[from left to right] Daisuke (drums), Katsuya (bass), Taama (vocal), & Kubbochi (guitar)
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From the land of Okinawa in the year 2003, these four talent individuals joined together to create amazing music. They released their first album, MIND OF THE SUN, in 2007 and their first PV for "Momoiro no Kaze". It was a mixture of hard rock with a hint of traditional Japanese elements, mostly spotted in the vocal arrangements. They became part of the Danger Crue/Maverick family for a few years, until 2010. The band cancelled their contract, released For you, I will and took a short venture in the U.S. On February 8th, they will be releasing a new album called No Reason in the Pit.
I've been following these guys for quite some time. I think it was around the time Girugamesh came into the scene as well. ROACH has a very unique sound that could translate well into America without it blending in too much. Sure, people will have to adjust to the language, but watching the PV for "For you, I will", it didn't seem like people cared. After seeing their latest PV for their upcoming album, I'm really looking forward to seeing an expanded view of their growth. If you're still unsure about these guys, Satoshi (Girugamesh) and Miya (MUCC) have a part in this project. Also, if you enjoy bands like Pay money To my Pain, coldrain, and SiM, then this isn't anything foreign to you.
As mentioned before, if you read the previous post then you know that I feel that PS Company is trying to cut off overseas fans. I know there are plenty of devoted oversea fans that try and support by buying various CDs, DVDs, and such. Kudos to them! But it sucks that the company has been lagging behind the trend of joining up with YouTube to expose their bands more legitimately so fans don't have to infringe on their copyrights and risk their accounts. I'm sure these fans post these videos of PSC bands to show their support and admiration for them, perhaps get other potential fans to join the ranks of the PSC club.
I've heard and experienced many of these fan stories on why/why not fans pay for CDs. When I first started this blog, I posted several places 
Onto the next point, the band, labels, distribution, etc. I believe I mentioned this in a post concerning how the jpop industry should be more global like kpop, but it was something around the lines that Japan doesn't seem so openly "needy" for overseas fans when it comes to purchasing their products, but they don't discourage it. I think they have every right to feel this way since their music industry is a lot stronger than South Korea's. Even though I feel this way, I also feel that they know that international buyers exist, but don't bother to make any moves to make products more accessible aside from online places like CDJapan, YesAsia, etc. Like it would be nice to walk into a CD store that isn't in an Asian related area (ex. China, Japan, Korea Town whatever), but it's just not going to happen. I can understand why the companies fear that there isn't enough support outside of Japan and they don't want to risk the expense on exporting goods for the sells to flop.
Label owners Kiwamu (Darkest Labyrinth & Starwave Records), Miyavi (J-Glam), and Kisaki (UnderCode) even cater to international fans by providing various goodies that can be accessed outside of Japan. There are various tour goods, CDs, DVDs, photo sets and such that you can purchase from the Darkest Labyrinth and Starwave Records official site easily. Miyavi created a global fanclub that is actually effective outside of Japan, like his latest tour in 2011 where fans gained some special privileges. Also, recently Kisaki gave access to some exclusive UnderCode goodies via CDJapan, which is pretty awesome. Even though this union wasn't perfect, Dir en grey joined forces with The End Records/The Omega Order when they were releasing Uroboros. They offered decent deals, offered international special items, and made things easier for American fans. So, there is some progress in some areas when bands and their team get a taste of the outside world.
First, let's start with the uploading of their videos. I think this issue could be greatly reduced by the fans if the company just made a YouTube account or whatever to advertise their PVs and other videos, then they don't have to complain about fans uploading their products. I'm sure they are capable of doing that as I'm subscribed to various other Japanese labels and bands' accounts. Otherwise, they need to stop being so selfish with their content and let people advertise, because most fans discovered these PSC bands via YouTube. But I do understand that they could be losing a little money with these visual uploads, since, unlike most countries, they include these things with their audio releases. Hopefully, they get on that.
