A moment to fangirl

As I wait for my batch of tangzhong bread to proof the second time, I'm going to share something a little embarrassing about my musical interests in the past.

Oh, this? This isn't embarrassing at all hehe! Miyavi is such a role model in many ways for me and I admire the fact he was a late bloomer and grew to be such a successful solo artist in Japan in the visual kei genre.
What I find a little odd about me was my attraction to these guys:

So, if you don't know these men, the five on the left make up the band Alice Nine, and the right make up the band The GazettE.
It was during the time I was oh so depressed for no reason and preferred to dwell in this sadness and these guys helped me through it. That sounds a little on the wrong side, but here are the good points: they broadened my musical interests as all I would ever listen to was Jpop from my DDR games, they planted in me unrealistic dreams of being in a famous band in Japan and meeting them and marrying the front man in the right picture, and they got me to understand the role of the bass guitar. Only recently did I start to actually explore the world of bass music and the possibilities.

Essentially there isn't much different between these bands, and some would kill me for saying this, but hold on. They've got the same assets, pretty much. Excellent, bold singers, a balanced guitar team, (for the most part) metal drummers, and bassists who travel all around the world of bass in their music. They're pretty much the same when it comes to their studio recordings, but their live performances have a totally different feel and are so characteristic to each band.
First of all, the singer in Alice Nine was a horrible live singer when I was listening to him at the time. It was a turn off having to hear him sing a song I loved in their studio version. Eventually I turned to The GazettE and practically devoted my ears and my love to these people. The singer in the GazettE is pretty consistent in quality in both realms of performance, and I really appreciate that. Along with the bassist, Reita, who I fell in love with, I stayed with these guys for quite a long time.



And for the time that I was stuck in the genre, visual kei, I was so convinced throughout that The GazettE was THE band for me. Of course, their style has grown darker over time and I eventually left the genre for a while to explore Kpop, then hip hop, then jazz and funk and now I don't even know what I listen to. Now as I look back and listen to the songs I used to love, they don't reflect 100% what I loved about these men (both bands), so I went and looked for their live performances and now I've kind of fallen for the bassist in Alice Nine, Saga -- It doesn't seem much, but this changes everything I ever thought about Alice Nine. Saga is a wonderful bassist, and here's a video to show why.



And I recognize that this solo isn't that impressive, but coming from the assumption that all this guy ever played were chord roots (he always held his bass somewhat like Sid Vicious which made me think he was a pretty basic guy), I was smacked in the face with this and was left with a new admiration for him now, even more so than I would ever have felt for Reita in The GazettE.
As someone who's dabbed on electric bass and who has attempted to learn and play slap bass, I understand what it takes to play like that, and only once has Reita ever played in an almost Jaco Pastorius style, but I get a strong feeling from Saga that HE is my bassist. From Japan, at least.

And now I leave you with a couple of screen shots from his more erotic solo performances: