So, a general trend I recently noticed is that bandmen (mostly vocalists) start “solo projects” quite often. Especially if they’ve been successful before.
They have existed for a while and I’m not so much talking about what Hazuki (lynch.), Tatsuro (MUCC), Ryuutaro (Plastic tree) or Mao (SID) are doing: They seem to enjoy projects outside of their band, just like Kyo with sukekiyo/PB.
I think it started after SuG’s break up with Takeru. Now we have tzkwym (Tsuzuku, ex MEJIBRAY), THE DEVIL INSIDE (Aryu), mitsu (ex vNEU), I to rito no mushozoku (I and Rito, ex gulu gulu). They don’t feel like “solo projects” that much, but vocalists just not wanting to commit.
And even older VK vocalists like Miku (An café) or Shou (alice nine./now solo as Verde/) make it seem like it’s not a “new project”, but a continuation of a band post-break up induced by the break up. Or just a “well, I’m the vocalist, so I’m just gonna compose a few songs and perform songs from the old band live”.
Do you feel the same or is it just me?
What could be the reason? Is it just the aspect of cutting costs (support members cost less, overseas touring is cheaper) or have VK vocalists turned so insufferable that they fail to form actual bands?
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If you are a solo vocalist, no one will blame you for singing the songs of your Former successful Band. With a new band, that would not be possible. You’d need new songs and the scene is not so big, so it can be quite complicated to find at least 2 to 4 people who want to commit.
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All due respect (and your comments are fair to some folks in the scene which I do agree!)
but I’ll argue that Shou does try very decently at making it his own too, with support members from different bands who are actually quite closely involved in his song writing and process (Yo and Yusuke from Manterou Opera, can’t remember where his drummer Ken’ichi is from off the bat)
Probs a bit biased on my end since I’ve been to one of his lives, but when I was there it didn’t feel like he was tryna make it a cashgrab outta his past as Alice Nine’s vocals even if he does grab a member or two sometimes lol.
Mainly cuz there was a fair amount of attention and love given to his members of his support band as well and that made me feel like, yeah this guy appreciates the difference (two definitions to that, 1) as Verde and 2) the difference his support folks make to this project.
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Verde is very different from A9 tho…
And the difference between Mitsu in his V-neu era and the Mitsu of now is notable too. Well Takeru too lol
i feel like there is a bit of narcissism in it, as in " blabla i’m the vocalist of x band, also center of attention, so i’m gonna have my own solo project " to shine even more, but for the few that I can name ( Takeru, Shin, Shou are mainly the one i remember ) it seems and feels like they actually have a certain idea of art they want to share with fans so it’s only logical for them to turn solo.
There is that, but is the music quality ( by quality i mean creativity, and not " how good the bassist is how nice the vocals are ) is the same as when they were in their band ? It’s mostly a miss for me but oh well ( except Shou. And i wouldn’t be able to say if I genuinely enjoy his solo work or if I’m just too attached to him as a person and artist and memory :l ))
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I understand this logic, but I could swear (I say this as a person who only sees live recordings videos from the actual artists themselves) that they already often even when being a full new group do “covers” from their previous groups