Aside from thinking most of this is total utter crap, until PSC takes action with the video uploading issue, I'm starting to think that maybe the label doesn't want to venture outside of Japan. It feels like that want to cut off the overseas fans, even though they have this global fan club thing going on. I've always felt this disinterest to connect with international fans through the GazettE, but now I really feel this through the company's behavior toward the fans. I understand that piracy is a problem when it comes to jrock due to many financial factors, but there are fans who do actually buy the products these bands create every year no matter what the price is. But if PSC is going to be like this and slowly cut international fans off little by little, then piracy is just going to increase and perhaps they'll lose fans by trying to control their actions.
Nightmare's cover of Fantasia's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" opens up the album. They essentially kept the original arrangement, but added a more rocking flare to it. I love the small bits of dueling guitar moments. Definitely shows a harder side to the band. Next is their cover of Aladdin's "Friend Like Me". It has a nice bass driven sound that's very lounge-esque, think of "Dasei Boogie" sound. I'm not completely sure if the lyrics are a mixture of Japanese and Engrish or what, but Yomi tried. Next track is the theme to Beauty and the Beast sung by LUNA SEA's Ryuichi Kawamura. The song is very calming with soft drums and stray guitar sounds. Rest assure, it still maintains its beauty in Japanese. Although, there are a few places in the song I get a bit annoyed with his voice, but overall the cover is good. Here's a song I really raised eyebrow to when I saw it. This is "Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride" covered by PENICILLIN from Lilo & Stitch. I honestly had to re-listen to the original to remember what it sounded like. I'm not completely sure what to think of this cover. It's really...odd. So, I'll just move onto the next song which is "Chim Chim Cher-ee" from the classical Mary Poppins performed by Plastic Tree. This was another eyebrow raiser. This definitely sounds like a grey cloud mellow Plastic Tree song. I kinda like it, but those who expected to have some sunshiny feeling like the original won't get that from this slowed down version. Surprisingly, this took me some to adjust to listening to Nightmare Before Christmas's "This is Halloween" by Sadie, but I really like it. Considering I've listened to the original and the Marilyn Mason version more often, but I like the arrangement choices. From Mao's growls, distorted yells, and whispers, it makes the song super eerie and the music sounds a little different then their norm. Lots of guitar highlights and musical risks. You probably never would've guessed, but "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" was one of my favorite Lion King songs as a kid and seeing that Ayabie's Aoi was covering made both excited and nervous. It's definitely more upbeat, which is a little odd, but it works with Aoi's voice. Good job, kid. 
We have another Mary Poppins tune by the name of "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" covered by none other than THE KIDDIE. This definitely was a good match. It has great energy and the Engrish is so cute. >//> I have never heard of Ninjaman Japan, but next is their cover of Pinocchio's "When You Wish Upon a Star". It starts off slow and promising, then it picks up very rock like. Not a particular fan of the vocals. Next is Snow White's "Heigh-Ho" by CASCADE which is quite...obnoxious. I've never heard of DASEIN either, but they close out this album with Tarzan's "You'll Be In My Heart". Of course, nothing compares to the great Phil Collins, but this was actually pretty good. The music is still pretty calming and the vocals match as well. Good way to end this cover album.
There was a time in j-indies rock that I thought people just picked up random guys off the street, threw some make-up and fancy costumes on them, and told them to perform like rockers. Usually, this leads to a bunch of failure and blind fans supporting visually appealing bands with no talent. Now, I can say the same thing with American music as well. I'm sure you all know my beef with hip-hop and rap music these days. But as a listener of kpop, I've noticed there's been an increase of groups popping up since last year. Some are pretty awesome rookies like Infinite and Piggy Dolls and others I think are complete busts like Girl's Day and Boyfriend. Since 2011 ended, companies have been announcing that new groups have been formed and trained to debut this year. That's all well and good, but, excuse me, you just released a new group last year or even a few months ago. I'm really thinking that the kpop industry is really focusing on quantity of groups as opposed to quality or longevity like jpop (or jrock, in my case) groups.
Being a fan of jrock, bands aim for longevity in the industry. Most don't want you to solely focus on their visual appearance, but the talent they bring to the table. Or in Girugamesh's case, they went for a minimal appearance so fans could focus on their musical abilities. Let me use a band I really love by the name of BORN. They started as Renny Amy, changed their name, sound, appearance when they became D&L, and did it once more when they became born. They've had their rough patches and contemplated splitting from each, but here they are bigger, better, and growing in the well known jrock label PS Company. Dir en grey have been around for a long time and have you noticed the growth in Kyo's vocals? What about the composition skills and musical abilities the other members displayed from album to album? From the handful of j-indies bands I read into, they all share a passion for music and need to spread that passion for years and years.
