Messages

1

hide / Re: Hide, alcoholism and attitudes

« on: May 13, 2024, 07:00:42 AM »

I think I understand where you are coming from on the inappropriateness of launching a promotional beer when alcohol played a role in his death, but there's a few things that you've asserted which I think are a bit unfair.

Amy Winehouse struggled hugely with substance abuse and had a much more complex series of demons.

Hide struggled with body dysmorphia but never starved himself down to an unhealthy weight. Amy's anorexia was so severe it contributed largely to her death.

Hide's relationship with alcohol wasn't healthy and got him into plenty of scrapes. You only need to watch the behind the scenes videos recorded on Melrose Avenue in early 1998 where he orders and downs a pitcher of beer early in the day to know he wasn't exactly a light drinker. With that said, I think the 'rock star' lifestyle of excess is more of what we are seeing there, rather than someone who is so hopelessly, uncontrollably ridden with addiction that they cannot function at all. Had Hide lived longer, maybe he would have curbed his bad habits like the other members of X (barring Pata, perhaps) managed to.

I don't think it's fair to paint Hiroshi as an exploitative influence in Hide's life. He worked for his brother and did a dedicated job. How he has managed Hide's brand in the 25 years after his death is up for debate, but while Hide was alive there is no record of Hiroshi doing anything wrong.

2

Yoshiki / Re: Yoshiki's friendship with Ivanka Trump

« on: February 09, 2024, 06:02:52 PM »

Narcissist is a fitting term. He makes Liberace look meek these days.

3

General chat / Re: 2024 Activity Predictions

« on: January 06, 2024, 08:52:19 AM »

Yoshiki's New Year TV performance was the stuff of nightmares. Bringing back the Generative AI Yoshiki vocals for Endless Rain was bad enough, but Rusty Nail with a motley rabble made me miss Toshi's voice even more.

I predict there will be a Heath memorial concert - if not in the summer then in October. I predict that intense legal negotiations will yield an appearance by Toshi - but he will either perform as a solo act, or have an awkward engineered photo op alongside Yoshiki, Sugizo and Pata.

That's my conservative prediction - my bold one is that Yoshiki will realise that the impasse with Toshi is insurmountable and he will release further X Japan songs (ala Angel), or, possibly the entire album at a whim.

4

Heath / Re: Did Toshi attend Heath's memorial?

« on: November 29, 2023, 07:52:41 AM »

https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2304116/full/

Seems like Toshi didn't attend, nor said anything.
I was always criticizing Yoshiki for every single egomaniac attitude he had since X reunion. But Toshi didn't showing up at Heath's memorial, even alone, shows he isn't innocent as most of us thought he was.
He didn't act like that even when he was in a cult, so what the actual fuck happened he can't even pay respects to his deceased bandmate (as it looks like he didn't consider even a friend)?

I agree that the optics are poor.

I think there is nuance, though. Toshi did visit Heath's body in state to say 'goodbye' and it sounds like his visit was carefully scheduled to avoid Yoshiki and the other members.

Toshi has wrote about Heath and made online tributes.

It seems that Yoshiki having organised this and the other members of X being there was the problem.

It is worth saying that there were rumours of Toshi falling out with Pata, too.

It's all a mess.

5

Heath / Did Toshi attend Heath's memorial?

« on: November 28, 2023, 08:07:43 PM »

I've been reading and viewing photographs from Heath's public memorial.

It looked very beautiful and poignant.

I noted that Sugizo, Yoshiki and Pata attended together, spoke,  and had a group photograph taken alongside Heath's memorial...

But there was no sign of Toshi.

I know that Toshi has wrote about the subject on his blog and posted a cover of Eagle Sniper, but it seems quite worrying that he wasn't willing to attend the public memorial - even separately from Yoshiki. He managed to put aside his differences with Yoshiki to attend Hide's memorial after the first break up, so I wonder...

Reading the opinions of Japanese fans, some are pouring scorn on Yoshiki for 'doing a Yoshiki' at the memorial and taking the limelight, others are angry at Toshi for not leaving flowers. It seems very charged; a few examples from Twitter:

"Today was about Yoshiki and his henchmen. Toshi seems like a cool guy. I would prefer to remember Heath alone with him."

