TheTrendkiller

The reason why the VK hype came to an end after 2010 was because of the lack of original music and ideas. There were tons of bands coming out with the same copy-paste formulas, both visually and musically. People including me just got bored of listening and seeing the same uninspired vk-copycat bands. 
 
The reason why nobody cares about VK right now is not because VK is bad but because those bands play rock music. Face it, rock music right now is pretty much dead in the whole world, not just VK. What is popular with teens right now? Yes, Hip-Hop/Rap/Pop/. It's definitely NOT rock music. I'd go as far as to say that few people under 18 listen to any kind of rock . They'll rather play fortnite and listen to the latest Post-Malone, Billie Eilish, Machine Gun Kelly, ASAP Rocky, Travis Scott tune.THOSE are the rock-stars of the zoomer generation.
 
Imho K-Pop is a lot closer to this style of music than VK so it's only natural that people can get into it. I'd say the people who are into K-Pop now are basically the same demographic that would be attracted to VK. But unless rock as a genre makes a comeback, I don't see a VK revival any time soon. 

The reason why the VK hype came to an end after 2010 was because of the lack of original music and ideas. There were tons of bands coming out with the same copy-paste formulas, both visually and musically. People including me just got bored of listening and seeing the same uninspired vk-copycat bands. 
 
The reason why nobody cares about VK right now is not because VK is bad but because those bands play rock music. Face it, rock music right now is pretty much dead in the whole world, not just VK. What is popular with teens right now? Yes, Hip-Hop/Rap/Pop/. It's definitely NOT rock music. I'd go as far as to say that few people under 18 listen to any kind of rock . They'll rather play fortnite and listen to the latest Post-Malone, Billie Eilish, Machine Gun Kelly, ASAP Rocky, Travis Scott tune.THOSE are the rock-stars of the zoomer generation.
 
Imho K-Pop is a lot closer to this style of music than VK so it's only natural that people can get into it. I'd say the people who are into K-Pop now are basically the same demographic that would be attracted to VK. But unless rock as a genre makes a comeback, I don't see a VK revival any time soon. 

It's actually nice that we got a definite thread for this topic, and musing on some of the posts above I'll also go ahead and say that the vk boom in the west about ten, fifteen years ago consisted of
 
10% was X's gigantic popularity landing on western shores due to word of mouth and tape trading and what have you. Lots of people in the metal community knew about vk even some 20 years ago, and some went on to be converted into visual kei fans that travelled to Japan. These people were real music fans™ that were willing to learn and study despite the challenges and were unlikely to trend hop later on to the next big thing. These people did do a lot of preliminary work for the fad that was about to come by setting up databases online and etc.
 
90% a by-product of the big anime and manga culture craze that had thirsty weeaboos take anything Japanese, internalise it and then finally project themselves unto it. It had very little to do with the fandom in Japan, but more with the ( the teenage female variety, not the 4chan alt right one we see now lol ) anime fandom and the culture specific to that one ie. people switched their sasukes to uruhas and as soon as that trend stabilised the cultural moment was gone. It also helped that we were still living the outer reaches of the post-Linkin Park alt metal age that's pretty much dead now. 
 
Visual kei is very unfriendly to beginners and takes a lot of legwork to really wrap yourself around. It's culture is completely foreign to gaijins and musically also pretty unusual to people with limited musical vocabulary and experience. It got big by complete accident and caught everyone off guard. That won't happen again and like in some of the posts before me, that's completely fine with me. I think the way the scene is going to develop in the future will depend solely on its internal economical circumstances that are then of course tied to the economics and cultural situation in Japan. Visual kei has already proven that it will live in its own way completely in spite of western fads and it's quite impressive that somewhere in the world there is a music scene that's still making bank playing stuff that's not at all popular anywhere else anymore. Sometimes it reaches into its past ( Ains, old bands like MUCC and Deg looking visual again, Starwave ) and sometimes it tries to look into the future with rather umm... mixed results ( Royz, Realies, Heisei Ishin all those bands with neon colors and funny synth. ) And then some dudes decide to hop on the culture while playing what's pretty much X influenced* metalcore while slowly fads like the nu-metal riff creep into its DNA. It's a world onto itself that keeps on doing what it wants to do at its own pace, and that's pretty cool. Unfortunately like I said before the time when all those legendary big bands retire it is definitely going to be felt in the amount of boys who want to play this kind of stuff when the knowledge about this scene starts slowly getting more and more underground and other idols replace the old rock glam gods of the past. Still despite all that, there's going to be at least a few 7/11 clerks with long hair who are willing to give it a shot, if only just to get laid. 
 
