Psycho le Cému

[jaymee 405]

How are there so many threads for indiefag bands but none for PLC? 

 

Ain't nobody doin VK like this anymore,  y'all.

 

 

So yesterday they revealed these new Doppelganger revival costumes and gya are losing their shit at how ridiculous they are this time.   I included the older version on the left for reference.

 

PLC Members -  Previous Concept → Current Concept

Vocal: DAISHI (D) - Cri'n Hunt Revolution → Animal Crusher

Guitar: Lida  - Heaven's Wings → Space Fire

Dance/Guitar: AYA  - Alice → Pink Fighter

Bass: seek - Ura-Ashitaka → Kajiki Poseidon (Marlin Poseidon)

Dance/Vocal/Drums: Yura-sama - Purple Prince → Purple Perseus

 

Edited August 14, 2017 by jaymee

[jaymee 405]

For anyone new to PLC or the PLC fandom/PLC lives in Japan, here's some general info about the band which you may find helpful.

 

PLC/Psycho le Cemu (Pronounced "Saiko-ru-Sheimu", and shortened to Saiko by fans/gya) is a five-member band from Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture. They formed in 1999 and it wasn't long before they gained popularity in the post-90s VK scene, landing them a major label contract and debut in 2003. Then, in 2005, Daishi was arrested and charged for using meth, and then the band soon went on hiatus. Unfortunately Daishi's arrest burned the band's dreams of playing Budokan, but unable to let this dream go, the members decided to reunite following their 15th anniversary in the hopes of still playing there some day.

 

Each member has a color and distinct character, and both are represented through costume and story concepts for each release.

 

Daishi (Blue) - The hero

AYA (Pink) - The girl

seek (Green) - The monster

YURA-sama (Yellow) - Warrior or mystic (Often depicted as being rich, noble, or egotistical)

Lida (Orange) - Sidekick or whatever is left over

 

You can find a general catalogue of their story and character concepts for each release here, almost up until their hiatus in 2005. (in Japanese) They reformed briefly in 2006 to perform a tour for the release of their Epilogue album, and then continued their hiatus status until 2009 when they toured to celebrate their 10th anniversary. Following another hiatus after that, they got back together for a 15th anniversary performance in 2015, before officially resuming activities that following September.

 

For the most part, their lives consist of playing their music before, between, and after skits or plays of each their story concepts. They also MC and tell jokes, often pointing fun at Lida, Yura-sama's big nose, or their (female) fans. Fans wear glow bracelets in their favorite member color(s). In the past, fans would also carry glow sticks in these same colors, but recently less fans are carrying them or have replaced them with light-up rings. Most of their songs have corresponding furitsuke, and new fans might find much of this furi difficult/overwhelming at first.

 

As far as stage positioning goes, despite being the leader and lead guitar, Lida takes the shimote position (audience left) while second guitar AYA takes the kamite position (audience right)

 

If you follow the fandom online, you'll notice that many fans and gya refer to other fans (and occasionally the members themselves) as Saiko Yarou (サイコ野郎) and the band as (最古). The former means something like "psycho punks" and the latter is a pun meaning "super old", seeing as both Lida and Daishi are already over 40. Each member also has their own nickname(s) online.

 

Daishi - D

Lida - リダ or リーダー (Leader)

AYA - アヤ or 彩 (AYA used to write his name with this character during their early career)

seek -シーク or  飼育 (a phonetic reading of "shiiku", literally meaning "breeding")

YURA-sama - 鼻様 (Hana-sama, or Nose-sama, because of his larger nose)

Edited August 25, 2017 by jaymee

[jaymee 405]

@InunahXI agree, or rather I prefer their harder stuff, which they had more of early in their career. Fortunately they still occasionally do hard song-only fan club lives.  

[jaymee 405]

3 hours ago, InunahX said:

 

Yea, thast quite unfortunately, i must say i never really tried all of their music,  but from what i have heard they interest me quite abit.

Might check them out more later today.

 

You should!

