Does VK do it for you anymore?

[vanivani 558]

the vk scene is so vast that it's only as interesting as the amount of effort you put into finding bands that interest you. for me, it really is as simple as that. as someone who unabashedly invests a lot of time in exploring new bands

 

Just like the quote above I've spent a lot of time exploring new bands, checking out any samples I can find, etc. I've spent more time than I want to admit doing this lol I've definitely found a lot of shitty bands, but there are also plenty of good and amazing new visual kei bands out there... well, in my opinion.... at least bands that have grabbed my attention anyway.

 

I'm digging the new metal/rock movement in the scene.

But also enjoying the new more poppy artists that are coming out as well.

 

I've been a fan since 2006, and for me visual kei still does it.

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

For me, at least, the amount of bands I got into when I first found out this scene was a thing was fairly high, although many of them were broken up by the time I got to them. I followed a fair amount of active bands, but for the most part, 2008~2009 many of people's favorites were breaking up or went in a direction that seems to be unpopular. 

 

2010~2013, most of what I followed broke up, disappeared, or just lost my interest. However, from 2014 - now, I follow a fairly large number of newer bands, probably more in number than when I got into it.

 

 

While I do prefer bands that are much older, that doesn't hold any nostalgia for me (when things were GOOD!!!) because I wasn't aware of it when it was happening lololol

[odrep 68]

Well, to be honest, I have been totally indifferent if the band I listen is VK or isn't since I started to listen to japanese music back in 06.

 

I just like rock music, never really care how the band look like. I mean, I don't mind if is Sug or Boris, envy or Plastic tree and so on. I really don't make any kind of distinction in my musical taste at all. Not sure if this is what this topic is about, anyway.

[inartistic 1151]

Yeah, vk still does it for me! Like others have said, “all new bands suck, I miss the good ol' days” is just a function of growing up and getting over it. There are always good band and bad bands.

I actually think the past couple of years have been better for vk than the few years preceding! We have so many great recent bands―SIBILE BASHIR, THE BLACK SWAN, Femme Fatale, MASKED RIDER SYSTEM, ELM, DIAURA, Grieva, KUROYURI, the Gallo, AvelCain, ARLEQUIN, PENTAGON, HOLLOWGRAM et al, Develop One's, etc., etc.―plus emmuree, D, NIGHTMARE, GAZETTE, and other old guys still kicking it. DIR EN GREY released their first good music in a minute, MORRIE is running around doing shit, PLC's releasing new music, etc...

Imo it's a pretty good time for vk, if you just dig in a little

---

the vk scene is so vast that it's only as interesting as the amount of effort you put into finding bands that interest you. for me, it really is as simple as that. as someone who unabashedly invests a lot of time in exploring new bands, i won't even pretend to know enough to make generalizations about "vk" as a whole. (but evidently these days listening to 3 bands is more than enough for ppl to prophesize that vk is dying, has died, etc.)

That's something that I've always loved about vk. It's connected as one scene, but the musical variety is fairly vast. It's somewhat unusual to have fans of so many types of rock music under one roof, so to speak

[Pandabear 414]

Sometimes it does. Than again I was never really into VK. When i discovered Japanese rock i listened to the bands I liked because of their sound, it wasn't until later that i discovered some of those bands i liked where vk, and found out what vk actually was.

 

For a while ( a couple of years) i went through a stage of checking out and discovering a lot of vk bands and Japanese rock bands. I did discover some awesome vk bands but I'd say I ended up deleting 99% of the vk in my music library. Mostly because the music wasn't appealing enough for me and it was just taking space on my HD for no reason. I don't really listen to vk unless they're one of the few bands whose sound I liked from the very beginning. Or if they're putting out new material.

 

Occasionally I'll go check out a new band everyone is raving about and it can be a hit or miss in terms of me liking it. For the most part though, vk doesn't do it for me. Especially most bands that are starting out, or that are trying to be brutal. A lot of the time, the music is just not there for me. The instrumentals/vocals are bad to ok, compositions are meh to passable and the production is usually terrible or amateurish. That and I don't get the whole metalcore influence. Bands who end up going the core route rarely do the core genre any justice and get stuck being an awkward hybrid that fumbles around with the 2 sounds its going for.  I'm actually a huge metalcore and metal listener so I tend to hold those genres up to a higher standard.