 
 
*I maintain that vk's fondness of ballads and guitar solos is still leftover from X's influence.

This goes back to the Japanese style of fandom vs Western style of fandom. Which was one of the major barriers when bands started coming over here.
 
I read an interview at the end of 2007 with Warped/Taste of Chaos organizer Kevin Lyman, where he was explaining why he went with the Visual Kei bands for Taste of Chaos 2008. He explained that MUCC/D’espairsRay/The Underneath weren’t even his first choices, initially. He approached several other bands, and said that their management just didn’t understand why they would benefit from being invited on a 50 some stop North America tour with seven other bands.
 
To them, their fans are their fans. Not some other band’s fans. So they didn’t understand why people who wanted to see Avenged Sevenfold would ever consider listening to their band’s music, let alone paying for it. To them, playing a gig with seven other bands is what you do when no one on the bill can fill the venue by themselves.
 
So by brushing off the demographic of “people who could be interested in our music, but they aren’t devoted to us exclusively, so fuck them”, they didn’t exactly win any friends. Instead, they just made things harder for themselves by not connecting with either Western bands or even other Japanese bands. Dir en Grey seems to have been the exception, but even they’ve stopped touring with other bands for these last couple of tours.

I know it's been brought up a lot already, but I think social media is probably going to be what sets the heavy-hitters apart from other bands in the scene from now on. I think it's part of the reason why gulu gulu has picked up so much steam so quickly (outside of just being really good) - they're VERY active on social media and also seem very interactive with fans. I've noticed a trend toward more activity (especially on Twitter/Insta) from a lot of smaller artists/bands, too, but it seems a bit further removed from their actual "craft" so to speak. I think there may be a bit more "hype" generated for these artists if they just get better at the social media part of the modern music "game."

That's the thing, though - I think that a lot of visual kei fandom is rooted in buying merch/etc. when that's just not how most music fans operate these days. The problem with visual kei's accessibility doesn't begin and end with their merch-selling capabilities - it starts with getting people on board in the first place and keeping them engaged. I think a lot of that is rooted in a strong internet presence.
 
As unfortunate as it is, we're not living in the era of CD sales and purchased merchandise any more - at least outside of live shows (and even then, arguable) - and while I understand the importance of those things (trust me, I spent 10 years of my life on the road as a down-on-my-luck-broke-as-a-joke DIY musician), I think we're expecting far too much of the average consumer to conflate fandom with opening one's wallet. (again, not arguing for rightness, just reality)
 
Past that, I still find that a lot of the lack of international interest in VK is that it is classically very difficult to enter and navigate as a fandom. Not only are fans classically elitist (visual kei is one of the only fandoms I've encountered where people have actively hoarded content from their faves with the explicit purpose of keeping it from others), the artists do not follow the same sort of cues that most other bands do and they don't engage their fans in the same way, either.
 
I mean really, this conversation can extend into the realm of photo-free gigs and cheki sales - things that I absolutely understand, but are likely doing more harm than good in the long-term nowadays (an easy buck to make from the aforementioned horny fan, but something that simultaneously makes these artists feel very distant and "unattainable," which just isn't sustainable in a world where the concept of the "rockstar" has basically been deconstructed entirely.) Add that to too-expensive albums and merchandise and no matter how interested one is, it requires a lot more cash and die-hard effort to support someone you enjoy. 
 
Again, most of this is being analyzed from a strictly Western point of view, but really just trying to answer the opening question. Japan clearly functions very differently from the rest of the world when it comes to music, but VK still feels even further removed. I highly doubt we'd ever see some major international renaissance focused on kote kei groups or something - stuff like that is and always will be incredibly niche - but there are a lot of bands in the game right now that have HUGE crossover potential and if paired up with the right artists would skyrocket in popularity on an international scale.

I guess it was because two big ego clash between Mana and GACKT.
 

Gackt was just one of three different singers Malice Mizer had, he had nothing to do with their breakup.
 
Never heard that rumor before; 100% started by a western fan who was pulling stuff out of her ass. Anyone with a musical ear can tell that Mana and Kozi had no hand in writing Gackt's solo material. Apples and Oranges.
 
Gackt was likely not at Kamis funeral for the reason listed in my reply below. 
 
 
I don't know what official statements Gackt, Mana, or Kozi have made because we don't really need to, ya know? None of them will tell you what occam's razor will, because it's not flattering to either party.
 
