La Fin de la Journée Boston Show

Toma, guitarist of Echostream

Defying the notion of genre, Tainted Reality’s February 1 show in Boston, MA brought together rock, techno, baroque, and industrial in an unforgettable night for fans. BLOOD’s final coast-to-coast tour gave fans one last chance to bid the band farewell. Tagging along for the ride were electro-rock opening act Echostream; the bouncy DJ SiSen, spinning beats sampled straight out of hentai; and Gothic Prince Ken, in his collaboration with BLOOD’s Kiwamu, as GPKism.

BLOOD first made a name for themselves back in 2003, as they became one of the first Japanese visual-kei bands to do a concert stateside. They took to the stage in San Jose and Los Angeles almost a year before they would ever set foot in a Tokyo live house, which likely launched their international career. BLOOD traveled to France, Germany, Poland, Mexico, Sweden, the UK, Finland, Austria, Spain, Greece, and both the East and West coast: more than half of their shows were at international locations, a pretty remarkable feat for a band that never really broke into the mainstream.

In winter of 2008, however, BLOOD announced the dates for what would be their final tour. The aptly named “La Fin De La Journee” (End of the Journey), this final tour would take them back to several venues they had played on their previous tours across North America, with only two of the band’s four members: vocalist Fu-ki, and guitarist Kiwamu.

I caught the third to last show on the tour in Boston. The Middle East Downstairs (as the name implies) is an underground venue, with a narrow stage at one end of a cavernous corridor. As the doors opened, fans began crowding around the stage, dressed in all varieties of goth, cyber, and punk garb. One particularly enthusiastic fan passed a marker around to others so that they could sign the hand-drawn poster she’d brought as a gift for the opening band, Echostream. At long last, Tainted Reality’s founder and manager, Roger, took the stage to get the show started.

Echostream entranced fans with Ryoko’s hypnotic voice, GPKism’s electro-industrial sound wove rock effortlessly with baroque instruments, and DJ SiSeN worked everyone into a frenzy by pounding bass and grinding wildly with the two MySpace dancers who won the Internet invitation to dance onstage with him. The night came to a climax as Fu-ki and Kiwamu took the stage and BLOOD’s set began. A surprise to everyone, GPK filled in as keyboardist. The crowd was a sea of flashbulbs, moshers, and headbangers, as BLOOD played both new tunes and old favorites.

Fu-ki, vocalist of BLOOD

Afterwards, each band was kind enough to do a meet and greet with fans, autographing and posing for pictures at the goods table. After everything was packed up and the last of the photos were snapped, I had an opportunity to sit down with Kiwamu, Fu-ki, DJ SiSeN, and GPK and ask them a few questions. Ken and DJ SiSen came out still dressed to the nines from the concert GPK in a sweeping black dress, with wide sleeves and a beautiful red crystal chandelier necklace and DJ SiSen in billowing green parachute pants, a crop top, springy cyber falls, and wild eyes. Kiwamu and Fu-ki opted to change into street clothes.

69: First, for the newcomer, GPK! How did GPKism come to be?

GPK: Well, I started my project on MySpace. And Kiwamu basically found me and said, “Hey, how would you like to sell your CD in Japan?” And at the time, I didn’t even have any CD, really. So, he said, “OK, well, how about I join your band, and I’ll produce a CD for you.”

69: What was it like working with Kiwamu?

GPK: He’s got eight years of experience in the music scene. Obviously, that’s quite valuable. It was really great. Without him, this whole project would have never happened.

69: Wow, that’s really something. Ah, now that everybody’s here: How did you feel about the concert tonight?

GPK: The concert was great, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Kiwamu: I think there was a really good reaction from the audience. I appreciate it very much.

DJ SiSen: For me, it’s the second time performing in Boston. It’s a place I like a whole lot. Even out of the whole US, with the brick buildings and the architecture, I think Boston has the most originality. And everyone’s so kind, too. I love Boston, I’m so happy to be here.

Fu-ki: Everytime I [do a concert], I have a great time.