 

I do agree there's great variety in VK, so there's more to it than just rock or metalcore influenced copyandpaste bands. Sometimes I come across those few new or old interesting bands, but for the most part, I don't go searching or discovering for vk bands. I don't really have the time, or interest anymore and I get my musical fixes from other scenes.

[Champ213 1858]

VK does do the laundry for me and occasionally my hair.

 

 

Seriously though, is it this time of year again to have another "Is VK dying" discussion?

 

 

Okay, seriously serious now, it's just music like any other, there's good and there's bad, it's always been like that and I'm pretty confident it will always be like that. I don't listen to genres, I listen to bands.

 

 

And as someone who is most likely the oldest person in this thread let me tell you: you never get too old for any music. XD

[YuyoDrift 1540]

VK does do the laundry for me and occasionally my hair.

 

 

Seriously though, is it this time of year again to have another "Is VK dying" discussion?

 

 

Okay, seriously serious now, it's just music like any other, there's good and there's bad, it's always been like that and I'm pretty confident it will always be like that. I don't listen to genres, I listen to bands.

 

 

And as someone who is most likely the oldest person in this thread let me tell you: you never get too old for any music. XD

Well it's more of a "Are you having a VK mid-life crisis?" type of therapy/talk haha. I think a few members here needed this.

 

Surprisingly, I didn't stumble across any previous thread related to this when I searched. Maybe I just suck at using the site hmmm.

[vanivani 558]

Well it's more of a "Are you having a VK mid-life crisis?" type of therapy/talk haha. I think a few members here needed this.

 

Surprisingly, I didn't stumble across any previous thread related to this when I searched. Maybe I just suck at using the site hmmm.

 

I thought your idea for this was really good. I can definitely relate.

Even if I said visual kei still does it for me, there have been times I've fallen in and out of the fandom.

Mine personally had to do more so with the fandom than the music. 

[Elazmus 1873]

I very much like the term "VK midlife crisis" haha I had one of my one early 2014 but it actually resulted in me joining MH! Happy 'bout it

2016 will be year 10 for me everyone celebrate

[BrenGun 2261]

I didn't know that diru and some other bamds were called visualkei until 2006. Because I was on a forum which they,called jrock... lol.

I guess I do listen to visualkei sinds 2000~2002

Back the I did love diru, malice mizer, gackt, pierrot, jda, raphael, rice, blood, larcu and few more...

But i was a huge gackt fan.

Mm.. vkei did chance in the boring mainstream rock of today musicans care lesser about quality and its much more about getting money.

Nowdays I listen only to a few bands. Still do love collect music. Rven if i don't listen to it at all. Lol

[Deathtopi4 428]

Hmmm... during the process of transferring all my music to a new laptop I took the time to delete some music I've gotten sick of, and most of it was from vk bands I've listened to for years. Still listen to plenty though, so I guess it could be said that vk still does it for me. I've gotten bored with the visual aspects of most vk bands I listen to though. Meto is one of the only dudes who keep it interesting.   

As for the question of more shitty bands forming, sure there are, but as it's already been pointed out shitty bands of all types pop in and out of existence all the time. However, I feel like the shittiness of new vk bands is a bit more noticeable. With all the various (and mostly pretty lame) jrock news sources I've followed/subscribed/whatever over the years I'm always seeing this or that about new bands forming, and on the rare occasion I bother to check them out they usually suck, because they're new. New bands sucking is not really unusual, it just seems more emphasized because these bands are brought to my attention with much more frequency than any other kind of new bands. Could be just me though. 

And as for repetitiveness, I feel like I find more bands that sound similar to each other when I'm exploring the non-vk side of music. Again, could be just me still listen to plenty of them too of course.  

[doombox 4421]

With all the various (and mostly pretty lame) jrock news sources I've followed/subscribed/whatever over the years I'm always seeing this or that about new bands forming, and on the rare occasion I bother to check them out they usually suck, because they're new. New bands sucking is not really unusual, it just seems more emphasized because these bands are brought to my attention with much more frequency than any other kind of new bands. Could be just me though. 