Nippon Columbia decided that Malice Mizer were small potatoes and Gackt was the star. And they were right! Gackt wrote the highest charting single on Mervilles, Le Ciel, which also happened to be the most commercial song on the album. Gackt had the great voice, incredible looks, a legion of female fans and he wrote the biggest hit on the album. He was poised for stardom, Malice Mizer could hold him back. 
 
So Nippon Columbia put their money on Gackt solo and ditched the band, and their gamble paid off in spades. People tend to gloss over/forget, possibly due to Kamis death, that not only did Malice Mizer's label give Gackt a solo deal, but they dropped Malice Mizer. That wasn't a coincidence.
 
It is what it is. I hate Gackt solo, but wouldn't trade Bara no Seidou or the Klaha singles for anything. I just wish we'd get one more album out of MM.... instrumental, with Klaha, a new singer... I don't care.

I think a lot of people here, including myself lol, don't really understand how all this stuff works in Japan in the vk scene especially also in relation of the general public in Japan. Afaik, vk is already perceived as the last refuge for people totally unfit for society, an whether some bandoman is guilty of this and that over there is not really something to cause much attention, probably because the perception of the vk is pretty much true and all these dudes are just really shitty when it comes to treating both women and each other, I mean just look up stories of how they treated the vocalist from Screw back in the day and imagine if something like this came out involving some lamestream band in the west, like that could pretty much be the end of everyone involved; and this is only the beginning, like I think we've already heard tons of stories of really dodgy stuff which while shocking to people in the west accustomed to a totally different kind of culture and conduct, especially when it comes to regarding an elder statesman of the scene like ki$aki. This is an underground music culture of rejects that had a flash in the pan moment 20 years ago that brought it to the surface, which while an important moment it for sure didn't change the general makeup and reality of the scene, which is a large prostitution racket ran by yakuza and horny guys wanting to play shitty rock 'n roll to a fanbase consisting of people with as many issues an the bandguys themselves.
 
And to add to this I think everyone knows the Japanese think we are joke and that some gaijins are rustled is literally no concern of theirs, unless you're willing to fuck or buy them some chrome hearts of course.

You can take this as a rumor I guess but it actually happened. Whether the staff person who told us all this was telling the truth or not I don't know, but I don't really see why they would lie lol. This was over 10 years ago so I might have some details wrong but this is what happened to the best of my memory. So at Oni-con in Houston, TX in 2008 Dio -distraught overlord- and Sugar played. On Friday the bands played and on Saturday the bands were supposed to have Q&A panels and the Dio one went great, but the Sugar one kept getting delayed as we all waited outside the room for ages. A friend of mine and I started asking staff what was going on and this staff person for the convention started quietly telling us about the previous night and what was going on that day. Basically the night before, after the concert, the bands got really rowdy drunk and Loki (vocalist of Sugar) started causing all kinds of shenanigans and problems. They said he was flirting with male staff (really awkwardly because they were not reciprocating) and that apparently he forgot what hotel room number was his because he started walking around and knocking on every single hotel room door on that floor trying to figure out which one was his. ... Anyway, as if the staff's control of this situation couldn't get any worse, somehow Loki escaped before they had to do the Q&A and was apparently wandering around Houston and they had yet to find him. The panel ended up getting cancelled and the rest of the band apologized as far as I can remember. Not sure what happened after that. The whole thing was a messsssss. 

New Band
GLIM GARDO -グリムガルド-
 
Vo.朔弥 Sakuya (ex Grave Nest)
Gt.ノク Noku (ex Venelli)
Gt.ロゼ Rose
Bass.Runa (ex Venelli)
 
https://twitter.com/GLIMGARDO_info
 
 

At least this many lmao

How many bands are going to use that riff around 2:40 lol

My body is ready.

Wow - it's been a long time since this happened, but I remembered mentioning I'd write up a report and life has finally slowed down enough for me to try and do just that!
 
This was a show I felt really lucky to be able to attend while I was there - it was the night before I was scheduled to leave Tokyo and had multiple acts I had hoped to see while I was in Japan. I'll get right to it (though this might be a bit "stream of consciousness" so bear with my antics and anecdotes)
 
On this afternoon my wife and I were wandering Ikebukuro before we were going to go to 高田馬場AREA for this live. She doesn't have much interest in VK and we were nearing the end of our trip, so she planned on watching a band or two and heading back to our accommodations in Shinjuku.
 
