The Reverend

http://dueljewel.jp/pc/zepp.html
 
Duel Jewel announced their return live on March 1st, 2019, at Zepp Tokyo.
Hayato has apparently made a full recovery from the variety of conditions (functional dysphonia, vocal dystonia, vocal yips) that caused them to disband.

Fun topic!
 
(Correct me if I'm wrong and they did release something...) I don't think there was really a live DVD from Kagerou's indie, pre-full album days.
 
Basically I wish they'd released a concert DVD from the show(s) they recorded the Wrist Cutter PV at.
 
Zekkyou Psycopath was good, but nothing touches Daisuke's sequined suits from the wrist cutter video.
 
 

Basically any live performance from a band that you wish got a DVD but didn't 
 
For me, it has to be Nightmare live at Hibiya Open air arena in 2013. They performed songs like Cyan, Jibun no Hana and Lost in Blue, generally songs they rarely play. It deserves a DVD 

That's an album that hasn't aged very well at all. It's like they got tired of thrash metal after one single album and decided they were gonna become a MTV band. Only The Ultra-Violence and Kill as One are real! 
 
 
 
The band was very young at the time of this release, but the drummer Andy Galeon  was 12 fucking years old as this was recorded. That is insane! Singer Mark Osegueda was 15 years old. 
 
It's also pretty insane that the drummer was only 14 years old during the recording of their debut album, an album that has clearly stood the test of time and is getting better as it gets older. One of the very best US thrash metal albums of the 80's. Raw and hard, yet catchy as fuck. Just try listening to Kill as One without making a single noise. That shit is hard. Catchy as fuck and with crazy vocals throughout. KILL!! AS!! ONE!!

Filled in for a sick driver this morning at work.... today my bus passengers were subjected to Celtic Frost's Into the Pandemonium and Death Angel's Frolic Through the Park

Mono new (and 10th!) album "Nowhere Now Here" will be released on January 25, 2019.
 
Tracklist:
1. God Bless
2. After You Comes the Flood
3. Breathe
4. Nowhere, Now Here
5. Far and Further
6. Sorrow
7. Parting
8. Meet Us Where the Night Ends
9. Funeral Song
10. Vanishing, Vanishing Maybe
 
Check out the short film featuring the new track "After You Comes the Flood" below:
 
 
 

Great news! 
 
(Happy to see Eve here; 'eve-writing-everything' era Avelcain was my favorite Avelcain)

I like my homage-kei to be either really subtle or REALLY blatant.
 
Vajra? Boo they should've either leaned into more or less.
Grieva's Tokage? Yes please give me more.

The visual-kei scene is full of its own quirks and oddities that make it stand out from any other subculture in the music world; these hallmarks also appear to resonate at a national level, in spite of the culture stemming from several metropolitan hubs, each with their own small variants. One of these traits, for better or for worse, is how willing the scene is to reference itself. Since 2013, “willing” has become the incorrect word. “Obsessed,” “addicted,” “driven,” “obligated”; these words seem to fit the bill closer. References to older material is not uncommon in any medium of art, but visual-kei takes it four steps further to emulation. Today is the day we talk about homage-系 (Kei), kids.

“Homage-kei” is a made up word. It isn’t a real category to anyone else other than people who use this board, to be honest, but it is an apt descriptor for this phenomenon. This is when a band reuses melodies, thematic, aesthetics, and even titles from an older, typically more successful, band or bands. However: their music also contains many original elements, which sets them apart from being a literal cover band. It also needs to be more than a single occurrence as well: Dir en grey “””borrowing””” the main riff of Luna Sea’s “G” is not enough, but borrowing the front-man of 黒夢 (Kuroyume)’s aesthetic for several music videos is.
 


