anakuro

there were a lot of tears at the live today. you could feel how much everyone loves baddies. and their fans are the most welcoming group of ladies overall that i have met in vk. today was my 10th time seeing them and it's painful knowing that may 2nd might be my last time (i cant go June 1st).
of course, i dont think anyone was surprised but it's still tough to swallow. i hope for the best but it's hard to be optimistic with indefinite hiatuses...

1: Do you buy multiple versions of releases, or buy at all?

 

Yes. Sometimes multiple copies. In store privileges hollaaaaa.

 

2: Do you collect cheki or other non-music related items from bands?

 

Yes. Cheki are where the money is for them. It's like handing money to the band. (Of course, second hand cheki isn't like that. But 99% of my cheki was from lives). Also most of my cheki are pretty sentimental for me.

 

I also like towels (shows off who you are there for + a lot of bands have at least one song where you use the towel in furi).

 

Also, picks+drum sticks. Just ones I catch (I'm at 1 drumstick, 7 picks as of this post). I've yet to buy one (I would for maybe 3 bandmen though).

 

3: Follow them on Ameblo, Twitter?

 

Yeah. But I'm pretty lazy about reading.

 

4: Would you follow them on the street?

 

Not particularly. I have demachi'd before and talked to them outside the livehouse after a live/after they finish a set.

 

5: Dig through their trash? 

 

No.

 

6: Does Visual Kei or other forms of your musical taste influence your style or personal life?

 

Hm, well, I do dress a lot more differently now than I used to. Wearing jeans+a t-shirt used to be very common for me, now it's rare and I absolutely don't do it to a live. Personal life.....uh I talk about VK? People know me as the crazy that goes to lives on the weekends? Idk.

 

7: Desire to move or visit Japan influenced by music?

 

I live in Japan. Partially influenced by music, but I am interested in the culture, I got the job, etc etc. 

 

8: Do you read dirt-sheets of bands, like rumours, gossip, etc...?

 

Occasionally I go on tanuki but that is for specific reasons. (setlists, if something happened and a member is unexpectedly taking a break from activities, etc)

 

9: Ever fantasize about being friends with band members?

 

Hm, I guess I occasionally think about it. But not particularly. I enjoy talking to bandmen; it's like a second hobby of mine. But I don't particularly fantasize or try to cross the border between fan and friend. I like being a fan.

 

10: Do you want to be in a Visual Kei band (or any other kind of band)?

 

As a kid I really wanted to be in a band. I used to play bass. But I gave up that dream and enjoy being a bangya instead. I don't particularly have any desire to be in a band now. 

uglymouth - hey thanks i go to tokyo on a semiregular basis actually (like this weekend and next)
mosaic - thanks. i'll reply privately too but i'm going to say now: i'm not a shopping service.

Pushing all wide generalizations in this topic aside about "the scene", the only bands that have done this so far are small indie bands that I don't care about. Facts are that there is no good reason to do this. Let's run down all the reasons I can think of:
We need money to continue functioning as a band!
If you're that deep in the hole, one live where 100 people come to see you isn't going to save you. What are you going to do, continue to ask those same 100 people to play inflated ticket prices to hear you play the same songs until they're done with you? This stopgap measure just doesn't logically flow, so I have a hard time believing bands announce conditional disbandments for the money. If you're in a band as a full-time job, the most important aspect is money management. Poor money management skills have broken better bands than any we're passively alluding to, and honestly a lot of visual kei indies bands tend to focus on visuals before music. If you have more pictures on the internet than songs in your discography,
 


We want to play in front of a live audience for once!
Too many times I see upstart visual kei bands that I've never heard of before getting upset because they don't have a lot of fans, but every single other visual kei band started in the same hole and worked their way up! The fuck did you think you were getting yourself into when you're in a society based on appearances and you look like you got smacked with a rainbow's make-up kit? It's delusional to think that in eight or nine months you would be selling out a venue because it takes years for bands to do that, and some bands still don't even sell out a hall when they play! What makes your small band worthy to play to a crowded hall other than your temper tantrum on Ameblo? If you want to play to a full music hall, earn it with skill, dedication and patience. And if you don't, you don't.
We don't want to disband! The label is making us do it.
I'll have to let this one slide. Especially since the line where band influence ends and label influence begins is a little blurry. But this doesn't apply in the case where independent bands do this. Then there is no label.
The only reason I can think of is for a band's fifteen minutes of fame. Every band that I've ever seen pull this stunt have disappeared regardless of the outcome. I don't know what they hope to achieve with those fifteen minutes, but I'll let them have it. I'll never hear of them again anyway.

agreed. though the label thing is a little iffy because the label might be the reason why they are getting so little money (too little to live on, etc and the label might own the rights to the band name)....
 
some other reasons
 
it's a really tough schedule. actually, it's a really tough scene in japan. music in japan is dominated by idol groups.  if we're talking visual kei, then it could also be because they don't want to do VK anymore (I know of a couple metal bands who have guys who used to do visual kei...). this can also be personal reasons for a member leaving the band, naturally.