When we arrived, she saw the line (on an incline going down a hill) and basically said "yeah, no" so I took her back to the train station (where there was a ginormous R指定 banner hanging over the staircase) while we had time to spare. Funnily enough, I went to the restroom before returning to the venue and in that time she realized she left our wifi box in my bag, so she walked back to the venue to track me down. Somehow everyone was already inside and she assumed I had gone in, too -- but I also had her ticket (I wasn't thinking much this day...) 
 
She then attempted to track down "blonde gaijin" in broken Japanese with the gentleman running the door who reluctantly (yet surprisingly???) let her run into the live hall and find me. At this point I am walking back to the venue and see her on the sidewalk. I am very confused so she explains the whole silly scenario and basically says "fuck it, I'm here, buy me a drink and I'll hang out for a little."
 
As we enter and declare our "favorites" to the doorman (DIMLIM and gulu gulu) we enter and hear music playing while we buy beers. I see video on the screen but I am a newbie and thought it was a recording. Turns out the opening band (billed as Aster) was actually finishing their set already. (the listed showtime hadn't even hit yet - I thought we were early, but oh well!)
 
We wandered into the live hall to see them play about half a song before stepping off stage. There were still quite a few people watching them, though, especially for an early opener I had never heard of (and can't find any info on???) I discussed this with someone before going to the live and speculated this might actually be the band GLEN, who was set to release a maxi-single called "Aster" later that month and after hearing GLEN/seeing their visuals, I am now convinced this was in fact the case. They sounded very similar from what I experienced and the visuals strike me as the same or similar to the look in their video. Anyway...
 
After curtains closed and reopened, we were greeted by some fairly heavy visuals -- a vocalist wearing a cloak covered in creepy white masks and a guitarist with the classic medical eye-patch. From what I knew, this appeared to be MonstlloW; I had watched a few of their videos to prepare myself as I wasn't too familiar. I was immediately taken by how...cool they looked. Very heavy visuals, just really professional from visuals to sound. Their instrumentals were extremely tight and the audience was really engaged, headbanging and dancing and shimmying from one side of the room to the other (probably my favorite thing to experience at a VK live in terms of audience interaction as I had never seen anything like it before.) I'll admit that I didn't find the videos I had watched to be too memorable so I wasn't sure what to expect, but they definitely won me over by the end. Definitely the kind of band that is worth seeing live to really appreciate. (My wife was quite taken with them, commenting on how strong the singer's vocals were and how impressed she was by their overall performance.  She has some familiarity with VK from DIR EN GREY and my general interest, but she seemed much more drawn in than I anticipated.)
 
They played a total of 5 songs and handed out setlist cards from their merch table after they finished.
 
Monstllow setlist
1. 嘘泣キ少女
2. KERBEROS
3. ビッグマウス・マーチ
4. WE ARE LIAR
5. 劇薬U.S.O
 
After this we grabbed a few more drinks and took a seat while we waited for the next act. We were very close to the back, right in front of MonstlloW and DIMLIM's merch tables. I was surprised to see that MonslloW's guitarist and bassist had actually come out and were hanging out behind their merch table. They appeared...very tall? Probably a combination of costume, hair, and the fact that they were on a platform above us, but it felt a bit imposing! (Haha.) After their merch sales concluded for the moment, I took a second to inventory enough of my Japanese language knowledge to basically say "I really like your band" and they seemed amused and appreciative. They handed us the setlist cards and actually hung around back there for the majority of the night. (I don't know why this shook me so much, I guess VK has been at such a distance my entire life that I never really expected them to be so casually...there??)
 
The curtains opened again revealed the next band -- another four person act, guitarist in a white dress (iirc) and bassist with a long, spotted fur coat. It was their vocalist that clued me into who they were, though -- very slim, shirtless under an open jacket, strutting directly to the center of the stage. This was definitely Hueye. (Upon seeing them, my wife immediately exclaimed "oh, they're girls!!" I had to apologetically advise otherwise...) At this point, I had no real familiarity with their songs other than "優しく殺して," as I really hadn't listened to anything else at that point (and I don't think they had much else to listen to?) Nonetheless, I was very impressed once again. The first thing I noticed was their vocalist's harsh vocals compared to what I had heard on recordings -- they seemed much, much stronger live. Like, noticeably so, even to someone who had only heard one song. As their set continued on, I noticed exactly how proficient their guitarist was, too. I mean really, he can shred. My wife was laughing at the fact that my jaw kept dropping just watching his fingers, but she agreed with me either way. Again, I only really realized "優しく殺して," and I believe they closed with that track, but after going back and listening to more of their releases I'm pretty confident they played the other tracks from that single alongside a few others. Not sure what their other songs were, but I think they also played five like MonstlloW. (My wife commented she didn't like them as much as MonstlloW, but partially because she "had to keep looking at that man's body the whole time." 🤣)
 
At this point, we once again grabbed some more beers and she asked me about the other bands that were playing (since she told the doorman she supported a particular one and realized she had no clue who they were). I explained that DIMLIM was my favorite, gulu gulu was a new band with familiar members. I wasn't sure the order of the performances at this time, but I was cut off at that point as the curtains opened again.
 
