down under the bowels of Jpop and Jmusic in general: Vimclip
た~だい~ま~
It's been awhile since I blogged about fandom. I'm not in hiding or something. Life's a mess at the moment (when has it ever not been a mess?) but at least fandom is quite fine. So let's not get into how chaotic life is and instead go straight to the good: Vimclip.
That Vimclip, yes...exactly. Okay, WHAT?! Another Japanese boyband/boygroup...again?! If it helps, at least they aren't from Johnny's Entertainment. They are therefore safe from the danger of having to wear those weird, most likely made of shiny leather trench coats and shiny shirt things that scream *kira kira* I'm-your-ikemen-overlord complete with roller skates and other such extra excessive paraphernelia they probably can't even tout on stage anyway because they're so bulky and uncomfortable to wear and insanely difficult to use or move around in when they have to do lots of dancing, singing and rapping in their songs. They're not Johnny's Entertainment. Period. Even their music is distinct and different from your regular cheesy idol music (which, by the way, I just currently detest and have always detested since time immemorial unless I went back to that short phase where I was addicted to an E-girls' song because it was just...addicting by nature.) I'm a unique-type of Jpop best friend but a bubblegum, jpop idol music fiend. You can disregard my owning 3 copies of Kis-My-Ft2's CD singles in real life. That one's only because I can't really access the more unknown but really good Japanese pop music stuff from where I currently am unless I bought them straight from Japan.
You may recall from past jpop music fangirling posts that I am a Da-iCE fan. It took time, however, for me to get into Vimclip even when I already had a copy of their PV for My Generation which has Ohno Yudai and Hanamura Sota from Da-iCE. It also took time for them to sink into my core when they have been considered the brother boyband or boygroup to Da-iCE. I don't remember what the reason is for my taking so much time to finally notice them but yep, it took a loooong...time for me to warm up to them. It's their Summer Step I blame for my being a fan of theirs now. As a whole, their music just is the kind to make any listener happy if they were into the urban, hiphop with the kpop/western synthed dance music slant. It certainly had that effect on me and I'm now hopelessly hooked. They can be incredibly inconsistent at times, however but perhaps that can be overlooked because they have more upbeat songs than slow ones. I didn't really like their collaboration with May J. much, it was the type of music you'd put on to sleep to.
So basically, yes, Vimclip's music can be kpop-y/western synthed dance (Ellie Goulding, maybe Icona Pop...) type. It's definitely very modern and pop. There's rap in most of their songs which makes their music even more hip.
While Da-iCE is made up of guys who were grown and whose talents were honed within the confines of the Avex Academies all over Japan, Vimclip's guys didn't have it easy. They actually had to audition to be where they are now. Their audition can be found on their page on the Avex youtube channel. Currently, Vimclip consists of 3 vocalists (Tomo, Eiki and Kazuki) and 2 performers or dancers (Reo and Take). They used to have a DJ, Takuro, but he's been MIA since late 2012 and hasn't been appearing in any stage or MV with them post-Ba+Ba+Bye era. I'm still trying to figure out why he hasn't been with this group since. It's either he was sacked or he quit which is just...sad. There's nothing to worry about, however, because it seems the remaining 5 members are doing fine without him to this day.
Obviously, they're ikemens, mostly anyway so it's kind of the thing that drills between the eyes or so they say. It's not that difficult to be a fangirl of theirs or to sway to their camp in an instant. Eiki is really good looking and may just have a tiny bit of foreign or western blood in him due to his sharp features. Girls consider Reo the Vimclip prince and he actually has almost 7000 followers on twitter. Then you have Kazuki who's just as good looking as the other two. Tomo can look cute on certain angles and Take...well...he's got the abs...err...body and he's not too bad to look at as well. But this is surface value, I think. At least in my case, it is. But it's certainly one of the reasons why I got into Vimclip. Confession: I have a huge bias on Eiki and Kazuki is my close second bias because who wouldn't intensely crush on Eiki when he's basically like, this cute?! (Note: Eiki's self-made, self-established introduction goes: Eiki: A-B-C-D-E, crowd answers: Eiki!)
Oh, and Kazuki...don't get me started on Kazuki...
I'm obviously not a humongous Reo fan so I'll skip on posting photos of him here. So, anyway, back on point. Their looks are simply the thing that drills between the eyes and in the mind but what really got me was the talent this group has. Their dancing is about just at a satisfying level. They can dance but of course, Da-iCE has the better choreography thanks to the help they get from the best choreographers around Japan (Sh*t Kingz) and LA, California which gives them an edge over Vimclip. But when it comes to singing and rapping, well...mostly singing, Vimclip has it in the bag. Kazuki has to have the smoothest, most soothing voice around that can go as high as he wants and wills it to go. He's actually got a high range for a guy. Possibly an alto, if I recall my music lessons correctly on male voices. Or a tenor. I'm not sure. Haha. Eiki's median range allows him both to sing on the range he's most comfortable with and rap at the same time. Tomo has a low, deep and rich timbre to his voice that complements both Eiki and Kazuki and yes, he does most of the rapping. He also can go as high as his range allows him to which gives him an edge in different songs he may sing on karaoke. They sung this one song on Danzen's karaoke thing and it's one of the best thing I've heard by far right beside anything Da-iCE's Sota and Yudai may try to sing in karaoke or something.
