Is it art?
Is it music? Is it cosplay? Regardless of what you call it, J-Rock in the
"visual kei" style is attracting a small, devoted and mostly female group
of followers in North America. On hand to talk about the phenomenon were
disk jockey Sachiko Uchida and independent rock musician Rob Lobus of Denki
Tora. With its goth costumes and white-painted musicians, visual kei seems
to be as much about stage presence as music. "I don't think anyone would
do it just for the music," Uchida said. And there seems to be some influence
from American glam rock bands - even Kiss - but the Japanese artists have
taken the style to another level...
...although
there's also a link to anime and manga in the melodramatic air that the
bands carry on stage. The panelists noted that fans of that style of music
tend to be manga fans. Many of those fans cosplay as their favorite band
members, which isn't something limited to visual kei - go to an Insane
Clown Posse concert and look at the black and white painted faces. What
might be different about homegrown visual kei fans is the audience reaction.
They're not as noisy in Japan as in the U.S., the panelists said. What
surprised Lobus about the fans that he met on a recent trip to perform
in Japanese clubs that the people in attendance there were also big Marilyn
Manson fans.
The major difference
between costumed rockers in the U.S. and Japan is the way the costumes
are used. In the case of the previously mentioned Insane Clown Posse and
the often-mentioned Kiss, costumes and makeup presents the performers as
grotesque monsters. In Japan, musicians are idolized as men of unearthly
beauty that surpasses the female. "You have guys who are pretty, but they're
not as pretty without the makeup," Uchida noted. The grotesque American
rockers draw male audiences while the beauty of visual kei puts female
fans in the audience, but Uchida said the individualistic personalities
of those young women intimidates many Japanese men.
Is it art?
Is it music? Is it cosplay? Regardless of what you call it, J-Rock in the
"visual kei" style is attracting a small, devoted and mostly female group
of followers in North America. On hand to talk about the phenomenon were
disk jockey Sachiko Uchida and independent rock musician Rob Lobus of Denki
Tora. With its goth costumes and white-painted musicians, visual kei seems
to be as much about stage presence as music. "I don't think anyone would
do it just for the music," Uchida said. And there seems to be some influence
from American glam rock bands - even Kiss - but the Japanese artists have
taken the style to another level...
...although
there's also a link to anime and manga in the melodramatic air that the
bands carry on stage. The panelists noted that fans of that style of music
tend to be manga fans. Many of those fans cosplay as their favorite band
members, which isn't something limited to visual kei - go to an Insane
Clown Posse concert and look at the black and white painted faces. What
might be different about homegrown visual kei fans is the audience reaction.
They're not as noisy in Japan as in the U.S., the panelists said. What
surprised Lobus about the fans that he met on a recent trip to perform
in Japanese clubs that the people in attendance there were also big Marilyn
Manson fans.
The major difference
between costumed rockers in the U.S. and Japan is the way the costumes
are used. In the case of the previously mentioned Insane Clown Posse and
the often-mentioned Kiss, costumes and makeup presents the performers as
grotesque monsters. In Japan, musicians are idolized as men of unearthly
beauty that surpasses the female. "You have guys who are pretty, but they're
not as pretty without the makeup," Uchida noted. The grotesque American
rockers draw male audiences while the beauty of visual kei puts female
fans in the audience, but Uchida said the individualistic personalities
of those young women intimidates many Japanese men.
