Why I lost it with the British music press
I used to have a subscription to the largest British weekly music magazine dealing with rock and metal. I stopped that subscription and I had some very good reasons for doing so.
The main reason was that I had just moved house and I couldn't justify the subscription fee every few months. I just figured that it might be better to buy it on a weekly basis if there were any articles I liked. For example, a wonderful human I know was in the magazine a couple of weeks ago because his new band were in a feature on the 'New Grave' scene. Regular readers will know that I have been supporting Solace in Nightmares for about a year now and it was this band being featured. As I lead their street team I kind of figured that I should buy the mag just for that article.
The other reason is basically around the content. I had already decided to cancel my subscription but I was fed up that my favourite bands were not getting the coverage. Just as I cancel they all start getting featured! I am talking bands like Solace in Nightmares, Ashestoangels, Fearless Vampire Killers (who get featured more than the others), DEAD, etc. To me, this mag was just too slow for me. They should have been giving them coverage years ago. This is a wonderful British underground scene that needed more promotion and recognition. As they were so cutting edge they should have been leading the way in the music press for these bands and they simply weren't. They have started now but it is too little too late for me.
Also there is a lack of foreign music covered generally in the British music press. I personally love a lot of Japanese bands but I know there are some amazing bands out there too that are from other countries. The British music press covers bands from the USA as they sing in English and have the big promotional companies behind them but bands from other countries don't get a look in.
I almost think that people are scared of another language. Just because you don't understand all the words does not mean you can't feel something through the music. One of my favourite bands is SID (pronounced 'shido' but regular readers will know this already). They sing entirely in Japanese and are massive across Asia. I love them. I have a basic grasp of Japanese but that is enough and I just feel the music. I still grasp what the songs are about (mostly relationships and masturbation it appears...at least in the early days) and I love the melody and musicianship and how it all makes me feel.
One of my other favourite bands is ONE OK ROCK (it is styled all in capitals so that is how I am going to type it). They are brilliant and about 95% of the time the front man, the very talented and good looking - not that looks have anything to do with it - Taka Moriuchi, sings in English. There is the odd chorus or verse that is in Japanese and some of their songs are entirely in English anyway. Recently they signed to an American distributor and completely re-recorded their latest album, 35XXXV, with entirely English vocals. I am a huge fan and cannot wait to see them in Decemeber when they come to the UK. I don't mind relearning all the songs in English (I had just nailed the Japanese ffs!) and whether Taka sings in English or Japanese I will be ready to sing along. What I find interesting is the feeling that the album had to be re-recorded. Having listened to their back catalogue I would go so far as to suggest that 35XXXV has the least amount of Japanese on it of all their albums anyway. Then they go and remove what little Japanese is there to suit a western audience. I feel sort of sad that this was necessary (although it still sounds just as good and at least I have the full translation now). Then again, it shows that people don't need to be scared of foreign bands because clearly ONE OK ROCK have seen the advantage of singing in English as a way of reaching more people and making the music more accessible. Why then do they not get more coverage in the British music press? I don't ever remember reading about them in the British music press at all. Not even a mention that they had re-recorded their album. ONE OK ROCK are massive in Japan. I think one of the biggest places they played there was something like 30,000 capacity! That is amazing and slightly insane! We get Premier League football attendances smaller than that in Britain! When they play America or Europe they play to smaller audiences because of 1. population size sometimes being lower so you will by default have less fans and 2. because they are not so well known. It doesn't help when the British music press doesn't cover them.
Now, I have used one band as an example here. This is the case for many more bands. Just from Japan alone there are loads of other bands. Three that spring to mind immediately are My First Story, Crossfaith and Coldrain. Both Crossfaith and Coldrain sing exclusively in English (at least they do now). Crossfaith get a little more coverage because a couple of years ago they appeared as support on the tour the magazine above puts on each year across Britain. Coldrain I kind of discovered by accident. It certainly wasn't through the music press. The only reason I know who My First Story are is because the frontman is the younger brother of Taka Moriuchi of ONE OK ROCK, Hiro Moriuchi (coincidently the two had a bit of a career in their early years after following their very famous parents into the music industry). Like ONE OK ROCK, My First Story also sing abut 95% of the time in English and the odd chorus or verse in Japanese. I would not have known of them if it hadn't been through curiosity after listening to ONE OK ROCK though and wanting to compare the two. My First Story, Crossfaith and Coldrain are amazing though yet they don't get anywhere near the coverage in the British music press that the American bands get.