Aside from being annoyed by companies being too eager to make new groups and put their current rookies on the back burner, it's also quite irritating seeing all these carbon copies of already very well established groups. I know you ladies want to try to kick SNSD off their "sexy" throne, but labels are trying too hard to follow the near exact same path with groups like Rainbow, Nine Muses, and RaNia. I guess Teen Top, MYNAME, and Boyfriend are trying to push SHINee out of their "aegyo" throne with their innocent smiles and winks, but they're too busy trying to work the leftover noonas and charm their way with nauseatingly cute twins. I just saw some group called Twilight trying to be 2PM. I swear if I see one more fail wannabe G-Dragon or T.O.P, I don't know what I'll do. And don't get me started on this sub-group nonsense either.
Like conventions, the science fiction community is acknowledged as the starters of fanfiction with their love for Star Trek, Star Wars, and the like. For those not familiar with what fanfiction is, I'll fill you in. Fanfiction is a type of fictional writing created by a person from a specific fandom. They take characters from something they enjoy like movies, books, comics, anime, video games, etc. and place them in fictional situations. These fictional writings can range from funny and innocent to fluffy romances to dark and kinky. Some fans, probably ones interested in Asian pop culture or simply younger fans, probably think that fanfics are made for smut or slash pairings, but you can do whatever you want in fanfics, even nonsexual situations. They do exist!
I admit that I read fanfics from time to time, not very often really. I'm quite picky, but it seems like it's easy to tell what seems like works of a delusional fan and an artistic one, if that makes sense. It's all in the style and content of the fanfic, which is why some fans in the scene could be against it. The dangerous territory lies when romance is involved and the writer changes the character's personalities completely. Perhaps they pair two characters together they like and leave out details, in short, living out their weird little fan fantasies with this pair. It's weirder when they're Mary Sues (fanfics that include the author as a character in the story). I'm sorry, dear, but no one wants to read about your character making out with the GazettE's Ruki, please keep that to yourself.
On the other hand, I've read some pretty good fanfics that have character pairings in them, with and without the graphic progression. Although, I've mostly been reading jrock fanfics which kinda lies in a grey area if you're unsure how you feel about real people in fanfictional situations. I see it as TV series or movie characters, since majority of jrockers go by their stage names and have a totally different persona than reality. For me, I'm not that bothered by it. There are, indeed, pairings I disapprove of and fanfics I dislike because I enjoy substance like a regular fictional story. Also, a pairing doesn't have to be prominent either. Anything outside of jrock/jpop in the yaoi nature, like kpop...I cannot read at all. It just weirds me out. Even seeing kpop boys displaying fanservice is very awkward to me. Perhaps it's the fact that I just associate such things with Japan.
Once TBM's set was over, I was a little sad, because I was really getting into it and they're amazing performers, but on the other hand, I was really excited what Diru was gonna bring to the table. I had very high hopes for the boys, since that tragic night in 2009. DUM SPIRO SPERO was released this year and I thought it was a masterpiece like UROBOROS.
I wish I could've gotten better pics of them then, but I was too busy enjoying the show to squeeze my hand in my pocket to pull my camera out. There was also a lot of emotion and drama displayed through Kyo. He really put everything into each song, which was fascinating. He twisted, contorted, squealed, and morphed into some tortured creature that you had to keep your eye on at all times. He even put the mic aside to connect with audience and the other members interacted as well with us. It was great to see them let go of everything again like 2008. Most surprising thing for the evening, the dramatic, emotion filled performance of "Mazohyst of Decadence". It had it's original musical arrangement and everything and was performed like it was a brand new song. Apparently, they've been performing "Kasumi" other places which would've been nice to hear again, but I'm happy I got to hear that at least once. I hope they continue incorporating their older material with their newer stuff with minimal changes or at least if they do change it, go in the route they did with