VERSAILLES ANNOUNCES BASS PLAYER REPLACING JASMINE YOU, NEW VISUAL KEI SINGLE. LONDON EBM NEW BEAT CLUB, ENDURANCE.
Blasting, flowing news! Versailles Philharmonic Quintet made two huge announcements at the tour finale on Saturday (at Tokyo’s C.C.Lemon Hall). Yukiro was at the Visual Kei concert, and reports…
† “Versailles announced that they have officially replaced Jasmine You with a new bassist! It will be the same guy (Masashi) they have been using on tour since Jasmine passed away. Black hair, black boring clothes: the new bass player is not even comparable to Jasmine.”
† “After, they played a new single that will be released in October. It was called “Destiny (…)” (something), a kind of X-Japan ballad with Hizaki guitars to it.”
Yukiro also witnessed the band’s glorious new stage costumes. “In the end, they came out in new, adjusted outfits. I’d never seen Hizaki look this good; he had a new red princess-ish dress with loads of red roses. Kamijo looked like a drag queen — he had the most sparkling cape I’ve ever seen; it was very delightful. And Teru had a nice cape sewed into his show-stomach.”
I am itching to visit London again, and hopefully will in the near future. (Camden Market’s Goth stores are whispering my name…) Cotton Bale was in London over the summer, and reports on a boss New Beat / Electronic Body Music / Aggrepo club night called Endurance. (All black/white photos by Mega Mega Mega.)
She writes: I remember trawling through London’s post-punk clubs in the early 2000s with DJ and musician Chris Flatline. He was a tough customer, and his complaints were two-fold. First, no matter what was on the flyer, the DJs always played the same Franz Ferdinand record. Second, people just stood around posing, and no one seemed to be having very much fun. Flatline thought that he could do better, and so he decided to start running his own clubs.
Flatline’s first foray into the world of party promotion was Tesco Disco: an art, fashion and music event. He ran it alongside Emily Strange (model, Stuckist artist and synth-pop group Client’s former bassist), and Kitten (of London glam rock nights Glam-ou-rama and Club Bohemia). He later went on, with one of the founding members of Tesco Disco, to start Future Brain, which became one of Shoreditch’s most popular Italo Disco nights.
Flatline’s current club is Endurance, a New Beat, EBM and Industrial night at a slightly seedy underground club in Dalston, which I recently attended. Flatline has achieved his goal: not only do they play the music that is on the flier, but it is great fun and everyone dances. Although guest DJ Matthew Stone of Boombox fame drew a fashionable crowd, I still thought the house DJs were better. Unaesthetic played mostly early industrial music. LVR played an impeccably mixed and superbly danceable set of EBM, while Flatline played his own brand of cheesy New Beat.
Endurance is held every second Saturday at the Alibi, 91 Kingsland High Street, London, E8 from 9pm. Entrance is free. For more info, check out the website.
Where are your favorite places in London to nightcrawl? What do you think about Versailles’ decision to have a permanent replacement bassist?
(Don’t forget to read my previous coverage of Versailles concerts, including videos. All of them are found here.)
Japanese Word of the Day: Uwasabanashi = Rumors
Song of the Day: A Split Second – Bend My Body Armour (The type of music you’ll hear at Club Endurance.)
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LA CARMINA
27 Comments
No no no, he hasn’t been replaced! Masashi is the 6th member of the band!
Jasmine You can’t be replaced! Simple as that! =)
No, Jasmine You will NEVER be “replaced”, but yay for MASASHI being an official member!! And I wouldn’t say his black outfit was “boring” – it’s because he was just a stand-in bassist at the time and wasn’t SUPPOSED to draw much attention. (He wasn’t even introduced at the show..) The new costumes however, I NEED to see!! Hizaki’s roses and Teru’s tummy T__T (During the show in Oslo, all I could do was just to stare at Hizaki in fascination – dress, hair, makeup…)
Sparkly cape – FTW.