There are several bands that would fall under this umbrella from the late 2000’s. Two I want to touch on are Ru:Natic and the infamous Vajra. The first was one of the earliest examples I can think of that tried to revive the aggressive and bloody punk-meets-goth-meets-pop style popularized in the mid-90’s. They wore black clothes, had neon hair, and sang about being a crazy person invited to dinner parties that they had no business attending. While they weren’t the only group doing this (re: Sadie’s Mary and Sadie’sla), they were the first to start reusing melodies from older bands, namely La:Sadie’s, Madeth Gray’ll, and Aliene Ma’riage. There was even a hard-to-come-by single that was a reinterpretation of Baiser’s “undersea” and they had a demo tape that contained covers from some of the bands previously mentioned. They even lost a bunch of members, changed record labels, and released a lot of rare material: all cornerstones of “what an old school band does.” In my memory of the scene, this was the first time we got a real taste of bands reinventing the 90s sound that many people liked, but had fallen out of favor.
 



Vajra was fun for the wrong reasons. Their costumes were kind of similar to UnsraW and thematically they were a bit too close to Dir en grey for the fan base at the time’s comfort. One of their singles was apparently a near 1:1 facsimile of another Dir en grey track and that caused a shitstorm on last.fm . For days people were arguing back and forth about whether it was a copy or not. Our own dear @Zeus requested someone overlay it with the original so we could see how similar it was. I personally did not have a horse in that race, but for hours or entertainment seeing the bickering between the hordes of people in outrage vs that one person who apparently went to their shows regularly and gave sympathetic updates about how this was affecting the band personally. Take his with a grain of salt, as it is only a Western interpretation of what happened and I cannot speak to how it was received by fans who could actually go see them in person. Regardless of where you stood in this fight, history’s take is that it did not end well for Vajra; they broke up shortly after only to be remembered as “that band that tried to be Diru.”
 
Both examples were, in retrospect, unsuccessful. Ru:Natic, in their heyday, missed the boat on people eating up old-school revival acts by about 3 years, then only played again in one-off events. Vajra, on the other hand, failed for a couple of reasons. The first is that the fan base wasn’t ready for their style of tribute-meets-original-works. Secondly, there wasn’t enough time passed between what they performed and when their source material was released. Based on later act’s success, time helps prevent “a homage” from being seen as “a rip-off.”
 


Earlier I had mentioned 2013 being the starting point for “homage-kei,” in a more official (but still unofficial) sense. That’s because グリヴァー (GRIEVA) happened and caused a shift in the scene. For those unfamiliar, Grieva’s whole schtick was that they dressed like a modern version of 1998 Dir en grey and made music that sounded like it could have came from from the same time frame. However, after people got a hold of their first album, it became alarming clear that it was one big tribute to “Gauze” (Dir en grey’s first album). A lot of songs “borrowed” the melodies of Gauze-era songs, their music videos were kind of like high school kids reenacting their idol’s work for a class project, and you were even able to draw parallels to the lyrical content. Grieva handled this clearly stating their theme is to bring back the feeling of the old days, and even fabricated a whole interview about how they went on a quest for band members that held the same ideals. Unlike Vajra, when people confronted them by saying “You’re just stealing,” them saying “Yeah, but that’s like the point???” it worked. Granted, there were plenty of people who weren’t buying this act and loathed the whole idea, but there was more than enough support for it to keep them at the forefront of the scene up until 2015. In fact, it worked so well that their label made it happen AGAIN, but this time with a band that pretended to be The GazettE and another that mixed all different concepts from the eroguro scene and western nü-metal together. This was the first time in visual-kei where blatantly copying on purpose wasn’t met with more backlash than praise.

Several other acts spawned at the same time, due to a strong desire for “bands that sound like old school groups.” This was in part due to Cell, an offshoot of La’Mule that made somewhat similar music, Lin, a Kisaki band that came after he swore he was retired, and a general sense of boredom from the run-of-the-mill bands that dressed like host boys. Other groups that come to mind include Gauzes (a La’Mule homage-kei group), DEZERT (their first singles were nü-metal interpretations of groups like D’espairsRay and Nega), and AvelCain (who took more influence from groups like Lamiel than their fan base wanted to admit). Suddenly, it was cool to be like someone else.
 



