Ikna

Cheesy? I don't really know. But still better than some japanese indie bands (musically and the production of the Video) Silver Ash is a better chinese band though.

I am big Siouxsie fan I love this band. I got into them after my horrible "Hardcoar Metal Goff Freak" phase, when the internet enlightened me about the existence of gothic rock and its post-punk/New Wave origins and opened me the world of awesome but mostly disbanded and totally forgotten bands. I consider them to be a huge influence on my look and way of dressing up- I know people have disputes over Siouxsie and the Banshees connection with goths and the musical genre. I don't care, they are for me one of the predecessors of the genre and Siouxsie's look is wonderful and she is a role model for me. Even more important the music, which is totally perfect. From their early energetical punk rock albums to their gloomy soundscapes in Juju and the wave guitars and arrangements and even the rather poppy albums of the later years this band always had their own sound and yet reinvented themselves with every new release. Though the very best in my opinion is Tinderbox. It's dark, gloomy and really defines the sound of dark post-punk music. I also think it is terribly underrated too... well, this whole band became a bit forgotten in the last years. It makes me a bit sad, especially when self proclaimed goths don't know them (sad enough that most of them never heard of post-punk music anyway...). But I wish Siouxsie and her former band would be recognised by pop culture and the mainstream of today- this band once had chart hits and were pretty popular. Also abou the song in batman: I am not wrong, that Tim Burton was a die hard fan of them and asked the band if they make a song for his movie, am I?

When it comes to make up and skin products I am still on the search and try out as much as I can. I have really bad skin and nothing has really helped so far (and I will visit a doctor soon to get pharmaceutical drugs and medical creams against it) so I am skin sensitive wearing make up to hide my blemishes and redness. But I am very interested into make up in general, I just love what many people can create. Some of their looks are (almost) art. I also dye my hair. Most of the time black but currently I am trying out all kinds of very bright and unusual colors. i don't really like my natural hair, it is wavy and just a boring brunette, so I am straightining and styling it and I am really happy with it. (and of course I use various procucts to protect it from the dying, bleaching and heating. Nothing is more awful than to have hair that resembles straw- which I had when I was 13 and I have looked terrible). I am now trying to practice teasing my hair. I still can't get to manage my hair to stand up longer than 2 hours and to get the volume and fluffyness I want but we slowly get there. I am not really following any current fashion trend. I am interested into fashion, clothes and fashion design, but I am skeptical against it, especially the fashion industry which in my eyes is only business and about making money and not about creativity. Most fashion trends only exist a rather short time and vanish after two or three years. What has been so trendy and "in" yesterday could be considered "out" today and old fashioned tomorrow. Also it feels as if most designers are to lazy to come up with new or innovative ideas. i know that's pretty hard as everything has been done once, but the fashion industry today does nothing else than taking old styles from former centuries, modify it and sell it again as something totally new and creative. I am not complaining about it though- I really love 80s and 90s fashion, mainly old wave, goth and punk clothes and good old school visual kei. My personal style pretty much consists of a combination of these elements. It just bugs me that "retro" styles are brought into the stores as if the fashion has never existed before and is "new". But I am afraid this whole topic what fashion is and what's good or bad about it is very very difficult and it is almost impossible to be objective about it. And possibly I am just another hypocritical "anti-mainstream" idiot who is not better for being such an elitist prick sticking to the past and dressing like those already 40 year old goffs and punx. So i have no right about being all "fuck mainstream fashion trends" anyway. I spent most of my money for music lately. I try to get into the whole do it yourself thing. i can't sew (but I wish to learn it someday) but i try my best to turn old clothes into something new with my creativity (and a scissor ). I'd never buy a dress or clothes for more than 40€ and even this is very expensive for me. I also don't understand people getting all of their clothes from "underground" stores... I prefer to buy normal shirts, paint something on it and rip it apart to get the punk look I want. I really can't understand why I should pay +10€ for a jeans to have holes, when I can get a cheap one and make the holes myself. Only unique or special items get more money, like shoes, band shirts or acessoires such as jewelry, belts, bags, etc. I also consider the artistic handmade work of creative people worth to get my money. I have found very pretty and astoundingly beautiful crafts and acessoired sold on sites like etsy. I consider getting some of it and support the artist. And I honestly rather pay 50$ for a handmade product that looks awesome, is well made and unique then pay this for something mass-produced. And do tattoos also fit into this thread? Because I really want to get one. I just can't decide what image will be on my skin and I need to save up money too... but I had the wish to decorate a part of my body with one for a long time.

