Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Confessions: My story of being a BiTch

CONFESSIONS OF A LATE-BLOOMER BT FAN

When did you first heard of BT?
Back when I was in my Junior Year in High School, my sister was able to download Kaori Yuki's "Die". I never really understood the story, but I read that it was a doujin of BUCK-TICK. My first reaction was, "What the hell is with this band name? It's weird." BUT, I never checked the band out. This realization came upon me 7 years later. Damn.
Imai and Aachan by Kaori Yuki
What is the first song you heard from BT?
I would join the bandwagon of "Dress" fans. lol But, I first heard it in a commercial for anime vcds and dvds. A part of the opening theme of Trinity Blood was played. I fell in love with the song immediately.   That's partly the reason why we bought the Trinity Blood DVDs...because of the song. lol The anime was not bad either. I looked for the song and was shocked to know it was from 1993. lol I DL'd the song, but wasn't able to check out the band. Double Damn.

*note: the same occurrence happened to me for liking Attack Haus. Years later, I would learn they are BT fans. XD

What was the first song that made you realize that BT is a good band?
"Kagerou" did the job for me. I already liked the sound of BT and especially Sakurai's voice (back then I have no idea who he was). My sister and I were watching Xxxholic one day when Kagerou played during the ending credits. As soon as we heard Sakurai's voice, we just screamed "OMG, BUCK-TICK!!!" and danced to the music. lol I think then and there, BT had just been labeled as a good band. That was back in 2007 and I DL'd the song, but still did not fully check the band...Triple Damn.




What was the song from BT that made you check them out?
Summer of 2007, I just graduated from High School and I just survived from a bout of depression when my sister had an accident. The bone of her foot was cracked thus making her unable to walk and made her a home buddy throughout the summer. While I was performing for a theater company during those days, I had lots of opportunity to visit the resident anime store in the city (that's the only one at that time). I was following Death Note before and when I saw a Death Note for sale with a tribute cd, I immediately told my sister. I can't recall, but I think we gathered our savings and also begged our parents to buy us 2 copies. We ended up having two tribute cds. All text were in Japanese, so I did not understand anything except for DIABOLO -BUCK TICK. hahahaha This made us excited. Unfortunately, the only voice I recognized was Suga Shikao. XD But one day, I was already a freshman in B.S. Architecture then, I decided to play the tribute cd while I am doing my first plate. Track no. 6 played and then I just fell in love with it. It became my instant fave. After that I looked for info regarding the Tribute CD, I just found out that track no. 6 was DIABOLO by BUCK TICK. I discovered that by playing the track on youtube and confirmed it through Wikipedia. Damn. I was soooo happy then. After that, I checked them out and learned that they have been around since 1983 and they had a LOT of albums. But guess, what? I still did not follow through it after I checked them out (I did not even know how they look hahahaha). It was only like late 2007 that we were able to acquire Trinity Blood DVDs and it would rekindle the BT spark.



What was the first non-single song(s) you learned from them?
I think in 2008, my desire to strengthen my BT love occurred after I've discovered Spitz. I've learned that Spitz started around 1990's and this sparked my interest to search for earlier bands...and BT was included. Since I wanted to know more about BT, I downloaded two random songs from them, through Limewire. Those were "La Vie En Rose" and "Montage" from Alice in Wonder Underground. AND those were not studio copies by the way, those were LIVE audio files. lol I did not appreciate "La Vie En Rose" when I first heard it, but I did like it after a few plays. I was actually weirded out how different the songs were from Dress, Kagerou and Diabolo. But, these two songs were deleted from my Mp3 player and I wasn't able to recover them. Damn. BUT, it was just the start...soon there was an occurrence that made me have a hiatus on the BT fandom.



What was your first reaction when you first saw how they looked?
I was rather interested at how they looked like. I think I saw their band photo on the Diabolo video, but it never really remained in my memory. lol But knowing they have been around for like two decades, I became so interested at how they looked like at the present. The bad thing was, I really had a negative impression on VK bands back then. I kinda dislike how the band looks visually nice and musically mediocre. So when I learned that they are  a VK band, I was really shocked and interested since they sound so good...and I began to question if they look horrible. lolz I was thinking of the opposite. BUT I just google away and clicked the first photo I saw of them. It was either a photo from 2007 in their Alice Wonder Underground single photo shoot or their 13th Floor With Moonshine photo shoot (I can't find it anywhere btw). My first reaction was, "What? They don't look like over 40..." Hahaha but what really became a memory was my reactions to Sakurai and Toll. For Toll, I had a WOW reaction to his hair...man, it stands up like a tower and it kinda weirded me out. "It can kill people!!!" lol I'm kidding. BUT Sakurai was the one that really gave me a very scary feeling...his face just told me, "I know where you live and I'm going to murder you at 12 midnight". :D 

Not the exact photo but this was one of the memorable pics that I can recall.
After that, I did not search for their photos again. I swore to only listen to their music...and then my BT fandom came to hiatus.

*note: It's kinda funny and lame at the same time. I know.

