Hi all its Rimu!
Sorry I have been so inactive or getting my management to update you all with more information, I will explain my reason why in a second but I have the unfortunate news of telling you all that its the end of Dissident Genro.
Why? Well..many reasons....I have always been honest with you all and I won't stop being honest with you now.
I came to Japan first of all to pursue Dissident Genro's shows here and they have been EXTREMELY successful with me gaining so many new fans (and friends!)....however my musician friends kept telling me the Japanese live house system was pretty bad. I didn't believe this because every other aspect of Japanese life was pretty much sweet...(Though ALL aspects of Japanese live is overblown...its not the most amazing place on Earth)
...however as I started to do my music, even though it was welcomed with much praise, I was not impressed with the stagnant like atmosphere the music scene has here, which doesn't promote or spur on their bands to a great depth. Instead they just stay at the same level with no one being none the wiser. Also the audience with their constant shyness in not supporting the band with a single cheer and sometimes choosing not to clap at all (Thankfully this never happened for me, but seeing my friends bands or other bands go through this made my soul die somewhat a little)....There is so many other reasons but its made my own homeland's music scene look ALOT better.
However this is not the main reason why I am ending this band;
I am going to be honest. Visual music sucks. Pretty much EVERY Visual Kei/Oshare Kei/J-Rock band is terrible. If you come to Japan you will find most people will agree and tell you its ironically not very popular even though it has the promotion - I have witnessed this for myself and I am not surprised.
Its a small scene with REALLY cheap imagery. The only people who enjoy it are the people who enjoy it....NOBODY else. You ever wonder why REAL music magazines don't like the bands? Well;
You see...Visual music goes like this; 1: Business, 2: Image and 3: Music....because music is so ignored...anyone who has seen Visual bands live will know how TERRIBLE they are...or as we call them here in Japan "Hetekuso". Just listen to the CDs to be honest and you'll pretty much get the idea.
Doubly, the people who "supported" Visual bands (including my own) DON'T support the band. The so called "fans" of Visual bands just like the image, don't buy the music and don't support the artist therefore the artists can't survive and are playing to the same fans everytime.
On another joke level you have like the "Euro-VK" scene, with terrible Swedish, German, UK and French bands who are so absolutely rancid and shitty in their conduct of treating their fans and talking to other bands (Honestly, I think people liked my band the most because I wasn't a dickhead like these other bands!) - I would like to add its laughable how they dare call themselves "Visual" when its nothing close to what the Japanese do (Sorry guys! Even the really rubbish "Japanese music magazines" here in the West don't even like you!)
....well.....its really just a whole SMALL scene of people in the end of the day....most (not all) whom of which are just morons or too young to have a wide-open scope/horizon on music to be honest.
I also don't like the idea how our media has perpetuated that ALL Japanese music is either J-Rock or Visual Kei....we treat the Japanese like they are some fad-like toy which we only like because "they are really strange and kawaiiiiiii" - its so unbelievably (slightly unintentionally) racist its unbelievable - Liking bands for being Asian is just pathetic sorry...
So...if you REALLY loved this band and its music....I have some good news....I will be transferring the latest new music (which is quite technical) to my other band...which like I said if you guys cared you'll know about it already. I will be active in the UK (London) but will be playing Japan and other places in the future.
I am coming back to play my last ever show in J Culture Con, the show which started Dissident Genro's interest with the whole VK "scene".
Dissident Genro started as the UK's first ever Visual Kei band....it was then the World's first Scottish Visual Kei (or Scottish Kei) band and will be bowing out as the only band which was honest enough to say that it didn't regret its actions but could at least say the music scene it was part of was shit, but at least it didn't degrade itself to the level the other bands (most the "Euro" ones) do with their music......image should never come first...it should always be about the MUSIC.
It was great seeing you all, playing to you all and hearing all your thoughts and feelings. I would like to thank all the people who stuck by and cared, all the people who let me perform at their venues/live houses.
Special thanks to Will from J-Culture Con, my management A Badge of Friendship, Eiji and Naoki from F.Size.Free, Laura Thompson for the great photos, Kota for helping me when I needed help the most, Five For magazine for the support....
...and the (REAL) fans!
See you back in the UK. Peace and Love.
- Rimu x
Dissident Genro (2008 - 2009)