"It seems like Yoshiki and Toshi cannot be repaired, but why no flowers for Heath, Toshi?"

"At times like these, it is considerate to the deceased who wanted harmony in the band, and leave a flower tribute that says 'ToshI'. Are you trash?"

6

Heath / Re: News of Heath's death

« on: November 08, 2023, 07:23:50 AM »

I'm surprised by the lack of comments from any of the other surviving members.

21 hours ago, Yoshiki posted on Facebook about featuring in TIME magazine, and this was after a post cancelling his attendance for an award after "someone close to (him) passed away".

I know grief works differently for everyone, I also know that musicians/celebrities don't owe us anything, and that Heath was a 'replacement' member, but it's interesting to see the (lack of) reaction compared to when Taiji died (let alone when hide passed...)

Yoshiki just posted something on Twitter

https://twitter.com/YoshikiOfficial/status/1722087100168679874

According to this tweet it was the wish of Heath's family not to announce his death...and then the news got out anyway.

but hey, let's go and bash only Yoshiki and call him a narcist for not saying anything when the other band members didn't either. Because Yoshiki is such an easy target.

I've explained my emotions and why the optics were bad. I've also apologised.

The context is much more forgiving than I gave Yoshiki credit...

But Yoshiki does behave in narcissistic ways in more or less everything he does. I think that word is well qualified. These days Yoshiki makes Liberace look modest.

7

Heath / Re: News of Heath's death

« on: November 07, 2023, 01:39:38 PM »

DIE (Spread Beaver) has also posted on social media.

I am so shocked.

8

Heath / Re: News of Heath's death

« on: November 07, 2023, 01:32:48 PM »

Ray McVeigh (Zilch) confirmed it.

It is true  :'(

9

Heath / Re: News of Heath's death

« on: November 07, 2023, 01:03:33 PM »

Everybody deals with grief differently so conducting yourself in public forums, as a public figure, with respect towards how others may be feeling is not owed so much as it is the decent thing to do.

Likewise we should not talk this way, it is inappropriate, but feelings are running high. I apologise.

10

Heath / Re: News of Heath's death

« on: November 07, 2023, 12:46:55 PM »

If this is true then it is truly heartbreaking.

For me it will be the end of everything X Japan.

I hope Yoshiki will release Heath's final studio works to the world, if not for himself, but for the fans to enjoy Heath's memory.

11

Heath / Re: News of Heath's death

« on: November 07, 2023, 12:34:24 PM »

The main news outlets are not carrying it and neither Heath's office nor any of the members have confirmed it.

The closest is the person 'allegedly' Yoshiki's brother running an Exctasy Records Twitter account, but this person is only quoting this one article.

How can this be true but Yoshiki continues as normal doing press and engagements, promoting and retweeting fluff?

12

Yoshiki / Re: A swan only sings one time... [Yoshiki sings ANGEL]

« on: July 02, 2023, 09:59:29 PM »

He trained generative AI on his speaking voice and used it to synthesise a pitch perfecting singing voice.

... Or this miracle is purely down to Yoshiki being shy for 40 years and is a big coincidence that AI voice synthesis technology has reached this level of advancement.

See this for reference. If generative AI can make a dead man sing, it can make Yoshiki sing too.

13

News / Re: Angel will be released on July 28th

« on: July 02, 2023, 04:40:42 PM »

It's ironic that a few days ago Yoshiki was saying that he thinks that generative AI will be the death of music, and then he goes and uses it to create a version of his voice that can hold a tune so he can mime on TV...

That's how he's done this, by the way - just in case anyone has any doubt.

any proof for that claim?

I've been involved in music production for nearly 20 years and I spend most of my day job at the moment working with generative AI. I trust my ears!

It is masked to an extent in the verse by the breathy overtones of Yoshiki's voice (which the AI will have been trained on extensively) but when it goes into the chorus it becomes very 'uncanny valley' - like a robot singing with the transients from Yoshiki's voice.

Listen to this example of someone training AI on Freddie Mercury's voice and you might hear some similarities - it captures the rasp and timbres of his voice very well, but in some of the longer and higher notes it's... not quite right.



