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Ex. FIXER and Ex. LIM members session band will perform at 高田馬場(Takadanobaba) AREA at a live event titled "Takadanobaba AREA presents コスモタウン夏休み～初日～ (Cosmo Town Summer Vacation-First Day-) on 2019.07.20. Members: Vo.タツミ(Tatsumi) (ex.LIM) Gu.優真(Yuhma) (ex.FIXER) Gu.宗馬(Souma) (ex.LIM) Ba.なお(Nao) (f.k.a. 70. (f.k.a ナオ(Nao.)(ex.FIXER) Dr.知哉(tomoya)(formerly written 朋弥(tomoya)(ex.シュヴァルツカイン(SchwarzKain) ex. FIXER (support) https://www.pikarin.jp/contents/243314

シビレバシル (sibile bashir) presents 『本能』音源発売主催劇場「優越感カテゴライズ」 @ Takadanobaba AREA 2016.6.08 This is the third concert I’ve attended at AREA in one week and finally there was a bit of a crowd for this one. It still wasn’t sold out… but moving from one side of the floor to the other would’ve been tough at this one; whereas the other shows I attended there were pretty much wide open for most of the night. I made mention of it in another live report… but holy crap these things start early! 3:30 in the afternoon is way before you should be thinking about attending a concert. Assuming the show will be ending around 9pm or so that’s over five hours of VK concertage; too long even for a show you like and rarely get to attend. (and it seems longer because I still think it’s weird to sit down between sets and refuse to do it on very misguided principles.) IGGY - Yes I had just seen them the night before at a different event show. Haha. Actually three of the bands playing tonight were repeat bands for me (from three different shows, I definitely hit the VK hard during my week in Japan). I kind of wondered, especially because I was standing near the merch tables in the back for both shows, if the dudes in Iggy didn’t think, at least briefly, “who is this giant white dude who keeps showing up but doesn’t come buy anything of ours?” For the record; I like Iggy but their merch consisted of two CDs I already had and checki… and I have yet to, and probably won’t, wade into the world of buying tiny pictures of bands I like. Anyway, the actual music performing was mostly the same. Same tracklist as far as I could tell, same outfits for the most part. The weirdest, basketball shorts wearing member did not have black makeup smudged all over his face for this show, though he did still move in the strangest, jittery way. It seems a bit premature to sound so jaded after a week of VK shows; but I think I’m kinda over the diving into the front row of girls thing they do instead of moshing. It has its place, and can be fun there, but when you’re by any definition the opening band and don’t have a ton of support in the building… it gets kinda awkward. Like, if I can tell from back here that you’re just half-heartedly jumping into the girl in front of you because the band is yelling for everyone to do it and you’re standing too close to ignore them, can’t the band tell two feet from you? I don’t know, it’s just, if you’re only going through the motions why participate at all? The jumping in one direction and then back in the other (which Iggy do during ‘Continue’) is still fun to watch though… don’t ever stop doing that VK bands! Archemi. - If I didn’t have anything new to add for Iggy I really don’t for Archemi. I did know when the having to kneel down, praying furi was going to happen this time though… so I wasn’t as clueless looking the second time. Later in the show I wandered over to their merch table, figuring I’d seen them twice now (once for free!), and they’d put on good shows… so I’d pick up Archemi’s newest mini-album. They didn’t have any CDs for sale (maybe it’s tough to bring those along when you’re playing shows outside where you live?), but they did have cheki… so I’m starting to realize what the real money maker is for VK bands and why selling songs online to the ten people outside Japan who would buy them just isn’t important for the visual economy. スタア区。(starku) - Starku came out in very pretty gold kind of R-shitei to me looking marching band-ish jackets. In fact the vocalist kinda reminded me of R-shiei’s if he were a 13 year old prone to temper tantrums. Starku’s vocalist also came out in flip flops…. Which is somehow according to my twisted logic even worse than being barefoot on stage. Overall it was a little too perky and colorful for my tastes, and the bassist was way too loud for his skill level (or at what he was asked to do); but just because it’s not my tastes doesn’t mean I don’t recognize that Starku have a lot of potential and were undeniably fun during some songs. They also dealt with technical difficulties better than most bands I’ve seen that had to pause for unexpected problems. Starku had to stop a song about 30 seconds in because the drummer was having some sort of problem. Rather than mumble some shit and act awkward, the vocalist and a guitarist started performing some, I assume classic, song that the crowd seemed familiar with. Then the bassist started to make fun of the stage right guitarist’s half falling off weave, and eventually just snatched it off and started waving it around like a lasso. The girls ate this bit up and even I was impressed by how easily they passed the time while the drummer was working to get things right. Doak - Yooo, so Yuuki is kinda a big dude, huh? Not like fat at all, just not a typical tiny VK bandman. He also definitely has big teeth. So I’ve been rooting for Yuuki since Unsraw’s -9- came out and it was like “holy shit VK bands aren’t allowed to sound like that!”. I don’t really like Doak, and only rarely really liked Unsraw, but I want to see them succeed y’know? (Yes I know they’re breaking up) Yuuki has always seemed pretty dedicated to the scene, and probably deserves more credit for mixing deathcore into VK like five years before everyone started doing it. A couple times during their set I could actually imagine the band onstage was a bunch of grizzled dudes with black tshirts… and I mean that as praise for a heavy metal band. I really liked Doak’s drummer, and how freaking high he raised his sticks before pounding his kit. He also had a giant crash symbol with the big holes set up slightly behind his head up high, so that when he wanted to whack it the motion had this innate flourish and pantomime that made you pay attention. When the set ended, instead of tossing a drum stick into the crowd, he just let go as he was striking his last beat on a tom and let the stick sail into the audience….. He was kind of a bad ass (what band will he be in next/has he been in??). Doak’s set included