This is actually a really interesting side-point. I feel like in most other genres, I don't learn about bands until they've been around a while and gotten fairly decent at their style/playing bigger shows/got signed to a record label/etc. But with the visual news, we learn about a lot of bands just as soon as they open their OHP or play their first show. I don't even get that kind of information from bands in my own hometown, which is kind of insane to think about. 

[MaikoMizu 167]

You think the VK fad is starting to die out?

 

Visual-kei has definitely changed over the years from the late 1900's to now. I personally feel that it's become too focused on the outfits and a-lot of bands don't focus enough on their music skills. Few bands keep to the original look that nearly started it too but diversity is good. Die out though? Not yet, it's just becoming more engulfed in different things/mixing in different ways.

 

You feeling like you're too old for this now?

 

Possibly/Yes. I'm just trying to enjoy as much of this as I can before I move onto something new or whatever catches my interest. Although, I'll always have my CD collection and photos to remind me of what captured my late teen years as a solid memorial. 

 

You think shitty bands have been forming recently?

 

I wouldn't go too far as to say shitty but I'll say that a-lot of bands could spend tiime getting arrangements, members and ideas planned to see if it'll work out to the band's needs. Session bands are a good idea to test out and see where everyone stands at. 

I believe it's best for people to know one-another for a long period of time whether it's being in a former band together or band classmates/friends. You'll get a better understanding of their personality and if you want them to be in a band but thats not always the case. 

It's also good when people find other musicians that have been a multitude of bands and stayed until the disbandment, could be a key to determination. 

[Ikki 807]

I actually believe VK is becoming interesting again.  It has certainly piqued my interest in the genre, which is a first since 2005.  I doubt visual kei is dieing in any shape or form.  For every ten bands that only last a year, there will always be that one band that will be around for a long time to keep the scene alive.  As visual kei has already survived 30 years of high and lows, I can't see why it won't be around for another 30 years.

[Bear 1817]

Music-wise, yeah, sure it can still do something for me. There's still good bands popping out every now and then and so on. But I'll admit that I lost interest in the VK scene many, many, many years ago, and it hasn't come back. Not because there wasn't any good bands anymore, but because for every good band I found I had to try 50 boring/poor/awful ones, and todays it's probably even worse. And the good aren't even so good that it's not worth the trouble. And I hate the übermodern metalcore that seems to inspire a shitload of the bands nowadays. It's awful. But I still enjoy good music and there's still VK bands making good music. I just have a bigger problem findind them than before. So big problems that I don't bother, and I don't have a place which makes it easy to find new bands either.

 

Another problem is that it seems to be very trendy to have awful sounding drums. Clicking bassdrums without any bass or power whatsoever is the biggest problem with this to myears.

 

Image-wise it does nothing for me these days, though. Think pretty much every single band I lay an eye on looks like übershit

[Ro plz 1290]

VK is something that I'll always keep tabs on because I'm really big on seeing how things change over time. Music wise, its not doing it for me but that's okay because, from the time ive gotten into it till when i just stopped focusing on that aspect, Ive accumulated more than enough music and bands who's music i check out, whether they are active or inactive. I like metalcore but specific bands because they actually stand out and can make something great. Everyone else, you've seen it or heard it already(but there are some times where it sounds exceptional). This is the issue I have with modern VK. I do feel like at this point people should've caught on to that. However, there's multiple reasons why despite my dislike for it, people seem to eat it up like its something new when its not. And man...thats okay. We all experience music differently. What may not resonate with me, could resonate with someone else and thats cool. Its all music at the end of the day. 

[Nagisa 131]

For the last two weeks I listened to almost no music at all. I think I was kind of burned out from visual kei but today I've started listening to it again. I don't really keep up with new bands but from the very little I have listened to it sounds okay. I don't like metalcore though, so if visual kei is heading in that direction I don't know if I will keep listening to new music. I hope that I can always enjoy the existing visual kei music that I have, though, since if I stopped listening to that I wouldn't have much to listen to. 

[hariwenjiyu 23]

I get the feeling that the music industry in Japan is really strapped for cash. There is marketing, etc that is geared towards exploiting the obsessive tendency of VK fans more that ever. Focusing on the looks or name cred.

