Question & Answer session with JaME!

Quite some time ago already, we put up a post in which we asked our readers to submit questions for JaME. It took quite some time (we were secretly waiting for more questions!) but here are the answers, answered by various members of the team:

Wanze: It's not a big question, but I'm missing the direct link on your main page to this Weblog. Or I haven't found it yet.

Kay [English team]:

Actually, there is a link on the main page of JaME, and you can find it here in the menu:

However, and this is probably why you couldn’t find it, only a few versions have this link, not all of them. Also, the French and Finnish links lead to the weblogs of their own versions.

Sianface: I know the JaME team works hard on the site in keeping it up to date and accurate, but not everyone appreciates it: what does the JaME team as a whole think of the "anti-JaME" crowd?

We’ve asked various JaME team members to answer this question, seeing as it’s hard to come up with one general statement. Also, as far as we know, there are multiple reasons for people not to like JaME. Here are a few thoughts and opinions that seem to represent what the JaME team is thinking about this the best.

Yura [French team]:

I think it's always easy to say something is bad, but JaME is full of people who work really hard, and I think it's still good that some people like their work and appreciate it. For the ones that don't, if they could tell us what's wrong, it would be more useful for all parties involved, instead of losing energy with starting an anti-something fight.

Yura-sama [German team]:

I personally don't care about "anti-sites," since I think it's a normal thing for people to come together to hate a "big enemy." I don't know why these people chose an information site as the object of their hate, and in fact I don't want to know, since I think that it is silly to hate a website. We're not a bad newspaper, that has a web-presence. And I never heard of any "wikipedia-haters,” so most probably these haters applied to the team but were not taken into the team, and are angry because of that.

Or their favorite band was "attacked" in a review for releasing a bad CD...is that a reason for hate? In my opinion, there are far bigger problems in the world than the one of not being satisfied with a site about Japanese music. And since the team is working hard to keep a high standard and even grow, I think it is very unfair to say that our site "sucks." It doesn't count only for JaME/KoME...it counts for any project that is kept alive by passionate people.

Matron [Finnish team]:

I find those sites amusing and I feel kind of proud since it shows we're really affecting them somehow. If we were just some small random meaningless site, people wouldn't have any opinion about us and the majority would probably be just "what's that? uhm, okay whatever." But however, I also find those sites sad because I'm a person who doesn't really understand the meaning "hating someone." Hate is such a strong word and it takes so much energy so I just can't understand people who HATE something 24/7; isn't that tiring?

In Finland, 99% of haters hate us because they're jealous. At least it strongly seems so. Yeah, unfortunately it's quite known we get some "extras" (though I still don't understand what's the big deal with interviews and so on; I mean, they're fun sometimes yes but gigs are much more fun? And you just get a pile of extra work so yay? Maybe I'm just the stupid one then. XD)

foXJapan [French team]:

Hmmm, when I talk with people, I think that they're very jealous. But they believe the worst ideas. The first is that when we work on JaME, we have free tickets for events and free CDs...and, automatically, the guys who believe these rumors become very jealous.

But one of things about it that makes me angry...no one seems to believe that working on JaME isn't easy and demands a lot of very important work after school...

Misomu [Swedish team]:

People tend to expect a lot from bigger sites. One mistake and you're out. They seem to forget that those working on the site are real people, and real people do make mistakes. If there's a mistake, why not tell us instead of wasting energy on dedicating a hate site? Those people either have way too much time on their hands, or they're really jealous.

Jess [American team]:

Every action and choice one makes in their life has a repercussion, be it good or bad. So JaME once had people who made poor decisions and "stole" information from other people, that was before, this is now. JaME has had it's grace period, taken the repercussion as a whole when it was only a few people's bad decisions; JaME has grown up and moved past that, people need to get over it D:

And about "stealing" information, it's kinda like... well, how did that person find out that info in the first place? It was announced live only? Well good, you and 500 other people heard. You're not unique, it's not "your" information, it's info belonging to the artist which it concerns. D: don't even get me started with the "stealing translations" thing. DX

The fact that people have anti JaME sites that STILL find things these days to pick apart, well kudos to them for being one of our many page hits. If they dislike JaME, drop the subject and leave us alone. Forget we exist. People keep talking about someone they dislike and keep tabs on them only because they have some sort of either jealousy or bitter issues. It's pathetic people have that kind of time to
devote to hateful things. To err is to be human. That's why the word forgive was made.

