DerekVasconi
patreon
XTEEN, SATANIC PUNISH, IU, PATREON QUESTIONS, MORE...
🕑 Added 2020-03-09 18:54:08 +0000 UTCToday is the last day to get your questions in, those of you who are eligible for the audio question tier. I was hoping to get an onslaught of questions. I did get one brave soul asking me a bunch of questions, so thank you for that. But please, if there are any of you other Patreons who want to ask me something, please, go right ahead!
Also, chekis will be sent out after today too. Thank you again for the support there. I have so many new idols, so many of you will be getting a bunch of new crazy idols to check out, and I hope you do exactly that with some of the groups I have on board. They are all pretty incredible. Please support them! It means a lot to me if you do, and to the idols and their staff.
So, I joined with Idol On Chaos, an Italian blog site that's devoted to the underground idol scene, and together, we decided to start working on a series of interviews with idols that are on Idol Underworld. We're shooting for a few a month. Right now, we have XTEEN's interview to offer all of you, and another interview with another group already wrapped and edited. We'll release that video here soon, but we want the XTEEN video to be circulated and enjoyed first. By the way, if you watch it, can you tell me what you think about the editing and also the coloring and the video itself? I shot it with my Panasonic Lumix GH5 in 4K. Then a color Lut was applied by my editor... I think he nailed it pretty good, in terms of what we were going for. We did need to lighten it up a bit, though I preferred it dark, but the group requested it to be a bit more lighted, so that did make the video a bit noisier. However, I still think my editor fucking crushed it. I hope you feel the same. It's pretty much the look of what I want my documentary to have and feel like.
I've had some troubles with my documentary... namely, finding the time to sit down and write out the entire flow of it. I think it's going to be a very difficult ride for me with that, but... still trying to get it all done. I'm almost there with it. The thing is, tomorrow, for example, I have a meeting with a producer to possibly get two of his groups on board with Idol Underworld, and that meeting is super important because the two groups would bring an entirely different crowd to IU and also... the groups are fucking huge in the underground scene right now. Not only that, but the show where I'm having the meeting at, there's two other people who I want to meet that happen to have groups playing the show. These groups I also want on my site, so... tomorrow is weighing so heavily on my mind that I can't think of anything else. Add to that, the Satanic Punish pre-orders needing to go out now, which some of those orders have tons of other items that were ordered along with them, AND managing the crazy amount of pre-order sales coming in for Hanako's new cd, DEATH DAY, and yeah... I'm fucking busier than ever. And oh yeah, did I mention this week, I'm getting two groups added to IU for sure? Already done and just need to collect the items and take the cheki of the members... so yeah... the empire grows, but small battles need to be fought to win the larger war of idol world domination. You feel me?
It is weird to say this, but... I have been finding out who really are the ones I can and should follow in the idol world now, all thanks to my birthday live. I sent out invitations to some groups who I fucking absolutely adore and worship and also have worked with in the past... and nothing. Silence. They read my LINE messages, and yeah... nothing. Not even a FUCKING NO WAY ASSHOLE, or anything of the sort. Just.... maybe they are busy? But really? Busy for somebody who did SO Much for them, as in sacrifice huge chunks of my life to them?
That's how it goes in Idol. There is no loyalty. None whatsoever.
At the same time, I can't let shit like that get to me, because there might be a million reasons why idols don't respond to me when I need something from them, like a simple yes or no to a show I'm putting together. I have found over the past year that it's not uncommon to hear from idols and idol producers weeks, even months, after I've sent them messages. Because in idol, you aren't even really in the mind unless you are there and are seen regularly by idols and their staff at idol shows. So that's the quandary I'm in... If I don't stay home, I can't get work done for Idol underworld, but if I go out and attend every live possible and schmooze it up with idols, they can't deny me because they have to see me all the time, and so yeah... I'm in their site lines and unavoidable. It's part of the reason why I work still for an idol group directly. I need to be in the scene in some way and some shape, or else I'm truly not going to survive with Idol Underworld. And my company has suddenly really become ULTRA-Important to me. I mean, it's always been very important to me, but now... I dunno... I got a real passion for it that is giving me such a huge reason to jump out of bed every day and see who I can take a cheki of or get a thrill from receiving new merchandise from somebody. Like, when I met the producer from re: Alice, he had BAGS of merchandise to give me. BAGS. And he apologized so much for giving me all this merchandise at the live that I had met him at... but he honestly didn't understand how exciting and happy seeing bags of merchandise makes me. Even though it means my arms are going to be sore and possibly numb by the time I make it to my home... since carrying all that merchandise is incredibly difficult with how far away I live from everything. Not to mention, I have to put every single item up on Idol Underworld, and yeah... it's days of work ahead of me when I get suitcases of merchandise from groups. But it's my greatest joy right now. It truly is.
