Who said Asians couldn't rock?

The GazettE

 

L-R: Aoi, Reita, Ruki, Kai, Uruha

Who are they?

     The GazettE is another visual kei band that shows how diverse the music under the vk genre can be.  They’re a quintet of lead singer Ruki, bassist Reita, drummer Kai, rhythm guitarist Aoi and lead guitarist Uruha.  The GazettE is one of Japan’s most popular edgier rock bands.

     The band was formed in 2002 by Ruki, Reita and Uruha.  They later recruited Aoi and drummer Yune, who left in 2003 and was replaced by Kai.  After experiencing many failures in the music scene with their former bands, the members agreed that The GazettE would be their last band if things didn’t work out.

     Since then The GazettE was reached massive success.  They’ve held many sold out tours and five of their six albums have reached the top ten on the Oricon charts.  It is an amazing feat considering that the Japanese market is flooded with many idol and pop acts.  As well, just a couple years ago they played a sold out live at the coveted Tokyo Dome.

     So some info about the various members themselves, Ruki was actually a drummer for his previous band.  He now works as The GazettE’s lead singer and is the primary composer for the band.  Before the success of The GazettE, Ruki’s relationship with his parents was actually quite tense.  His father even disowned him at one point.  However, the growing popularity of the band has helped to patch up their relationship.

     Reita is the band’s bassist who has a notable appearance.  You can never find him without his noseband.  He started wearing it in high school and it started to become his trademark.  In an interview he has stated his concerns for how much longer he has to hide his nose.  His other signature move during concerts is his knack for throwing his bass in the air and catching it (99% of the time).   It dropped once…

His nose is absolutely normal...

    Uruha is the band’s lead guitarist, who plays a majority of the solos.  He is also the second composer for the band.  You can tell if the song was composed by him since they tend to be very heavy metal-esque.  This is probably due to the fact that he has been influenced by metal bands such as Metallica and Slipknot.

     After Yune left the band in early 2003 to pursue his studies, Kai stepped in as drummer.  At a young age he showed an intrinsic interest in music.  He tried to play various instruments, such as the violin, before deciding on the drums.  Since he came from a single-parent home, Kai had to save up for years to buy a drum-set.  During that time he learned his skills by “bang on pots and pans and paper plates placed in the format of a drum set”.

     Guitarist Aoi decided to become a rock star as a middle schooler.  In a family where both of his parents had work (a rare occurrence in Japan), reaching his goals was difficult.  His older brother once gave him an electric guitar.  However, it was only after Aoi “lugged his mother out a few hours away to buy an amplifier and plugged it in” that he realize that his brother gifted him with a broken guitar.  After this realization, Aoi apparently "Just sat there in the middle of the room and cried".  As punishment, his mom forced his brother to give Aoi his acoustic guitar.  Since that time, Aoi mastered the guitar be learning songs by ear and receiving primitive instructions from his brother's cover-band band mates”.

The Music

     So this first song, The Suicide Circus, is one of their more recent releases.  Unfortunately, it suffers from a case of engrish, but it kind of makes it more unique... Anyway, unlike earlier songs, The GazettE added more electronic effects that don't detract from the raw rock sound unique to the band.

     This net song is called Chizuru, which roughly translates as One Thousand Cranes.  The lyrics of the song tell a story of losing a loved one, but without knowing the lyrics the emotions still come across. 

     After being a fan of The GazettE for about seven years now, I have to say my favourite song by them is Nausea & Shudder.  It's a high energy, head-banging inducing song.  What stands out the most in this song, is the fascinating use of the guitars.  It's sort of a call and answers technique as the lead and rythym guitars alternate with each other at various points.  As well, there is an amazingly, epic guitar solo.  Check it out.

     I would have put in more songs, but maybe that would have been too much...
So, what are your comments on The GazettE?

Sources 

http://www.jpopasia.com/group/thegazette/

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2012/10/18/music/fans-of-the-gazette-spread-news-abroad/#.UW13NYGRjTo

http://www.pscompany.co.jp/gazette/

http://visualkei.wikia.com/wiki/The_GazettE

http://chizuru-kei.blogspot.ca/2010/09/gazette-members-facts.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gazette_%28band%29
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=187389107963902