As the electronics of "GROTESQUE" began twinkling, I stood to immediate attention and noticed the crowd filing in very quickly. I excitedly stated that this was DIMLIM and as the band appeared, I took note of their visuals compared to their most recent photos at the time. Sho was not in his "clown" look from "離人" and instead was wearing something much more similar to the suited look from their more current appearance, glasses on his face in a look that reminded me very much of DIR EN GREY's Kyo circa "ain't afraid to die." Retsu wore face makeup similar to that of the photos, but rather than the pleather bodysuit he was wearing a very long trenchcoat. Taishi and Hiroshi appeared to match their photoshoot looks, while Ryuya wore the same outfit but with his hair tied up in a messy bun. Halfway through the first song, my wife turns to me and just says "ok, yeah, these guys are fucking good." 
 
One of the most immediate things I noticed about DIMLIM in this setting compared to the other bands that had played, is that their performance felt quite a bit...rawer than what we had seen so far. From someone who grew up going to punk/metal shows in the states in a scene that heavily frowned upon any type of backing tracks or sounds outside of "just the instruments in front of you," one of the things I found immediately standout was how many bands used obvious backtracks to fill in their sound at this live. It doesn't bother me, I can see the purpose and the value in it as it does add a certain "fullness" to these bands' sounds, but it definitely stood out. This is not to say that DIMLIM did not also use these things, as their sound does incorporate a number of electronics and multiple tracks, but I will say that it felt much less prevalent during their set. 
 
They continued straight out of "GROTESQUE" into "Malformation," which is probably my favorite song on CHEDOARA, so I was very happy. Every member seemed confident and "dialed in," but it was very difficult to divert my attention from Sho. (My wife made a comment about Sho, stating "I believe this blonde boy was on the train with us???" - I didn't notice, but I suppose it's possible? Haha.) His vocals were rougher than they sound on recording, but not in a way that felt bad or like he was incapable, just much more emotive. He stood on a riser for the majority of the set and really gave it his all from beginning to end. I know many have stated that he inhales his screams, which is troubling from a health perspective, but I really feel like he was exhaling a lot of them during their set as some stood out as very loud and impassioned. 
 
If I had one criticism, it would be that Ryuya's guitar felt too quiet for most of their set (something I had also noticed in live videos?) and I think they would have sounded even better if he was a bit louder, but they still played a very strong set. I did notice that the room was quite full for them in comparison to the previous bands, with a noteworthy number of males in the audience specifically for them and girls literally throwing themselves over the barriers while headbanging. (Another thing that I had never seen before -- they were straight up pulling all the way back and like...launching their bodies. That's dedication and western audiences could learn a thing or two!!)
 
Their set was intense and entrancing and everything I could have wanted -- I feel really lucky to have seen them with their full lineup, though I wish their set was longer! It felt shorter than MonstlloW and Hueye, though maybe because there was no MC, just song after song with no interruption. 
 
DIMLIM setlist (to the best of my memory)
1. GROTESQUE
2. Malformation
3. ...物狂ひ...なりて
4. vanitas
5. 「人」と「形」 (it was this or D.Hymnus, but I believe it was this if I recall correctly)
 
At this point, we're technically four bands in (and coincidentally four drinks in, so we continued that trend -- the drinks were really light!!) I kind of tried to explain who the remaining bands were, but GRIMOIRE started shortly after DIMLIM was done so I stood back up to watch them. 
 
I like GRIMOIRE a fair bit and have listened to most of their releases. I think their heavy songs are really well composed with cool guitar work and I was excited to see them for this reason. Oddly enough, they emerged with a very toned down visual look -- essentially a suit look for most of the members. RyNK wasn't even wearing his signature blindfold which I was kind of shocked by. The audience seemed to have quite a few very dedicated fans at the front, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't a bit worn out at this point after DIMLIM's set, which was a very different atmosphere. GRIMOIRE played a fun set that had a few of their "heavy bangers" with mostly lighter songs. That was a bit disappointing to me, but I still found them enjoyable overall, just a bit low energy compared to the other acts that evening. Unfortunately I don't remember their setlist!
 