Kupo: My question is: no one will hire me due to my piercings and appearance, will JaME hire me please? XD ...no really? .-.

Kay [English team]:

In general, JaME doesn’t really care how the team members look like when it involves working on the site. However, when it comes to representing us in public, so with meeting companies, partners, bands, we do want our people to look professional and dressed smartly.

Sandra: I already asked several people but no one could ever answer my question: why is (was...?) it called "jmusiceuropA?" I was always told JaME was first a French project and even in English (all over known language, y'know) it would be a "europE". Why "A," where does it come from?

Reyep [JaME webmaster & creator of JaME]:

‘Europa’ originates from the ancient Greek word for the continent, in which it is spelled with an ‘a’ instead of an ‘e'. We chose this for two reasons: first of all, we didn’t want jmusiceuropa to sound too ‘English,’ it had to represent the whole of Europe. And ‘Europa’ sounded a little nicer than ‘Europe,’ more exotic in some way. ^^

However, nowadays we have dropped the names of ‘jmusiceuropa,’ ‘jmusicamerica' and ‘jmusiceastasia’ and we are jame-world together!

Pukurin: What do you think about the idea of people being SO against the use of Romaji titled tracks? It's that way a lot within the Last.fm communities. Like everything has to be in Katakana, Hiragana and Kanji?


Cage [English team & Tracklists manager]:

Personally, I use all forms of script when it comes to my music collection because I am learning the language at University. I may not know what all of the Kanji mean as it stands, but having them there helps me to recognize them. Regardless of language however, I tend to keep to original script, whether it be Russian, Korean or Chinese for example.

I do it because I have a fascination with language, not because of aesthetics or because I want to be "in" with the crowd. I personally find people who only keep the scripts as the "oh my God, look how much of a fan I am" type; the are people we could really do without. If people want to use Romaji, then by all means, go ahead.

If people have the frame of mind that romanized versions are "morally wrong," then my job on this site is practically worthless. With regards to romaji however, I have never heard anyone complain about the romanized lyrics found in the European releases of Japanese albums. Why should Romaji on online communities be viewed any differently? I think that if you want to use Romaji, then, by all means, go ahead.

Pukurin: What do you think about the idea of people strongly hating the term "JRock" or anything "J-"?

Yura [French team]:

I can understand people not liking this term because it's like saying "I-Rock" for Italian rock, or "F-Rock" for French rock, it's unfair...it’s as if saying that Japanese music can't only be rock, but only Japanese rock. But I always use the terms Brit-pop or French-rock or Chinese-punk, because culture and language are a part of the music. So I can understand that people hate those terms, but I can't say: oh man it's forbidden to use these words! Word are always useful to communicate, that's why we keep using them!

Misomu [Swedish team]:

I can understand that. Partly because people tend to label anything made by a Japanese band/artist as J-pop/J-rock, which would be like dividing all the music in the world into either pop or rock. Plus, it's loaded with stereotypes.
Another reason I think people might dislike the term is because it so strongly defines the music as "Japanese," as if that's the most important part. It's not pop, it's not rock, nor is it techno; it's Japanese. That kind of creates a border between Japanese music and music made in the rest of the world. But then again, it's a simple and easy way of explaining that you're talking about rock (pop/punk/whatever) music from Japan.

Jess [American team]:

I say J-rock, I say K-pop, but it's really only for one reason: listening to music in a variety of languages, it makes for an easier specific reference as to what I'm talking about. I don't feel that J-/K- anything is it's own specific genre of music, because music is it's own universal language. If the music sounds like rock, it's rock. Pop is pop, punk is punk, hip hop is hip hop, etc. The instrumentals decide the genre, not the language. As far as I'm concerned, adding the letter of whatever language the music is in means that and only that, it's not meant to degrade the music in any way.