 

If you like their harder music, there are a lot of gems on Epilogue like "LOVE IS DEAD" and "Liberty, babies". Also semi-hard songs like "NOSFERATU" from Epilogue and "Matenrou Chaos" off their latest album.

 

Since they're reviving their Doppelganger concept this summer, many of their fans are hoping they play all of their harder songs off the Doppelganger album at some point during the tour. (And hopefully we'll get a DVD D:)

[jaymee 405]

Highlights of the 8/11 Fukuoka live:

 

- They played a new song "Mousou Graffiti"

- First half they came out in PLC Gakuen costumes and the whole session had a school/classroom theme.

- Instead of the usual skit, they played a video while the members were changing into Doppelganger costumes. In the video Lida and Daishi are recruited into the student council, but need training to control their Doppelgangers. While AYA mostly uses this time to get romantically involved with Daishi, Lida is subject to strict training and "bullying" from Yura-sama and seek.

- At the end of the video and during the live, some bad guys appear and PLC have to chase them to the final showdown at their tour final in Toyosu Pit.

- Although they played more newer stuff than songs off of Doppelganger, they did play "Planet Last Children" (with furi- super rare), "Justice" (rare), "Area", "Murder", and "Last Emotion". Hopefully they'll play other songs off the album at the other dates.

- Fukuoka's special "lucky item" was the black/pink bracelet.

 

Edited August 13, 2017 by jaymee

[jaymee 405]

Not many highlights for the 8/19 show in Nagoya, except that it sold out. The live and set list was almost exactly the same as the Fukuoka show on 8/11. There were a few notable MCs though:

 

- Daishi: "Yesterday Yura-sama and I went out for yakitori. In the middle we were like, 'Maybe Lida would want to join us. Should we call him?' But in the end we decided not to." (laughing) (Lida comes out) Daishi: "Hey Yura-sama, do the two of you (you and Lida) ever go out to eat together?" Yura-sama: "Nope." (laughing) Daishi: "I feel like if the two of you went out, the atmosphere would be kind of depressing. Like he'd want a hug. It's a scary thought, to be honest! Lida: "What nonsense are you two going on about? If I needed a hug from someone, I'd hug AYA instead!"

- Daishi: "Yura-sama put on matching purple underwear for his (Purple Perseus) costume! On the first day of the tour in Fukuoka he was like, 'Look, everyone! Look!' (laughing) He's that kind of person. (Daishi turns to AYA)  But I don't suppose you're wearing boxers yourself!" AYA: "Well, I am wearing a bra after all."  seek: "That's a little too extra."

- (Coming back on stage for the encore) Yura-sama: "Just to clear up any misunderstandings in advance, I want you to know that this spot (down there) is just sweat! I didn't pee myself, okay?"

 

Then later Daishi wrote on Twitter about being happy Nagoya's live had sold out, but in the tweet he misspelled the band name as "Psycho le Ce" (in Japanese) and got called out on it by Lida lol. The lucky item was the light blue/yellow bracelet.

 

 

8/20 Osaka show highlights:

 

 

- A lot more harder songs, including some rare numbers like "UNDEAD MAN", "Janus", and "Miwaku no Swing".

- The members seemed especially into this show compared to the two previous ones, and everyone except seek came out onto the bar to touch those of us in the first couple of rows. seek usually makes the most contact with the audience by diving into the crowd, but his costume is a little too big for it this tour. Yura-sama and Lida hardly ever come out onto the bar, so it was an unexpected surprise. Aya also stuck his guitar out into the crowd.

