January
13 Belfast, Mandela Hall
14 Dublin, Academy
16 Bristol, Academy
17 Cardiff, Great Hall
18 Southampton, Guildhall
20 Oxford, Academy
21 Norwich, UEA
22 Nottingham, Rock City
23 Manchester Academy
24 Leeds, University
26 Liverpool, Academy
27 Glasgow, Barrowland
28 Newcastle, Academy
29 Birmingham, Academy
30 London, Brixton Academy

I am going to the last one of course and apparently DIR would be main support, wich means they will play just before the headliner Mindless Self Indulgence.

In my opinion this is a weird lineup…Dir en grey, MSI, bring me the horizon, in case of fire and black tide

Although Dio doesnt have any full lenght album they are playing a europeen tout. The UK date was first set to be played at the carling academy Islington then pulled off for a smaller venue, the camden underworld (capacity of 450).

When i arrived at the venue around 6.30 a small queue was there. Later i ve been told that some fangirls camped outside to be in the first row. Too bad for them with only 94 people (i checked with the staff) everybody was basically first row and the venue looked a bit empty.

The crowd was 80% girls 20% boys, the doors opened at 7 and we had to wait 2 hours for the show, no opening act.

During this time i met up with the tour staff, 5 french people. They were only 5 on this date and will be 10 for the French date which has sold out.

Around 9 the light dimmed and the intro started. One girl from the staff made the observation that DIO’s intro sounded a lot like Dir en grey GDS, but less powerfull.

When the band entered the stage my ears almost started to bleed as all the fangirls were screaming their hearts out.

I think DIO is the most VK band i ever saw. The singer was wearing his goth/VK costume with a pair of black wings, cool when he wasn’t moving but more funny when he was.

All the member were really stylish, i didnt had a chance to see the drummer as the drumset wasn’t higher than the rest.

Every members looked really cool, each with their own style. I remember the bassist had an eyepatch, stylish but not easy to see eveerything.

The sound was great, i think they might have played all their discography, starting with their latest single CARRY DOWN. I really enjoyed this song as the single version but the live is much more powerfull.

The band really played well and communicate a lot with the audience as less than 1 meter separated them. The singer often came in front of the stage to taste the  crowd, by that i mean that he was letting the audience gropping him like a pupet.

The only bad thing i can say about this gig is that the stage was too small for this band. With all the costume and the instrument the band didn’t have much space to move but this is for sure due to the low ticket sales.

They played for one hour and a half with an encore which was made of only one song, i can’t tell which one as i m not that fan but this last song rocked the audience, all the member were playing with the crowd, teasing, smiling and when the singer came on stage shirtless (and wingless) i can let you imagine the reaction of the girls.

After thanking the crowd in english the band left the stage with the usual pick and drumsticks throwing.

I stayed a little with the tour staff, talking about jrock and i learnt few fun facts like for example the gazette really have the rockstar attitude, but not in a good way. Also an cafe got a new keyboard and this guy is the victim of the band, not even allowed to talk during interviews. For last apparently Moon Kana is retarded and saw herself her fur bunny (not sure it’s the correct way to say that).

Then for some reason the camden underworld’s staff (thx for the free beers) thought i was part of the staff and locked me in. As stupid as i am i didn’t even ask if i could help unloading the stage and i left by the backdoor…too bad i didn’t get backstage this time!

I usually judge the quatilty of a gig by the days my neck need to recover from all the headbanging…that was 2 days…so it was a great gig

I found these vid on youtube, i do not own them.

I ve been stuck with the poor low-quality mp3 for a month and finally the single is up.

Becca is a young american artist with no real success in the US who signed with sony japan in 2008.

No success in the US but big in japan. I’m ALIVE is used as an opening for an anime, i don’t remember which one and i dont even care.

I really like the catchy tune, it’s smells like a cooler Avril lavigne, a lot cooler.

The single has 4 tracks :

1. I’m ALIVE!
2. ALONE
3. I’m ALIVE! (Animation size)
4. I’m ALIVE! (KARAOKE)

The Karaoke version is pretty nice, i wanted to figure out how to play the song and now it’s easier!

Notice that Jimi from Rock Japan Elec-tric acted as Becca’s fake guitarist for the PV!

4/5

]]> http://jrocklondon.wordpress.com/2008/11/22/cd-review-becca-im-alive/feed/ 1 jrocklondon becca http://jrocklondon.wordpress.com/2008/11/19/dir-en-grey-vinushka-pv/ http://jrocklondon.wordpress.com/2008/11/19/dir-en-grey-vinushka-pv/#comments Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:41:27 +0000 jrocklondon http://jrocklondon.wordpress.com/?p=108 ]]> After the sample here s the PV

Many people were wondering if the video would be ten minutes long and finally no.