So, if you also have a question for JaME, please post them and we'll do another Q&A session!

hide Memorial: JaME member comments

Kay:

To be honest, when we started this hide memorial project, I was very skeptical about it. My first thought was: why do we do this for hide, and not for the countless other Japanese musicians that have also passed away? And does hide really have as big an influence on the scene as everybody claims him to have, hasn't it all been blown out of proportion by the media after his tragic death?

However, I have been closely involved with this project and with every comment from an artist or someone from the music industry popping up in my mailbox, my view gradually started to change. hide did have a big influence on the music scene, maybe not in the way that everybody wanted to mimic his style, but rather inspiring many young people to pick up a guitar and try to learn it. His presence was outstanding, with his colorful fashion and appearance, but also with his kindness and his support to many charities, which are still getting much support from hide’s efforts nowadays.

I only heard about hide and his tragic death many years after that date, could only read and look at the experiences of others. But now, ten years after his death, from all the comments from people telling us about how much hide meant to them, I can only conclude one thing: hide is not gone. He is still here with all of us, his spirit living on inside the many people that have been touched by his unique presence. hide did not leave us on that day ten years ago, he simply became eternal and will live on forever in our hearts.

Lacy:

When I first heard of hide I didn't know he'd already passed away, didn't know who X JAPAN was either.

He was one amongst the first handful of artists and bands I listened to when I first got involved in the, sometimes crazy, world of Japanese music.

EYES LOVE YOU, I remember listening to it for the first time back in 2003 and wanting nothing more than to learn about who hide was. Though I'd only recently discovered him, I recall a dull ache in my heart when I stumbled upon the first fan site I found, bearing the information that he'd passed away in 1998.

It wasn't until I'd listened to even more of his music and read more about him that I realized what a phenomenal person he was. He wasn't just a rock star, but a caring individual, even devoting himself to charities, such an admirable thing. Not only that, but the impact he and his music made is evident in the number of young musicians that he inspired, that look up to him and got into music because of him, and the fans that say his music changed their lives.

I was just a stupid teenager in 1998, but I can't help laughing when I think that maybe if I'd known of him earlier, he would have changed my life as well.

But whether his music changed the course of my life or not, it, and he, has left a mark on my heart and though he will always be missed by countless people across the globe, his spirit will never cease to live on in his music and in all the people whose lives he touched.

Chantel:

hide had already passed away by the time I was sucked in to the world of Japanese music. I remember seeing a picture of him, thinking how incredibly bright his hair was and, as I listened, for the first time, to EYES LOVE YOU, ROCKET DIVE and Beauty & Stupid, how great his music was. As I continued to listen, I discovered what a versatile musician he was. Even though I didn't have the emotional connected of those who had been fans since the start, I still, somehow, felt the loss of this unbelievably charismatic performer. Despite that feeling, however, I know that hide is not truly gone. He lives on in his music, the artists who started playing instruments and singing because of him and the friends, family and fans who will never forget him.

Do you also have a story to share about what hide meant to you? Or are you going to commemorate hide's passing in a special way today? Please feel free to tell us about it in a comment!

Interview with The Candy Spooky Theater in Finland

On the 23rd of March, three impressive looking gentlemen arrived early at Finland to perform at the livehouse Gloria in the capital Helsinki. The concert was a success and looking tired but pleased, the band even held an autograph session for all their fans. Our scheduled interview began a little later than expected, but as the clock neared midnight we met up with the three men who looked like they had dropped out of Tim Burton's movie The Nightmare Before Christmas.

"Hi, nice to meet all of you," we said to begin our interview. "Could you please introduce yourselves to our readers?"

"I'm Jack Spooky," said the scary-looking vocalist with a mysterious deep voice while bowing to us.

"Kiddy Skeleton," said the guitarist nodding his head, and the pigtailed bassist introduced himself with: "I'm Peggy."

”Which things in Finland have been so peculiar that they made you laugh?” we asked. The band members pondered the answer together until Jack answered very politically, “Nothing has really made us laugh, but I’m very impressed by the scenery of Finland and this city. I like the way this city has been built.”

It was very pleasing for us Finns to hear such kind words from Jack. “It was also really nice to see how enthusiastic all the fans were tonight. It was a big surprise!” added Kiddy, looking excited.

Next, we asked The Candy Spooky Theater what they missed in Japan. We didn’t have to wait long for an answer! “Japanese food,” said Jack.

