All posts tagged: Dir en grey
Dir en grey – Ghoul tour 2013 in Denver
Dir en grey – Ghoul tour 2013 in Denver, CO
Dir en grey – Ghoul tour 2013 in Boston
Dir en grey – Ghoul tour 2013 in Boston, MA
Japanese rock in Rock Band
Why Rock Band? Get ready for a little tl;dr. Since Rock Band came out in 2007, it has been a pioneer of the music video game genre. Other titles have come and gone with varying degrees of popularity. What made Rock Band great was its ability to license great songs by great artists for inclusion in the game. They also listened to fans on who else they could ask to be included in the game. In 2008, Harmonix announced a Rock Band: Japan game. In association with Q Entertainment, a developer in Japan, the game would feature Japan venues and include Japanese artists and their songs. Ultimately, issues with licensing prevented the game from being produced. What this means is that the rights holders for those songs would not, or perhaps were leery of, licensing their songs internationally, which is the license required with Rock Band. Thus, those songs would be able to be played or downloaded anywhere in the world. Back in 2008, this was a very major concern. Not everyone knows that not …
Interview: Die of Dir en grey
We had the honor of speaking with Die over the phone prior to their Seattle, WA show, one of the last three stops on their North American tour. Please enjoy. [Originally posted to JRockRevolution.com in this article.] Dir en grey seems to be a band that does not do things without reason, from your lighting to the videos you have chosen for this live tour, everything falls into place effortlessly and is usually something we would only see at Japanese lives. Is there a particular image you had in mind when choosing the lighting or videos for your sets? Die: Basically, on all of the different shows that we do, depending on what kind of songs, and the images behind the songs, there is always a certain message we try to put across. When it comes to presentation, such as lighting or visuals, that has a lot to do with the band manager who helps judge what is best for us, because we’re on the stage facing the audience, so we can not see what …
Dir en grey in Rock Band
2012. Some time following the Jrock in Rock Band poll on JrockRevolution.com in 2010, Harmonix asked if we could link them to any of the top ten bands as part of a special invitation to be included in the fairly new Rock Band Network. As the site was not set up as a broker for bands to opportunities, it was not possible. Working outside of JrockRevolution.com, however, I approached a select number of established contacts to gauge interest in this epic opportunity. With many ups and downs, bands and artists interested yet unable to follow through due to a number of situations, time was running out. The limited invitation had a finite window and with some good luck, Dir en grey agreed to be in the video game. Dir en grey submitted Dozing Green (English) and Hageshisa to, Kono Mune no Naka de Karamitsuita Shakunetsu no Yami (Japanese) for conversion into the game. Once the process started, Harmonix underwent numerous changes and I was instrumental in maintaining open communication throughout those changes as well as following the tracks in …
Live report – Dir en grey
January 2012. It’s relatively easy to say 99 percent of the people in the audience knew Dir en grey‘s music: from newer fans, to seasoned veterans or friends dragged along because “you have to see this band.” Once the lights dimmed, the crowd’s deafening greeting proved its dedication. With the surge of people toward the stage, one had to wonder if the few security guards would be enough to keep the masses back. Fortunately, fans seemed to keep themselves in check just fine when the band entered the stage at the last three stops of their North American tour. Dir en grey consists of Kyo on vocals, Kaoru and Die on guitars, Toshiya on bass and Shinya on drums. From their inception, the lineup has remained true, as has their penchant for giving an intensely moving live performance. To date, they’re one of the few bands from Japan who have made a strong, consistent effort to reach their international fans. Having recently come off a Japan tour and one through Europe early in the year, Dir …