They re-cut it for a 5.15min PV. So unfortunately when you cut a masterpiece (yes it s a masterpiece) like that you lose some good bits.

They cut my favorite part, when Kyo is in Donald-duck-fast-rapping-style. Too bad!

But we can guess why they cut this part, the most harcore of the song. I dont think it would have fit on MTV japan and deleting that part is a good choice cause it makes the song more easy to understand for non dir en grey fans.

The transition is messy…goes from an agitated-screeam-of-the-maggot-style-riff to a slow acoustic end.

Thinking about my life i realised that everything is working by pair.

A pair can be 2 complementary things, or an action and its consequence, or even a cause and then its resulting action.

Basically i think nothing can work alone. There is always more than one.

In a weird way there has always been pairs in my life.

Talking about events i broke my leg almost 4 months ago. Because of that i needed to go back to my country to heal, meaning leaving everything i built behind me for a period of 2 months. At first it seems like a bad thing (of course a broken leg is a bad thing) but it turned out to be better for me for some reason, and better for my pair at this time.

Maybe this is Karma or something but i think everytime something bad happen there is always another event, that you might not see straight away, that will balance the first even.

Even in a more general way nothing is working alone, there is always an aim, reason, motivation or cause to an action or event.

As a really simple example i could ask “why do you work” and nobody will answer “i don’t know”, because behind all of our actions, even the smallest, is a reason, something that s essential to the action to exist.

When i say pair there is obviously a romantic sense to it. No matter if it s guy/girl, girl/girl or guy/guy everybody is supposed to be with someone. Maybe it s the society who dictates that or maybe it is a deeper desire to fullfill life.

And for last even music is working as a pair. At first music is a way to express each and everyone s opinion but in my opinion the most important thing to music is the audience. Even if the first cause to music is a desire of expression (as for painting, writting…) the final element that will close the process is the audience. it will define if the music is good, loved, if the band is popular, how many dates will be on the tour, if the album will be a success or not.

i might give some more examples of pair later…

Now we can wonder if they re gonna make a 10 minutes pv or shorter

Gazette s new single is finally up (i m not sure it s officially out), LEECH got 3 tracks :

1 – LEECH : Heavy and at the same time a bit pop, Leech is really powerfull, deep drums, palm muted guitars folowed by high note (the same style as agitated scream of the maggots in the concept) and the rythm is really nice.

My favorite part is the breakdown. Ruki said in an interview that LEECH would be a song where fans can get crazy, this breakdown will be the most intense point.

2 – DISTORTED DAYTIME : the second track is a bit in the same vein as LEECH with the same tuning for the guitar i think. The same feeling as in LEECH is in this song, except maybe for some vocal which makes me think of Tokio hotel, sorry. The track is really good with some great parts but it doesn t have the same intensity as LEECH.

3 – HOLE : first listen, the first though : Raison d etre by Nightmare. The sound of the guitar are very similar and the riff is a heavier version of nightmare s intro. It sounds like but the song is totally different. The vocals are in the same tone as DISTORDED DAYTIME. It sound good but on the hardcore part i feel that there is too much gain on the guitar. I especially like the end with the echo and the bass leading the way out.

Here s LEECH Live (already!)

5/5

I recently got into Death note and now, thinking “death note style” here why i think the tour will happen and when.

Fact 1 : They always had a US tour and a Euro one after the domestic tour.

Fact 2 : They toured across the US and Europe for the promotion of their 2 last album (withering to death and the marrow of a bone)

Fact 3 : They are playing in the US for one month. I think the first half of the tour will have mostly the marrow of a bone and few Uroboros songs as a setlist. Then maybe half Uroboros and the rest, as Uroboros will be out.

Fact 4 : They are playing late december at the Osaka Jo Hall then will probably take a month off before starting a domestic tour for a month (As “The rose trims again tour”).

After that they ll probably rest and start a euro tour.

I think this tour will happen around May.

wait and see what happens

from the intro to the solo these 2 songs really look alike. Is girugamesh short on inspiration or just copycat?

@ Girugamesh staff meeting : “ok guys we need a hit song for our new album! But how to do that with a bunch of retards like you guys? Eureka! Lets just rip off a jrock classic!”

(ps : i love girugamesh)

check out 4am to find out!

thanks to Cliff.