It's been buffering like hell for me, I have no clue what's going on hahah. I think that part of the stream was exclusive to Premium membership, I think that they showed the MOBS PV, but all I know for sure is that our favourite band is crazy stylish!
D'espairsRay are releasing their first new single in 16 years! I never thought I'd see the day:
'Rapture' will be released on May 13th and the CD will contain various versions of the song, a snippet of the accompanying music video was already released:
Aoi: "I did think about continuing with the band. But the death of our member REITA affected me deeply. Even though it’s our own band, we can’t make decisions ourselves, so nothing moves forward with just the members. Gradually I started to lose sight of the meaning of continuing the band.
We’re in a band, but behind the scenes we’re just being told what to do—do this, wear this, this song isn’t allowed, etc.
At first I thought maybe that was fine. But my mental health started to decline, and now I’m living on sickness benefits. I’ve been receiving counseling from a doctor, and I was told that if I could leave that environment, it would be better to do so. That’s how cornered I was."
I wasn't active in the GazettE fandom the last years but as a fan who followed the band in the last 19 years I have to express this.
If a band member who suffered with mental problems earlier (and talked about it in intervies with those extremely tiny crumbs of communication and opennes that this band does/has) starts to behave like this in an extremly hard period for everyone - of course, anger is a very normal response. But someone who went through depression - there are signs - where extreme behaviour IS a sign that have to make you worry.
I only say this: hope Aoi is and will be okay and will live a long and happy life.
Rock And Read 120 - Interview with Toshiya translation notes and HD scans
Interview translation notes:
At the time when the interview took place, only five songs were ready for Dir en grey's next album. Toshiya feels like the album will be slightly heavy. That keyword came up in the discussion that the members had at the beginning, but since Toshiya didn't want all the songs to sound the same, he intentionally composed a song that strays from that theme.
Toshiya says that there seems to be less rearranging from the other members when someone submits a composition, compared to previous albums where there would be back-and-forth exchanges where all the members would contribute to a first pitch by one of the members. So they might unconsciously be going back to their beginnings, where songs are credited to the original composer rather than "Dir en grey" as it's been for the past few releases.
He confirms that they are a band who doesn't talk a lot. In venue dressing rooms, like Kaoru mentioned, they chat about some things that help them figure out what mood someone has. For instance, that's when they might mention that they liked someone's album or that they hope to go see somebody's concert.
Toshiya found that Los Angeles (and America in general) felt less safe in his latest visit than it did the previous time.
He thought of a melody while being driven around Los Angeles with a friend.
Toshiya said that he is grateful for the fans who travel to Japan to go see Dir en grey, because the band has been able to do stuff closer to what they want/imagine there.
Toshiya described himself as lazy a couple of times, for example when it comes to not composing songs earlier than now, not releasing his art projects until now, etc.
Regarding Kyo's diagnostic of Ménière's disease, Toshiya said that it was hard to tell how he was. He once asked Kyo how he felt, and Kyo said that he wasn't alright, but that he would do the show anyway.
Toshiya works out at least in part to reassure himself that he can keep touring. He gets anxious if he doesn't work out.
He had originally planned to go study art in school.
D'espairsRay revealed a new look on their instagram, along with information about a planned show in May 2026, re-instating of their fanclub [un]beautiful and making all of their musik available on straming/downloading services!
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