Near the end of 2018 I spoke to 龍-RYU- about his now former project “OROCHI”, a project he had started 15 years ago to combine his love for music and traditional Japanese culture into a “samurai rock” band which had their first performance here in The Netherlands all the way back in 2011. (And various other
雪 (Yuki)
She originally started the project in 2009 as a photographer under the name of Arlequin Photography, but developed an interest in journalism and translation ever since. Because of these interests interviews and reviews were added to the project, until it eventually hit the limits as a "photographer" in 2021, and Arlequin Magazine was added to the mix.
雪 (Yuki) is a native Dutch speaker with a graphic design degree, which means she is also the main person behind Arlequin Creations.
After all these years, she's still the one responsible for the interviews and most of the live photography you see here at Arlequin, but the majority of reviews and behind-the-scenes work is also done by her.
The reviews she writes are from the viewing point of an overseas fan, and thus written in English before being translated to Dutch, Spanish and Japanese. In the English versions she also tries to explain the meaning behind certain kanji or song titles to the readers, but what you don't see here is that these explanations are omitted in the Japanese versions in order to appeal to these readers more.
She speaks Dutch and English on a native level, but also understands Japanese and German.
David announces pre-order tickets for the show in Paris
As from today (January 5) until January 31st you can pre-order tickets for SUI’s 3rd anniversary show on April 11 in Paris!
While the venue in Paris has not been announced yet, tickets are already available for €15,- (regular entry). For an additional meet and greet a ticket upgrade is available
ice // “I was attracted to the Visual Kei genre because of the visual expression and ROCK.”
You might recognize ice from “Black Gene For the Next Scene”, a rather well known ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei) band lead by the former bassist of ヴィドール (Vidoll), Rame. Black Gene For the Next Scene, often shortened to “BFN” due to the length of the project’s name, combined electronica with pop, rock and a twist
Madmans Esprit asks for help to be able to release a Blu-ray
After the release of their latest single “Seoul” Madmans Esprit set out on a short tour to promote the single, finishing with a oneman live show on November 24, 2019 in Seoul, Korea.
This concert was filmed with a total of 6 camera’s, and the band would absolutely love to release it
DIR EN GREY // The World of Mercy: A world where we hold hands and connect
Last year DIR EN GREY delighted the fans with new material in the form of the “人間を被る” (Ningen wo Kaburu) single and the full album “The Insulated World”, of which the latter was a great example of DIR EN GREY’s “shock value”, even after so many years of them
TAKA // The creation of an Alphamily through Alpha999
Alpha999 (pronounced as Alpha-three-nine) is the solo project of vocalist TAKA, the former singer of LEG’end PRIMe. Aside from being a vocalist TAKA also works as a model, and he has been the DJ of the popular radio show “DOUBLE BILLION” for a while as well. All of this adds up to quite an impressive portfolio
VII ARC // Halloween in Dordrecht (Powered by Songbirds 078 Festival) at DOOR
During the “Halloween in Dordrecht” event VII ARC came to DOOR in Dordrecht on October 26 to play their show for the fans, but in a different outfit than they normally wear on stage…
We also went to check out their performance, and took some photos while we were there. You can find these photos on our
Madmans Esprit announces new single “Seoul”
Madmans Esprit are about to release their new single, titled “Seoul”, on October 17, 2019!
After the European tour to promote the EP “glorifying suicide” a few changes have been made to the lineup backing up the mastermind behind Madmans Esprit: 叫號 (KYUHO). Instead of a mixture
ソメイヨシノ (Somei Yoshino) // ZEROSHIKI Euro Tour 2019 (support) at Musicon
During the “ZEROSHIKI Euro Tour 2019” ソメイヨシノ (Somei Yoshino) was the support act for ZEROSHIKI during their stop at the Musicon in Den Haag on October 7, where they played their show for the fans who had been waiting outside for most of the afternoon already.
We also went to check out their performance,
ZEROSHIKI // ZEROSHIKI Euro Tour 2019 at Musicon
During their “ZEROSHIKI Euro Tour 2019” ZEROSHIKI stopped at the Musicon in Den Haag on October 7 to play their show for the fans who had been waiting outside for most of the afternoon already.
We also went to check out their performance, and took some photos while we were there. You can find these photos
SANA announced as special guest at the show of ソメイヨシノ (Somei Yoshino) in Liege
Recently I already shared the news about the small European tour ソメイヨシノ (Somei Yoshino) would be doing this October, but Uknight just shared a little update for the show on October 13th, in Liège (Belgium)!
SANA, formally the guitarist of the visual kei band MASK, is now a solo musician with an amazing
NOCTURNAL BLOODLUST // UNLEASH: Behind the smile is deception
After the departure of guitarists Cazqui and Daichi NOCTURNAL BLOODLUST disappeared for a little while, but a little more than a year after their last physical release the group returns, this time with Rin as a new guitarist, and a mini-album that -based on the music video that was released earlier already-