Ikna

I doubt they'll "copy" Madeth (of course that would be cool. Even though I don't think Kyouki could pull off Hisui's singing style). Madness and Death were the top old skewl visual kei clichés (followed by weird erotica and serial murderers). But we'll see, right?

Oh dear... first Cinema Bizarr and now this. And lol at how uncreative they are for naming their band and song. The vocalits is so bad and sounds so bored, holy fuck. I had to skip through this whole shit.

Oh and I found something new too:

I actually think it's not that bad. It sounds also a lot better than their stuff from 2006 (I know those are lives and this one is studio). Still your average cheesy Malice Mizer-ish old school VK. But at least these guys have mexican lyrics and I think the language goes well with the typical visual kei melodies and rhythms.

That's pretty fast indeed. As much as I like them I think they should need a small pause just to find themselves, by which I mean collect more inspirations outside of the Dir en grey Nostalgia hole.

Kyouka needs to have a new real band releasing stuff. He could reactivate his solo or just make Pink Tribal his solo stuff. I don't care, I just want to hear something new.

Oh and: I think it's wiser to make a new thread for news, because everytime this gets pushed you think "does he have health issues again?"

Thanks for all the infos and stuff.
I saw that list of you, Champ, yesterday when I got curious if I have missed some bands. An update would be really cool

I understand that Visual kei fans primarily like the bands due to the beutiful guys. It was more of a rethoric question I posed conderning the female guitarist who pretended to be a guy. I understand japanese fans think differently and also the majority of foreign fans prefer to look at hot cross dressing guys rather than girls. But I still wished women would be more accepted. There is sure a lot of jealousy, but when I look at many Exist Trace fans who really like the band members (and especially Omi) than it gives me a bit hope that female muscians might get at least a bit of fan support. And what I noticed too was the small, yet growing numbers of male visual kei fans who like groups like exist trace or Danger Gang. And yeah, it seems the all female bands are more popular due to the fact that the girls can't "interfere with the male band members.
And I too think more girls could bring a bit more innovation into the "genre". It's nice that nowadays there are apparently many bands already with female members (only sad, that most of them disband or go on hiatus, like Secilia Luna or Cocklobin...)

And oh, forgot Az:Madius. Really awesome old visual flavoured band.
Deep female voices are also my thing. And I wasn't aware that the Hybrid Zombiez vocalist is a girl. I only listened to them a few times (but I really like her voice) and just read this discussions about her gender. In Visual kei you can get easily fooled or confused. i also always thought Omi was a boy for example.

^ very interesting, Champ! I did know this band back from my early VK weaboo days. I think they even played once here in Austria. And I also always had the feeling that the guitarist was a girl due to the facial structures. I think it's really an interesting fact that she wanted to hide this fact that she was female. Did she do it because she thinks the fans would like her as a guy more?
And yeah, I bet there quite a few (if not lot) members who are female but we don't know it.

Well, I can't remember this has been a discussion before soooo... let's talk about women in visual kei, female bandmembers and all-female bands!

I personally have a thing for women in Visual kei for a few reasons: first there aren't that many women participating in the visual kei music scene, most of the female demographic are just fans. Quite surprising when you consider how femenine aesthetics are important in VK. Of course not so surprising since rock and metal always have been dominated by men, including frilly glam rock with guys wearing skirts and make up. But that makes female VK bands even more special and outstanding, I find.

Well, then female vocalists. I have the feel the women seem to be better at singing or at least it doesn't show so much when they don't hit the right tones as it does when the male counterparts are doing it. Surely we are all used to the way the guys sing, especially the deep growls and screams... but women can pull it off too. And I just like the voice of some of the girls

So what do I expect from this thread? A little discussion what you think about the lack of women (or their popularity) in VK, if you would like to see more female members or bands. And of course discussing about bands that already exist!
And: tips for bands to check out , but mainly the rather unknown and obscure groups (because we all know who Exist Trace are) I mainly use to listen to 90s VK, so I'd be personally  interested if someone could manage to dig up some VK girl or mixed gender bands from that era.