Things are starting to get blurry to me at this point, but I'm pretty sure MAMIRETA played next. I had told my wife that they were a pretty wild band and that she might like them (though in truth, I was kinda surprised she stuck around this long! She seemed to be pretty into every band that played save for GRIMOIRE who she didn't really watch.) I planned to buy some DIMLIM merch, but then realized I was almost out of cash after drinks so...I just bought more drinks instead. 
 
I will cut straight to the point before getting into detail, but MAMIRETA is hands down one of the best live bands I have ever seen. They tripled the energy of the previous acts (somehow) and played one of the most fun sets I've ever seen. I've argued this point a few times, but I really don't think MAMIRETA would be out of place in a western hardcore festival (except for the whole makeup thing, lol)  Their music reminds me a lot of some of the nu-metal tinged western hardcore that has been a thing these past few years (Vein, Knocked Loose, etc.) 
 
Their look was pretty "low-visual" or "boy mode" as my wife started calling it through the evening. Just hoodies, jeans, and big hair. (basically the same as they wore in their "もしもし" PV)
 
I have heard some less than savory things about Batsu, their vocalist, but all of that aside I'd be glad to call him one of the best frontmen I've seen perform. An absolutely unstoppable force of pure energy from the first notes played -- he stole the show and just went absolutely hog-wild the entire time. By the end he was breakdancing, jumping out into the crowd and running around, then he borrowed someone's purse and hairbow and pranced across the stage before their set ended. (Which looking back may have been part of the reason people have issue with him -- the audience member seemed fine with it, but I could see that going less than okay in other scenarios...) 
 
I've listened to a fair bit of their music, but don't really know their song titles other than "お邪魔します." This song was a ton of fun live, the entire crowd chanting the "お邪魔します" line on command. I started raising my beer for this point in the song and Batsu immediately singled my out and pointed, yelling "hey!!" I'd be lying if it didn't make me feel a bit special...(but I am a fairly tall blonde dude, so I maybe stood out a bit...)
 
My wife and I were both very taken with their performance and if we were to go back to Japan I'm confident we'd go out of our way to catch them again. I really can't speak highly enough of their live show!!
 
Before the next band we tried to scope out the merch booths a bit in between bathroom breaks (and more drinks...?) I noticed that DIMLIM's merch attendant was already packing up their goods while all of the other bands were out with their items at this point. (Guitarist and bassist of MonstlloW were still behind their booth, pretty much all of Hueye were behind their booth or watching the other bands near the back exit, and MAMIRETA's guitarist was back there now, too.) 
 
As the curtains opened, the audience was greeted by a giant "ぐるぐる" banner and the members of gulu gulu entered the stage to great fanfare from a packed crowd (maybe the biggest crowd of the night?) Their opening SE came to a close as Ai entered the stage and they blasted into "変なメリーゴーランド," which I immediately recognized from the PV teaser they had launched a few days prior. They wore their exact outfits that had been used to promote the single up to this point and this was one of their first shows as gulu gulu (they were actually billed as 烏名 鳴と不愉快な仲間達 only to be updated a few weeks prior coinciding with their announcement to begin activities as gulu gulu). 
 
They were also extremely high energy, with Ai slinging around a megaphone and shoving the entire microphone in his mouth. Lanju swayed his hair back and forth and drew a lot of my attention as my most immediate favorite from their lineup. ("This bassist fuckin' slaps," according to my wife and I absolutely agree.) Their set felt very much like a "headlining" set in every sense of the word -- whether that was intentional or not (and I don't really think it was). They felt very professional, but still fun and goofy. The audience for them was probably the most intense of the evening -- they all seemed really devoted and it was clear they had been waiting for them most of the night. They followed Ai's commands religiously.
 
Musically I was glad to hear just how heavy they were, as this was the first time I had heard anything other than the sample of "変なメリーゴーランド." Their overall guitar/bass tone was really thick and despite the "fun" nature of their set, they still had a dark atmosphere that made them really stand out. They played "嗅覚障害" fourth for maybe...twice as long as the actual song? They held out a number of the sections, particularly the "la la la la la" parts what felt like an extra long time, Ai prancing back and forth on the stage as the band played the bouncy riff on repeat. 
 
Overall, their set cemented them as "the band to watch" and it's clear that they've maintained that reputation for very good reason. Of all the bands I saw this night (and in VK right now as a whole) they are probably the band I'm most interested in watching grow.
 