*brings thread back* About the language thing... my father's from Tunisia and speaks 4 languages (almost 5, as he also can understand a bit Italian). I had the change to leanr one of these languages, but I was alwyays too lazy and though "I don't need to speak more than one language and maybe English". Now I am sad that I can only basicaly speak German and my English isn't excellent.

Penicillin CD, two rings, one pair of shoes. More to come soon

Yeah... I really liked Saruin and Maria. Maybe he goes back forming a new band. Also this Line-up is pretty cool.

well, as long as they release enough singles and albums for the public and don't start to put out only live distributed material I don't care. And yeah, they are very productive, but I like it. If their coming album is as good as I hope it will be, then I will be excited to get my hands on more stuff from them.

Thank you for pointing this out. I am relieved that it's not cancer and hope that Kyouka is doing well ( it seems he feels quite good again).

Exactly. I have already pre-ordered their album and can't wait for it. It is really awesome that a young old school inspired band releases a full album. Most Kote kei bands today aren't even able to pull off a single, a demo or release anything. There is definitely a nostalgic and charming imitation of early Dir en grey going on, but i don't mind it, simply because Dir en grey don't even associate themselves with this kind of music anymore and copying and imitating in Visual kei is totally normal. It's just funny how nobody cares about the other 1000+ "neo vk" indie bands trying to be Deg but have a problem with Grieva doing it. (at least they take inspiration from the Gauze era).

There are any infos yet what the other members will do, right? If Kamijogoes back to his solo stuff then maybe Hizaki will be active again with his Hizaki Grace Project, which I personally find more interesting (at least I hope he will).

Almost all of the bands I like are disbanded... and I really miss many of them Aliene Ma’riage allure idea Baiser Brodiaea D’espairsRay Dear Bitch Dreqi x Rudra Eliphas Levi Elldorado EREMIA Eve’zera FÉRIA FIORE Gill’e Cadith Hiskarea Hurts Jakura Kagerou L,Dear L’yse:nore Laputa Lubis Cadir Madeth gray’ll Malice Mizer Mar’derayla Mëbíus Metis Gretel MIRAGE Missa Mist of Rouge Phantasmagoria Remage ROUAGE Saruin Sleep my Dear Sulfuric Acid Syndrome Valluna Werkmare Xodiack

My neck feels so stiff, I can't turn my head right or left... I have school until 5 pm and then need to visit the eye doctor too... I will probably come home when it is 8 or 9 pm and have no time for anything Pain + no free time= bad day

Oh my god, damn... no I really hope he recovers. This is such bad news...

Dieses Gedicht spiegelt durchaus wider, wie viele deutsprachige Menschen Englisch sprechen XD Und die liebe Weihnachtszeit... ich hasse sie irgendwie. Es ist verdammt stressig, man kann nicht einkaufen oder shoppen gehen (oder in die U-Bahn einsteigen), ohne dass man von Massen wildgewordener Menschen zertrampelt wird X_X Eine Freundin von mir will sich den Stress gar nicht antun und kauft die Geschenke schon zwei Monate vorher... aber sinnvoll ist das auch wieder nicht.

(this needs more conversation) I like the Piass. I have dicovered them through YouTube. I found their PVs really crappy yet crazy back then and automatically fell in love with their music. I really hope they will relase more stuff in the future. Their avaible disco isn't really big but I love all of their work. Also early Piass were a wonderful example of awesome visual kei hairstyling

Funny, everytime a VK band of the UCP label disbands at least one person yells "It was Kisaki's fault!!!" Kisaki may be strange and greedy, but I doubt that it is his fault when VK bands don't sell enough tickets or CDs. Visual kei isn't really popular in Japan and since the big die out of bands from the late 90s disbandments have become something totally natural for the "scene". It was just a matter of time that NEGA too will leave the stage. It's actually a wonder that they have lasted so long (and it wouldn't have been possible if they weren't the label's biggest bands). Their reasons may be personal or financial, that doesn't realy matter, but blaming Kisaki for everything won't change anything. Zess also has a good point. Maybe it's for the good when they end their activities now. They have lost their direction and their most recent relases clearly showed how they run out of steam compared to their beginning. Vanitas wasn't bad, but it wasn't really good either. I guess we all should just get used to disbandments. I wouldn't be surprised anymore if Megaromania will disband too.