And: a few bands with female members I know of:
 

- Exist Trace (obvious)

- Necro Circus

- Clothoid÷Doll

- Solfege

- MARY☆RUE

- G~Angel

- Greece Grace

- ZEDEKIAH (I always thought the vocalist was male... turned out to be a woman?)
- Danger Gang

- R'OSE

- AMADEUS

- Pleur

- Pyuera

- CaMin

- Kilhi+Ice

apparently the singer of Hybrid Zombies is rumored to be a girl. And I have heard the drummer of Matina band allure idea too.

Awww. ;o;

I know you are an evil coldblooded goth but whenever I see you I want to poke your cheeks, because you have such a cute face.

Actually I think this whenever I see you, especially when dressed as Hisui XD

@Gaz: Yup, that's a recent. From yesterday actually XDD

Also lol @ looking like Mana. Never really felt like I look like him (though I share the round face structure and big hair). And back in the time I was a huge Mana stan I was too stupid to dress nice (oh the memories of my "I am so kewl, different and edgy" phase...)

^Bet you are one of them

Hahaha... I actually don't think so.

I guess everyone's curious how I look though (maybe?) Was already thinking about showing a pic or not... but since my face already circulates around the web and some people here know who I am...

But behold: Super gawfic make-up and fail try at dark gloomy oldschool Visual kei. Also ruining your good and normal looking people rate.

I am sure i will regret this *lol*

Good gawd, there are so many here looking so cute, perfect or stylish. :<

Lol... how insensitive do you have to be to google your name just to find out who writes something about you. And then get pissed when people criticise you. With his age and how long he is already in the scene as a musician he should act more mature and maybe not give a shit about what others think of him - or maybe he should think about why people say the things about him they say.
Thankfully I never have been a great fan of his band especially not after reading so much of Dada's stupid drama queen behaviour. Bandmembers just have the fans they deserve and maybe Dada should learn from bands who treat their fans with respect, even when they face criticism from them.

But then again: he and Kiwamu seem to be big friends. Considering how much Kiwamu overreacts too it doesn't make me wonder.

I like the growls, actually. There are really black metal influences in the singing and I dig this more than the way most vocalists growl in VK today. But I agree: the clean vocals are really off putting. I also wish the production would be better.
I guess if they'd drop the crappy clean vocals and make them different it would be really nice and solid. So I'll just wait for new previews and see how it will be.

Hm... ich kann nicht wirklich beurteilen, ob die Gehälter höher sind, da ich keinen Vergleich zu den Einkommen in Deutschland habe. Es ist natürlich gut möglich, aber auch sehr stark abhängig ob man in Wien arbeitet (wo man das meiste Geld bekommen kann) oder wo anders (vor allem am Land verdient man üblicherweise deutlich wenig).
Ich weiß nicht wie es in Deutschladn ist, aber hier in Österreich wurden die Gehälter seit Jahren nicht mehr an die Inflation angepasst. Wenn das so weiter geht wird es sicherlich immer unerfreulicher... ich habe schon gemerkt, wie in den letzten Jahren die Steuern und Preise in die Höhe gingen aber die Leute einfach nicht mehr Geld bekommen und man sich somit immer weniger leisten kann. besonders schlimm ist es für dei Pensionisten.
Allerdings habe ich gehört, dass es Österreich es da noch relativ gut geht. Unsere Staatsschulden, Mieten und Steuern sind zumindest für die Größe des Landes unheimlich groß, aber unsere Wirtschaft ist trotzdem noch nicht ganz so kaputt wie es wohl bei euch der Fall sein soll. Außerdem ist man hierzulande als Soziahilfe-lempfänger nicht gleich der asoziale Arsch, wie es in D mit der Hartz IV Debatte ganz und gebe ist. (liegt sicher auch an der politischen Gesinnung... hier in Österreich wurde die Sozialhilfe immer als die großartigste Errungenschaft der Nachkriegspoltik angesehen. Außer man ist ein ja so ein böser Ausländer natürlich, der ja nur wie ein Parasit am System hängt, denn die Einhemischen machen das ja ganz bestimmt nie! >_>).