@stylelover: Thank you I actually have seen that before but from what I recall, if I'm not mistaken, you need to register as a member with a credit card (one time fee+monthly fee, I assume you can cancel your membership) at genka market which is why I haven't ordered from there. Also, I don't know if this is the case for them but a lot of Japanese stores only accept Japanese credit and I don't have a Japanese credit card. But thank you !

@fitear1590 here's the links to the live reports + in stores. A couple in stores were only getting photographs. I threw in when I met them distributing flyers too. Sorry if there are any typos. And of course these are all casual (and a bit fangirly at times) reports. Enjoy?!
2012.11.23 1st oneman live report. This was one of my first lives before I was a full fledged bangya etc. Generally it's rude to work up the lines like I did, but I think a lot of people were doing it at that live. 2013.3.28 vivi Birthday Special Live「気愛」...if I wrote something for this I can't find it. It would have been something like RUVISH was surprisingly amazing, Haruki has a wonderful smile; I still hate MoNoLith (sorry to any fans. They're not that bad but I don't particularly like them and somehow it's agonizing to me to sit through their sets...) and after they finished I started feeling terrible and blamed it on them until I realized I was actually sick. I got norovirus and had to leave in the middle of Souiumono, basically. I saw about half the set. It was a really bad and actually it was a pretty dangerous situation; I probably should have gone to the hospital. This live still haunts me. 2013.4.6 BRAND NEW WAVE Tour Final. 2013.06.22 littleHEARTS Presents MY little HEARTS. Tour Edition Vol. 2 (Okayama) 2013.07.14 殺人鬼の棲む街 IN STORE (pure sound) + littleHEARTS.Presents MY littleHEARTS.Tour Edition Vol.2 (Osaka) 2013.08.31: 3rd oneman live report. 2013.10.05: 大嫌いなこの星に生まれて IN STORE (fiveStars) + little HEARTS. 5th Anniversary 「MY little HEARTS. Special Edition Vol.5 」(Nagoya) 2013.10.12: 大嫌いなこの星に生まれて IN STORE (Brand X) also here's a pic of the cheki as it was being taken Yada + Kogoe + another Brand X staff were yelling the equivalent of "OMG" in Japanese but I don't think it was that crazy... I couldn't really see what was going on around me during it though 2013.12.7: タランチュラ IN STORE (Tower Records maru bldg. Umeda) Incidentally after he was told he was popular with foreign fans Nuppe had a few blog titles in English (the first one started off talking about it) 1, 2, 3 2013.12.15: while distributing flyers in odaiba after BugLug's live I'll be seeing them March 9th and March 30th as well And, if all works out, on the oneman on August 24th.
Hopefully I'll make it to an in store for the new album too~

@stylelover: Thank you I actually have seen that before but from what I recall, if I'm not mistaken, you need to register as a member with a credit card (one time fee+monthly fee, I assume you can cancel your membership) at genka market which is why I haven't ordered from there. Also, I don't know if this is the case for them but a lot of Japanese stores only accept Japanese credit and I don't have a Japanese credit card. But thank you !

