V-ROCK FESTIVAL 2011: Best Costumes
All photographs courtesy of V-ROCK FESTIVAL '11.
Best Costumes: Mix Speaker’s, Inc.
When it comes to costumes, you can’t beat Mix Speaker’s, Inc. Not when the bassist sacrifices musical maneuvrability in order to sport those impressive clawed condor wings and the cage fixed about his head. Of course, the physical priority only lasted for so long and the wings and cage were soon set aside to allow him to dominate his bass.
Wait, what? Condor wings? Cage? You see, Mix Speaker’s, Inc. design their costumes, staging and music around the concept of a circus, then take that concept and mutate it into all sorts of animals, monsters, and objects. This time, they all chose an animal: Vocalist Yuki was a dog, vocalist Miki a cat, guitarist Aya a rabbit, guitarist Keiji a lion, drummer S a ram, and bassist Seek… a condor. Most of these outfits have taken on a period appearance for the time being, with items such as capes, Pierrot drapings, and long waist-coasts and vests. Of course, the color scheme is something to marvel at, too, including white, black, pink, blue, and two vastly contrasting shades of green!
Runner-Up: Golden Bomber
Who ever said that the best costumes have to involve clothes? Golden Bomber get the “least clothes” award only because “no clothes” is illegal. During their performance, fans were treated to drummer Darvish Kenji in wrestling spandex and later spankies that were still too concealing for the man–who yanked them up further to show off his well-toned backside to the crowd. Guitarist Kyan Yutaka took a shower on stage with only a towel wrapped around his hips, and afterwards dropped it to show off his soaked boxer-briefs. Vocalist Kiryuin Sho looked positively modest in comparison–he only stripped down to loose boxer shorts, pretending that his clothes had been torn off by the frenzied crowd.
Not only did the band have great bodies; they proved that the muscles aren’t there just to look pretty, finishing off the performance with a front handspring from Jun and a double flip from Kyan. Who knew that V-ROCK FESTIVAL tickets also bought you a pass to the gun show?
Honorable mention goes to Versailles, because if Golden Bomber are to be awarded for the “least clothes” then surely Versailles deserve merit for donning the “most clothes.” All those coats, petticoats, capes, ruffles, buttons, and bows… HIZAKI could surely clothe a whole extra band in his skirts alone!
Kate Havas first became interested in Japanese fashion in college when visual kei and anime were just beginning to make their way to America. Having already been involved in the American fashion scene, she expanded her interests to include gothic lolita, Japanese punk, gyaru, and other Japanese subculture styles. Kate signed onto ROKKYUU in order to bring up-to-date news on Japanese fashion trends and the personalities behind these various subculture brands to fans all over the world.
Leela McMullen is a strong believer in the philosophy "no music, no life." Having traversed the range of Japanese fandoms, she found her home at last in visual kei and has made it her mission to share what she loves most with the world. Leela completed her B.A. in Japanese language from Griffith University in Gold Coast Australia. She now lives and works in Japan, striving to bring you the goods, hot from the scene. Follow her on twitter for juicy hints of upcoming articles if you've got a bit of Japanese language under your belt! http://twitter.com/#!/LeelaInTokyo
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