I began listening to Visual kei when I was 13. That was 8 years ago. I never belonged to the kind of people who'd only listen to VK, but I too was in that horrible phase when I thought VK was in some way totally badass, hardcore and "goffik". I'd annoy anyone with images from D'espairsRay, Mana and the Gazette. That only lasted for one or two years though, after that I l slowly lost my inteterest into it. And just a few years ago I started listening to the old bands again... and now I have found back to liking VK (and recover mostly old bands from the 90s). I guess it depends on your musical taste. As the preference for musical styles can change over a time some people just stop caring about it. I don't think you can really grow out of it. But you can either be someone who has a very limited musical horizon or someone who is open for changes. The first are mostly the people who either think their music taste is perfect and more supreme than others' or people who are just comfortable with listening nothing else than VK; the latter ones may stop listening to it because they like something else now or they still like it, but have also found other music to like. I don't even see what's bad about people who are fixated on VK. As long as they don't start to annoy you or try to tell you how much your music taste sucks, of course. (and that's the "horrible" phase- fans who think listening to Visual kei makes them super cool and different) Sure, the scene currently sucks with all the good bands left disbanding and visual kei was never popular for being totally professional, artistic or deep music (with a few exceptions which become rarer every year)- but like pop or punk (we can't deny that this scene also has a lot of talentess bands) crappy VK also has a right to be listened by people.

But isn't it the same with people who listen only to visual kei and claim the same? I can't count how many times I read shit like "Visual kei is the best, it is so different, more emotional and better than mainstream music!". And of course "They are hot and sooo talented! Vk is the best metal music!" Well, I haven't really listened to so many Kpop songs but I still think I am able to point out some similarities. I mean, today's visual kei bands aren't so different from Popstars in general (and this doesn't only include Kpop). In the last 10 years the visual kei costumes and wardrobes have become more "mainstream". Just compare photos of old gazette with new gazette, look at their clothes and make-up. Today they don't really look that extreme anymore. and if you wouldn't know they make rock music you would probaply think they are a japanese boygroup Their clothes can also be worn by anyone, even on the street or on a daily base. I think this can also be traced back to the earliest Visual kei bands. Luna Sea and Dir en grey have been considered to be stars too and have been featured in magazines doing some pretty photoshoots so their fans can drool over them. Optically both Kpop and VK use the same base of fashion and appearance to please their fans. Similiar clothes, similiar hairstyle, and a bit make-up... also both "genres" have their totally delusional fanbase. Of course musically there are a lot of differences, but even VK is nothing else than a mixture of all kinds of rock music trends and therefore as mainstream and "hip" as any other countries' popular rock music. That's how I experience it, as I am not an expert about Kpop.

Thanks for the info. I also think that they generally sound a lot like Dir en grey... but they are a VK band after all, so we can just ignore that. Interesting though how many bands have covered Cage in some way and how popular it still is, yet Dir en grey despise this song so much (but that's another topic). I like grieva, even though they seem to be copycats of the bands that emerged in the first half of the new millenium.

Gene should stop being all kawaii and all and go back being creepy as fuck as he was in his older bands.

Have they released something already? And did anyone buy or get their stuff? Because I am really curious to hear them (and I think there is already a request thread for them, but nobody has uploaded anything yet).

Really disappointed indeed. It seems Rame has totally lost his sense and motivation to make good music. instead everything's about getting money now. At the begin of Blach Gene's formation I hoped he would go back to the roots of his old band Vidoll and make a great versatile band with interesting songs since Vidoll at its end became so bland. Instead we got a 08/15 neo visual kei band. Their first single was still promising but the other... even if this single will be average, having to buy 6 types to get all the stuff is still not worth it.

Ha, you've got me XDDD (now seeing the tracklist I aprove- it's looking good) So they will hopefully release a decent album. I still hope this band will survive after UCP will be gone- they're one of the very few new and active bands I listen to and propably the most interesting band of the label since a long time. Suzaku is not really impressing me so far. And yeah, a PV for Vior Gloire would be nice, but maybe they will announce to make one later.

It seems with the not so distant end of UCP the quality of releases go down too. It's quite sad, because I was really curious to hear more from Vior Gloire. I doubt they will survive after UCP's shutdown, especially not with that little amount of songs.

yes, there is (I am using a Mac) ^^