Wir können natürlich auch allgemein sagen, dass es zurzeit nicht sehr rosig in der ganzen Weltwirtschaft aussieht und man wohl überall viel zahlen darf.

Ui, sehr schön, man versteht mich also prächtig hier *_* Bin mir nie sicher, weil ich in Gespräch mit Deutschen oft erfahren muss, dass Wörter, die ich glaubte verbreitet zu wissen, plötzlich dem Gegenüber vollkommen unbekannt sind XD

Ugh, why didn't I see this, it's amazing.

And: Metis Gretel reunion please, now!!

I am a transethnic japanese girl from da heart, even though my genes aren't azn, and I was blessed with sexy visual kei guy headmates too!!!!

…

(okay I stop with the bad tumblr related jokes )

No, I never wished to be japanese. I can't even understand anyone who says they want to be born as a diffeent ethnicity... I can understand it when people wish to be born in different places though, because living and spending your life in a country is something you can choose. Ethnicity and genes are not something you can select as if you'd play a Sims game...
And sorry, I always feel it comes off as a bit fetishizing and weird when someone are so totally obsessive about looking like someone else. I sometimes have this happen to me as I am not fully Austrian... I am half arabic and people always aproach me with the weird "Oh I like you, you are so oriental and exotic and such a lucky mix of two cultures! Can I have your almond shaped eyes please?" But maybe it's just me, because I generally don't like people to come near me.

Anyway... I am certainly not happy with my body and my appearance, but I just accept that I can't really change those issues. I'd also like to have hair that isn't just a mess of thick frizz and have clean skin and whatnot, but I think those issues aren't really related to ethnicity - japanese people as well can have a hairstructure that doesn't allow styling, they can be ugly and have the same problemes as anyone else. We might just not notice it as much as foreigners because what we always see from Japan and Asia are the musicians, stars and middle class teenager who have the money and "tools" to make them look perfect. Without make up, surgery, photoshop and beauty products they look as shitty as everyone else.
So I believe that people who obsess about being, and even more extreme, becoming asian or japanese have a really twisted sense of reality. All the have in their head when thinking about japanese people are anime characters and japanese rock or visual kei guys. Of course the same creepy shit happens in japan as well when teens there pay shit loads of money to be transformed into european looking abominations...

Don't care about Juka or Kisaki, I'd rather like to see Metis Gretel reforming for this (since they have been signed to this label).
Oh well... maybe next Halloween (I won't lose my hope, oh no I won't)

Yeah, make up does wonder. And photoshop (and practically all vk guys have been photoshopped... since maybe ever). Also there are several men in their 40s and even 50s who are still dressing visual kei: Mana, Közi, Kisaki, Ryo (9Goats), Kon (La'Mule), etc...

Also totally obvious that Visual kei has nothing to do with Goth (except maybe borrowing some musical elements here and there) and therefore the bandmen dressing a certain way is neither a lifestyle nor a life commitment. And the trend of Vk groups becoming soft, light poppy bands has always been an "issue"... Groups like Fanatic Crisis, L'arc~en~Ciel and Co. all started out as your typical serious underground vk bands but became pop rock full of regular dressed guys once they got more popular. I still think though that this (Vk bands turning softer or alternative rock) is somewhat different from once heavy dark bands turning into Host kei. I just can't understand (okay, I can in some way) why groups like VIDOLL, Nightmare or D'espairsRay went from bands singing about slicing someone's throat into cheesy pop or electro rock.
I bet it would weird anyone out if Dir en grey would have taken this route and instead of becoming a Metal band doing some J-Pop shit á la Gackt.

