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Beyond the Chaos ~Documentary of Dir en Grey~ Interview Part 10 (Die) [Tour 12-13 In Situ-Tabula Rasa]

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“Anima” PV (Kyo)

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Kyo recording for “Rinkaku” (Tour 12-13 In Situ-Tabula Rasa Documentary)

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京  - ROCK AND READ 087

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I AM IN LOVE

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More juicy Dir en Details I managed to squeeze out of local crew friends

Dir en Grey doesn't tour Europe every day, so when they do, yo daddy DirEnDetails uses his network to wring juicy info on our dearest band from the people who actually spent time with them.

For if Japanese band management chooses to stay tight-lipped on the innocuous but fun little details that make people human, my promoter and press friends sure don't. Up your derrières, Sun-Krad!

Enjoy the pointless and mundane but fun details! I'll try to get more, but can't promise.

I obviously can't name these people because

1. privacy,

2. they could lose their jobs,

3. Sun-Krad is a shark.

So I'll use nicknames and vague job descriptions:

"Sally" > Long-time friend and booking agent/tour promoter crew, had never worked with DEG before but knows the J-rock scene very well (this promoter company specialises in J-rock). Spent two days with the band.

"Anne" > reporter colleague, doesn't specialise in J-rock but works with the metal scene and has interviewed Dir en Grey a bunch of times. Spent a few hours with the band.

Come closer, Tumblr person and read juicy, pointless stuff about us, dixit GIF Toshiya (GIF by japanese-zombie-heroez)

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

Sally:

"They're extremely professional and have their logistics down to a T. Their managers on the scene do most of the pre-show work. They're also super protective of the band and make sure they don't encounter fans or that nobody crosses the line with them. They'll literally stand on the side of the stage looking on like bouncers. They're practically on stage with them. The band hang around the room on occasion but not much."

Anne:

"Brilliant band. Their sound is like nothing I've listened to before. Can't say much about the people because I didn't exactly hang out with them. Their fans are very intense but surprisingly tame during the show. Only 2-3 crowd surfers, really?"

"Friendly reminder to stay hydrated" - GIF Die. (GIF by japanese-zombie-heroez.)

DIE IMPRESSIONS

Sally:

"He hung around a lot, and he's very nice. He also speaks some English. He and Toshiya are the only ones who attempt to communicate in English. Everyone else just shoots panicked glances at the translator when someone talks to them lol."

Anne:

"Very polite person. Jealous of his hair and kind of pissed that I don't have such nice hair. His guitar playing is weird, though. Sometimes he pulls off super hard stuff, but can get kind of sloppy with the easy stuff."

"Would you like smth from my mini fridge? " - GIF Kaoru (GIF by japanese-zombie-heroez)

KAORU IMPRESSIONS

Sally:

"I read the part where you mentioned his room being a mess, but did you see any of the other rooms? They were all a mess during stage prep. They left them super clean when they left, though. Not one tissue or can left behind. Even the trashcans had been emptied. On Kaoru, he did a lot of the talking and is very much at ease with people but doesn't speak much English. I agree that he's a chill guy. but very fussy about sound quality and stuff."

Anne:

"That's the guy who looks like Johnny Depp. Solid guitarist although he doesn't play the hard parts much. I don't remember seeing much of him on stage, which is a shame because when he moves from his spot he has great charisma."

"It says here that I'm awesome and stuff." - GIF Toshiya. (GIF by Totchiiiii)

TOSHIYA IMPRESSIONS

Sally:

"Lovely. Hands-down the sweetest person in that band. He has a very calm and patient demeanour. Cool dad energy, really."

Anne:

"My first thought was 'ouch, his poor back". Why does he have to wear his bass so low? I'm genuinely worried about his vertebrae. I liked his wedding (?) stage dress. Very well-dressed off-stage too. He was very nice and smiley."

"Apparently I'm a slightly annoyed but polite little guy, heh." - GIF Kyo. (GIF by yridenergyyridenergy)

KYO IMPRESSIONS

Sally:

"Honestly? Barely saw him. He didn't do any of the sound tests himself. He reeked of Chanel no. 5 or some other very strong perfume. You knew when he was in the room because you could smell him. You mentioned him walking up and down the hallway for no reason - he also did that before the show. I think he was nervous. "

Anne:

"Crazy looks. He has these huge eyes and I can see why people say he looks scary. Would play a great demon child in a film. He looked tired and kind of annoyed during the whole convo but was very polite whenever we talked to him. I think he was more intimidated by us than us by him. On stage, he does a complete 180."