no talking, which I kind of prefer when I can’t understand what they’re saying anyway, and during their last song Yuuki just spit a bunch of water on the crowd and then stormed off like a boss. So, still don't’ really like what they’ve released, but they put on a good show. Morrigan - I’m pretty sure Morrigan only played two songs and then their stir the crowd up repeating song for like 15 minutes for their set. Luckily, the vocalist of Morrigan is unafraid of mixing it up with/in the crowd and can keep the energy up throughout. (seriously, I saw Morrigan twice in Japan and I’m pretty sure I’ve heard the two-minute-long-on-CD RIP for about 25 minutes live haha) My favorite parts of the mayhem were Aryu laying down across the backs of four girls bent over the bar nearest the stage, and when the bassist grabbed the guitarist’s giant teddy bear (which he holds during their intro) and started whacking the girls up front with it. Imagine a four foot tall brown stuffed bear making slow arcs through the air lit by strobe light as the bassist channeled all his energy into beating the crowd with it. Pretty surreal/amazing. Aryu had some fun with one of the Sibilebashir gloves that were for sale during a break in the set. (someone will have to explain the significance of those multicolored gloves to me) Morrigan’s drummer has somehow gotten away with a look that includes hair that probably takes only two minutes to style. Good for him (cheater!). Avelcain - Ooooh… they’re back in black suits like when I saw them in 2013. That is a bulletproof VK look in my book. Avelcain’s set (both here and the similarly long sets I’ve seen online) are definitely heavy on b-sides and slightly older songs. I’m glad Avelcain seem to dislike their most recent stuff as much as I do ;). They might be the only band that utilizes call-and-response well (that I’ve seen this week) in VK. It’s just a given that at American shows you’ll be stuck next to a bunch of people singing along inexpertly… Japanese audiences really only do it when specifically called upon to. I think it’s an engaging move that is underutilized. I’m a big Avelcain stan, but even I’ll admit most of the live videos that have surfaced of them have been rather lackluster. I’m happy to report actually in the room they sound much better than the brittle recordings straight from the soundboard would lead me to believe. I guess a lot of sloppiness can be covered up by the walls of reverb/noise live. Karma did sing most of the words too, which seemed like something he only half attempted to do in some live videos… and the backup vocal track seemed much more subdued in person. They ended their set with 死化粧 which is just an awesome song (and I’m not sure I had seen in any live videos of theirs yet). I feel like when tastes change and I’m listening to Avelcain in ten years, a lot of their stuff may not age well… but 死化粧 has the possibility to be a bit more timeless. Just a quality pop rock song with a hint of sadness that doesn’t rely too heavily on current hard rock/VK trends. A girl standing near me was quite literally crying during this track. It definitely had an effect on the crowd. I will say that the two most annoying fans in AREA were Avelcain fans. They weren’t actively obnoxious… but they sat through every band up to Avelcain’s set and were not off to the side/back where it might be cool to do that. If you’re going to wait for your fave to play… at least stand up and watch the other bands play. (if for no other reason than they were a tripping hazard sitting around while the crowd was jumping around during the other bands’ sets!) Between sets I noticed multiple people dropping benjamins (or you know, whatever the fun way to say 10,000yen bills is) on cheki at the merch tables. I have no comment other than to say thanks I guess… VK wouldn’t exist without you! Develop One’s Faculties - The VK band with the strangest phrase for a name going right now! First band I’ve seen that got a rousing round of applause as they took the stage, I imagine this was mostly enthusiasm for Johannes’ steampunk bikini. That video may not be from the show I attended. But they were wearing the same thing and played that song… so it may as well be. Gives you a good indication of how pumped the crowd was for DOF. I don’t think I realized how popular they were (you know, relatively). I liked their vocalist/guitarist and guitarist’s dueling solo moments. During the jump from one side and then back the other way (which, again, is a fun part of any VK band’s set) at the end when they came back to where they started everyone in the crowd that had a towel would toss it up into the air. Made the show look like a budget graduation ceremony. DOF had lots of energy and seemed like skilled musicians. They’ve got something good going it was cool to see in the beginning. (cue them breaking up…) シビレバシル (sibile bashir) - Up front I’ll mention: I enjoy the idea of Sibilbebashir’s slightly weird take on VK. And respect that they are the rare band who can do strange and dark without being *heavy*. (not to mention their fun video cover of Shiina Ringo) But I don’t really like them all that much. Though I did thoroughly enjoy the nurse-kei-ish look they had at this show. I don't’ know, their songs just have never really clicked with me. I suppose by virtue of hosting the event they got to play the longest set of the night. The crowd actually had thinned just a little bit by this point (I guess the people who come just for their faves had left… but tickets are like $45! Get your money’s worth girls.) The vocalist, as expected, was weird and very engaging. Their die-hard fans might have been the most dedicated of the night (based on my cursory evaluation haha). The rest of the band had a couple moments to shine, but for the most part deferred to the vocalist. Shamefully in hindsight, I left a couple songs before the end. It was a really long show! So if they did some giant, bunch of bands band out and jam together I missed it. As I wandered back to the Takadanobaba station, I noticed Sibile Bashir and Avelcain posters were posted at the station advertising their respective one-man gigs. I didn’t notice them there earlier in the day… as much flack as Shimizuya Records gets (justifiably!)... it would be pretty cool if they posted these ads during the show so everyone leaving and heading back to the trains would see them after seeing the bands. This show in general had a bunch of fun bands, and was a great last concert for my week of VK in Japan.