Jasmine YOU is going to be always in our ❤ ♰, I’m so glad, it’s official! Masashi is now part of #Versailles_P_Q (¯▽¯)o ! うれしいだよ！
(sigh!) Finally some peace and harmony for Versailles lovers as the Quintet goes on as a… as a… ……Hextet? OH NO Versailles Phillharmonic…SEXTET! BADASS!!!I love Versailles and love Hizaki too much for my own good, always the most beautiful guitar player when it comes to coming up with chords, 2 minute guitar solos, or…just looking his absolute best. Endurance sounds pretty cool, never been to London though and I kind of have a feeling that I may never get to go in my lifetime since every time I did want to go there…something came up – and it happened like 5 times, so I just give up. I’ll see if there does come a chance.
But boy talk about an extremely different blog post…everything’s in black and white (besides Versailles). I mean just yesterday weren’t we looking at a bunch of colors of gothic lolita clothing? Didn’t I see a bright yellow gothic lolita dress, and a pink and black alice and cheshire cat themed dress? Wow anything can happen in this blog.
Oh by the way – I thought of another Halloween costume…although then again it won’t need much work…at all. But there’s another film by Chan-wook Park – his most recent: Thirst.
The vampire story which is 100 million x better than any of that Twilight crap.
But there’s a female lead in there known as Tae-ju. Might be something you want to check out. Kim Ok-bin put me in awe.
Ohh Thirst! I saw that…
I wonder if they have to change their name again… X_X
Anything can happen on this blog, for sure! Wait til you see the Visual Kei bar video I’m posting tomorrow… much scandal!
woah…i want to see the new bassist D:
Hey Carmina, you have to go to Camden Market if you visit London, its a MUST!!!! I’ve been there and I was amazed at all the gorgeous things there were!!! Unfortunately for me, I was out of cash, but still bought this hand made frilled Lolita head band! ^.^ xxxx mao, maoo!!
I was there in 1993 and 2003… and need to go back!!
New single is called: DESTINY-The lovers-
All hail Eternal member Jasmine 勇！！
V__V
its an ace little venue.. seedy reckon you’d love it :)
Funny enough that some of the people in those photos look stoned. I would not be surprised if they actually were xD haha
As for Masahi, he’s okay. He’s not as gorgeous as Jasmine, and something about him doesn’t impress me. Why did they have him try to pull off Jasmine’s look? It doesn’t look right. I suggest a new approach but that’s just my opinion. The rest of them look too fabulous <3
I doubt he will wear Jasmine’s costume; I’m sure they will create a new, unique look for him…
A bigger concern should be how the fans will react to him. Some fans can be pretty mean, especially since it’s the death of an old band member. Some may find it disrespectful. If they need a bassist, then they need one. I’ll still support them no matter what.
if you go to there website he has his own outfit which is kinda kool lookin http://versailles.syncl.jp/
My favorite London club is Slimelight… oldest running goth club in the world!
I also like Torture Garden events, even though entrance fees are pretty hefty even with membership.
Hm, I don’t know how I feel about this Endurance from the pictures… probably not my thing, although I’m sure it’s great fun for the people who go. But I like my crowd to be in crazy outfits and heavy-as-fuck make-up, not hipster clothes and old-man glasses. (Not hating, just saying.) :P
I can’t believe I’ve never been to either… MUST GO!
For a better example of what kind of people come to Endurance, check out the photo gallery on the facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=120506097674
I saw Versailles, last july in Barcelona, and they were incredible! I love Masashi… and I don´t think his black clothes are boring… I think they were black because of Yasmine death… isn´t it? Well… I scream Masashi!!! and Kamijo and Hizaki stared at me and a friend with sourprise face (wow, a spanish little girl knows who is Masashi! they thougth XD) and at the end of the concert they introduced Masashi and Yasmine… I think that it was the only one concert in europe that Masashi was introduced
looks like sooo much fun!!!!!!