"Just so you know, I'm not hiding in Kaoru's mini-fridge. I'm alive and well." - GIF Shinya. (GIF by totchiiiiiii)

SHINYA IMPRESSIONS

Sally:

"He looks like... wow. The most androgynous person ever. He's also so, so thin. He was surprisingly outgoing and seemed to have a sense of humour. People in his staff talked to him a lot and he made these funny, startled faces. I think he's the band's comic relief. His drum set took a long time to put together too."

Anne:

"How can that guy drum like that? You can barely see him on stage but you sure can hear him. His image doesn't match his drum ability at all. Whatever brief interactions I had with him, he was extremely nice. Shy but nice."

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Let me know if I messed up GIF crediting. I'm trying.

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Juicy thoughts on the Paris gigs - Part 1

Ahhhhh, here's to one of those insufferable long posts because I just can't stop thinking about Dir en Grey.

I wish I had juicy bits of information for you every day, but I seem to have run out of friends with Dir en Connections to interrogate. If any of you out there has any, please hit me up and I'll do my job of extracting pointless little Dir en Details from them. Be them Shinya's nail tech, Kaoru's mini fridge repairsmen or Kyo's banana supplier.

In the meantime, here's my actual (and not less juicy) impressions of the Paris shows.

The Dir en Fans are getting younger

"Look, it's my grandchildren" - GIF Die (GIF by Totchiiiii)

The first thing that surprised me as soon as I arrived was how young some of the fans were. Dir en Grey are in their late forties, and for some time, most people I saw at their shows were in that age range or slightly younger. I had recently attended their Phalaris tour finale in Osaka, and the Japanese crowd appeared to lean toward middle age as well. However this time, I did spot a lot of late teens/early twenties folks in the crowd. This is awesome. It genuinely warms my old man heart that people young enough to be my children like the kind of hard-to-get, gloomy music Dir en Grey make.

The Dir en Fans are getting richer

"Give me money, my gym membership is expensive." - GIF Toshiya (GIF by huazei)

The second thing that surprised me is not new. But still. It's a well known fact that Dir en Grey, just like any cult band, have a little group of die-hard fans that follow them everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I mean... everywhere.

Most of them are Japanese and I counted about ten of them. These are faces I had spotted in Osaka as well, keeping their spot ahead of the entire line. One of them was easy to recognise because she wore a very distinctive backpack and a carried a little foldable chair. This was a lady of about 50 who could be my mum.

I spotted them immediately upon arriving because she was standing in military pose on the first spot on the line, facing the rest of the fans, presumably to make sure no one sneaked ahead of her. She had spread her bags, bottles of water and little chair around her, creating a divide between her and the others.

Everything about her felt hostile, so I didn't talk to her. I talked to the rest of the people on the first few positions instead. All they knew about these woman was that she came from Japan, and that she was in literally every show, headlining the wait line and being overall disagreeable to the rest of them.

There were some more people from Japan, mostly women, who follow the band around on every tour and secure their front row spot every time. I spoke to one of them, and granted, she told me she did it because she loved Dir en Grey. I wonder how much money someone has to make to be able to follow their favourite band around the world, so I asked her what she did for a living. She told me she worked an office job. She also told me that she also brings gifts for her favourite band member, Die. I spotted a Louis Vuitton bag. Yup. Don't ask me how she does it.

The Dir en Fans are getting nicer

"Nice and meek like small felines." - GIF Shinya (GIF by japanese-zombie-heroez)

Dir en Fans are generally fairly nice. I go to a lot of shows and talk to a lot of people. All bands and all artists have their share of crazy, hostile fans. Not only the Japanese. I was almost punched in the face at a Morrissey gig, and then again at a Depeche Mode gig. The thing that fans do where someone keeps a record of who arrived first and then give them a number is also old news. I don't particularly like it, but hey, people are just trying to be fair. I didn't see any fighting on the line, and people appeared to be mostly civil about who comes in first and who comes in second. Even the first row people, while intense, seemed to have an understanding with each other. Overall, 9/10. Great band, great fans.