- Per fan request a while back, they've started to occasionally  play "Kanajo to Furudokei" live. At the end, everyone has put their hands around the shoulders of the person next to them during the "roman-tick tock, bye-bye tick tock" part  (including the band, except for Yura-sama playing the beats on the drums), but apparently AYA didn't look like he was enjoying this enough so Yura-sama got mad at him and made everyone do it over until he smiled real big at the end, and then DAISHI planted a big kiss on his open mouth straight up like some old doujin/fanfic shit... lol
- Daishi's MC: "I'm the vocalist, yeah? For the Fukuoka and Nagoya shows, my color goods outsold the other members. But after the live, all the other members got presents and letters except for me! I didn't get a single one! C'mon guys, can't I at least get a handwritten note or something? You could at least spare me some Ame-chan, right? (Ame-chan are these little candies that old ladies in Osaka often pass around.) I'm not asking for anything real expensive, okay?"
- The lucky item was the red/white bracelet.

 

 

Edited September 3, 2017 by jaymee

[WhirlingBlack 1043]

I actually saw them perform with Metronome last month in Japan. I went to see Metronome and my friends went to see PLC.

 

I did enjoy their set, but I've always felt that their theme is kind of cringe-y. But it might be because I'm not into the anime/cosplay world so I don't quite get the point, and it might be one of the reasons I never gave their music much of a shot in the past. I wasn't sold on everything but some of the stuff was quite good, so I might check out some releases again, I think I might even own a few CDs... somewhere... (unsurprisingly, my friends said the songs I enjoyed the most were quite old material.)

 

Will take recommendations!

 

[jaymee 405]

On 2017/8/22 at 6:00 PM, WhirlingBlack said:

I actually saw them perform with Metronome last month in Japan. I went to see Metronome and my friends went to see PLC.

 

I did enjoy their set, but I've always felt that their theme is kind of cringe-y. But it might be because I'm not into the anime/cosplay world so I don't quite get the point, and it might be one of the reasons I never gave their music much of a shot in the past. I wasn't sold on everything but some of the stuff was quite good, so I might check out some releases again, I think I might even own a few CDs... somewhere... (unsurprisingly, my friends said the songs I enjoyed the most were quite old material.)

 

Will take recommendations!

 

 

I'm so jealous! (lol) I wanted to go to that show so bad but I'd already decided on/had tickets to Fuji Rock when it was announced. I mean, I don't regret seeing Lorde, Bjork, etc. instead, but... I saw Metronome a couple of times yeaaaars ago, and even though I was only casually into them, I still have memories about how fun their lives were. I feel like since Metronome and PLC were both doing a lot of electronica-type music before, they had quite an overlap in fanbase, and seeing them playing with PLC would have been awesome. I hope they'll perform together again someday.

 

If you prefer checking out their harder stuff (somewhat in order from oldest to newest):

 

"Sei~Excalibur~Ken"

"Kronos"

"Trap Zone"

"Undead Man"

"Grotesque"

"Shikkoku no Gerunika"

"Indora no Ya"

"Identity"

"Murder Death Kill"

"Ai no Uta"

"Mind Core"

"Ginrou"

"NEO"

"one day"

"Panorama"

"Scream"

"Bushido"

"Nosferatu"

"LOVE IS DEAD"

"Liberty, babies"

"Idea-Lism"

"Kiss of Death"

"Matenrou Chaos"

 

When I first heard/saw PLC, I didn't actually like them. I had no idea wtf they were trying to do. It was just really confusing until I saw the whole picture lol.

 

I imagine it's harder for them to show at a taiban or two-man, but so much goes into their shows. It's kind of amazing. They come up with a completely new character and costume concept, along with a new play script and new jokes to perform on stage, for every tour they do. So although at first they might just seem kinda weird just playing randomly in costume... When you see the whole thing together, It's like you're watching a live action anime comedy with an awesome soundtrack. But you are also part of it all, because you're doing all the dances and representing your favorite member (character) as well. Like most VK dudes, PLC are super nerdy at heart, but aren't afraid to make fun of themselves or the VK genre/subculture itself. 

 

Each personality in the band is so developed, that every member feels equally as important as the other. (I can't say this about most bands I listen to, tbh...) Likewise, I think from a musical standpoint they're some of the better musicians in VK, too. And because the members' musical influences and personalities are so diverse, they never have stuck to one particular style or genre. ^^;; That said, I think their music sometimes sounds stale on CD compared to how energetic they sound live.