If you don't trust me at that, then fine - but ask yourself why Yoshiki has waited 40 years to magically show the world he can hold a perfect pitch?

Maybe it's because there is now technology than can reproduce his voice... or maybe it's just a big coincidence and Yoshiki has been shy this entire time.

14

News / Re: Angel will be released on July 28th

« on: July 02, 2023, 09:02:19 AM »

It's ironic that a few days ago Yoshiki was saying that he thinks that generative AI will be the death of music, and then he goes and uses it to create a version of his voice that can hold a tune so he can mime on TV...

That's how he's done this, by the way - just in case anyone has any doubt.

15

General chat / Re: Did Toshi screw up X Japan again?

« on: February 06, 2023, 08:05:07 AM »

The Japanese tabloid press certainly take the view that Toshi's new song is aimed at Yoshiki, and also seem to have interpreted some of Yoshiki's tweets as being a subtle retaliation.

The concensus seems to be that they aren't talking on a personal level and all communication is being mediated by lawyers.

'Industry insiders' (again, say the tabloid press) suggest that Toshi's contract to perform with X Japan seems to have expired and there has been a failure to renegotiate terms. Toshi was unhappy with a range of issues, including failed payments or late payments for live shows and broken promises. Allegedly Toshi repeatedly raised concerns but Yoshiki always failed to act on them.

Toshi has, apparently, since refused for his likeness or voice to be included in X Japan merchandise or releases, leading to the cancellation of certain projects (that X Japan game where Toshi didn't appear is cited).

My take is that these are old rumours now, and the contractual situation sounds similar to the legal issues with the hide estate/headwax and with Heath back in 2009. The management situation for X Japan has always seemed complex since the reunion and this is just the latest bubble to burst.

Either way, Toshi seems happy doing his solo stuff. He has now reached the 'Great American Songbook' covers stage of his career where he has nothing new to say about ths world and has gone full Elvis. He is a staple on Japanese TV and has a solid domestic audience of (predominantly) middle aged Japanese women.

Yoshiki, on the other hand, thinks he has something new to say but continues to repeat himself in different guises.

16

Other Projects / Re: The Last Rockstars

« on: November 13, 2022, 04:58:31 PM »

I think this is the last (rusty) nail in the X Japan coffin.

S.K.I.N was Yoshiki's big return to playing drums and first foray into the 'international' market. It fell apart because Gackt got cold feet and Toshi returned to X Japan shortly afterwards. Yoshiki's focus was then going global with X.

It sounds like Yoshiki wasn't able to keep X going with Toshi over the last few years. Maybe Red Swan being listed originally as an X Japan song featuring Hyde was Yoshiki trying to buy more time to get Toshi back on board. That didn't happen, so he decided to revive S.K.I.N with Hyde on vocals.

Either way, we'll never see an album. I'll eat my shoes if we do.

17

X JAPAN World Tour / Re: X Japan at MSG 10.11.2014

« on: September 19, 2014, 10:47:28 PM »

Anyone knows if the concert is sold out or not? Hopefully they don't have a big block of empty seats……

Tickets are still on sale and they are advertising it like crazy, so unsurprisingly, it's not sold out. They never stood a realistic chance of doing that.

18

X JAPAN World Tour / Re: X Japan at MSG 10.11.2014

« on: September 19, 2014, 05:47:28 PM »

Wow... S.K.I.N., totally forgot about that band. Did they release an album or something at the time?

So by new songs, did he mean re-use some of the SKIN ones? Doesn't sound very X Japanish to me...

We'll see

Nope, no album - just one show and nothing since.

The arpeggiated electric guitar sounds very Luna Sea'ish, so it's got Sugizo's signature all over it. At least it's a step away from the song writing being entirely Yoshiki dominated.

19

X JAPAN World Tour / Re: X Japan at MSG 10.11.2014

« on: September 19, 2014, 03:13:59 PM »

Yoshiki's latest tweet:

"YES! WE'LL PLAY SOME NEW SONGS!! at Madison Square Garden #XjapanMSG COMING SOON!!
#Jade #EndlessRain #Hero #BeneathTheSkin"

I believe that 'Beneath The Skin' is actually a song that Yoshiki and Sugizo wrote for S.K.I.N that they performed at their one and only show in 2007, so it's at least 7 years old.