The guy in the magazine is from Gill'e Cadith, hehe... somehow funny how most of the oldschool guys still ended up being salesmen or businessmen. I don't think we could expect them to have any interest into spending much money for their beauty or make up, since they probably are prouder to own other things now.

Edit:

Hmm, we might be judging current Vsual Kei wrongly based on the more visible bands/trends and we might not be seeing a lot of bands that stick to the old school Visual Kei atmosphere or with a clear sense of artistry and less interested in a commercial side...

 

I don't know, I don't live in Japan but apart from GRIEVA and Gauzes there must be more bands inspired by old school Visual Kei there in fascinating Japan we don't have access to...

I think you have too many high hopes on that. The era of old school visual kei is long over. I don't even think Kote kei bands are automatically more indie and less about commercialism, even though most of them have even less fans than regular indie VK bands. And even if  they are... as long as Kote kei purely consists of bands repeating what we have already heard 100 times it won't really go anywhere. As much as I love the old style, the Kote kei scene s a joke and doesn't really offer that much innovation or "artistry". It's fun though listening to a La'veil song and thinking "That's so oldschool and very Madeth gray'll-ish, I like it".

I didn't say anything about dir en grey. Or did you see them mentioned? I was referring to your argument that people who conform to a lifestyle limit themselves automatically and are boring, which is bullshit. Also I am the least person to be "butthurt" over Dir en grey trying to become accepted within the Metal scene by stripping away all traces of their past. It's their thing (I somehow find it ridiculous how Kyo reacts to questions about their past, especially when it comes to their bandname... but it's Kyo...). It's really annoying how everyone reacts so sensitive when it comes to this band.

Where did I say we need to be friends though? No reason to make things up...

I agree with AltermaliceNero. There is nothing immature about dressing a certain way. People will change in their heart due to experiences regardless of what they wear or how they look on the outside. Also there is a fucking difference between being a teenager who has a "I want to be so individual, therefore I dress up as goth/punk/indie kid/emo, etc"-phase and actually being part of a subculture (which is much more than wearing piercings and weird hair). There are goddamn people in their 50s and 60s who are still Rocker, Punks or Goths and have been into it since the day it started. They still wear a mohawk, make-up, studded vests or their winklepicker boots and yet they are people who pay bills, have a job, maybe children or even grandchildren.

What I find boring are the people who yelled "!ndividuality!!!" when they were oh so radical kids but as soon as they became 20 or got a job they started to become the same boring mainstream people they have despised just a few years ago. I am sure most of them don't do this because they want to feel mature and adult - they do this because they are too afraid to fight for their right of expressing themselves while being able to do the things other adults have to do. And their lame excuse is "I just got out of my phase". Also in my experience those people are the most fucking boring because they are way too afraid to face their past. So they ensure they stay the same all the time to prevent a kind of "relapse". I can still remember how one of my mallgoth schoolmates became a punk with their full heart and nowadays she dresses "normal" (I hate thsi word, but can't find a better one to describe it), listens to Techno music and when you ask her about anything that couls remotely touch in the topic of punk she get's extremely defensive.

Also: if interestes should change so drastically then this forum is useless. Because it means in just a few years we all may or have to find new and better interests than visual kei. Also considering how many people regard visual kei as a boring, childish and stupid interest anyway, so let's find a music scene that makes us more interesting and is cooler, hm?
And if I am honest: I feel the visual kei scene has become way more "childish" since they started to drop off the ellaborate costumes and heavy make-up. Groups like Madeth gray'll sure were embarassing in some way of their own but still more "hardcore" and serious stuff than the weird oh-so-cute host kei look combined with cheesy electro Metalcore vk bands pull of today. Or maybe I am just too old and boring to understand what's so radical about those babyfaced kids (def kids since most bandmen are even younger than I am)

And you know: I don't give a fuck if I might come off as a boring old shitty goth to you or to anyone when I am 40 or 50. I like the music I like and I will hopefully forever share my love for New Wave and Post-Punk and not suddendly wake up one morning and decide: "today I will stop with the goth shit. It's time to grow up!! So let's go to forever 21 and buy a cute formal dress" Also I am not interested into the things I am to impress you and I am sure nobody here in this forum is, miyuu. We like the things we like and talk about it but nobody wants to get a cookie for having the best music taste or the coolest looks.
 

