First up, the last two †яi￠к PV’s that I don’t think we ever posted on this site. These are courtesy of YouTube user jaquelinedickinson. Won’t someone please convince her to join and help run this site so we can provide you with news that are actually new? 😉 Or otherwise, check out the above link and apply yourself, I’m still desperately hoping for someone to take charge of the site.
She also has some live clips of the band posted on her channel. Here’s one of them:
Aside from that, here’s a treat for the Aucifer fans! Makoto appeared at a couple of Thai events in December and luckily for us, footage of him performing some Aucifer songs has surfaced. You can thank CheekyDolphin for these.
First of all, I’d like to apologize for the inactivity of myself and co-blogger Henkka for the last several weeks. We’ve been busy with life and work (goddamn it I hate my job!!).
Now down to business…
After a long wait, Makoto’s only band other than Λucifer, † яi ¢ к is finally releasing their first single. It will be called Phenomena, with the release date is set at March 17th 2012. You can pre-order it over here, and watch the short version of the PV right here. Gotta say, it’s a pretty cool song. The long wait sure paid off. Here’s the tracklisting:
1. Phenomena
2. Artra
3. ADAM
4. Phenomena (Instrumental)
5. Artra (Instrumental)
6. ADAM (Instrumental)
They are set for their first one-man live tour with (only) two shows in Osaka (03/17) and Meguro (03/20) to promote the single.
They have also changed their line-up with drummer Kei Kashiyama decided to leave after failing to recover from his illness and replaced with TERO (left), the former drummer of VIDOLL. Another new member is guitarist Shintaro Mizuno, or SIN, a young musician (24) who joined them after being rapidly involved in live shows.
Hey, this is Henkka. Long time no see (almost 4 months to be exact!). First up, I ask that you read some important news related to the site.
It’s been a little quiet on Silent Melody lately. Me and GN-0015 are both busy with our lives and/or other things and as such, the focus of the site has switched from us announcing every little Aucifer-related detail (dates of NicoNico live chats and such) to just informing you of the bigger news (new releases, live show announcements, etc). Hope you understand. It’s for our own sanity!
I realize that a lot of the people reading this blog are especially big fans of Makoto, and so I should remind you: if you want to know all about the latest goings-on with Makoto, remember to regularly check out the Makoto Facebook group for news on him — including lots of stuff that never gets posted here! And for all you Tricksters, the best places to stay updated on them are the official †яi￠к Facebook page as well as the WE Love †яi￠к group.
In other site-related news, we now have a twitter account. Please do follow us on twitter to stay updated on new posts on the site as well as quick bits of Aucifer news: @silentmelody915.
Now then, on to †яi￠к news. They’ve announced both a mini-concert in Thailand as well as a brief tour of Japan. Details are as follows.
2011 Mini Concert We Are TRICK Live in Bangkok
Sep 24th (Sat) @ TBA
Doors 15:00 / Showtime 16:00
Advance ticket reservations from the WE Love Makoto group from Aug 1st to Aug 7th. After that, advance tickets from K-Project from Aug 8th to Aug 10th. Finally, ordinary tickets go on sale Aug 11th. Tickets: 2500 baht (all standing).
Lots of goodies for the Thai fans this time around, too:
a handshake session
chance to receive signatures from the band (50 fans)
chance to take a picture with the band (for 100 fans who buy tickets in advance)
On the Japan side of things, there’s a three-stop tour in October along with the band BIG BITES.
Autumn Tour of Tokyo and Nagoya, “BIG TRICK BITES”
Oct 2nd (Sun) @ HOLIDAY NAGOYA
Doors 16:30 / Showtime 17:00
Oct 7th (Fri) @ Harajuku ASTRO HALL
Doors 18:00 / Showtime 18:30
Advance ticket reservations from Jul 25th 19:00 to Aug 8th 23:00.
Ordinary tickets go on sale Sep 3rd.
Tickets: ￥4000 (advance), ￥4500 (at the door) (tax included, does not include drinks)
For more information on the Thai show, see here. As for the Japan tour, see here.
