Vampires, Slash and Gackt - Oh My!!!

[xof1013]

*Points to Icon* THUDDDDDDD.... Ever seen a Japanese Vampire Rock Musician?



Ok - you know how they say people can wear their hearts on their sleeve? Me - I wear my enthusiasm on my sleeve. Especially when I find something - or in the case, someone - who just makes me go WOW!!! I tend to jump in full force - getting all the info, links, etc - that I can find. It happened with X-Files (remember Xof is Fox spelled backwards...lol) - it happened with Queer As Folk - heck, it's happened on a fandom level, many times.

Wellll, in the last week - I found something that touches a LOTTTTT of my buttons...lol.

Vampires - Oh Yeah.
Slashable boy on boy touching - Oh Yeah!
Rock Music - Oh Yeah!
Eclectic, fantastical drama on stage to a crowd of f'ing tens of thousands - THUD!!! lol.... And I wanted to give my STRONG recommendation to my flist so that I could share the wealth. So pretty please - I'm asking for you to treat yourselves by taking a look at what I've amassed below!!! (I appreciate your time...lol.)

Who am I talking about? A man called "Gackt" - a Japanese musical Superstar!!! Who until a week ago, I knew absolutely nothing about. Bad xof! (No - don't run away!!! You have to see the pictures!!!) He's one of THE biggest things on the scene in Asia - and has been for almost ten years. He's drop dead gorgeous, multi-talented, says he's a 400+ year old Vampire!!! That alone should get you to stay around, folks! Add in that he does stage shows that'll make your jaw drop, plays multiple instruments, incorporates martial arts into his act and likes to tease the audience by feeling up his fellow male band members - it's allllllll fantastic!!! Oh, and did I mention his music is SO GOOD!!!

I'm including several recommendations under the cut for youtube.com vids of his performances - including "Lust For Blood" - which you HAVE TO SEE!!! It's his vampire rock song - and I'm tell you, you'll love it! (If you're a Laurell K. Hamilton or Anne Rice fan - you NEED TO SEE THIS.) Also, there will be fantabulous hot photos to entice you to take a look!!!

Pretty please - click now!!!

Gackt's wikipedia entry is HERE. That'll get the background out of way. Basically - he started out in a goth rock band that used to dress up in wild costumes and put on sexually provocative stage shows. Then he went solo - and EXPLODED on the music scene. He's had one hit after another, one "look" and hair color after another. Each beautiful, imo.

Ok - now the vids!!! If anyone is interested, I have these on my pc - if you find one = like "Lust For Blood" - which you HAVE to see bigscreen versions of - I can yousendit. But for now - we're using YouTube due to the convenience.

1) "Lust For Blood" - Again, it's dramatic, beautiful, a must-see! If Lestat had truly been a rock star = and born in Japan...lol - he might have looked like this! LINK






2) "Speed Master" - Here's the slashable boy touching! lol... There's a lot of "fan service" in Japanese Rock - meaning the singers intentionally play on the women audience members' reactions by suggestively touching, dancing - basically molesting each other on stage...hehe. The song is fantastic! The effects, lights and smoke rock! So does the black leather!LINK There's a second concert vid of this where he's wearing white leather - THUD! LINK I'm putting up the megaupload link here for the first performance listed - the black leather one - because it deserves a bigger screen view - LINK.




3) "Cube" - I ADORE THIS ONE! lol... Love the pink lights. Again the effect is visually stunning. And the song is great! (Gotta luv the off the shoulder coat look...lol.) LINK



4) "Rain" - OMG!!!!! You have to see this!!! They use a water machine that floods the front half of the stage! Curtaining it in a veil of water! THUD!!!!!! The song's also a winner! I love watching this - a lot! lol.... LINK




5) "Metamorphoze" - Great look to this - lion mane hair, and the coat is fantastic! Sighh... LINK



Here are a few more rec's from youtube for songs you need to see -

6) "Regret" - Piano duet with drums - WOW (You'll be hearing this again, folks - on one of my vids!!!) LINK

7) "Love" - John Lennon Tribute Song - Gackt's singing in English!!! (No big surprise there - he speaks four languages - Japanese, Mandarin, English and French.) LINK

8) "Vanilla" - one of his biggest hits - luv the stage show on this one! LINK

Trust me - there are almost 4,000 youtube entries for Gackt - he's VERY popular! And very prolific! Bless...