The Dir en Greys actually like Meet & Greets... somewhat

"Can't wait to meet my devotees and hand them a postcard" - GIF Kaoru (GIF by japanese-zombie-heroez)

To all of you who believe Dir en Grey are being held hostage by an evil form of management that forces them to do hooooorrible things, like meeting their fans in person - chill. They're not being forced. They're making money. Money that they will use to make the tour profitable so they can like... come back one day? Meet & Greets are a good thing, and a great, cheap marketing strategy for a band of this tier in Europe.

As for these particular Meet & Greets, they were more like Meet & Go. But what else can one expect? A custom conversation on your topic of choice with Kaoru? Ted talk by Kyo? Nah... meeting & going is fine. I didn't attend these, but my friends who did report that the band was nice and seemed pleased to see all these people who had come from all over to see them. No one looked like they were doing something they didn't want to do - except Kyo, more on that later.

The Dir en Mosh Pits were great

"Come on break each other's ribs y'all." - GIF Toshiya (GIF by totchiiiii)

After my very disappointing experience in Osaka, where the crowd was pretty much dead, only occasionally rising to life to swing their upper arms back and forth like zombie maneki nekos, I was thrilled to see some metal in a sea of of fluff. In Paris, the crowd broke into a mosh pit on both nights and it was rather wild. Security reported no less than 2 people fainting, and 3 very happy crowd-surfers.

Apparently the most pits were first instigated by a subtle hand sign from Kyo (I didn't see it, but apparently he held out his hand and rotated his fingers to signal that he wanted to see them mosh), and then encouraging screams from Die. (I am extremely curious as to what Die would look like in a mosh pit, though. Would he shriek when someone pulled his hair? Is he the kind of guy that enjoys watching mosh pits, but only from a safe distance? Hmmmm.)

Mosh pits are actually forbidden at most Japanese shows. Many Japanese venues banned jumping and running in fear that that might set off earthquake sensors. The Japanese management for Dir en Grey also discourages moshing following an elevated number of injuries in the past. But I guess none of this applies to Europe, which was great to see. Also, I hope the people who fainted are alright and that they just partied a little too hard.

Kyo is not a dick, he's just a character

"Of course i'm not a dick, my mum says I'm special." - GIF Kyo (GIF by yridenegeryyridenergy)

There were multiple reports of Kyo attending Meet & Greets wearing a paper bag so people couldn't see his face, facing a wall as he handed people his postcards and overall just being a lowkey dick. On one live, he complained that he hated being abroad and that he was never coming back. On another occasion, he seemed angry that people were sharing bootlegs of his lives.

There were also reports (I wasn't able to confirms this, though), that he stated "Western toilets being disgusting and people being huge" as the main reasons he hated touring outside of Japan so much. Some fans I talked to seemed offended by this behaviour.

My take on this: Kyo built his reputation in Dir en Grey as an antisocial bloke who hates people. He takes every opportunity to stick to it. It's his personal branding when acting as Dir en Grey's vocalist. He acts nothing like that in Sukekiyo interviews or as a solo artist. My own brief interactions with him, as well as friend reports (see previous posts), lead me to believe he's not really a dick. He just acts like one when put on the marketing spotlight, specifically with Dir en Grey.

If anything, the vibes I got from him were those of a very hard-working man who did everything he could to deliver a great show that would make people happy.

Also, he likes dogs. Case closed, y'all. Kyo is okay. Western toilets are okay. Huge Western people are also okay.

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Part 2: juicy thoughts on the setlist and the actual performances.

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KAORU playing egnirys cimredopyh +) an injection

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^ after performance ^

Dir En Grey behind the scenes (2012)

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Just here to share the Italian judo winner kissing her girlfriend after the match, in front of our fascist, homophobic, disgusting prime minister.

We won this one🏳️‍🌈

Credits to: @apriteilcervello on instagram

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【DIR EN GREY薫】 【阪神タイガース日本一応援SP】

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A quiet place with mossy forest floor.

Kyoto, Japan.