†яi￠к’s drummer, Kei Kashiyama, has fallen ill and will not be joining the band’s Tohoku Earthquake Charity Tour. He will be replaced by Aya Kondo (pictured below), the drummer of everset, another band that will take part in the tour.
Now… is it just me, or the guy really looks like Towa? XD Anyway, get well soon Kei, and good luck to the band on their tour!!
Makoto’s new band, †яi￠к is so active recently, and they’ve just made another awesome trick by opening their official Facebook page. It’s over here.
They also recently appeared on Nico Nico Live twice, doing some kind of talk show talking about various things. The first edition can be watched here, while the second edition, is I believed, gonna be uploaded in the next few days.
Also, as a reminder, Acid Black Cherry’s new single, Shoujo no Inori III is going on sale next Wednesday. You can get the regular edition here, or pay more for the limited edition and you’ll get a B2-sized poster. The title track is a remade version of a song from their first album, Black List. The B-side is called Joukyou Monogatari, a cover version of Sharam Q’s 1994 single. And here’s the PV. Gotta say, it’s cool.
Trick have just announced some live shows on their homepage which are all part of a charity tour, the cause for which being of course the recent Tohoku Earthquake. The live dates are as follows:
June 6th 2011 (Monday) Takadanobaba CLUB PHASE
Doors 17:30 / Showtime 18:30
Tickets ¥4,000 (¥3,500 in advance)
Line-up: everset / †яi￠к / back”cast”away
June 8th 2011 (Wednesday) Nagoya ell.FITS ALL
Doors 17:30 / Showtime 18:30
Tickets ¥4,000 (¥3,500 in advance)
Line-up: everset / †яi￠к / defspiral
On the tour, they’ll be selling silicone wristbands of which the production costs will be paid by the performing bands. They’ll be priced at 1000 yen and 100% of the funds generated from the sale of the wristbands, along with a percentage of the revenue generated from the tour, will be donated to STAND UP! JAPAN.
VISUAL goes JAPAN did an interview with Makoto a while back. Well, I say “a while back“, but I’ve been working on this on-and-off for a good four and a half months now. Holy hell. This one damn near killed me and my poor Japanese skill. In any case, I’ve translated it here. Enjoy!
This summer, Λucifer came back with a dramatic revival. What were their thoughts behind the reunion?
Λucifer’s vocalist as well as solo artist, musician and actor: MAKOTO. MAKOTO, busy with all these activities, talked to us about both the past and the future.
How did Λucifer’s revival come to be?
After our debut in 1999, reaching our 10th anniversary felt really significant.
There was lots of fan feedback asking if we wouldn’t do something for our 10th anniversary. After Λucifer’s break-up, too, us members would meet up for drinks and when we started saying “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could do something together for our 10th anniversary?“, that’s when it all started taking shape.
Did you go see the other members live, too?
I did. Like guitarist YUKI’s DUSTAR-3, drummer SANTA’s OLIVE SUNDAY, as well as lives of artists they were supporting. ATSURO’s the only one whose live I haven’t been to! ATSURO’s supporting a lot of artists, too, but a lot of them are voice actresses and going to those lives would’ve felt a little embarrassing. (lol) But I’ll have to go sometime. I mean, I haven’t seen him playing live aside from Λucifer! I have on TV though. Yeah, on Music Station, I did see him playing behind Shokotan, but his appearance was completely the same as when we were in Λucifer! A little visual kei-ish, that is. (lol) I was like “Huh? Is it alright to look like that?!” (lol)
He does the same playing stance too, eh (lol)
Yeah.
Everyone was also doing their individual activities at the time of the revival. Were there any difficulties because of that?
I think Λucifer has less rehearsals than bands normally do. We really drilled everything into our minds back then and so even after these 7 years have passed, it all came back to me really quickly without even looking at the lyrics. The others, too, were able to completely pull it off after basically just a little bit of fine tuning.
I see. So there weren’t that many problems?
Right. This time we had a different mindset. Back in the old days we were busy worrying about how we did on the charts and stuff. That was an important thing for us then. However, this time we did it simply for the fun of it all. Even now I think there’s lots of bands like that, ones that worry about that kind of stuff. However, doing music in an environment like that isn’t enjoyable. This time we distanced ourselves from all of that and it became fun.