Ok - if you made it this far - I applaud you!!! And I have a reward! Prettiness....

Young Gackt - Goth Rock Days:




Blonde Gackt:




Brunette Gackt:



And last - but not least - Half Naked Gackt:




If you stuck with this through the whole post - THANK YOU! It took alot of work to do this...lol. And yes - This now means I have to get back to a certain...uhmm, fic - that I'm working on. *xof ducks head* - but I needed to get it out of my system!!! I truly hope that you find the time to look at the vids I recommended. I think they are more than worth the effort!

The man has a beautiful, entrancing voice and he deserves a wider audience.

hugs

xof

ETA - If you want to know the English translations for these songs - they can be found HERE.

Comments

[myth720.livejournal.com]

wow... you discovered Gackt.. just now. O: (since my flist is mostly filled with jrock/jpop/j-idols and anime fans it seemed so strange to me XD;)

you should look for his movie moon child. very gay. and starring with another famous jrocker - Hyde whos also the vocalist of l'arc~en~ciel.
iirc they even kissed on stage and they're very popularly slashed in the jrock fandom lol (personally i think Hyde is hotter XP)

[xof1013.livejournal.com]

Ha... That's debatable...re: Hyde. *teasing*

I have seen Moon Child. Heck, even that's up on YouTube...snicker. With English subtitles. I loved the movie. They did very well for their first acting jobs. And absolutely - it's HUGELYYYYYYYYYY slashable.

I think the fan vids for MC take up over a hundred or more of the youtube Gackt hits...lol.

Hiya - btw ... I hope you are well. All things considered.

Hugs

x

[myth720.livejournal.com]

hahah well i'm not really a fan of either tho i do have some lots of their songs... my fave jrock bands are Glay and Buck-Tick tho ^^

and i'm hanging on.. somwhow, thank you ^^

[seki-raku.livejournal.com]

...I kind of figured you must be new to Gackt - must have been all the exclamation points. :)

Yes, indeed, he's pretty, and I like his voice. You should have seen him in his Malice Mizer days (visual rock band - wigs, makeup, gothic costumes).

Unfortunately, he has a reputation of being insane. His fans are really scary (as in, he can do no wrong). So appreciate the pretty, but don't look for substance. He knows his audience, and caters to it, is all.

[xof1013.livejournal.com]

Ha - yes, I did use ! to excess. Oh well.

I have seen his Malice Mizer vids - in part, on youtube - Yikes! lol.. The songs just didn't do it for me. The costumes were - uhmm... Some were great, most were scary.

I've seen a lot of his "appearance" vids - interviews, game shows, etc - and while I think he's eccentric - he just seems to be building up the mystic. His fans do seem wild for him - kinda Michael Jackson wild - which can get rather embarrassing for the rest of us...lol. Having to have six incredibly huge bodyguards surrounding you just so you can walk down a street and do an interview is rather frightening.

I do admire his variations in presentation - how one song can be done, and done beautifully - in so many different ways - in his live shows. "Last song" for instance - solo on piano, acoustic on guitars or with full orchestra.

Anyway - I enjoyed what I found.

Hugs

xof

[kalamitykat.livejournal.com]

Awwwwwwwwwww, you're so cute. ♥ Thank you very much for the pics and links. I hope this post manages to spread the Gackt love. :)

I know Gackt, and while I think he's interesting and pretty and I love some of his songs, I think he's seriously overrated as a singer. But then again, I'm biased. :D

I was about to rec Moon Child to you, but I've seen you've seen it, so I won't. :)

Thank you again for sharing this. :)

[female-officer.livejournal.com]

The same goes for me. The only difference is that I have been aware of his existance for years but fell for him just about 4 days ago. And all this days are filled with Vanilla. I hear it in my head first time in the morning...