 

If you are still in Japan come September, I recommend checking out their tour final the 24th. ^^ I've never brought someone to a PLC live that didn't enjoy the show, regardless of musical tastes, and Lida and seek have quite a lot of gyao fans for a VK band (though not near as many as Dir).

Edited October 6, 2017 by jaymee

[platy 3018]

Now that Mix will be gone soon, I guess I better give PLC a try! 

Their lives sound like a lot of fun too. I'll take the recommendations you already mentioned in the thread ~

[jaymee 405]

17 hours ago, platy said:

Now that Mix will be gone soon, I guess I better give PLC a try! 

Their lives sound like a lot of fun too. I'll take the recommendations you already mentioned in the thread ~

Hope you find something you like!

 

They really are! I never get tired of seeing them because there's always something new to look forward to. I would imagine Mix lives had a similar atmosphere? (Not exactly sure because I only went to a few taibans they did when Yuki was still the vocalist.)

 

Tho I guess you could say PLC (and us fans) have "matured" a lot over the years. I can't imagine them ever passing out flavored condoms again or making the same dirty jokes/MCs they used to lol

Edited August 25, 2017 by jaymee

[jaymee 405]

Late summary of the 8/27 (Sendai) live...

 

Setlist was pretty much the same as Osaka's date. (Not my tweet)

 

- The lucky item was the purple/orange bracelet

- Daishi and seek commented how Sendai fans usually seem shyer than fans in other cities, but this wasn't the case today.

- This could be because this live was being streamed live on Nico Nico, and the members were really into it and working the crowd hard

- Because of this they made a few mistakes, and as AYA was hurrying to drop his pom poms (he uses for furi) after "You & Me" and pick up his guitar, he ran into seek, which seek mentioned during his MC.

- Not many of us noticed because Lida was making these weird, hilarious faces during the first half of the set and a lot of us were trying not look and laugh too much.

- Daishi asked how many of us were coming to the D'ERLANGER live on Sept. 16th and said that his first band in high school was a D'ERLANGER cover band, except for a time or two when they covered BUCK-TICK as well. Daishi said he felt bad betraying D'ERLANGER for BUCK-TICK, but AYA reassured him that if you had to betray D'ERLANGER for someone, BUCK-TICK was a perfectly reasonable excuse.

- seek finally tried to dive in his huge dolphin costume, but kind of just ending up rolling around on all of us up in front section.

- For some reason Darwin's A/C was super weak or the live house refused to turn it on/crank it up, so despite the reasonable weather, it was crazy hot in the live house.

- It must have been hell for the members on stage, and sure enough when a few other girls were holding AYA up on the bar at the end, we could feel his costume soaked in sweat.  Like Osaka, all the members came out again (this time even seek, who kind of just dipped his dolphin nose in the crowd for the girls in front to touch)

- I forgot to mention it before, but in between the encore when the bad guys (Gerunika) come out, they yell out stuff like, "We're going to turn you all ugly" and then hit random girls in front with pika pika hammers, especially the girls that "boo" them.

The final tour date is on 9/24 at Toyosu Pit, and there PLC will finally "battle" the evil Gerunika.

 

To date, they haven't played D'ERLANGER'S song "Darlin'" that they covered for the new tribute album. I'm going to the show on 9/16 so I'm excited to (hopefully) hear it live. Although the way ticketing went for the show I have horrible numbers omg... Haven't had numbers this bad on a long time lol. Just hoping some of other gya I know got luckier than I did and can save me a place up front during switch-out D:

 

 

Edited September 3, 2017 by jaymee

[jaymee 405]

Copying my 9/16 Abstinence's Door #009 live report from the D'ERLANGER thread.

 

I only went to the 9/16 live so I have no idea how Friday's went, but everyone's covers sounded a lot better live. General consensus from D'ERLANGER fans I chatted with and on Twitter seems to be that PLC's cover was best and a few D'ERLANGER fans said they cried during it. 