Are you throwing a tantrum to get some attention, like "oh that band might quit if not enough people show up"? There's a better way of garnering attention. It's called make better music. I don't understand why I'm supposed to give a fuck about the future of your band because of some arbitrary decision based around some arbitrary number. What are you going to do if you're off by one or two?

This so much... I already talked about it in a news thread: it's just douchey behaviour. Thousand of other bands live on the very edge and are poor and they still have enough decency as musicians to earn their money honestly. I don't understand people who are kay with bands doing this and excuse it with "they don't have enough money". Imagine all bands who have tight money doing this. And let's be honest: a visual kei band that doesn't get enough money is destinied to disband sooner or later. They probably don't have enough audience and by pulling off this shitty tactig they will surely gain not more. Instead their most loayal fans will just buy more tickets to ensure the band won't disband. It's not a really clever strategy anayway to make your band popular- if your extra lucky you might just piss off your fans and I am sure they will find a new similiar sounding and looking vk band to fangasm about fast.

So basically a game about what visual kei is in its essence: a scene full of pretty (host) boys who make the gurls wettest dreams come true.

Wow... that's sick. What kind of mother would do this. Yeah, children can be brats and annoying, but that's no excuse to put such a young kid under a plastic bag (which is totally dumb and for sure will kill anyone after enough time). I think 4 years are not only a joke, this woman also needs psychological help. It's not normal behaviour to do such a thing, even under the influence of sleeping pills and alcohol (which is always a bad mix).

Really disturbing and sad.

I just leave this here (to revive the thread):

Found this through the facebook of some guy who also has various other Luna Sea/ old school visual kei-inspired music projects...

Oh I really love this! considering how much I like rarez stuff and also older visual kei, this shop is perfect for my needs. <3

God, most of you had or have great parents. Mine didn't really have a music taste at all, except maybe my father, but I don't really have to do with him that much since he doesn't live with us anymore. He liked a bit psychedelic rock like the doors and blues.
My mother listens mainly to 80s pop, but she likes anything that comes in the radio. (okay, maybe not everything. She doesn't like Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Co.) Until my 12th birthday I mostly listened to mainstream pop too. I used to take our radio and listened to whatever played.
My parents however have absolutely no influence on my current music taste. That rather originated from my horrible mallgoth phase, when listening to Green Day, Nightwish, Evanescence and Good Charlotte bacame trendy and kewl. I grew out from that mostly and started to dig up "real" goth groups - on the same time however my love for crappy indies vk bands grew also.
My mother obviously doesn't like none of the music I like, save for maybe a few the Cure, Depeche Mode and old 80s pop and synth-pop songs I listen to. The recent years she has found a throbbing love for ABBA though (and I started to like them too *lol*). She also doesn't know much about music and especially genres that lie a bit beyond the commercial music scene (Metal, Alternative rock, Punk, etc.)

Yeah, Vampire Rose are cheesy... but so what? The whole concept and purpose of the band is to take the vampire myth and base their music on it. I really can't understand anyone complaining about a band revolving around this concept to make songs about it. Also the Vk scene is full of cheesy and "bland" bands, see D, Jupiter or Versailles (they even had the same "vampire aristocrat" concept) and most people don't give a shit about it.

I personally like Vampire Rose. Now Rose isn't surely the best singer or most innovative musician, but I like the combo of not too heavy but driving Metal/Hardrock combined with cheesy synths and a few early 2ks Visual kei sound influences. The stuff reminds me also of EREMIA, which is obviosuly because of the same vocalist, and I liked that group a lot.
I am looking out for the single and hope it will either get uploaded or available at a second hand shop, such as Closet Child.