1) Old bands reuniting; starting activities again
2) Revival lives for almost any band you can think of are increasing, even if it is just for 1 day
3) Superbands forming that will have a guaranteed fan base (more, KEEL, Femme Fatale, etc.)
4) Bands selling out hard (why MEJIBRAY…)
5) PSCompany (I am glad A9 got out of there)

There is too much saturation without enough quality. There is not that "indie" feel anymore. The economy and decline of working conditions have lead to some fairly oppressive management on the labels behalf.

A lot of people who have followed VK since the 90s have seen the scene evolve. I think it is evolving again right now, but the state of the entertainment industry as a whole is stiffing creativity (the anime sector is another good example).

Personally, I still listen to VK bands. However, every year the number of new and upcoming bands with originality seem to be less and less.

[Velocantide 5]

I get the feeling that the music industry in Japan is really strapped for cash. There is marketing, etc that is geared towards exploiting the obsessive tendency of VK fans more that ever. Focusing on the looks or name cred.

1) Old bands reuniting; starting activities again

2) Revival lives for almost any band you can think of are increasing, even if it is just for 1 day

3) Superbands forming that will have a guaranteed fan base (more, KEEL, Femme Fatale, etc.)

4) Bands selling out hard (why MEJIBRAY…)

5) PSCompany (I am glad A9 got out of there)

There is too much saturation without enough quality. There is not that "indie" feel anymore. The economy and decline of working conditions have lead to some fairly oppressive management on the labels behalf.

A lot of people who have followed VK since the 90s have seen the scene evolve. I think it is evolving again right now, but the state of the entertainment industry as a whole is stiffing creativity (the anime sector is another good example).

Personally, I still listen to VK bands. However, every year the number of new and upcoming bands with originality seem to be less and less.

I completely agree. The lack of interesting approaches is just causing burnouts to the genre, seeing that it shoudln't be tied to a genre in music (which it isn't, usually).

But the repetition kills the excitement. Japan's labels are horrible, especially in terms of VK.

One of my friends living in Japan met MUCC two years ago, and they were unhappy and lacked funds to sustain themselves. This is sad, and this needs to stop. It's sad to see them squeeze out creativity for the heck of it, while being exploited. No wonder critics don't enjoy their music anymore.

[doombox 4421]

I completely agree. The lack of interesting approaches is just causing burnouts to the genre, seeing that it shoudln't be tied to a genre in music (which it isn't, usually).

But the repetition kills the excitement. Japan's labels are horrible, especially in terms of VK.

One of my friends living in Japan met MUCC two years ago, and they were unhappy and lacked funds to sustain themselves. This is sad, and this needs to stop. It's sad to see them squeeze out creativity for the heck of it, while being exploited. No wonder critics don't enjoy their music anymore.

 

VK is such a niche market, most of the bands aren't making that much money. It's not that different for niche markets in any music genre unless you are the biggest band in that niche. And even then... Especially when labels are involved, you'd be surprised how many bands you listen to on the radio that make basically zero money on album sales, this is not just for Japan but everywhere. The thing that makes it worse in Japan is they are pay-to-play. Which means labels and livehouses run the racket and bands can only hope they sell enough merch to keep going. Every band is exploited, that's how the music industry works in general.

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

As an example, Toni Basil never made any money off of "Micky" even though it is considered to be one of the most iconic songs of the 80s, and has its music video featured in an art museum as an example of one of the first music videos. Her label and produces made a shit-ton, though.

[mori 325]

I guess I stopped checking new bands in 2003.

I still have fun listening to 80's, 90's till 2000/2001 bands.

[TetsuAkira 289]

It still fulfils my musical needs. But I have to admit I don't find that much magic or joy in discovering new bands anymore. I guess because they are all so similar?

[Original Saku 1593]

not really.

 

other than a few bands that catch my eye every once in a while.... like DEZERT or IX-NINE- or KEEL.... okay quite a few VK bands have got me hooked lately xD

[Zeus 7997]

It does now and again. It's the kind of music I enjoy in bursts. If I go through every band in the scene in a short period of time I get burned out. But bands like KEEL and Arlequin keep me anchored firmly in the scene.