 

Band set order:  lynch.→ Psycho le Cému → D'ERLANGER → D'ERLANGER feat. 清春

 

Setlist:
 

Spoiler

 

lynch.

1. ADORE

2. GREED

3. INVINCIBLE

4. XXX for YOU

5. MIRRORS

6. GHOST

7. UNELMA

8. GALLOWS

9. pulse_

10. EVOKE

 

Psycho le Cému

1. BLADE DANCE

2. Gekiai Merry-Go-Round

3. Ai no Uta

4. Nosferatu

5. one day

6. DARLIN’

7. Matenrou Chaos

8. Liberty, babies.

9. Star Train

 

D'ERLANGER

1. Kilmister = Old No.7

2. NOIR-D’amour

3. Harlem Queen Complex

4. Harlem Queen Romance

5. XXX for YOU

6. an aphrodisiac

7. CRAZY 4 YOU

8. Barairo no Sekai –Le monde de la rose-

 

D'ERLANGER feat. Kiyoharu

1. I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT YOU

2. LULLABY

3. SADISTIC EMOTION

 

ENCORE

La Vie en Rose

 

 

Ryo from def spiral played support bass for lynch. (which I've heard isn't a rare occurrence?) and during their set, Cipher came out to play with the band on "XXX FOR YOU". Later during PLC's set, Seela came out to perform with PLC for DARLIN'. During D'ERLANGER's set Asanao (lynch) and Tetsu had a drum "battle" and he played "XXX FOR YOU" with D'ERLANGER, and after that seek (PLC) came out to play bass on "an aphrodisiac". Kiyoharu's set with D'ERLANGER was really short, and he only sang covers (no guitar). Kyo and Kiyoharu sang together for "SADISTIC EMOTION", which I think improved it a lot... Although Kiyoharu did a great job with the other two songs so not sure why he decided to go with "SADISTIC EMOTION" for the tribute. D:

 

For the encore of "La Vie en Rose", Daishi, Hazuki, Kiyoharu, and Kyo all sang together. Daishi was really nervous/shy the whole time because he's a big D'ERLANGER fan boy and it was really adorable because he never acts like that. I think he felt a little intimidated by Kiyoharu, too, lol.

 

I was really fortunate that I was able to trade up for a saizen ticket, although I switched out with D'ERLANGER fans after PLC and went toward the back of the front section to visit with some of the other PLC girls than came (not too many of us in comparison to lynch gya) and then caught Tetsu's drum stick. It was a really good show and I was really impressed at how accommodating D'ERLANGER was to all the guest bands. Like they were just so professional, put a lot of thought into making sure everyone had a good time, and I could really see why so many other artists look up to them (besides musically). Their fans were really nice, too. Lots of gyao.

[jaymee 405]

Also updating with a super late 9/24 Doppelgänger ~Next Generations~ live report. 

 

Spoiler

 

The ticketing was kind of weird this time since they had A, B, C, and same-day tickets, but PLC only filled up half/a little more than half of Toyosu (some gya at the back said certain areas were blocked off?) and this live didn't sell out or anything, but hardly anyone was selling any tickets on Ticket Camp and people were having trouble finding a ticket that wasn't whatever the worst numbers the ticket machines were giving was. No one noticed anyone filming, but someone said they may have possibly had a lot of VIP guests attending? (This might have been true, since a few big VK scene names like Akemi Oshima were invited to to come see the final.) 

 

Interestingly enough, PLC received flowers from PS Company, among a few others:

 

 

 

Anywho, there were a lot of girls than ensei-ed for the final and in addition to the goods they had before, they had holographic trading cards and stickers, member scrunchies, and AYA came out with a matching bracelet (or bag charm depending on how you use it) to the earring set, which sold out. The goods line was really long this time and luckily some live friends held my place before I got there D:

 

Surprisingly, the band chose not to bring out a cake for YURA-sama and seek's birthdays that passed a little bit before the final. The live was a good mix of the two different set lists they had going for the other four dates on the tour, and all the members were really in their zone. AYA was notably really energetic. Continuing the storyline from before, the audience cheered their favorite member's Doppelganger to defeat the evil Gerunika, but not without some hiccups as AYA accidentally "knocked out" Yura-sama. Overall the Doppelganger attacks were pretty weak. It was later revealed that one of the Gerunika was PLC's manager dressed up, lol. They saved "Remembrance" for this date as the "last song" with streamers shooting out after the intro.