The Candy Spooky Theater’s style and their way of performing is very impressive and brings Halloween to everyone’s mind. So we asked the band if there was any other holiday they’d like to base their style on. The members thought for a moment and then Peggy answered, “Probably Aho-matsuri. A Japanese summer festival. People dress in yukatas during it.” And even though we knew what yukatas were, he kindly explained to us, grinning, ”They are like informal kimonos, used on a more daily basis.” The other two members burst out laughing, and we figured that must have meant they agreed with the bassist.

We also questioned the band about their attitudes towards gifts received from fans. “All gifts are very pleasing and I become very happy when receiving them,” said Jack Spooky, fidgeting with his shirt sleeve. “It’s nice that the fans think about us and remember us by giving gifts.”

”Now it’s time to move on to more unusual questions,” we told The Candy Spooky Theater. “Are you ready?”

All of the members nodded in agreement.

”When walking down the sidewalk you discover a wallet on the ground that’s full of cash. Do you take it to the police or keep it for yourself?” The members grinned and Jack Spooky answered first. “I wouldn’t care about it, I’d just walk by it,” he muttered.

“I’d put it in my pocket,” said Kiddy Skeleton, laughing out loud.

“I’d take it, but instead of putting it in my pocket...I’d put it in my underpants!” answered Peggy, giggling. His laughter immediately had the two other members joining in, and we had to wait a short moment for them to calm down to continue the interview.

Our next question was about shaping the world. After all, everyone thinks certain things would be better taken out of the world and replaced with something different, so we asked the band what they'd take out of the world and put in instead. “It would be nice if all the blue color of the seas would turn into blood red,” said Jack.

“I like to drink,” said Kiddy, “so it would be awesome if I could take all the water from the seas and put beer or sake in it’s place! If that happened, I’d go swimming every single day!” The other two members burst out laughing, and Kiddy’s answer amused us as well.

“What’s the most popular vegetable in Finland?” asked Peggy. We answered that it was carrots and he laughed and said, “I’d take all the carrots from the world and plant carrot seeds in their place!”

”What animal does the member next to you remind you of?” we asked. The question aroused grins and giggles from the members and after a few moments, Peggy answered, “Kiddy looks like a chameleon.”

Kiddy glowered at Peggy for a moment but then turned towards Jack Spooky. “Jack reminds me of a sloth!” he finally said, roaring with laughter. Jack Spooky tried to keep a straight face but he couldn’t stop the corner of his mouth from twitching. He looked at Peggy with a pensive look on his face and told the interpreter his answer. At this point we got stuck as the interpreter didn’t know what the animal was called in English. Was all lost? Would we ever know what animal Peggy reminds Jack of? Luckily, Peggy had a secret talent: drawing. He took the interpreter’s little notebook and when he had finished his drawing, we couldn’t help but laugh. Jack Spooky thought Peggy looked like an armadillo.

Then we wanted to find out if Peggy or Kiddy Skeleton would like to dethrone Jack Spooky and become The Candy Spooky Theater’s singer. Just as Kiddy opened his mouth to answer, the lights in the hall we were in went off. After some confusion and nervous laughter, we decided to continue the interview in almost total darkness. Kiddy finally replied, “If we superseded Jack, The Candy Spooky Theater wouldn’t be The Candy Spooky Theater anymore,” he answered diplomatically. “The style in which our music is done wouldn’t be the same anymore. We need Jack to be The Candy Spooky Theater.”

We then asked the band to imagine an ordinary Monday morning where everything was normal...except they have changed bodies with the member sitting next to them. “How do you react?” we questioned. After a moment of silence, Kiddy asked us to specify: “How would we react or what would we do?” We told him we'd like the answers to both.

Jack grinned and said, “If I turned into Peggy, I’d first make sure that it really is Peggy’s body...then I’d damage it and do all kinds of mean things to it!” Everyone laughed and Peggy pretended to be upset. But he told us his answer,

“If I changed bodies with Kiddy, I’d be very surprised at first. After the shock I would try to drink a lot of alcohol, since Kiddy can drink a lot, and I can’t.”

