Category Archive for Nightcrawling
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.)
SHARE & COMMENT
LA CARMINA & TOKYO SPOOKS ON TRAVEL CHANNEL TV PROMO, ANTHONY BOURDAIN NO RESERVATIONS! JAPANESE PIRATE HAT, SKULL CROSSBONES BOTTLES.
Arrrr-mazing news: Tokyo Team Spooky and I are featured in a promo spot for Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations 100th episode! You can see it running now through Monday on Travel Channel.
My friends and I are at the beginning of the clip above and on Travel Channel’s YouTube. (The No Reservations anniversary special begins 9am Monday and ends with a new Paris episode at 10pm E/P.) I hope Tony Bourdain liked our Goth version of his Tokyo show!
One of the images in the video shows G-suS, Naomi and me at absinthe Bar Tram in Ebisu. (More photos and a full report of that night in this post.)
My Tokyo spooky ship keeps on plowing forth. We went to a cheap but delicious izakaya in Ebisu (each plate cost 270 yen, or less than $3). After, we went to drink absinthe at Bar Tram, then checked out the small gay clubs in Shinjuku’s 2-chome district.
Many of you commented on my pirate hat, which I wore during the BlogTV live chat. In Japan, Halloween items are popular all year round — and they’re already for sale at Claire’s and Tokyu Hands. I got this felt and ribbon hat, affixed to a headband, for a few bucks at Tokyu Hands. Everyone tried it on (in this pic, it’s Photoshopped onto Yukiro).
My DIY ripped tights would look good on a pirate. I used scissors to tear 1-inch-long vertical runs into my leggings, then tugged at them to extend the stripes. My red skirt is secondhand Emily Temple Cute (more photos to come).
At the Sunkus convenience store, I turned the yellow cat drawing into a Scottish Fold. Bad kitty.
Anyone have ideas for what to be on Halloween? It’s coming up sooner than I expected! Tons of photos from the Australian and Dutch TV shoots coming right up… as well as Tokyo store photos, a crazy Osaka fashion shoot, and a huge clothing giveaway from one of my favorite brands. Check back tomorrow (and tune into Travel Channel to see us!)
Japanese Word of the Day: Tamaru = accumulate, or collect. The word for “tamari” sauce comes from it.
Song of the Day: Yo ho! Yo ho! A pirate’s life for me