Dear Rockers 6/9 2012

News

by Leela McMullen, posted June 9, 2012

Last year on June 9, (6/9 here in Japan,) I posted a rundown of our spreads so far and a little sneak peak of what was to come. Needless to say, a year on, ROKKYUU’s content has grown exponentially! So I thought it would be a good chance for our readers to hear from the staff, including those who usually work behind the scenes!

Some of our staff have gathered their recommendations for their own personal favorite articles between June 9 2011 and June 9 2012. Don’t miss the highlights below and another sneak preview.

Web Publisher, Dan

Working intimately on the website, behind the scenes, and everything in between, Dan has been with ROKKYUU since the very beginning and we wouldn’t be here without him. It’s his stunning design sense and cunning that make ROKKYUU both presentable and easy to navigate. His choices included a range of fashion h.NAOTO fashion articles so here’s a sample:

Managing Editor, Sarah

Always impeccable in her taste, Sarah lives in London, heading up our overseas department and pitching in on the editorial side. Her choices turned out to be those most popularly included in other staff recommendations:

Also, don’t miss this interview of Sarah by the Frills and Frolics bloggers, here on YouTube.

Fashion Editor, Kate

Kate was snapped up on a lucky chance while I was covering an h.NAOTO fashion show and her fashion expertise is exactly what ROKKYUU needed. Somewhere along the way, I got my way and she became an interviewer and music writer and editor, as well. You could say she’s my overall 2IC. Here’s what Kate recommends:

Events Coordinator, Diana

When ROKKYUU returned to the front lines in 2011, Diana was there and ever since, she has been constantly, constantly writing. Her reports gain the most comments and appreciation from our readers and I can personally guarantee the hard work she puts in to convey the scene of each report she writes:

Photographer, Yuliya

Yulia joined us as a fashion photographer but photographers are in despairingly short supply which lead to the question: “Think you could handle shooting a live?” “Yeah, I’ll give it a try,” Yulia agreed. If you’ve seen any of Yulia’s live photographs, your jaw probably just dropped at that casual comment. Most recently, we received a request from an artist overflowing with praise and begging permission to keep the photographs for personal memorabilia. No, it wasn’t her recommendation, but these are splendid photographs, too:

Translator/Writer, Chika

Chika has been a wonderful help in translating and checking translations of articles and interviews. Most recently, she made her ROKKYUU writing debut in an article that will appear in the coming weeks for your reading pleasure! However, the article she recommended happens to have a twin on another website written by Chika herself (though here the author is Kate):

Writer, Kellie

Kellie is a busy, busy bee but graciously takes care of the overflow reports and reviews. Her comment when asked to choose only one article (which, as you can see, all the staff were extremely successful at that…) was gold: “Is it cheating to say the V-ROCK Festival coverage?” For those who missed “the V-ROCK Festival coverage” updates, the Best of series alone consists of eleven articles in total. At least they’re all gathered under one page:

Writer/Site Maintenance, Taryn

Taryn has been an absolute gem! Ever wondered who updates the multitude of bands pages? That would be Taryn. Certain aspects of the site have faced neglect as content boomed but Taryn’s working on getting the ROKKYUU Player and other such functions underway. Not only that, she can write, too! All the latest bio’s for the Indie Series are courtesy of Taryn’s research and compilation! Taryn’s recommendation is from around the time she first joined ROKKYUU:

Photographer, Mio

Mio almost never lets us down even if she gets a phone call two hours before a live saying, “It’s an emergency! Can you come and take photos?” all in Japanese of course. She’s been a constant joy and you’ll see her name plastered all over the site from the moment of the relaunch. Actually, Mio has learned about visual kei here with us at ROKKYUU but her first induction to the scene came with the legend himself and at the same event where we first met a year previous in 2010:

Editor in Chief, Leela

Yep, that’s me, but before I make my recommendations, I want to reserve this space to publicly thank ALL of the hardworking staff of ROKKYUU. Not only those listed above but also: translators Maya, Ayame, and Yumi; photographers Laura, Eric, Sabrina and Polina; writers Kai and Jenny; artist Iris and everyone else who has been or ever will be a part of ROKKYUU, including you precious readers. Thank you all.

As editor, I have a personal connection with each and every article, making it impossible to choose any one–or several–but since most of my favorites have already been mentioned above, I’ll leave you with these last gems:

Thank you for visiting us on this numerically convenient day. I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing from our staff for a change. As promised, here’s a little sneak peek of what’s to come…

Now, it’s a busy day with so many lives scheduled to coincide with the day of rock, and off course, our 69 rivals over in Makuhari… Better get to work!

ROKK ON!

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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