After their set they were giving out "red paper" (which I believe later turned out to be a link to their first PV) to those who followed them on Twitter, but my wifi box was dead and I didn't even realize what was happening until it was too late. They posted the setlist that evening and now I recognize all of the songs except for the second, which I believe is still unreleased?
 
gulu gulu setlist
1. 変なメリーゴーランド
2. 汚れた豚
3. 左手はスナッフフィルム
4. 嗅覚障害
5. 不味い麻酔
 
The last band on for the evening was The Guzmania. I'll admit that I was pretty exhausted at this point and had pretty much no vested interest in them (plus my dead wifi box was beginning to make me a bit nervous so I started to shuffle around the venue to see if I couldn't find an outlet to charge it for a few minutes...). My wife was pretty insistent on staying, to my surprise, and said she'd feel bad leaving these "nice boys who were trying hard" to play to such a small crowd. I agreed and we watched the rest of their set from the side of the hall. They had very few fans in the audience so it did make me feel a bit bad, but they are a very new band (I believe had just played their first live a few weeks prior). Their sound wasn't terribly memorable in my opinion, kind of jumped back and forth from pop-rock tunes to a few slightly heavier numbers. Their bassist did almost all of the MC and the rest of the band felt a bit shy. They took a bit of a long MC pause after two or three songs and almost made it seem like they were done for the night before they played three or four more, which surprised me as it made their set pretty long in comparison to some of the other bands. (Or maybe it just felt that way because it was the end of a long live?)
 
After this we hit the road, hailed a cab back to Shinjuku to save some energy, ate some late night KFC, and passed out for the evening. 
 
Sorry for the super long post!! Like I said, it was kind of stream of consciousness and probably included a bunch of unnecessary details, but it was fun to "relive" the event in my head. I'm hoping I can swing more than two lives next time I make my way to Japan!
 
Thanks for reading!

Unless they are popular and/or major,  nobody got money in the VK business. So yes, Buck Tick have some $$$
 
Acquintance of mine worked in the business told me how it work.
 
For the scouting to no name new bands, the systems are the label with lend them money, technically, for recording their first maxi, and it will usually have 1 or 2 upbeat songs, 1 ballad, and usually there will be SE too, this happened because budget given aren't big.
 
I said technically because the band will record their 1st maxi with the label's owned studio, and they are charging the band for it.
And after this maxi released, the band are in debt to the record label, not just for the recording, but also for the costumes, photographer fee and such, and each of maxi sold, the money goes into the label's pocket.
 
They pay up their debt, by selling their maxis, and another singles, or EPs, or else they will just disband cos they didn't make any money.
 
As for bands that never sell enough, they will be given options by the label, stop their music activity at once and never to be seen again, usually ended up as salary man, or disband and make a new band with another member of bands who also disband in that label.
 
If any bands disagree with either option, they will have a name change instead with new direction and looks and gimmick.
 
Meanwhile, those who always selling out singles after singles, after a year, they will be signed by flagship company (example: PSC). Meanwhile, the 2nd and 3rd best will be signed by secondary (i.e: SPEEDISK) and tersier (i.e: Resistar) labels.
 
Those who does not get signed by any labels but still want to continue will have to record music, they will have to do so with their own money, this is where shops like Like An Edison takes important role for them because releases below 500 copies will not be accepted for sale in major stores such as HMV and Tower Records. And the same reason why some bands did live show only CD-R album too often rather than official releases.
 
 
As for live shows at live houses, the band will pay for the live house fee, hence is why many new bands are always performing with 4-5 other bands to cover the rental fee. And depends in the scale of the event, usually each band will be responsible to pay for 15-25 tickets/band, say ¥1500x25, hence is why you will be asked who do you wanna see when you are attending concerts at Japanese live shows. And as for famous  bands or bands who affiliated with very good and reputable booking agency such as DNR, they will be listed as guest instead and free from all responsibilities from paying up the venue or at least they will gather their street team to fill up the venue.
 
Indie bands barely make any money, instead they got more debts, hence they have day jobs. They are only get money once they becomes big name in the scenes, signed by major labels, got endorsement from brands, and touring big venues all over Japan.
 
So if we are talking famous and established ones like The Gazette, DEG, Luna Sea, Buck Tick, L'ARC, MUCC, and such they make money and live well. But if we are talking about bands like Sibile Bashir, no they don't, they are dirt poor.
 

Not a fan of your band name but the music + video is sick. good stuff

Ahh hell yeah man. Lots of good stuff churned out during this period. One of my favorite tracks would be this one right here.
 