It really looked that way!
Sorry if I looked worn out (lol) It’s my selling point (lol)
Not at all. It was fun that there were lots of MC’s, too.
After I became a solo artist it’s gotten bad. After the first 4 songs, I can go on talking for an hour! It’s already Chiharu Matsuyama-level. (lol) This time I held back though. (lol)
During the live, you made fun of your old character a number of times. Still, how was it like to become the fallen angel character again after all this time?
Oh yeah, the datenshi character itself was pretty questionable from the beginning. (lol) Back then I didn’t talk that much so conversely now I’m talking a lot like I usually would. There’s this thing the comedians Girin used to say. If you keep chewing on your food for a long time, at some point you’ll notice the taste will have eventually changed. They call that going “Beyond the Borderline of Flavor.” The same thing happens with your voice. If you keep talking, at some point you’ll suddenly notice you’ve crossed the line and you’ve been talking forever. I call it going “Beyond the Borderline of the Voice.” (lol)
I see, so MC’s were thanks to crossing over to the Other Side of The Voice. (lol)
Aside from the performances in Japan, Λucifer also went to play in Thailand. How was it?
In Thailand, the stage was really high up, around 2 meters or so. When I asked the security “Is it alright to stage dive from here?“, they said “No.” But then during the live there was an instant where I thought I absolutely had to. Like, an “I gotta do it now!” moment. So I did (lol)
Were you okay?
I braced myself and it was alright. The fans held me up and got all excited, too.
That’s good. After Λucifer’s dissolution, you also had solo activities in other parts of Asia. Are there any differences between Japanese and foreign fans?
If you want to make a good performance abroad, it’s important to take into consideration the culture and atmosphere of the country you’re performing in. As for the Thai performance… Thailand, a Buddhist country, has people who think very highly of unconditional love. As such, during the live rather than everyone screaming their heads off, it was more like everyone was thinking “Oooh, it’s the real thing～” while kind of holding back or more like, in the first half, they were just taking it all in, but when we got to the halfway point, the audience started getting more fired up. Therefore, compared to the 4 performances in Japan, being on stage was completely different. It was once again fun doing a show at a place with completely different culture. When it comes to the language, the members don’t speak Thai, so we crammed hard until the last minute so we could speak a little bit. Me, I like to use a marker to write what I need to remember on my hand, but if you write it on your palm, the sweat will wash it off and besides, it looks to the audience like you’re reading from your hand. So what I like to do is write on the outside of my hand. If you do that, place your hand up high and look at it that way, it doesn’t seem as if you’re reading something and you look like something out of a painting. (lol)
So you used that kind of a technique. (lol) So, if someone sees you abroad looking at your hand, there’s always the possibility you’re reading some memo you wrote to yourself.
Exactly. (lol)
How was it, seeing Λucifer come back to life again?
Though I’m 30 years old right now, both our debut and our break-up happened really early on, so I’m still thinking about how my life will turn out from now on. I have a friend who also has a band who made a limited time comeback and I went to have dinner with him after their live. At that time we hadn’t yet decided on Λucifer’s revival. So I asked him “How was your comeback?” and he replied “The audience doesn’t get fired up if you don’t have new songs.” That time, I just thought “Ah, I see.“
Bands are usually like, they release new songs, and they go “Alright, this time let’s go with these!” and then they tour, right? But for us, we decided to keep the focus on our old songs, and in doing so, I had to think about what my reasons were for getting up on stage for our anniversary. Sure, I could’ve just gone and done it without giving it a second thought, but I didn’t want it to be this lukewarm class reunion thing. Rather, I wanted to go and seize the energy to focus on my solo career and other activities from now on, and that’s how I had my feelings sorted prior to getting up there on stage.
Actually standing on stage, were you able to find that energy you were searching for?
Right now, my thoughts are that I strongly believe in myself, my fashion, my way of living, everything. Like, “Others can say what they like, but I’ll keep on going on the path I believe in!“
Λucifer announced during the live that it will again for the time being “freeze” its activities. Does it feel like the day that “ice” melts again is close by?
