NIPPON-ICHIGO

Since it’s Music Month here at Nippon-Ichigo, I’ll make some more music-oriented posts. Like this news that burst onto the internet a couple days ago: Quaff, the band which I posted about earlier this year, is basically getting made-over!

Makito, the band’s guitarist and leader, announced via Myspace, Twitter, and Facebook that all the current members of Quaff (except him) would be leaving as of October 1st. Ukisemi also posted his own announcement. An excerpt from Makito’s:

ON OCTOBER 1, 5 MEMBERS WITHDRAW FROM QUAFF: HAL, TAKUMA, SHINGO, SEIYA & UKISEMI.
WE DO NOT HAVE PERSONAL PROBLEMS, AND THERE ARE NO MUSICAL DIFFERENCES.
THEY HAVE CHOSEN A NEW LIFE AND SEEK TO HOLD A HAPPY FUTURE.
AS FOR THE TIME I SPENT WITH THEM, IT IS VERY VALUABLE. AND IT IS A BIG PART OF MY LIFE.
THEY LOVE MUSIC, THEY LOVE QUAFF, AND THEY LOVE THE FANS.

So, fortunately, nothing bad happened, no irreconcilable differences or anything of the sort; it’s just a new direction for the lives of all involved. That at least puts the fans’ minds at ease; while we don’t know all the specifics of this change, we do know that it’s probably the best decision for all of them. I support the old and soon-coming new members of Quaff!

Speaking of the new members: from what I can tell, the new members’ names are Renji, Iori, Neu, and Mio. They’ll be performing live with the old members of Quaff in a show certain to rock the pants off of anyone who sees, on the 1st of October! Sounds like a passing of rites. An awesome passing of rites. I really hope it’s streamed, like the recent Access concert I watched (in the wee hours of the morning, heh). I really, really hope.

I look forward to new work produced by this group. The soul and spirit lives on! I can heartily recommend their existing albums.

Like this one, which I bought immediately after MTAC this year.

One of the ticks on my litmus test for good music is “is great to listen to in the car.” I’ve listened to this album in my car nonstop all summer.

Whatever Quaff’s future holds, I hope to see them again at MTAC next year!

Heard of Quaff? I hadn’t, until it was announced they were coming to MTAC.

Quaff or Die!

Quaff: a Japanese visual kei band. Officially described thus: “Quaff is a band like none other. They bring elements of traditional Japanese music and culture into their heavy hitting music and live performances. Quaff rocks out with dual vocalists emphasizing their Japanese roots. Everything from the vocal melodies, to the rapping, to the drum beats, to the music screams of Japanese which takes their rock sound to a completely unique level. Even in a country saturated with musicians, Quaff is the only one to create a fusion of synergy between the traditional Japanese aura and modern music.”

MTAC: Middle Tennessee Anime Convention, the only con I’ve ever gone to (saving its new sister-con GMX on my birthday last October), for seven years now. No matter your level of anime involvement, it’s a great and fun environment of geekery. It’s almost like home; the congoers are nice (and clean!), and staff are good at what they do.

Anyway, Quaff came to MTAC this month, becoming the first band to attend the con straight out of Japan. In short, they were wonderful. At first I hadn’t expected much; I didn’t have time to check out the band’s videos very thoroughly before the con, and at a quick glance they look like most other visual kei rock bands out there. Well, I was pretty wrong.

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