”If you weren’t Japanese, which country’s citizens would you like to be?” was the next question. Jack carried on Kiddy’s previous diplomatic line, answering, “I’d like to be Finnish!”

“I’d like to be Finnish too!” said Peggy, flattering us.

“I would like to be Italian,” said Kiddy. “The mafia comes from Italy,” he added and made us all laugh.

We continued with our odd questions, asking what super power the members would like to have. “It would be great to be able to control the whole world,” said Jack.

“I would like to fly,” answered Peggy modestly. With a wide grin Kiddy said, “I want the power to control all the women in the world!” Again the guitarist’s answer made everyone laugh.

Following Jack Spooky’s previous answer, we asked them how they would rule the world if they became world rulers. “In a very selfish way!” answered Jack.

“I would also rule the world selfishly,” said Kiddy. ”If anyone comes in my way then...” He demonstrated what he would do by fisting the air. Peggy added quietly, “Me too."

”Thank you for your time and good luck with the rest of your tour!” we said and got up. It was past midnight and the band members thanked us and immediately dove towards their freshly delivered McDonald’s meals, looking extremely hungry.

Interviewers: Ake and Katrin
Translation: Katrin
Photos by Heikki Mitikka

Taste of Chaos Live Report

The Rockstar Taste of Chaos tour is almost over, and there are only a few dates left on this enormous tour. It cannot be described as anything else but a success for both the bands, gaining exposure and experience, and the fans, getting to see the three Japanese bands live without having to travel overseas.

Here is a live report of one of the concerts. For the people who went, it's a chance to reminisce, and for those who couldn't attend it's a taste of what the tour was like.

ROCKSTAR TASTE OF CHAOS – 03/14 @ Susquehanna Bank Center Camden, NJ.

After the doors opened, there wasn’t much waiting before the show started. The venue had a standing room only section and a seated section, and both filled in fast. The stage was split into sections: 2/3 of the stage was the main stage, 1/3 was the side stage. As the opening band played on the side stage, the equipment for D’espairsRay was set up and checked.

In the back, a huge banner for D’espairsRay was displayed. Immediately after the first band was done on the side stage, D’espairsRay came out one by one onto the main stage.

When they came out, HIZUMI picked up the mic and gave an MC in English: “What’s up Camden! We are D’espairsRay from Japan!” The first song they played was DAMNED. After DAMNED, HIZUMI asked, “Having fun?” The audience cheered and he continued talking. “Thanks for letting us be here on this TASTE OF CHAOS tour and having us here, Camden! Make some noise!!” They played MIЯROR and SIXty∞NINe next, and even the people who weren’t there for D’espairsRay jumped around and threw their hands in the air. Then they played Closer to ideal and finished with [Fuyuu Shita Risou].

As the next band played on the side stage, MUCC came out and set up their equipment. People in the audience commented on how cool Yukke’s bass was. After the band on the side stage finished (to barely any applause), MUCC came out onto the main stage. They were welcomed with cheers and started right away with Ranchu.

Tatsuro talked to the audience, reading English off a paper taped to the floor. “Thank you for having us on the TASTE OF CHAOS tour! OK? We really appreciate it! OK?” He paced back on forth onstage and repeated himself, adding this time, “Let’s go crazy!” They played Shion and Fukurou no yurikago, then got ready to play Fuzz.

They received good audience reaction as Tatsuro played the harmonica and roamed the stage. After playing Shadan, Tatsuro announced that Libra was the last song. Libra got the biggest response from the audience as people jumped and waved their arms in the air.

After MUCC, THE UNDERNEATH took the side stage. Taka called out to the audience, “Are you having fun? Come on! Make some noise! Let’s rock!” They played a good selection of songs off their new album, including GEKKOH, Marie and Bite the bullet.

At one point during their set, Tal lost his balance and fell partway on a monitor while Ryo roamed the stage. Taka jumped on speakers, throwing his arms in the air to get everyone to jump. As they finished their last song, Taka introduced the next band, “This next band is one of my favorite bands, Bullet For My Valentine!”

After that, D’espairsRay, MUCC, and THE UNDERNEATH met fans in the lobby for an autograph session. After everyone had passed through the line, the bands waved goodbye and left.