Standing on stage again after 7 years, seeing how Λucifer had continued to live in everyones’ memories made me really happy. Also, during the performances, it felt like the fans were smiling even more than they did before. If there’s this many people waiting for us, I think it’d be bad if we don’t get together to play once in a while! Although we’ll become “frozen” again, I believe we will play again and the others feel the same way, too.
We can’t end it here. It feels like we’re a band that’s still continuing to evolve.
From here on, we can expect your solo activities to pick up the pace again, and, compared to the MAKOTO of Λucifer, I think your fans are looking forward to seeing a completely different you again.
Though I’ve been a performer for 12 years now, my current status is that I’m still searching for myself, so I want to challenge lots of different things and I’m thinking I want to do work that improves me as a person. So, I’m thinking I want to do things like stage plays and sessions with other bands. For me, Λucifer is a thing of glory from my past, so before I return to do things with Λucifer again, I’m thinking it’d be good for me to see new worlds and learn new things from them to make myself grow as a person. So in that sense, too, I want to go on challenging various things.
Your stage play “Urizun no Kaze” is starting, too.
Yes. It’s a play about a tight-knit family that gets into a major crisis which nearly collapses their lives, and how with each others’ support they try to overcome that adversity.
It’s something completely different again from being in a band, so your preparations for it must be difficult.
Right. In my case, for that character who’ll stand on the stage in that play, I’m thinking about things like, what kind of a life does he lead? What does he eat? How much does he sleep? What kind of characteristics does he have? I’m thinking about all of these things one by one. When you think about things like this, the character you’re portraying on stage is going to gain depth. From now on, I’m going to practice and enter into that kind of simulation work.
When I was doing a period drama, for example, I was even wearing kimono at home. If I just put in the work during rehearsals and on stage, I can’t properly get into character. Until now, I’ve only done roles like bisexual sadist dentists or sword-wielding master fencers, just roles that are kind of strange. But this time it’s just an ordinary person, so that’s something I was looking forward to. It’s normally those strange roles that seem to be hard for actors as they need to be in high spirits. But in my case, it’s oddly enough the opposite — for me, it’s the normal salaryman or convenience store clerk I’m worried about doing. So this time it’s a challenge for me.
So people going can look forward to seeing another side of you?
That’s right. This’ll look like I’m trying to sound cool, but it feels like I myself am going to find a new side of me as well, so I’m looking forward to that. I want to put my soul in it and really make it a play that will move you.
As for your new band Trick, there’s still lots of things being kept a secret about it. Could you tell us what you can about it?
It’s a session band we formed with close friends of mine and we took part in a Seikima II tribute album. I don’t know about its future activities yet. It’ll be a band enshrouded in mystery.
But, when it comes to music, I have a clear fashion style I want to go for. When Λucifer debuted, my outfits were flashy and my makeup was light. Then, a bit later during our activities, my style got relatively natural. Now, I’ve steadily started moving towards both flashier clothes and darker makeup.
What I think I’m leaning towards now is the metal style or, I mean, using more ornaments and going for a flashier look, in kind of like a sadistic flavor.
Kind of like a cross between visual kei and metal styles?
Right. I like that kind of thing. Though I do think about how long it’s okay for me to continue using eyeliner. (lol)
They also posted a short video message from Makoto. Notice his John Lennon/Yoko Ono shirt!
Everyone gets a 2-shot picture + Thai tour goods as present.
There’ll be unreleased video footage shown and games with prizes, among other things!!
There might even be a surprise guest!?
Reservations start from 12/01 (Thursday) 10:00 o’clock.
Ticket handling and commission fee ￥500.
On a somewhat related note, Makoto’s band Trick has now opened their official website as well as MySpace. The latter has clips of a couple of as-of-yet unreleased Trick recordings.
12/21 edit: Λucifer’s new DVD will be on sale at the event. Those who purchase it there will get their copy signed by Makoto as well as the special guests who are, by the way, Atsuro (12/24) and Santa & Towa (12/25).
(Sorry for the recent downtime, I had computer trouble… thinking of purchasing actual webhosting for the site so this kind of thing wouldn’t happen again. When I do, I’ll let you know. In the mean time, my apologies for the downtime!)