I might have listened to more of their discography, but I seriously don't remember. I do remember listening to this one track very heavily though. I remember when I first heard 'em, I called them the VK SOAD loll.

I would try DARIAN MARIAN, DARRELL, GENGAH, Misanthropist, Screech in2 the Rain., THE ENDEMIC OAK (similar to meth. before disbanding), Vercia.
Weird vocalists i would try Ⅸ -NINE-, gezigezi, MUNIMUNI, Noulla, SAVAGE, モンストロ

Hey! Thanks for your post, I  found it verrrrrry useful! I really like yumeleep now, if you know other recent bands with "weird" vocalists like him, I would be very happy Zombi I also found quite good! Definitely very promising music. And ORCALADE.... I didnt know about them before and it turns out the ex-singer of MaVerick and Eat-You-Alive is singing for them, which is so awesome ! I used to really like his bands and I still love his voice. So thanks a lot for your recommendation ❤️ 

In terms of bands I think still have their spark, I have to say ダウト. They had such a bad couple of years at PSC, once they left it's  been nothing but great releases. 
Sukekiyo has never disappointed me, although they haven't been around for *that* long. Even the mention of a new release has my mouth watering. 
I properly discovered Arlequin this year and I'm hooked. They have a solid style where I could point out any of their songs in a crowd and some people have got sick of it or see it as repetitive, but personally i don't think they're disappointing on any areas. 
 
Zonbi and GRIMOIRE are my two newcomer favorites. Zonbi's album released earlier this year was fantastic, I still have it on repeat. I hope they have a long life ahead of them. 
 
Yumeleep is a weird one. Musicaly they're very promising, but I can't deal with the singer. I low-key follow them hoping he'll  drop out but in the mean time I'm trying to get used to it. I think their concept is pretty interesting too, so I'll keep following them. 
 
ORCALADE's only release was promising as fuck. Just gotta wait for whenever their next one comes out. 
 

So is  Kyotaro all done with his host job and back to making music? He better be.

Vo.Kouzy(ex-CYCLE) & Ba.TOKI(ex.-DIST--->Rotten, now in HeavensDust, 44MAGNUM(support)) have joined TSP(Tribal Scream of Phoenix, originally stands for TAIJI(ex-X) & Shu Project) in 2013/11, and new line-up will hold their first live at Sapporo PIGSTY at 2013/12/15

their live-limited live full album (title not yet finalized) will be released at their last one-man live "～終戦(shuusen)～" at Ikebukuro CYBER at 2013/08/26 (limited 30)
 
 
SET-LIST at 2013/08/26:
 
01.極楽蝶(gokurakuchou)
02.餓死(gashi)
03.SANTANA
04.疑心暗鬼(gishinanki)
05.螺旋(rasen)
06.[THE INFERNO]
07.蛾臓(gazou)
08.菴(an)
09.ReXisM
10.虎錻邏(cobra)
11.すみれ(sumire)
 
EN1
01.Lyric Suicide
02.残骸の浄(zangai no kiyome)
03.AnimArch
 
EN2
01.虚しさに沁みる氷結(munashisa ni shimiru hyouketsu)
02.Exhalatio in Hell

Or maybe they spent $50+ on a CD that was given out for free at a concert with 1 song on it and, quite frankly, don't want it to be on every corner of the internet so your dying blogspot or awful tumblr gets more hits on a rinkydink visiter counter applet. And of course, they'll have to make another thread for the same thing because it wasn't ripped in lossless: I need to be able to hear the vocalist's spit hitting the microphone or music will not cure my cancer!! 
 
Of course there's elitism. The only way to get what you want out of people who don't like to share in order to feel good about themselves is to have something they want. If you want a live distributed album that was only pressed into 20 copies from someone in Japan who has it,  you're going to need some collateral. Calling them a cunt on a last.fm shoutbox isn't going to change their minds either.
 
tl;dr : people think they're holier than thou because they have certain things, but at the same time everyone else also feels super entitled to having everything and any quality as soon as they read a thread Trombe wrote saying it was maybe released maybe not who knows
 
 
~Privilege is a two way street~
 
 
Also echoing what Tokage said. The overwhelming majority of rarez really aren't good in terms of quality or even good songs. Sometimes they end up just being samples or members mumbling over an instrumental version of a song they already put out or, more often then not, they're samples of a CD that never gets released because they break up 5 minutes later. Additionally some things aren't even "rare," so much as people stopped caring about them for 5 years and all the links to it died.