 

However, the real highlight was that, despite Lida making a lukewarm speech about not having anything new for us soon and talking about recording again, at the end after the band exited the stage after "Remembrance", the big screen above the stage lit up and began playing a (kind of cheesy) video of PLC (on Sarushima it looks like) in indiscernible new costumes becoming "Gerunika" and announcing a nationwide spring tour. Just when we all thought that was the end, they actually came out in new costumes under a smoke fog to perform "Shikoku no Gerunika" (omg  my favorite song live) before silently retreating and leaving all of us shook.   Everyone pretty much died over how cool everyone looked.   It seriously had to be one of the best, if not the best, tour final PLC's ever done. The show lasted about 3 hours with 3 costume changes.

 

 

Set list (not my tweet):

 

 

 

New tour date video and flyer:

 

 

 

Also, October 2nd this week marked 15 years since PLC's major debut.  (On the same day, SOPHIA was also celebrating their 22nd debut anniversary.) A lot of fans posted messages, photos, art, etc. (also not my tweet):

 

 

Part of the reason this post is so late is because I've been working my butt off on a big translation project so I can lottery for all of/as many dates as possible on the new spring tour. (Omg I'm gonna die y'all D: ) For anyone interested, the Gerunika days will likely be most/all hard songs and the PLC/Doppelganger days more of a mix/pop songs.

Edited October 6, 2017 by jaymee

[jaymee 405]

Damn, PLC and/or Warner and/or Sweet Child have ponied up a huge wad of cash to put a huge promo banner for the tour in Shibuya Station. It'll be up until the 29th

 

 

[jaymee 405]

2018 tour kicks off tomorrow in Chiba!

 

This time they're doing two shows in each city with a split personality concept. First day is their Gerunika (evil/harder) side/costumes and the second is their Doppelganger (good/softer) side/costumes.

 

Gonna try to do some reports after each weekend, but we'll see how far I get because I'm following the the whole tour like a crazy person, work has been brutal, and I've fallen into the Star Wars reylo trash bin...orz

[r... 720]

the new promo pics look so cool. although seeing seek wearing something "normal" threw me off.

it's been a while for him.

[Tahmnong 0]

I'm so ridiculously happy this group is back and still the same as ever~  I hope I can get a chance to see them live in Japan some day soon, if I can figure out how to get tickets haha 
I can't wait to hear their new songs! <3 I'm happy to find they still have a fanbase here, all my Jrock-loving friends in my country seem to be over them :'(

[Paraph 826]

I will never not love this.
 

 

[Jigsaw9 6783]

7 minutes ago, Paraph said:

I will never not love this.

Never forget this absolute gem. I think I might still have this video lying around an old external HD somewhere, lol.

[daintypersnicketydingo 38]

Oh, one of my earliest loves, I was crushed when they went on hiatus and it gave me new life when they at last returned. PVs are always such fun, my favorite songs are 激愛メリーゴーランド , 浪漫飛行, Fantastic Fantasy, and Revenger-暗闇の復讐者-.

[saiko 429]

Kudos to them for this song. It's cool that they took the kote kei archetypical song structure and clichés (like every other indie vk band launching their first releases in the late 90s) and blended it with a really interesting, mysterious, instrumental interlude. 

 

Also, I wished they had kept the more androgynous, white face doll-like make up for the rest of their career (very inspired in Malice Mizer, I guess? Is Aya tributing Közi in this video?).

 

Edited November 12, 2019 by saiko