Don't get me wrong, I love some American bands. I am such a Green Day fangirl and my first ever gig was to see Wheatus (who I still love and will soon be going to see again). My point here is that there is no fairness when it comes to covering foreign bands.
Occasionally there will be a big fuss over a band from Europe. I know there has been a lot of coverage of bands like HIM (who I love), Within Temptation, etc. Also, one of the biggest European bands has to be Rammstein and they sing entirely in German and are very popular in the UK. This is positive but they are not the only bands out there. I guess their is an exception from Japan too as Babymetal are HUGE and only sing in Japanese (at the moment).
I know there is a limited amount of space in magazines but week after week I would see the same American faces starring out from the covers of all the music magazines that are published in Britain. Some are weekly and some are monthly but it was always the same. I am not saying that these bands should not be covered. Of course they should be as they are popular and people want to read about them and if you put a well known person on the cover your magazine will sell. Regular features or 6 monthly specials on other bands from around the world would be amazing too. Also, these magazines all have web pages updated daily with the latest music videos from bands so why not include some foreign ones. In the last couple of weeks ONE OK ROCK and My First Story have both released music videos for example. I found out through their social media sites and not because they were featured in the music press or on their related websites.
I had become bored with the mainstream music scene. It is too safe and too samey. There is a fantastic underground music scene in this country and a brilliant one abroad too. You should go and seek out these bands. For now, I will do the job that the music press should be doing. I will tell you some of the bands you should be finding out about.
Britain: Fearless Vampire Killers, Ashestoangels, Solace in Nightmares, DEAD, These Days Are Numbered.
Elsewhere: SID, ONE OK ROCK, My First Story, Crossfaith, Coldrain, Oldcodex, Vamps, L'Arc en Ciel.
The main reason was that I had just moved house and I couldn't justify the subscription fee every few months. I just figured that it might be better to buy it on a weekly basis if there were any articles I liked. For example, a wonderful human I know was in the magazine a couple of weeks ago because his new band were in a feature on the 'New Grave' scene. Regular readers will know that I have been supporting Solace in Nightmares for about a year now and it was this band being featured. As I lead their street team I kind of figured that I should buy the mag just for that article.
The other reason is basically around the content. I had already decided to cancel my subscription but I was fed up that my favourite bands were not getting the coverage. Just as I cancel they all start getting featured! I am talking bands like Solace in Nightmares, Ashestoangels, Fearless Vampire Killers (who get featured more than the others), DEAD, etc. To me, this mag was just too slow for me. They should have been giving them coverage years ago. This is a wonderful British underground scene that needed more promotion and recognition. As they were so cutting edge they should have been leading the way in the music press for these bands and they simply weren't. They have started now but it is too little too late for me.
Also there is a lack of foreign music covered generally in the British music press. I personally love a lot of Japanese bands but I know there are some amazing bands out there too that are from other countries. The British music press covers bands from the USA as they sing in English and have the big promotional companies behind them but bands from other countries don't get a look in.
I almost think that people are scared of another language. Just because you don't understand all the words does not mean you can't feel something through the music. One of my favourite bands is SID (pronounced 'shido' but regular readers will know this already). They sing entirely in Japanese and are massive across Asia. I love them. I have a basic grasp of Japanese but that is enough and I just feel the music. I still grasp what the songs are about (mostly relationships and masturbation it appears...at least in the early days) and I love the melody and musicianship and how it all makes me feel.
