Visual Music - Visual Kei

For my first free blog entry I originally thought I would write about the cherry blossoms which are currently in bloom, because like probably every other exchange student in Japan I excitedly went to Kyoto to see the amazing blooming flowers, saw all the hype they cause, and offcourse took many many a photos.

Taken in Kyoto, really one of the best places to see such pretty Sakura

But then I thought “hey…but a lot of people will be doing their blog on the sakura, I want to do something else”

 So I then decided to do my first free blog post on something I know rather well.

Japanese Visual Kei music

Japanese Visual Kei music is the music genre which has a reasonably strong and very devoted following in Japan, in which the band members dress in a stronger more visual style of clothing, will often wear a lot of makeup and have their hair dyed and styled in very interesting ways, for a Visual Kei band, their appearance is just as important as their music, but that is not to say the music comes second.

For a good Visual Kei band, you need to have both the right visual look and the right sound.

Needless to say, I am a rather big fan of this music style; I have a lot of knowledge on it, and have been to many concerts while in Japan (I tend to go to the more indie/smaller band concerts)

But all though in my opinion, Visual Kei fits in perfectly with the study of visual anthropology, it is difficult to write a blog with my own pictures in it on this subject as these bands are “not allowed” to let fans take photos of them.

So with that said, this blog post will be mainly written with video from youtube, and pictures from band websites and members ameba (like a blog)

For the case of keeping this simple and short, I will only provide examples from my current four favourite bands.

Jackman

Melt

Dragon Wapppppper

Dog In The PWO

Jackman

(the vocals sound a bit weird in this video, but I am pretty sure I was actually at this concert)

Jackman is a small local Kansai band with growing popularity

Their visual look as changed 4 times (I think) but they have only been active as Jackman for just over one year (before hand they were in another band without the drummer Roi)

Currently they have a different look than what’s in the video, with white and other light colours instead of black, however there is still a lot of orange in their current style.

However changing from the look in the video to their current look, the guitarist Mike is barely recognizable.

Mike's previous look

And Mike's current look

I remember going to the concert, in which they revealed their new looks (it was actually there one year anniversary concert) and when the band starting coming out on the stage the drummer Roi came out (as the drummer always comes out first) but the fans in the crowd where confused, because no one could see his face clearly everyone seemed to think it was instead Mike, leaving everyone wondering why Mike came out first, then Lon Lon (bassist) came out followed by the real Mike, leaving everyone stunned by the transformation

And just to neaten up, I will continue complete a time line of Mike’s looks while active as part of Jackman

Mike's 2nd look

Mike's 1st look

(all pictures taken from Mike's Amblo http://profile.ameba.jp/jackman-mike/)

Melt

Melt is another Kansai local band favourite of mine.

Not only is their music good, their on stage energy is great, with really friendly fans (this is a huge plus if you go to concerts, as some bands fan bases can be quite nasty, especially if you stand out like I do) and they are also lovely people to (try) and talk too, whenever I go to one of their concerts I usually get to spend some time just hanging out with them and talking to them.

And the reason I mention them in this blog (apart from them being a favourite of mine) even though with them still being a small band, and it being hard to find pictures of them, is because last night I went to a concert in which they preformed and also revealed their new looks.

second previous look

Current look (also pictures with support drummer)

As opposed to Jackman, Melt has a somewhat more casual look when it comes to clothing, however they still do they makeup and hair.

(all pictures taken from Yuki's Amblo http://profile.ameba.jp/melt-yuki)

Dragon Wapppppper

Dragon Wapppppper is a really fun band from Tokyo (although the bassist Nagisa is originally from Kobe)  their style tends to match their music which is bouncy and energetic.

School themed look

Their current style has a school based theme around it, it is not uncommon for Visual Kei bands to sometimes pick up a look with a certain theme, infact some bands will hold onto a theme as part of their persona, however Dragon Wapppppper usually has a more casual style, so it will be interesting to see how long they maintain the school theme

In their last released PV (promotional video)  with their previous looks, they can be seen with un-styled hair and without makeup while in the studio, but also with their makeup and hair styled, its interesting to see the mixture.

However Dragon Wapppppper is a band that does not seem to worried about occasionally being seen outside the visual frame without hair and makeup, as I have seen met them once or twice without makeup and styled hair (I also have a photo with them)

(all pictures taken from Dragon Wappppppers website http://dragonwapppppper.web.fc2.com/top.html)

DOG in PWO

DOG is a very interesting colourful band from Tokyo which changes looks quite frequently

Their music tends to have a pop dance beat to it, and their looks always match this.

with all of this examples provided, I will end this here.

I think it is clear to see just how much their “looks” effects this bands, it ties in with their music style and becomes a way in which they can further express their music and also a way in which their fans recognize them.

After all, its in the name right “Visual Kei”

Although at its core, its music, the visuals do matter.

But as a finishing note, I will provide what is not only a sneak preview of my end of semester final photo exhibition (on tattoo’s in Japan) but a photo I was allowed to take of a Visual Kei band member, however the identity will remain secret, as promised.

(so now this blog has two photos taken by me)