@fitear1590 here's the links to the live reports + in stores. A couple in stores were only getting photographs. I threw in when I met them distributing flyers too. Sorry if there are any typos. And of course these are all casual (and a bit fangirly at times) reports. Enjoy?!
2012.11.23 1st oneman live report. This was one of my first lives before I was a full fledged bangya etc. Generally it's rude to work up the lines like I did, but I think a lot of people were doing it at that live. 2013.3.28 vivi Birthday Special Live「気愛」...if I wrote something for this I can't find it. It would have been something like RUVISH was surprisingly amazing, Haruki has a wonderful smile; I still hate MoNoLith (sorry to any fans. They're not that bad but I don't particularly like them and somehow it's agonizing to me to sit through their sets...) and after they finished I started feeling terrible and blamed it on them until I realized I was actually sick. I got norovirus and had to leave in the middle of Souiumono, basically. I saw about half the set. It was a really bad and actually it was a pretty dangerous situation; I probably should have gone to the hospital. This live still haunts me. 2013.4.6 BRAND NEW WAVE Tour Final. 2013.06.22 littleHEARTS Presents MY little HEARTS. Tour Edition Vol. 2 (Okayama) 2013.07.14 殺人鬼の棲む街 IN STORE (pure sound) + littleHEARTS.Presents MY littleHEARTS.Tour Edition Vol.2 (Osaka) 2013.08.31: 3rd oneman live report. 2013.10.05: 大嫌いなこの星に生まれて IN STORE (fiveStars) + little HEARTS. 5th Anniversary 「MY little HEARTS. Special Edition Vol.5 」(Nagoya) 2013.10.12: 大嫌いなこの星に生まれて IN STORE (Brand X) also here's a pic of the cheki as it was being taken Yada + Kogoe + another Brand X staff were yelling the equivalent of "OMG" in Japanese but I don't think it was that crazy... I couldn't really see what was going on around me during it though 2013.12.7: タランチュラ IN STORE (Tower Records maru bldg. Umeda) Incidentally after he was told he was popular with foreign fans Nuppe had a few blog titles in English (the first one started off talking about it) 1, 2, 3 2013.12.15: while distributing flyers in odaiba after BugLug's live I'll be seeing them March 9th and March 30th as well And, if all works out, on the oneman on August 24th.
Hopefully I'll make it to an in store for the new album too~

I wouldn't have expected any less, haha. They seem incredibly friendly.
I'd love to go see them live one day ;_;
(they better play banana when I go!!)

thank you!
 
I'm not sure if it's a yay but definitely something I couldn't miss they're really good live but I'm not surprised. Their energy has fizzled out at lives...
 
Thanks! Yes I am glad to share any information as an active bangya in the scene
 
I love Sel'm. The first time I saw them I can't remember a single thing about the performance somehow. I just remember that I was really annoyed with their fans.. But the second time I saw them I was in the 2nd row and that is when I became interested in them. My body hurt for 3 days after because of Sel'm!
 
 
Thanks! Wow that's impressive that you've been to Shimane! Did you take a trip to Izumo for the grand shrine at all or was it just Matsue? Unfortunately Matsue is about 2 hours away from where I live... I'd probably be more likely to stay longer if I lived in a city in Shimane (well, Shimane's versions of cities). As it is though I live in a small town in the mountains. You may not be a city person but I'd be interested to see if you'd still enjoy my town if you had to stay here for a bit hahaha... Our big gossip lately is that a drug store opened up right next to the old drug store.

Hi there, I'm an American living in a prefecture so mysterious even many Japanese people don't know where it is located. I go to visual kei lives as often as possible (to the point where I call it my hobby) but with budget and time being an issue I'm a "Saturday only bangya" and even then I normally only get one live in a month unless it's spring/summer/winter break. That being said, last year I managed to go to 33 events whether they were lives or in store events. This year I already somehow have 17~18 planned through May. 
 
Considering this, I have a ridiculous stack of CDs, cheki and flyers in my apartment...
 
I've listened to visual kei bands since about 2007/2008. I often cite baroque as my first band but before them I did listen to POLYSICS (do you even classify them as VK? I never see them playing at VK lives actually... but they certainly do have visual elements..). Now I don't listen to either too much. 
 
The two main bands I follow in Japan are Souiumono and Hana Shounen Baddies.
 
I also follow RUVISH to a lesser extent. I'm a big fan of Yeti but I kind of find them lackluster live (sorry!!) so I don't go see them as often as I could...
 
A few other bands I'm interested in: serial number, GIGAMOUS, rice, cocklobin, Sel'm, THE BEETHOVEN, minus jin-say orchestra, shounenki. 
 
I can speak some Japanese and have met quite a few of the members of bands (Souiumono and baddies the most, then RUVISH and I've gotten a lot of flyers from Shounenki) so I can tell you my impressions of the members as well if you are curious..
 
Besides VK, I've also dabbled in the indie metal scene a bit. 
 
I'm happy to chat about any of the visual kei bands I like or have seen. I might be a bit too chatty. 
 
Nice to meet you all, I hope we will get along