Well, they’re not exactly “replacing” Jasmine You. Masashi is the official SIXTH member of Versailles. I think he’ll do a good job though he will never be able to ‘replace’ Jasmine <3 ;D
Ah, Camden, where I can walk around in my frilliest outfits and not feel out of place… Slimelight is apparently awesome. I am not a member and have not yet been, but a good friend of mine is, and promises to get me in, hopefully, sometime soon. He cannot speak in high enough terms. Inferno at the Electric Ballroom in Camden was great last time I was there. Took a while for the night to get started, (I blame that on not spending enough time in the Devonshire Arms first (goth, metal, alt. pub) but once it got going, it was really going! The metal floor upstairs had gone into some crazy whirlpool formation of moshers and a few escapees from the metal floor started moshing on the goth floor, but they kinda kept to their own area and didn’t ruin it for the goth people – although I think their presence encouraged the DJ to play a few more moshable tracks – so the odd bit of Rammstein in with the Siouxsie & The Banshees! Other than that it was great – a good mix of goth tribes, from the cyber people to a few corp goths, a scary-looking (but probably really nice) fetish lady, my boyfriend in Victoriana, a couple of lolita-ish types, deathrockers, everything. The Devonshire Arms is definitely worth going to in Camden. Often when I go into pubs, even if I try to dress down a bit, I get strange looks at best, rudeness sometimes even, because the patrons all mainstream and not very welcoming. At the Devonshire Arms virtually everyone is alternative, and when some guy in a suit walked in for a pint, nobody cared that he was a man in a suit and not in purple hair & piercings or something – strange how it works one way, but not the other… I’ve been to some of the shops and stalls selling things to the lolita market. Good things: even I, who stands nigh on 5’10 and is rather curved, can find things that fit, there’s now several places so one can find a diverse range and even some of the goth shops that once sold mainly trad/deathrocker/romantic stuff have things that are more lolita friendly. Bad things: trousers I bought at GL&P fell apart very quickly and have only been kept alive by lots of sewing and a bit of ingenuity, rose buttons fell off the shirt I bought at the lolita shop at the bridge, frilly shirt I bought at a different shop again shrank dramatically in mere hot weather… Things are beautiful, but the quality is sometimes dubious. Not everything I have bought from lolita shops in Camden fell apart, but quite a few. Somethings have lasted well, and everything was really pretty and does not LOOK cheap or tacky. The shop on the bridge, when I was there, had changing areas that were not walled but encircled in vast, heavy and beautiful baroque looking curtains as if robbed from a princess’s bed. I asked the owner where she got them but I can’t remember what she said >< I want some for my room!
In Reading, Berkshire, 35 miles out from London, there's a little (small!) goth shop where the Eastern European proprietor makes lovely leather goods from wonderful masks to bracers, belts, guitar-straps. The shop is in an alternative arcade called the Harisson Arcade that also houses two vintage shops (one, called Tiger Lilly's, where I bought the most GORGEOUS red satin shoes with black lace trim and little bows) and an Oxfam charity shop selling weird and wonderful creations spanning from gothic to lolita and boho and hippie made by local fashion students from normal charity shop donations that's well worth visiting. Unfortunately, other than that, Reading's not that nice. It has a monthly goth night at the Face Bar, but it has gone downhill – there's still a substantial goth population, but it's not what it was. (I used to live around there) There is a problem with what in the UK gets called "chavs" harassing alternative types. I refuse to look alternative when I'm there after dark now because of the agression and violence shown towards me there – I had to go in the train station to feel safe because I knew that there's always lots of police there! So, NOT good for nightcrawling, but has a few good shops. In Broad St. Mall there's a shop called Dark Muse that sells Emo, scene, goth, even a couple of lolita-ish things and lovely venetian masks. They also do Iron Fist shoes! I got this lovely cat bag from there that's by Living Dead Souls and it's in the shape of a very adorable black cat. A good alt. pub in Reading is the Purple Turtle.
Bristol had an amazing goth, punk, alternative, etc. scene when I lived there, about 6 years ago (when I was still not quite 18 and therefore could but hang on the periphery) but has since had a major redevelopment program and while the people and scene hasn't gone, it seems to have scattered out of its old haunts as the centre got lots of shiny new buildings and trendy wine bars and the prices went up. I expect St. Nick's Market still has a lot of alternative stalls to browse, and Gloucester Rd. is still wonderfully weird. Shrinking Violet's is now one of said trendy wine bars :(
Rochester, Kent, has good alt. shopping, but I haven't been there in ages (years…). I remember that there was one street where I went from goth shop to Pagan shop to hippie shop (which sold goth dresses and was run by a romantic goth…), to a shop that sold weapons, to this really vast book shop, to some other strange shops… Fun, random, but fun.
Hope this is helpful if you are planning a trip to England!
(p.s I tried to use FB sign in, but it came up with "incorrect argument" error)
Oh wow! This is amazingly helpful. I really want to be in London in 2011… I’ve got to make it happen. And when I do, I am excited to hit up the places you recommended!