Eventually, the hype waned a bit. Grieva started writing their own music and then eventually split after being worked to death by their label. It was mostly the same case for AvelCain, Cell went on break because frontman Kon can’t keep focused on one thing, DEZERT found (and then killed) their own style, and most of the other old school sounding bands weren’t big enough to really make a lasting impact. This was the death of homage-kei.


Or was it???


Interestingly enough, in recent years, this scene metamorphosed along with the scene at large. We started seeing groups now begin to “take influence from” more recent acts (which I guess are still old if you’re younger than 20??). We had メディーナ (Mediena), who took a lot from Phantasmagoria, ガンミ (Ganmi), which sounded like an early 2000s band without a real influence to pin point, and Mamireta, who tried to restart the subculture in high gear with their refreshing takes on 蜉蝣 (Kagerou)’s music. There are even big acts forming side projects that “sound like a 90’s band!!”, like Diaura(who are not guilt-free themselves, when it comes to Pierrot worship) and ぞんび (Zonbi). Even Gossip-ゴシップ- went from copying The GazettE to emulating their label owner’s old band (albeit at gunpoint (allegedly!)). It is worth noting that another significant change: aside from a few examples, the current trend has become "I want to sound like ___," rather than "guess which ___ songs I combined!!!" Arguably, the style should have started with this mentality, but controversy creates buzz.
 


Unoriginality in the visual kei scene is nothing new. We even have an entire thread dedicated to specific instances where someone took a riff or theme and matches it to the exact source material it came from. But homage-kei really takes it to the next level. Bands want you to know who they’re sounding like. Could it be for nostalgia sales? Or because recreating a well liked motif makes it easier for someone to like a new creation (they’re already emotionally invested)? Or is it just a lazy cash grab, which requires 40% less effort to produce material? Maybe it is fulfilling a fantasy to reenact what you love about your idols? In spite of how much I adore everything mentioned throughout this article, I would be lying to you if I didn’t say that it is probably a mix of all four.

Finally a sign of life! Cant waait  

they better pay Eve to be their ghostwriter

FerrisWheeL - 黎明レゾナンス
FerrisWheeL - グリザイユの胚珠
FerrisWheeL - 夢幻郷
Marvelous Cruelty - 吊サレタ奇形ノ罠
 

❤️

Bummer. 
 
(Hopefully just the Kiwamu affect and not something to do with worsening health)

I'm not the biggest Machine Gun Kelly fan, but Rap Devil was seriously good. Finally someone both man and dumb enough to diss Eminem, a man who's been a massive joke of a rapper for well over a decade now.
 
Well done, MGK.
 
Hope Eminem responds soon. Could turn into some fun drama this.

Gu.sola has joined Free Aqua Butterfly at 2018/9/5.

 

It is back on again now! (and also on Itunes and amazon and everywhere)
 
The reason why it disappeared is that they cut ties with ATMF and it appearently took a while for the new label to get the rights to put it back.
 
(I'm glad my recommendation was well received : ) )

Wait, Nacht *was* on Spotify... and now it's not. And it will be again soon??
 
(I remember playing Nacht a lot last summer after you posted about it in the shoutbox...)

Black suits are a pro ‘my band is breaking up’ move because you can go to job interviews during the day without having to bring a change of clothes for your show at night. 

What's the over/under on 'amount of people that would even recognize that you were covering Mis†ake songs'? 5.5?

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.
 

Hi all,
 
My  band Tides Away has a new EP out called Dissimilar. We experiment with a lot of different genres, including EDM, gothic rock, metal, and folk. 
 
Some of you may be familiar with my work with Licht:noir'e here (a band I started through MH), and you all know that I have a lot of VK influence in my songwriting, some of which carries over to this band as well. 
 
You can listen to the EP here:  https://tidesaway.bandcamp.com/releases
 
You can find us on Soundcloud here
 
You can find us on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/tidesaway/
 
 
The EP is also available on Apple Music, iTunes, and Spotify.
 

 
 

What's the over/under on 'amount of people that would even recognize that you were covering Mis†ake songs'? 5.5?

What's the over/under on 'amount of people that would even recognize that you were covering Mis†ake songs'? 5.5?