Were you able to encounter BT even if your fandom came into a hiatus?
Yes, there were a lot of instances. I've also developed a quite positive outlook on VK bands when I started listening to Girugamesh around late 2008 and early 2009. I have been thinking that there are brilliant gems in the scene. A friend of mine introduced me to Girugamesh since she was a fan and coincidentally, she was also a MUCC fan. She had a lot of Jrock mags that my sister and I would like to read. Then a particular quiz came up in the mag, "Which Jrock band are you?" that we really got excited about. While scanning at the bands written, I saw BUCK TICK and just said aloud, "Oh, BUCK-TICK is good" and my friend just went, "Yeah, I read that they influenced MUCC a lot. Their vocalist just loved BUCK TICK."  And I just went silent, perhaps at awe that BT had that kind of influence and at the same time, kind of embarrassment since I was not a good fan. 

Well, other instances were really weird. Like finding some icons on LJ of a beautiful Sakurai with a comment, "Sakurai is god" and I would just be puzzled (lol I dunno who Sakurai was or how he looked like during the 90's). But this fandom would come into life four years after.

*note: The Jrock magazine with the quiz is something wonderful. I learned about Blankey Jet City because of it. I forgot the name, but those mags above are also part of my friends collection...let's say it's the only ones I remember. /fails

How did you exactly rediscover BT after 4 years of absence in the fandom?
It has been a long time since the last I've heard of BT then. I was more into the female vocalists, like listening to the likes of Regina Spektor, Brooke Fraser, Ingrid Michealson, Priscilla Ahn and etc. When my thesis started, one by one, I was having a trip tothe memory lane, collecting PVs of musicians I like before (Garbage, Miyavi, Spitz, HIM, etc.). But this one particular night, two weeks before my thesis defense, I stumbled upon a big rock. I was uninspired  and unmotivated. I had lots of sleep deprived days and bouts of depression. Usually, I would listen to my usual working playlists, but I still did not feel uplifted. Then, BUCK-TICK came into my mind. I haven't heard their music for a long time. I was a bit hesitant, but I just type their name on the search bar on youtube and played "Dress". Now, hearing the song for such a long time just made me feel different. Finally, I've watched the PV...and it left me having an (o.o) face but I found the song rather sexy. I think the Sakurai morphing into a girl just freaked me out. Nevertheless, it was good music and I continued my search. Then, I started look for "Kagerou" (basically I was following my steps before) and listened to it again...and I watched the PV. I watched it without flinching. My first comment was, "Cool...the vocalist is very charismatic...in a wonderfully creepy way." I began checking them out on Wikipedia. VOILA! I just learned that his name was Atsushi Sakurai and he had a very intimidating resume. LOL I learned about the other members starting from:  Imai, Toll, Hide and U-ta. I became very interested in them that I downloaded random PVs from youtube and made my first BT working playlist: Dress, Kagerou, Kuchizuke, Galaxy, and Romance. After that, I'm hooked.


Unfortunately, the Dress PV has been removed. Even the Kagerou PV with HD and over a million views had been removed.

*note: And I didn't even recall DIABOLO until April when I watched the Rest Rooms documentary. lol

What was the first album(s) that you loved from BT?
I really think I'm a late bloomer. Even though I got hooked on BT, I did not listen to their albums. I was randomly listening to their songs, which made me end up loving some songs that I did not even know what's the title. I think it was on April or May 2012 that I have been starting take interest to their albums (they were so many so I just became lazy lol). I downloaded "13th Floor with Moonshine", their Gothic album. I did not quite get into it, not until I searched the lyrics. It made me really appreciate the music more. BUT if you say, LOVE, it would have been "Kurutta Taiyou".  "Kurutta Taiyou" just struck me as a very honest and heartfelt album. It became even more interesting to me when I looked up the story of each song in the album. "Six/Nine" would follow. That album is pure awesome. I'm still discovering their late 90's and 00's albums slowly. I want to digest everything slowly. :P
13kai wo Gekkou - 13th Floor with Moonshine, BT's full-blown Gothic album
Six/Nine, BT's conceptual and psychological album (1995)
Kurutta Taiyou - Crazy Sun, BT's  dark and emotionally heavy album (1991)
What was the first BT song that made a very big impact on you?
"Long Distance Call" did affect me very much. I did not cry, but it just tore my heart apart when I first heard it. The lyrics just gave me a heartbreak. It has its honest way of presenting Sakurai's sadness at his mother's passing. I think it made me kinda depressed? lol 


What was your first BT fave song?
"Miu". This acoustic single of BT made me feel nostalgic. There were several times I kept replaying this song. "Snow White", "Flame" and "Coyote" would follow.


What was your favorite BT PV ?
"Kagerou". It was simple, charismatic, sexy, eerie and dark. The PV for "Aikawarazu" (the title is tl;dr) came second.


What was your first BT video that broke the fourth wall?
Uh...it was "Kimi no Vanilla." I think many would agree with me. BT, bring back my innocence!!! lol 



What's the BT song that's closest to your heart?
That would be "Galaxy." It wasn't my favorite. I never even finished watching the PV when I first saw it. But it did save me. It was one of the songs that you'll never expect that would turn out to be something precious to you. I always play this song on my ukelele.




What was your first BT concert?
Climax Together. I just fell in love with the music, the stage, the lighting and the...hair. I discoverd the concert through "Kiss me Goodbye." My dad thought it was an erotic movie by reading the title and he gave me a suspicious look. Well...the hair makes me cry.



Do your favorites change?
Yeah, they change from time to time. It switches depending on my mood. I had lots of faves from BT's discography, so if you ask me what are my faves of all time, I would spend some time to contemplate and choose. hahahaha


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