[xof1013.livejournal.com]

I've started hearing his songs in my head too. Don't have a clue as to how to pronouce the words...lol - but the tunes still show up.

hugs

x

[gacktworld.livejournal.com]

If Lestat had truly been a rock star = and born in Japan

My thought exactly.

Welcome to the fandom! Don't worry about the fans. I've been burnt a few times, and keep getting resurrected like a phoenix. It's good to have another one here who jump in full force with the info, links, etc. I hope we'll see more of you in the future.

btw.. may I ask, how did you first stumble into him? Is it because of the Yoshiki announcement in Otakon 2006 last Saturday?

[xof1013.livejournal.com]

Actually I think it was a version of Vanilla, but I caught Speed Master and that was it! lol...

Thanks for the welcome!

hugs

x

[gacktworld.livejournal.com]

Ah, we are the same then. Except my Vanilla was the live perf from MARS concert. Then his voice. Then his claiming to be a 460+ year old vampire. Coupled that with my insane love for Lestat, and that was it.

Mata ne. :D

[shadow-reiyuki.livejournal.com]

hi again! i made my way here after your reply @ dears ^^
Do you, by any chance, play the piano and have scores for gackt's hoshi no suna? I love that song a lot but don't have the time to compose it myself.. Anyway, have you heard the other milder songs by gackt? Like, Zencho, Blue, Leeca, Saikai Story or Last Song? Last Song is definitely my most favourite song! I played it by ear and it's up on youtube ^^
btw, really nice pics! I like gackt with brown hair!

[xof1013.livejournal.com]

I don't play piano, and do not have the scores. Sorry.

Glad you liked the pics.

hugs

x

[gackutolove.livejournal.com]

love gackt have lots of vids pictures music what can i say i am a fan and glad you're 1 too

[xof1013.livejournal.com]

Always good to know there are more of us out there.

Hi!

hugs

x

[gackutolove.livejournal.com]

hahaha yes there are alot of us

[alexiela.livejournal.com]

hi, i hope you forgive me for stalking :D but I read your fics and I love brian/michael and I was just wondering if the first two vids were from Gackt's Diabolos tour? I have the dvd hanging out somewhere in the bottom of my cdrawer but I haven't watched it yet -_-

[xof1013.livejournal.com]

Ok - you have Diabolos on dvd - I'm so jealous!!! lol.... (Pouting as I type.)

Let's see - "Lust for Blood" is absolutely from Diabolos. Of all the concerts I've seen clips from, Diabolos seems the most production/theme oriented (it's almost like he's making a movie onstage) - I've loved the moments I've seen from it on youtube. And Lust For Blood is absolutely amazing - the visual is great, the song is too. Having it within the context of the rest of the concert - it seems perfectly placed.

The second "Speed Master" - is not from Diabolos. He's performed it in more than one concert DVD, actually. The one I've referenced above (black leather version) is to my mind, the best. It is from his Live Tour from 2002. It's the DVD that was inspired by his Moon projects. Usually, you'll see it sold in conjunction with his 2003 Live Tour DVD. He seems to have started a tour late in the year 2002 - released the movie Moon Child - and then reworked and restaged alot of the same numbers in the 2003 tour - always with different costumes, effects and choreography. Again, it's my opinion - but of the two concert DVDS - the 2002 show is my favorite. It was sensual, dark, intimate on a scale that appeals to me...lol. If you are able to see this one - I'd really recommend it. Especially his versions of "Fragrance" and "Rain" - they are visually beautiful/hot/sexy/etc. The screen caps in this post of Rain are from the same concert.

Did this help?

Thanks for letting my know you read my fics. That's always nice to hear.

hugs

xof