SID L-R: Aki (bass), Shinji (guitar), Mao (vocals), Yuuya (drums)
One of my other favourite bands is ONE OK ROCK (it is styled all in capitals so that is how I am going to type it). They are brilliant and about 95% of the time the front man, the very talented and good looking - not that looks have anything to do with it - Taka Moriuchi, sings in English. There is the odd chorus or verse that is in Japanese and some of their songs are entirely in English anyway. Recently they signed to an American distributor and completely re-recorded their latest album, 35XXXV, with entirely English vocals. I am a huge fan and cannot wait to see them in Decemeber when they come to the UK. I don't mind relearning all the songs in English (I had just nailed the Japanese ffs!) and whether Taka sings in English or Japanese I will be ready to sing along. What I find interesting is the feeling that the album had to be re-recorded. Having listened to their back catalogue I would go so far as to suggest that 35XXXV has the least amount of Japanese on it of all their albums anyway. Then they go and remove what little Japanese is there to suit a western audience. I feel sort of sad that this was necessary (although it still sounds just as good and at least I have the full translation now). Then again, it shows that people don't need to be scared of foreign bands because clearly ONE OK ROCK have seen the advantage of singing in English as a way of reaching more people and making the music more accessible. Why then do they not get more coverage in the British music press? I don't ever remember reading about them in the British music press at all. Not even a mention that they had re-recorded their album. ONE OK ROCK are massive in Japan. I think one of the biggest places they played there was something like 30,000 capacity! That is amazing and slightly insane! We get Premier League football attendances smaller than that in Britain! When they play America or Europe they play to smaller audiences because of 1. population size sometimes being lower so you will by default have less fans and 2. because they are not so well known. It doesn't help when the British music press doesn't cover them.
Taka - frontman ONE OK ROCK
Now, I have used one band as an example here. This is the case for many more bands. Just from Japan alone there are loads of other bands. Three that spring to mind immediately are My First Story, Crossfaith and Coldrain. Both Crossfaith and Coldrain sing exclusively in English (at least they do now). Crossfaith get a little more coverage because a couple of years ago they appeared as support on the tour the magazine above puts on each year across Britain. Coldrain I kind of discovered by accident. It certainly wasn't through the music press. The only reason I know who My First Story are is because the frontman is the younger brother of Taka Moriuchi of ONE OK ROCK, Hiro Moriuchi (coincidently the two had a bit of a career in their early years after following their very famous parents into the music industry). Like ONE OK ROCK, My First Story also sing abut 95% of the time in English and the odd chorus or verse in Japanese. I would not have known of them if it hadn't been through curiosity after listening to ONE OK ROCK though and wanting to compare the two. My First Story, Crossfaith and Coldrain are amazing though yet they don't get anywhere near the coverage in the British music press that the American bands get.
My First Story - centre is Hiro Moriuchi, frontman and younger brother of OOR's Taka
Don't get me wrong, I love some American bands. I am such a Green Day fangirl and my first ever gig was to see Wheatus (who I still love and will soon be going to see again). My point here is that there is no fairness when it comes to covering foreign bands.
Occasionally there will be a big fuss over a band from Europe. I know there has been a lot of coverage of bands like HIM (who I love), Within Temptation, etc. Also, one of the biggest European bands has to be Rammstein and they sing entirely in German and are very popular in the UK. This is positive but they are not the only bands out there. I guess their is an exception from Japan too as Babymetal are HUGE and only sing in Japanese (at the moment).
I know there is a limited amount of space in magazines but week after week I would see the same American faces starring out from the covers of all the music magazines that are published in Britain. Some are weekly and some are monthly but it was always the same. I am not saying that these bands should not be covered. Of course they should be as they are popular and people want to read about them and if you put a well known person on the cover your magazine will sell. Regular features or 6 monthly specials on other bands from around the world would be amazing too. Also, these magazines all have web pages updated daily with the latest music videos from bands so why not include some foreign ones. In the last couple of weeks ONE OK ROCK and My First Story have both released music videos for example. I found out through their social media sites and not because they were featured in the music press or on their related websites.
I had become bored with the mainstream music scene. It is too safe and too samey. There is a fantastic underground music scene in this country and a brilliant one abroad too. You should go and seek out these bands. For now, I will do the job that the music press should be doing. I will tell you some of the bands you should be finding out about.
Britain: Fearless Vampire Killers, Ashestoangels, Solace in Nightmares, DEAD, These Days Are Numbered.
Elsewhere: SID, ONE OK ROCK, My First Story, Crossfaith, Coldrain, Oldcodex, Vamps, L'Arc en Ciel.
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