunshot mixes with the water his body is lying in. Camera pans upward until it is above the roofline and even the silhouette of RIKU's lifeless body has disappeared from view. CUT TO: INT. UNNAMED TOKYO LIVE HOUSE IN THE MIDDLE OF A PERFORMANCE. The band Undeux are walking out onstage to a pulsing techno track. A new, unidentified vocalist comes out last to lots of shouting from the crowd. The intro track ends and a drum fill signals the beginning of Undeux's first song. The new vocalist crouches over and unleashes an imperfect but earnest pig-squeal as the guitars kick in. The camera finds RAME at the rear of the club watching dispassionately. The large suited man from his office approaches and whispers something into his ear that is unheard over the band's performance. One corner of RAME's lips fold upward into a wry smile. FADE TO BLACK: TITLE CARD: fin.

*Still* jealous you went to this! What good timing for a trip to Japan. Did people recognize Tetsuya immediately? Or was there a bit of a pause till everyone heard his unique vocals?? (Happy he didn't actually leave... but not sure this kind of elaborate joke(?) should be encouraged haha.)

Hell yeah! So glad these guys seem to have progressed from 'project that plays and releases stuff sporadically' to 'just a normal all the time band' this year.

Nice! (though I completely missed their drummer leaving earlier this year....)

I didn't think I'd be into Sleepy-time Kei but here I am enjoying this video.

Sweet! I've been spinning their first album a lot lately...

A... memorable video for sure. Anyone else remember the dark ages before Youtube when it was like an entire ordeal to download/watch VK music videos? Do you think because it wasn't as 'available' as your average PV would be now that added to the mystique? This analysis would get an 'A' in an intro to film study class for sure. I'd bet if they were telling the truth about what the video was *about* the band would shrug and say "eh, it looked really cool" haha.

Love that these guys are more active now! Rega's cool, glad he officially joined.

Amen. Ghost Bath were way better when we had no idea who they were and everyone thought they were from China.

So.... Tetsuya came back for the show, and is just in the band again?!? From their Facebook @plastic_rainbowdid you go to this? How was it??

Of course it affects your chances, most famous bands have catchy/shorter names. Imagine these two very realistic scenarios: "Dude, you gotta check this band out I saw last night, they were awesome!" "Oh yeah what was their name?" "Exist Trace" "Cool I'll look 'em up." vs. "Dude, you gotta check this band out I saw last night, they were awesome!" "Oh yeah what was their name?" "zero eight zero one something... y'know what nevermind they weren't that great" LOL. Gross. Was this band serious?? Whoa ( I had a couple of those in my 'see also' but not the craziest ones). 【zɔ́:diæ̀k】might take the cake, look at that ridiculous band name! Are they related or were there seriously two completely separate bands with stars in the name that referenced rabbits?! Huh, didn't know this at all. I thought they all just liked the extra flourish. (Still doesn't make sense for them to be in the middle of L'arc~en~Ciel, but I guess all the subtitle song titles get a pass.)

Yep me too. (and to a lesser extent, I also liked Loz'a≠veria and Called≠Plan) Ooh, the period has some strong contenders. I think Exist Trace's explanation for their name is 1. a tenuous connection to what they say it means and 2. they probably came up with that explanation *after* they came up with the name. I really like Exist Trace's name! It sounds cool, and is googleable, I'd rather they just say "yeah we thought it sounded cool" than (I'm guessing) pretending it's got some deep meaning. The 'subtitle' band names are so dramatic aren't they? Haha. It wouldn't fit on this list but I also really like band names that are just entire sentences. XOVER fit on the list because they wanted us to pronounce it "cross-over". So the X is being used to represent a shape, rather than making any sound an X ever makes. Haha, we can cross off about a fourth of the alphabet with just one letter VK names (some are solo act peoples' "names", but they're just as eminently unsearchable.) Just off the top of my head I know VK has had: A, D, J, K, M, S, X

Also worth noting: As of earlier this month they have a bunch of stuff (Limited Collection & The Beautiful World Never Dies included) on Spotify. Sweet!

Cool, I rather liked Catfist. (Vaguely unsettling name aside)

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!

Excited for some new music.... dreading tracking down some of their live-limited shit.

Awesome work @hiroki! I always find a couple new gems from your year-end lists (going to check out Lagless and Love Lock asap!) Loving that Free Aqua Butterfly topped your singles list... the more love they can get the better.

I'm torn... I miss Kameleo/Hikaru for sure... but I'm not sure I've ever actually liked a VK solo project. (I'll be in Tokyo during that show... kinda tempted)

Damn, not like they had any chance of 'making it'.... but I enjoyed them.