And so is doing things like these interviews with idols. I have that as part of the Patreon tiers. I kind of wanted to show you guys what money can do... an Italian blogger reached out to me and offered up a gigantic sum of money to help me set up everything for these interviews... and I'm not making a single YEN from these interviews. I mean, it's 100% not for profit, and all for helping all of you get more exposed to idols who have never even done an interview on camera with subtitles once in their lives. Or any interviews at all. And that always surprises me when I really think about this... because these idols are my fucking heroines, and they should be in interviews and magazines and movies and be given radio air play all day every day.... but they sadly aren't. And then they go through the dredgs of playing shit hole tiny basement clubs for a few years (if they even get that far), and then they all finally quit or go after something better, you know? And that depresses me, because I've seen groups that have music which is 100000% times more original and better than anything getting airplay on a commercial level, and then some. So I hope that some of you will see this XTEEN interview and decide to let me do this more... my Patreon tier is there... if you believe in it, please help me put these idols out there. You can pick just about anyone on Idol Underworld and if you want to see them in a subtitled interview... well, make it happen. You can do that. And there are a LOT of idols I'm working with now who truly deserve to be on camera. Honestly.
Anyway, enjoy the interview. The XTEEN girls are great and I tried to ask them questions which I felt gave a good overview of who they are and what they are all about and a tiny bit about themselves too, in terms of their personal lives. I didn't want to pry too much though... that fine line between an idol's life onstage and offstage that we all walk every single day here in the idol la la land. But this interview I felt accomplished that. Let me know what you think. And please, go tell the XTEEN girls you saw the video and through them some compliments too if you liked it. They would appreciate that.
It got pretty real at the first Satanic Punish show with the new generation. The girls did really great, all things considered. Sari lost her voice towards the last few songs and Mel was so nervous I thought she was going to fall down and collapse into a pile of shaking bones. BUT... overall, they did about as good as to be expected with the long and crazy journey they have been on so far to even get to the first live. I thought some of the best parts of the live was the fact that Usagi's mother and father were there, and so was Sari's mother. I got to talking to both Sari and Mel's mother at that live and the next morning's live (because they were pretty much the only two there for Satanic Punish that next morning, along with my dear friend from Belgium who turned out to be their only cheki that any of them did that second live, except for Usagi. But I'll get to that later). Both of the mothers are really funny. Usagi's mother is learning about idols, and Sari's mother is all about Johnny's idols. We got into some pretty interesting conversations about boys idols and I was laughing so much afterwards. I'll just leave it at that. It was cool though to see the mothers take chekis with their daughters and I got the privilege of taking those cheki for them during that first live. Merry Bad End was playing that show, and they loaned me out to Satanic Punish for that first show, since the lines for Satanic Punish were pretty good that first show. I mean, as best to be expected, given that there not that many people who were in attendance at the show. That was unfortunate, but you know... blame the invisible virus that people are treating like ebola that has everybody scared out of their fucking wits here in Japan. That, and maybe it's just the early morning curse of lives that start at the crack of dawn. I dunno... but it was what it was. The cheki lines were great and I think there was an audible gasp by fans when Usagi's dad took the cheki with his arm around his daughter. He gave her a hug and it was adorable, but I am not sure if fans knew who that guy was... since putting your hands around an idol like that is usually forbidden. It all depends on the idol and the staff, of course. Yuina from Merry Bad End has a TO and sometimes he puts his arm around her. She lets it and so do we because we know he's a damn good guy who never misses a show and supports Yuina with all his heart. Speaking of that guy... he was kind of peeved I was working for Satanic Punish and not Merry Bad End that first show, but it was what it was. I got teased mercilessly by him and also by Daisuke, the producer for Merry Bad End, for doing that, but it was all in good fun. I know they love me and they know my heart belongs to MBE and the members, since they took me in like the lost puppy I was after Necroma and me parted ways. I will always be grateful for that.
And Merry Bad End... they performed their new song, the one that I was asked to help with doing practice screams for Chihiro to imitate (since the words being screamed were in English and they wanted it to be accurate). I was surprised though, truly, because the last part of the song has this crazy double bass part that kicks in after the Kecha part, and that part had a massive screaming part that I tore my fucking throat out doing it for the practice recording. And yeah... my scream part got taken out. I was so surprised that they did that... and I wasn't sure why they would, but my guess is that Chihiro isn't quite there yet with her screaming vocals? I dunno... but this didn't really detract from the power of the song. Yuina's choreography for the new song is so fucking good, and early in the song, Honami jumps offstage to get people doing a circle pit... not sure if she'll keep doing that, but I hope she will. I like when groups get offstage and lose their minds with the fans. So... we'll see how it goes, but I'm wondering how the song will work in the longer scheme of things with Merry Bad End. I am hoping they'll settle into the song and get it grooving and it will grow on me in its current state that it's in. I'm sure it will.
