Features | 2007.05.06 Talkin' 'Bout a Revolution The “Jrock Revolution” is on in Los Angeles May 25-26, and already entirely sold out, leaving little doubt that the popularity of “visual-kei” has grown substantially in America. The shows will take place at the 2,300 person capacity Wiltern Theatre, and has been organized by Yoshiki from legendary visual-kei band X and Kevin Lyman of the highly successful Van’s Warped Tour. Nine bands from Japan will perform, including alice nine, D’espairsRay, Duel Jewel, girugamesh, kaggra, Merry, Miyavi, MUCC and Vidoll, at what will be the biggest ever visual-kei event outside Japan. D’espairsRay is probably the best known of the line-up, boasting a large following in Japan and having already performed in eight foreign countries, including the States and at Germany’s outdoor Wacken Festival (and jetting off to Spain, Finland, and Sweden immediately after Jrock). According to the Jrock Revolution online poll however, as we write Vidoll has been voted the most anxiously awaited. Some readers from outside Japan may be wondering just what this “visual-kei’ thing is all about. At first glance the bands seem to have been inspired by groups like Kiss, the New York Dolls, David Bowie, Bauhaus, Motley Crue, and Slipknot, and definitely foreign based theatrical bands are one influence. But perhaps a bigger influence is manga and anime, influences that allow them to draw on science fiction, as well as dramatic self-reflection and Japanese history. Some visual-kei bands also share Japan’s general obsession with the French Revolution, and a number of bands wear costumes, some of them including women’s clothing, from 18th-century France. Huge hair, heavy make-up and colored contacts are also popular. Some in fact see visual-kei as related to “cosplay”, the Japanese long running boom of dressing on special occasions in way-out costumes with sexual, sci-fi, animation and horror movie influences. Musically the bands vary from very hard and thrashing to quite pop, but to generalize usually they have a hard rock sound with an ample supply of power ballads. Another way visual-kei is linked to anime is that a number of such bands have received their biggest breaks from animation tie-ups, such as alice nine. having the theme for Ginyu Mokushiroku. Also, some of the visual-kei bands have had the opportunity to play their first shows overseas at animation festivals. MUCC has previously played Otakon in Baltimore, and Duel Jewel have played Project A-Kon in Dallas, Katsucon in DC, Anime Central in Rosemont, Illinois and Anime Expo in Anaheim . Visual-kei is not all just theatrics and fantasy however; most bands include very accomplished players and members tend to be seriously dedicated to their bands. Despite the mixture of influences, visual-kei is widely perceived as a uniquely Japanese style - one which has slowly grown in popularity around the world, and at the moment seems to be doing especially well in Germany and Finland. There is no exact birth date for visual-kei, but absolutely one of the leading lights was Yoshiki’s band, X. The band was formed in 1982 and released their debut Vanishing Vision in 1988, with cover art of a woman in a leather teddy having her chest slashed, on their own Extasy label. This was in an era when few record shops stocked indie albums, but nonetheless the album enjoyed huge sales and led to them signing with Sony. X went on to achieve tremendous success, reportedly selling 20 million albums and singles, as well as 2 million videos. They were also the first Japanese band to ever sell out the Tokyo Dome. X signed to Atlantic Records in America with much ado, but the band started falling apart before they were really launched in the States. The band broke up in 1997, but reunion rumors started almost immediately, and have continued ever since, despite original guitarist Hide having died in 1998 from an apparent suicide. Since the dissolution of X (known in the States as X Japan to differentiate from the LA punk band named X), Yoshiki has been busy with a wide range of music projects, both as a musician/producer and as a studio and label owner. In fact it is now widely rumored that Yoshiki will form a super-group with Luna Sea guitarist Sugizo, one-time Malice Mizer member Gackt and a person to be announced soon, perhaps even at Jrock Revolution. by Keith Cahoon
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