Today's Band: The Gazette

So, technically, the title should be 'Tomorrow's Band,' but oh well. I'm sure that I'll forget to post and so I'm going to go ahead and do it now. As the title implies, today's band in our V-Rock Fest '09 theme is the super famous and still growing: The Gazette. The Gazette, in my opinion has becoming the leading face of Visual Kei rock to most foriegners, if not to the Japanese rock fans themselves, and I think their star is still rising. A little background info for you: The band got together in 2002, with all the current members save for Kai (drummer). Originally the band's drummer was a guy names Yuna, who scidaddled after their first year together, and they made the very wise choice of sticking Kai in his place, which makes the line up: Ruki on Vocals, Reita on Bass, Aoi and Uruha on guitar and Kai on drums. In 2003 they were signed to the PSC label and steadily worked releasing singles and doing tours, all around busting their butts to make it to the top, and they very certainly have. I would argue that they have finally become PSC's golden child, despite not being the oldest band under the label. The Gazette has just released the PV for "Invisible Wall" which is somewhere on my blog, and they will be realeasing a full album I believe within the next few months titled, "DIM," and will follow that with a tour.

My personal opinion of The Gazette is that they are quite visually stimulating, and to me their look is the epitome of what a groomed Visual Kei band should be (what with the deadly-looking spiky hair, the professional aspect of their makeup, etc). Even so, I'm not usually too keen on their music. I tend to categorize The Gazette with other bands like Girugamesh and Mucc simply because they tend toward the heavy rock (though songs like Reila and Cassis do show a softer side to them). But they've got some catchy ones and at the moment I'm stuck on one of their heaviest songs: Filth in the Beauty. Still, instead of sticking that video up here, I decided to go with 'Bathroom,' because it is my tried-and-true favorite, and really shows off the guitar skills of Aoi and Uruha. I actually have a version of this concert that I subbed, which I would be happy to upload for anyone that wants it (just comment or e-mail me for the link). Without any further ado, I give you The Gazette's "Bathroom."

First Sub Job in a Long Time

Hey there night owls! So I sat down to my computer today and did something I haven't done in a really, really long time: sub a video. I heard Yuga's Club Prince cheezoid song on my iPod and it was just so cheezy that I had to sub it. It'll give you a nice, exaggerated slice of what hosts are all about. To give you some info about the man behind the magic, Yugastarted out in a boy band similar to some of the Johnnys bands, but after hardly any time at all, the band busted up, and not knowing what else to do with his life, he turned to host club for his livlihood. Within 3 months, an unprecedentedly small amount of time, he rose to Number One at his club and split soon after saving up some cash to set up his own club. He founded Club Prince, and has since branched out to own several different sorts of highly successful business throughout the entire country, stretching all the way up to Hokkaido, and including host clubs, maid cafes and other businesses. I believe he is now 23, my age, and owns all these businesses and is raking in millions of yen, hand over fist. Part of what sets him apart from other club owners is that he has put his foot down on the intervention of the yakuza in club affairs, which is a common occurence at most clubs. He also refuses to allow his boys, even the best of them, to accept gifts from their customers, instead encouraging them to give it their all and buy for themselves. So anyway, there's a brief synopsis for you, and now, if you're ready for the cheezefest, here's the link: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YWQ4X6ZN

Here's the website for his club(s). Have to admit, not the best looking bunch of all I've seen
http://www.united-prince.com/main.html