Gothic Prince Ken of GPKism and DJ SiSen with ANGEL

69: This time around, for some it’s a first concert, for others, the last time performing. How do you approach putting together that sort of show?

Kiwamu: Last year, I brought DJ SiSen over to the US for the tour. But, if you have the same lineup year after year, it gets boring. So, this year, I invited GPKism as well.

69: How do you keep so much energy on stage, especially with your elaborate outfits?

GPK: When I’m on stage, all the energy comes from my fans.

69: A question for Fu-ki! Most of the time, you sing in Japanese. How do you feel about the language barrier, singing to an English speaking audience?

Fu-ki: Hmm… When I’m singing, the most important thing is the sound. Lyrics are only one part of how the sound is expressed, so even though the words might not be understood, I think there’s a part that’s expressed through the sound itself. If someone wants to learn exactly what the words mean, they’ll translate it into English and be able to understand it. So, I don’t think there’s any problem at all.

69: Most concerts focus on one genre exclusively, but tonight’s show featured gothic baroque music, techno, hard rock, and industrial music all together on one stage.

GPK: We want to bring our music to different fans so we can give them all a different choice of what sort of thing they’d like to get into.

DJ SiSen: I want to go out more and mix, mix, mix, and show everyone a bigger underground scene.

69: Speaking of stages, I hear that you’re running a venue of your own now, Fu-ki?

Fu-ki: That’s right. In Osaka, I’m running a heavy metal bar, called MiDiAN. You can find out more about it on the MySpace page. If you happen to be in Osaka, please come by and check it out.

69: Wow, definitely! So, now that the tour is wrapping up, with tomorrow in New York and after that in Pennsylvania… Why, again, did you choose to end the tour in Philadelphia?

Kiwamu of GPKism

Kiwamu: Well, if I had to book flights from Boston to other cities, it would be very expensive. So, to fly back, we can drive to the other two cities first, then take our flight from there. So, maybe it comes back to costs. [laughing] But, we love the East coast, really.

69: You went to Chicago on this tour, too, right?

Kiwamu: Yes. We had a really good travel agent.

DJ SiSen: I hadn’t ever been to Philadelphia or New York, either.

69: Did anything funny or interesting happen on this tour that you’d like to share with everyone?

Kiwamu: On this tour, we noticed that if on your airplane ticket the letter “S” was printed, airport security always checks that person. Fu-ki and SiSen both got picked for that.

DJ SiSen: Maybe it’s because I look very strange. But it’s alright, strange makes me happy.

69: Do you have any message for our readers?

Kiwamu: This year, I may not have many tours or that kind of thing, but the past eight years have given me a lot of experience. I will use this experience to help other artists that are starting out get to the next step in their music careers. I’ll be helping them with recording and so on. I think it’ll be a good year.

GPK: Thank you very much for all the attention, for everyone who came out to the shows. I’m very grateful and honored that I could share my ideas and my music with all the fans. I will do my best and hopefully we’ll meet again soon.

DJ SiSen: It was so fun to be here tonight. I want to keep performing in even bigger shows and bringing music to more and more people. And please keep listening!

Fu-ki: I enjoyed every moment of this last tour, and I’ll be glad if everyone who came to see it enjoyed it as well.

69: Do you have any plans for what you’ll do next, Fu-ki?

Fu-ki: I’ll keep on my own path from here.

69: I’m sure that all of the fans of your music will be watching to see where you go next. Thanks for taking the time to chat with us tonight, and we hope you have a great time in New York tomorrow!

Tomo, guitarist of Echostream

ROKKYUU Magazine also thanks Roger from Tainted Reality, for helping bring Kiwamu, Fu-ki, DJ SiSen and GPKism over to the US! We wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

ROKKYUU Magazine is giving away a canvas signed by Kiwamu, Fu-ki, DJ SiSen and GPK!

Visit our BLOOD La Fin de la Journée Giveaway Contest to find out how you can enter to win!

There are 23 photos in this visual kei exclusive.

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