--Edit--

Yeap, here's the song that's playing at 1:20 in video being performed by S.K.I.N

 [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whgc31ZmlzU[/youtube]

20

Yoshiki / Re: Yoshiki Twitter Q&A

« on: August 07, 2014, 06:51:23 AM »

He answered my question which was pretty cool. I was the guy who asked about 'Born to be free'.

21

X JAPAN World Tour / Re: X Japan at MSG 10.11.2014

« on: May 08, 2014, 12:56:23 PM »

Okay guys… some thoughts and reactions…

1) Fine, it's a Best Of album… without new songs.
Which probably means that those will get on a DIFFERENT album - which you may as well refer to as "the new album" that had been talked about since years ago. As they have all the old best-of-stuff on this "the world" album, i guess the other one will include 100% new songs. And that's good news, right?

2) It's not overpriced? o_O It's in fact so surprisingly cheap that I bought the limited edition without much doubting after I saw the price LOL

3) HA! You see the problem about the dead members? The fangirls are crying if they don't mention hide and Taiji all the time - and if they do, people are complaining, TOO! -_-
(Well my personal opinion is that these tributes are rather creepy and I wouldn't do them in such ways, but well, that's what *I* think about it.)

4) The usual complaints about yoshiki making false promises and only trying to promote himself and whatever…
I think people aren't thinking too far when they say absolutely everything is Yoshiki's fault alone. I don't have enough insights so judge fairly (and if I had, I probably would shut up about it…) but while I'm unhappy about some things, too, and also wonder how the hell he is deciding on who he's hiring. I am certainly not a fan of pointing out all the mistakes and focusing only on the bad things. Just ignore the stuff you don't care about and spend your time with something else in the meantime. <3

(Oh and btw… think about AKB48 or KISS…. THOSE do a lot of pointless mercy stuff. XD)

….So a bunch of stuff is going wrong - as always lol - and people will go on complaining anyway, but I am tired of these discussions that don't lead anywhere. I will happily wait for whatever there is to come and will try to ignore the pretty empty venue at the Classical Concert and enjoy the show…. *headdesk*

I'm honestly not sure what you expect. There's not really anything promising or positive to discuss that hasn't already been covered a thousand times.

Most X Japan fans nowadays are jaded, but at the end of the day, they're fans for life, and when something does happen, you know they'll be there cheering - no matter how many reservations they have with the band's lack of activities or respect for their fans.

22

X JAPAN World Tour / Re: X Japan at MSG 10.11.2014

« on: May 02, 2014, 09:25:56 AM »

Its really a shame the reunion was handled so horribly. We got some phenomenal shows, a few good tunes, and older fans got some closure (with things ending on a high, and Taiji etc). I am so happy it happened, as I got to see them on their US tour. It was a rare and unforgettable opportunity.

Despite those good things, Yoshiki really fucked up with his countless false promises, cancellations, disregard for the fans and band, and focus on other failed or useless prospects (Well, if you are happy with his focus on Violet UK, headphones, the Golden Globes, and more then good for you lol)

Ah well!

Violet UK isn't even a thing yet either.

The problem is that Yoshiki seems more interested in the superficial trappings of fame than the artistic merit of musical creation. It seems that somewhere down the line, he started to mistake commercial endeavors such as Hello Kitty tie-ins, credit cards with his picture on and branded headphones, for actual work or artistic productivity.

Even his actual music releases over the past few years have all either been tied to a wider, commercial product such as films or award ceremonies. It seems that he's singularly interested in boosting his profile for the purpose of bulking out his same old tired press release that his agent continues to distribute at every possible opportunity than expanding on his career as an artist.

Even this supposed MSG gig just stinks as being a States-side profile-raiser or personal ego push, that once done, he can slap on his CV.

23

hide / 16 Years

« on: May 02, 2014, 08:35:30 AM »

So, I doubt it has escaped any X Fans that today marks 16 years since we lost hide.