The weird thing is that Satanic Punish... their songs are ALL insta-classics. So far, I mean. Each song you'll remember after hearing it, since there are super hooks in them, beatdown parts, interesting timing with breakdowns, even rap parts that work really well in the context they are put in... and so much more is on the way too. Morisaki san is really, truly incredible when it comes to writing crushing guitar parts. So... I can't wait to see what happens with the group. They were nervous and really trying hard to concentrate on their dance moves and parts to not get into the craft of being on the stage and PRESENT with the crowd, but that will change over time. I talked with Morisaki san about what the girls can do to improve their stage presence, and he told me to really sit down and talk with them and show them. So yeah... I'm going to do that. I want them to be fucking gigantic, because it's about fucking time that the idol world has a true beatdown group that has incredibly heavy and emotional songs that don't compromise. I mean... sure there are groups out there in the idol world that are heavy as hell and do have breakdowns, but NOT like Satanic Punish. That's one of the things I think people will see... they have four incredibly unique and interesting girls in the group, a great producer who knows how to write songs with hooks but still keep things heavy, and I think a very promising future ahead of them given I'm also marketing for them a lot.
After the first live, I took the girls to Yoyogi park and we took the cheki for the pre-orders. They all came out well. I got a lot of time to talk to each of the members, and I feel like I kind of got to know them better, which I'm happy about. I'll be working for them every time MBE doesn't have a live, so now I'm working for two groups, though more for MBE since I have a lot of stuff I'm working together with them to put out this year. MBE has an anniversary live coming up, plus we are working on a full album, and possibly more. I am really pushing for much more aggressive and crazier songs as well. So... we'll see what happens.
The Satanic Punish girls though... so so funny! When I had them do group chekis, they made sure every single group cheki was as funny or interesting as they could make them. I didn't tell them to do that either, but the four of them together seem to get along really well, and so they had a ton of fun with the cheki they took. I can't wait for all of you to get them too... they will be entertaining, I'm sure.
Also, they were good sports about that second live they had the next day after their debut... in which my friend Eric from Belgium was the ONLY one who did cheki with all the members (except like one guy did a quick one with Webshiki). There was another guy who did like 8 cheki with Usagi. He was super Gachi-koi otaku with her, which worried me and Morisaki san, because he had talked on twitter the night before about wanting to touch her or something during cheki time. He didn't though. I think he understood how quickly his ass would've got handed to him, had he done that. But Mel and Webshiki were trying to stick their faces and hands in the cheki because they were standing there and trying to make the best of the fact that there was nobody there to do cheki for them. It didn't help that it was buppan during the live and, again, SO early in the morning. At least Usagi got some chekis in that day. She is a natural at them too. But seeing Mel and Webshiki throwing up devil horns or peace signs in every cheki and Mel even tried lifting Usagi's skirt up a little in a cheki shot... too funny. The girls joke well with each other. That makes me happy!
Anyway, another week is here in Japan. I hope this week is calmer than last week, in terms of the level of stupidity displayed by so many people who are panic buying toilet paper and rice and also cancelling anything that can be cancelled... all for a super strong flu that's going around, because that's all this virus is. I am not saying we shouldn't be concerned about it or NOT take precautions, but... the RIGHT precautions. Masks are not going to do shit, and the worst part is that medical people NEED those masks, and they can't buy them because idiots have all bought them up here and everywhere in the world. So in reality, that will probably cause more problems than this fucking virus will, in terms of health complications. I mean... again, not trying to oversimplify what's going on. But people should just replace the scary title the virus has, "COVID-19," with "Strong flu," and then I think they'll see the paranoia dissipate. It's either do that on a global level, or I guess hope for another major world disaster to hog up the news media attention. I mean... shiiit. Cant we be done with this bullshit already?
Anyway, sorry to deter there into a rant about something that everybody seems to have an opinion about, including yours truly. My week will include going to a million idol lives, working a ton of idol lives, and getting new idol groups at IU. Plus I want to finish the sister site for IU and get that rolled out, and most important this week, I need to get the documentary rolling into high gear. So... stay tuned for more posts, more insights from the Idol World, and more of me just doing my thing. And again... can't say this enough... if you guys give at the interview level, I can churn out a lot more interviews for this exceptional idols and really create a great awareness of idols so that maybe, hopefully, we can spread idols and get them more fans and more people to come to the shows and so on.
