Japan has a screamo band called Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas

Ah, Japan. What a baffling land of head-melting goodness it is. It reminds me of the artistic guy in your class who would be pretty cool if he just stuck to what he was good at and didn't try to pass himself off as the rebellious trouble-maker. Instead of drawing on his own background and skills, he copies another culture down to the last detail and basically becomes a parody of himself.
And so it can be the case with Japan and the U S of A. Don't get me wrong, Japan is scarily far ahead in terms of technology and karate and all that stuff. There's also some great bands like Engrave and some funny bands that are ok like Brain Failure. (No idea if either are from Japan or China or wherever but same difference, am i right?!)

Enter Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas, a trancecore/screamo band from Japan and OMGoth where do I start?

I don't even..I can't...what?!

I tried to make some order to this but they are an assault on the senses! Alright first off - the name. Firstly it is lol just by simply existing as a band name. If I have to explain this then you need to pay more attention to post hardcore/anything-core bands. That's before I talk about DAT COMMA. Did they intentionally say 'fuck you grammar' when they chose it, or was it a ridiculous attempt to distance themselves from crazy ol' Hunter S?

Then there's their sound and videos...

I actually like the first 20 seconds or so of the song. I mean, they are jumping around like overgrown androgynous kids dancing in front of a mirror but it's upbeat, it's fun, I can dig it...and then....

DAT AUTOTUNE

W...T....F.... I'm guessing they set it to 11?! Holy shit. Talk about taking an idea and going with the 'make it more make it better' formula! Why not just have a robot, that would be x10000 times cooler and just as natural sounding. Though I will say when the screams come in I think it works a bit better aaaand they can write/programme a catchy chorus! 1.25 brings some of the best 'get the fuck up!' nu metal style bounce riffing I've heard in a long time and that guy/girl really can scream! Also the little breakdown with the guitar lead over it is kinda sweet.

But let's get back to the comedy!

• Has anyone else noticed that the screamer moves a lot like a certain magician in Arrested Development?

•  I thought 'party by the pool' music videos were meant to have, you know, people? Friends..fans..guilt-tripped girlfriends..

• Flip flops...

• Dat keyboard playing at 2.01 looks familiar...
   
  
  
  (SRSLY PLAY THE SONG IN THE BACKGROUND AND WATCH THESE TWO GIFS)
  
  
  ...and this is only the tip of the iceberg...they have loads of videos ..!

I would non-ironically lose my effin' mind to the first half of this song if I was in a club. I think I got a nose bleed about 2.30 though.

Now, I'm sure you're all saying 'this is A grade stuff, but they won't be my new favourite band until I connect with the lyrics.' I hear you! Here is a lyric video.

I'm going to go on record and say I would actually be super into this band if it wasn't for the autotuned lad. The intro is sweet and the heavy bits are nailed down MOSH. But, back to the lyrics. Some highlights include.

• Travelling all four point wherever wind blows
• Do not hold any bag courage is all you need
• There are no choice for you but to go forward
• Things you've never met exist in the world. It's will surely make your journey worthy.

But fie on all my jokes, dat breakdown 2.00. Hooooooly.

I'm actually going to check out some more, but I might need a lie down first. As their last.fm biography says:

"The audacious and unique fusion of heavy music and various electronic sounds produced by the keyboard has facinated many audiences."

 CONSIDER ME FACINATED. 

Dodgy Film Club: Slashers

Srsly, what's this guy going to do, poke me to death? It could leave a splinter I guess. Still though, that's a minor inconvenience at worst..

This film has an amazing setup but while it’s worth a watch for the funny elements, unfortunately didn’t quite bring the lolgore it could have. A Japanese gameshow pits contestants against 3 ‘slashers’ on  a set that looks like a badly run lasertag course, and whoever is left alive at the end of an hour wins the cash! It includes a studio audience, smiley host, cheerleaders and some lad providing LIVE creepy music.

The contestants are pretty much the usual Racially Inclusive Survival Team(tm), in this case we have:

• Well built, angry african american man
• Political fembitch
• ‘foreign’ muscle man (read: fat mexican looking dude with canadian/russian/mexican accent depending on the scene)
• Dimwited aspiring actress slash model
• The athletic all action girl (who is actually the fattest out of the 3 wimmin)
• The calculating ‘college/business guy’

 The weirdest thing about this is the camera work, or maybe the quality of the camera. It has a really strange videogame look as if the people are too close to the screen and the sets look like they were made by schoolkids. There are times when characters bang against ‘stone walls’ that sound alarmingly like cardboard. Other things to look out for include:

• Completely unnatural dialogue
• Characters saying the situation is ‘crazy’
• Interchangable accents
• The bluntest stabbing weapons of all time and a WOODEN sword
• ‘windows’ that clearly have no glass in them
• A chainsaw that is never actually running
• Lots of partial nudity (“TAKE YOUR SHIRT OFF SO I CAN BANDAGE HER FACE!”)
• Blood squirting from somewhere other than the stab wound
• Awkward pauses while the show goes on an ad break that are actually pretty well done
• Convenient powercuts/camera panning when the special effects obviously weren’t available to show stabbing etc

All in all I could talk about how it provides an interesting social commentary yada yada but idk how srs it's meant to be.. I would say not to watch it in a house where you don't know your housemates that well as my friend did.. something about the japanese girls, the bad acting and one slasher being a pervert mean you might have to give explanations like 'not a porno' and 'still not a porno' everytime someone comes into the room.

Japanese Anime star covers The Offspring...

...and my head just melted. WTF is going on here? Did she just say Rikki Rake?!

There's also The Exploited, Green Day, Nirvana....
Thanks (I think) to www.stuffyouwillhate.com/ for this....