Is anyone planning anything today to remember him?

For me, it usually serves as a good excuse to dust off his albums and give his discography a spin. I don't listen to Hide's music very often these days as I'm always trying to listen to new stuff, so it's always nice to step back in after some time away, rediscover his albums and fall in love again with some of the more obscure, hidden little peculiarities on his CDs.

By chance, I'm going out drinking tonight with old friends too - so maybe I'll drink something fitting like his favourite, bourbon - although, admittedly, I've never really been a fan of spirits anyway.

24

X JAPAN World Tour / Re: X Japan at MSG 10.11.2014

« on: May 01, 2014, 08:56:08 AM »

I guess now that Taiji is dead, Yoshiki can include his name in stuff without him disagreeing to shamelessly try and curry favour with older X fans who never really accepted Heath.

It's worth remembering, that whilst a lot of people think that 'X Japan' died with hide - many feel that 'X' died when Taiji was fired.

25

X JAPAN World Tour / Re: X Japan at MSG 10.11.2014

« on: April 30, 2014, 08:41:33 AM »

In regard to the new 'best of' album: Meh. I'm not buying it. I wont spend any more of my money on X Japan re-releases or special edition releases.

I've gone from being an X Japan fan who actively waits, to a passive, 'sleeper fan', who comes to the surface when something actually finally happens.

I mean heck, I didn't mean to sound disrespectful in how I made the initial post about this gig in New York - but there's no way I'm gonna go to it. I went to Japan for X in 2008, and when they came to England, I went to see them again. I'll also be seeing Yoshiki in London next month - so I'm never going to give up on them, I'll always love them, but life's too short to be spent actively waiting for them!

Not to mention, after all of the false starts and cancellations we've seen so far, I'd be foolish to make such a huge investment in a trip to New York. I'll never forget the scandal that was Bercy, and I'll never fully accept that Yoshiki was in no way to blame for it. Management issues aside, he still has to accept some culpability for either not keeping a closer eye on proceedings or giving too much power to that management team to begin with.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me for believing you.

26

X JAPAN World Tour / Re: X Japan at MSG 10.11.2014

« on: April 29, 2014, 12:31:13 PM »

Does anyone feel like it's 2008 all over again?

Exactly.

Just hoping for the album to be released before that haha (and for it not to be the X Japan's Chinese Democracy...)

Haha! Keep on dreaming!

27

X JAPAN World Tour / X Japan at MSG 10.11.2014

« on: April 29, 2014, 11:07:36 AM »

So, it has just been announced that X Japan are playing Madison Square Garden on 10.11.2014

http://www.yoshiki.net/mobile/

http://www.yoshiki.net/mobile/xjapaninfo.html

Does anyone feel like it's 2008 all over again?

It seems very strange given the small capacity venues they played during their last North American Tour in 2010, and the fact that there were a lot of shows with empty seats. Add to that the fact that X Japan haven't released anything since then, and their American population hasn't really budged since that tour - it just seems ridiculously deluded to book such a huge show.

Maybe Yoshiki thinks fans will travel from all over the world for it - maybe some will. I know I wont! 

28

General chat / Re: May 20th, 2013 Press Conference, Tokyo

« on: May 20, 2013, 08:28:04 AM »

I see Yoshiki's logic. If the band all have wax-work figures of themselves created then they can both stand still AND not get older!

Great thinking, Yoshiki!

29

General chat / Re: X-japan album by the end of 2012 ?

« on: April 26, 2012, 02:56:52 PM »

It's pretty obvious now what Yoshiki meant by 99% complete every time he was quoted as saying that.

All of the music is just the old recordings, he just needs to get around to slapping English vocals on them all.

30

General chat / Re: X Japan nominated for the REVOLVER GOLDEN GODS AWARD

« on: March 03, 2012, 09:39:03 AM »

Eh at this point I kind of hope they lose, they (as in yoshiki only) havn't done anything to deserve it, wether they are the best talentwise or not. Infact I wish there was an award for 'laziest band' or 'best band at sitting on there asses doing f all and contributing nothing' and they won that so maybe it could teach yoshiki something.

I entirely agree.