Last, and not least... still searching for somebody. I did have an interesting person (who I can't say exactly who it was) invite me to lunch with her. I didn't think she was serious but seems like she is... and she is pretty fucking famous. So... maaaaybe something could happen there? We aren't meeting for business purposes, as far as I know. I am not going to read into it though... don't want to get my hopes up, and for all I know, I am thinking something entirely different than she is, but... lately, with this person, I get the vibe that she likes me more than just as somebody who knows me through association of the world I'm a part of? I dunno though. It makes me smile to think about something happening with her, but... nah, probably won't happen. She is too famous and I'm too much of a fucking nobody, but then again, didn't Utada date a nobody and then marry him and have a kid with him? And wasn't he Italian too? looool. Sorry... had to say that last part.
Forget what I just wrote. I'm sure it's nothing. I am still searching for love. I am not sure if I will ever find it. It might be too late for that, but you know what? I'm okay with it today. I had a terrible stomach ache yesterday. Before I went to Satanic Punish's morning show, I was in the bathroom forever, feeling super nauseous and sick. My head hurt too. Then when I got home from the show, I passed out on my bed, but was still feeling like dogshit. I was supposed to take cheki of NiANiHiL's Noi that night, but just couldn't bring myself to go to the venue and wait all those hours for 20 cheki. I wanted to but felt awful. So I reached out to a friend of mine, this girl who I know who is very kind to me. There is no relationship between us, as she gave her heart to another man a long time ago and they are happily still together. But she still has a very big soft spot for me and has become a very close friend of mine since living here in Tokyo. She came right over and took care of me and made sure I was okay. She cleaned my apartment and did my dishes and cooked for me. She didn't expect anything from me... and that.... that just blew me away. Just that kind of kindness from somebody.... I mean... isn't that what this is all about? I joke with her all the time about wanting to find somebody just like her to date and be with for real. She wants to help me find somebody but she doesn't have any friends who are not selfless. But she always jokes with me about my lack of love in Tokyo. It's like a running joke between us... and I love it. So.. lately, she's kept me smiling, and that's a good thing.
On to better things though, right? Satanic Punish's development, Merry Bad End's struggle to reach the next step, my documentary's flow chart getting finished, my mystery dinner date and what may become of that, working with idols who I want to work with and that actually happening, hearing back from idols who I used to love so much I would've got a tattoo of their name on my skin, had they stayed in touch with me instead of not ever responding to my messages or invitations to collaborate with each other, and last but not least, looking to find a path to peace with somebody who also will excite me enough physically to not regret committing only to them on a physical level. All these things lie ahead... not to mention, my books, more interviews, more photobooks, and tours abroad.
And to think, it's already march of 2020. Fuuuuck.
Love you guys!
Comments
I'm just gonna comment on the tech bit, I'll leave the rest for another time. I can understand why they asked for it to be a bit brighter based on their other videos. If you look at XTEENs other videos they are shot with a considerably lighter skin, almost to the point of overexposure and in some shots you can actually see the shadows from the lights they use. The face exposure in their videos is perhaps an artistic thing they want and that's OK for them, but perhaps not for everyone. The shadows from the bright lights (in their own previous videos) is not, to my mind, a good looking thing, so a softer lighting is better. As for this interview, sure you can see the noise, but it is more noticeable to me that the black level makes the video look more "milky" - you see it mostly in the black sweater of the right girl. Mind you, I look at it on a smaller laptop screen with an OLED with an extreme dynamic range. All in all though I think it looks OK for the interview. Is this black level OK for concerts shot in a darker room? - that remains to be seen... For the entire documentary, the editor and you have to agree on an overall feel of the video tone/lighting, so don't let the idols have too much to say about their individual shots though. ;)
Despite my lack of interest in XTEEN, I did watch about about 5 mins of it. I honestly know nothing about the group (I couldn't even tell you a song name or even any of their names), but it was interesting. The lighting was fine, although it kind of looked muted to me. If that's what you were going for, then that's great, but I just thought I would point that out. We've already discussed pretty much everything else you said here, so I don't really have much more to say. Although I think you forgot a section. Unless I'm blind, you set up the Usagi cheki thing, saying you'd get to that later, but then never really get to it later. If I am wrong, sorry. Anyway, have a good one and talk to you soon! Today's an important day for me for a specific reason, I'll tell you more about that at a later date.