Author: Jess

Embarrassing Moments During JaME Interviews

Occasionally, the JaME team members do interviews, but not everything always goes right. From being told that there would be a translator but not having one show up, band members in bad moods giving off the “hurry, I want to leave as soon as possible!” vibe, worn-out band members falling asleep during the conversation to managers dictating what to say, mishaps do happen; it’s not always as much fun as it seems.

But, things could be worse. You know that feeling of utter embarrassment when you’ve done something stupid? Like falling flat on your face with a few hundred people watching? These embarrassing moments happen during interviews as well, and here’s a run down of Embarrassing Moments During JaME Interviews.

- Sarah, about nobodyknows+ in Long Beach, CA, United States [interview]

Shortly before my interview with the musical group nobodyknows+, I'd bought a new recorder to use during interviews. Foolishly, however, I hadn't yet really played around with it or read the manual for it before sitting down with the six guys and their translator. We'd started the introductions when DJ MITSU suddenly noticed that the tape wasn't moving. Embarrassed, I attempted to get it to record without any luck. DJ MITSU actually ended up picking it up and fiddling with it before NORI DA FUNKY SIBIRESATH and g-ton lent a hand as well. The three of them finally figured it out and got it to work.

Lesson learned: always make sure you're familiar with your equipment beforehand (and if you do run into technical trouble, call nobodyknows+).

- Matron, about Plastic Tree in Helsinki, Finland [interview]

Once, while I was interviewing Plastic Tree, my skirt nearly dropped. My colleague yukionna and I were sitting on the sofa and my skirt was spread out so yukionna half-sat on it. And as I went to stand up, yukionna was still sitting and my skirt stuck underneath her. So that's how I nearly lost my skirt. But, I sat down quickly again so yukionna could stand up first. The band members noticed this but they only laughed a little at me and Ryutarou even asked if I was okay. =D

- Kay about Electric Eel Shock in Amsterdam, the Netherlands [interview]

Quite some time ago, we were invited by the rock band Electric Eel Shock’s management to interview them about their upcoming album. We took the invitation and met them in a café in Amsterdam. The interview went fine, we had a lot of laughs and the guys gave pretty great answers to our questions. After the interview, we made our way over to the exit of the café. Everything went fine until we arrived at the front of the café...which was made completely out of glass...and the door disappeared on us! Because the huge windows and the door looked exactly the same, we stupidly couldn’t find it. While the band and their management were laughing at us, we managed to find the door and tried to hide our blushing faces as quickly as possible…

Prospective Artists for the Site, We Need Your Help

Despite JaME's current situation, the teams are remaining active and we are hoping that our readers will do the same! As our readers are so important to us, we are hoping that you will help us with suggestions that will make the site even better, in particular, the artist database.

As many people are aware, the team at JaME try their best to make the artist database as varied as possible. Of course, with only a limited number of people on the team and thousands of J-Music fans out there, we are hoping for some input from our blog readers and forum participators into what genres you feel we are missing out on!

If you strongly feel that we need more punk, urban, metal, hip-hop, progressive rock or any genre under the sun, please feel free to post your suggestions below. Any input that you, the readers, suggest will be taken into careful consideration. If you feel that you have a strong contender for a place on the artist database, then feel free to suggest that artist/group. With a strong argument behind the artists/groups that you personally feel should be on the site, please post a link to the official website of said artist/group.

We only ask for a few points of criteria. The band/artist must have a number of releases, must be mainly based in Japan or have toured in Europe or the U.S.A. We would also like the artists/groups that you suggest to have some information readily available, even if it is a mere timeline on their official site. With no information we cannot write a profile and biography and no artist would appreciate that!

If there is no information regarding the artist/group, then still feel free to put their name forward as if they gain popularity in the future we may add them to the database.

The JaME team would like to thank those who put forth their suggestions.

JaME Crash

Today, JaME crashed again. Some of you might have noticed that it has also happened two days ago, but we were able to fix that within a few minutes.

However, this time it's not a case of ten minutes, but a much bigger problem which will unfortunately take much more time to fix.

Currently, only the forum and the weblog are working and we will keep you informed on both sites. The news will also be continued here on the weblog, so please keep an eye on it!

We apologize deeply, and we hope to be back again soon!