Apart from the singing and rapping, this group is just GREAT at musically arranging their songs. Of course, they tend to be inconsistent in that department at times---there are still some songs of theirs that have yet to grow on me---but those can be corrected in time. They also do not really commit that much inconsistencies in making their own music...about 3/4ths of their mini-albums and their first full length quickly got my favor so that's something that makes them GOOD (and I'm a music otaku so I probably should know or should I...?) to me.
Yes, I've come to find out in the course of looking into them and their craft that they do make their own music. The first single, Koigokoro wasn't by them but Labyrinth's melody was made by D.N.A. Instrumental of which Tomo is a member. The lyrics for that song was also written by Tomo. I have yet to check the credits for the other songs in their mini-albums and their full-length album but that's pretty much the thing that makes me like Vimclip, that they are actually very involved in making their own signature sound. That's the kind of artist/jboyband I can appreciate because they don't allow others to meddle with how they want to sound like. What's even more surprising is that they are able to make their own music in 3 to almost 4 years' time from their debut. That's really quick development for such a young dance, vocal and rap group. Sure, they synth their voices at times to make it sound like it's highly digitalized and modern, their music as a whole but I find that it's something they seem to consider necessary in their signature sound. It's not like they use that excessively, it actually just fits right with such a modern-sounding group as them. Songmaking, yes, beat that, Johnny's Entertainment boys...I doubt you could.
Also, if you listen to their albums as a whole, you'll find there are actually some music mix breaks which are about 1-2 minutes long. They're basically short mixes of their songs or just random rap melodies with decent, groovy music like Hi-Five. V.I.M.C.L.I.P. is another example of this but I'd like to think that one is their official anthem as it showcases the abilities of each member in singing, rapping and dancing. They must've learned that from their DJ who seems to now have left the group circa late 2012.
While Da-iCE works with other artists/songmakers in polishing their music and chosen signature sound like those from White Jam among others, it seems to me that Vimclip acts on their own where that is concerned. Sure, recently, they've collaborated with May J and AAA's Urata Naoya but it seems easy to suspect they've had significant input on how those tracks should come out. It really doesn't help that Eiki seems to like posting photos of keyboards of different kinds on their blogs so it's not really only Tomo who seems to be responsible for their music. Do they make music for other artists? That one, I have yet to find out.
To wrap things up, Vimclip isn't really that huge a group mainstream but there are a lot of things that a fan can appreciate from them, particularly those who really love music and how it is made in the pop mainstream industry. They've been around for, give or take, 3 or 4 years but they have yet to catch onto Da-iCE's and other male and female group acts' fame but they can't seem to get to it. I think it's because not a lot of people can really tolerate the rap/hiphop/urban hints they seem to exhibit on majority of their songs. Bottomline is, apart from the fact that a huge fraction of them are really good looking (Eiki! Kazuki!), they've caught me hook and slinker because of their unique musicality. You don't see hear this kind of music from a country that is hugely crazy about the kawaii idol, bubblegum pop music they churn in overwhelmingly great numbers---I'm looking at you, AKB48 and Johnny's Entertainment acts.
Before I truly end this post, let me just put it out there that I actually don't hate Johnny's Entertainment acts or even AKB48. I actually liked some songs from Kis-My-Ft2, AKB48 and even older acts like Kanjani8 and Arashi but they seem to stick only too loosely to me. I can't get emotionally invested in them as I do with acts like Vimclip and Da-iCE among others who exhibit a semblance of consistency in every record they release because they know their musical identity. Cute, bubblegum jpop music just isn't something I gravitate around it but it's something I don't hate either. Also, I'm always really down for discovering smaller, unpopular acts that actually have good music over the overrated ones that seem to have been around for eons and yet tends to disappoint me at some points in their careers because they just aren't that consistent musically-speaking. There's variety in their releases but there's nothing in their discography over the years they've been active that shows that they are Arashi or Kanjani8 or AKB48 or whatever and that's a huge requirement for me as a music fan. I don't see heart in their music at all like I do both Vimclip and Da-iCE and most underrated musicians that Avex and other indie Japanese record labels acts offer. I don't fall for surface level gimmicks either for groups to form their own unique identity like the newly launched Choutokkyuu that painfully sounds like Arashi, Sexy Zone, He!Say!Jump or Kis-My-Ft2. Thing is, I prefer my music being the main focus of groups or artists and not something that's only secondary to hosting or acting. I started getting into Jpop properly not because of Johnny's Entertainment music but because of Chemistry---yes, that legendary R&B musical duo responsible for so many good, classic hits from the late 90s era until today. It was their theme for the FIFA World Cup back 2002 that grabbed at me back then. After that, it was boybands outside of Johnny's Entertainment like W~inds., Lead and Flame. That was the longest years of musical attention span I had as a Jpop and occasional alt-Jrock fan. I'll definitely end with similar artists that are otherwise unknown to majority Jpop fans all over the world. I like smaller fandoms. That's another thing you an deduce from the things I gravitate around on in the Jpop music industry. I'd like my favorites to be bigger than the other groups in the mainstream jpop machinery but that's never going to happen so I'll just revel in the small, devoted and intimate fandom they have. It gives me leeway to add more artists into my growing list of contemporary Jpop acts today that are under the radar of the general public not only in Japan but all over the world as well. Even when it comes to Western pop and alt-rock industry, I employ the same criticism of how I get into certain fandoms. I just really detest huge and extremely insane and rowdy fandoms. They tend to make me want to hate humanity even more than I already do. I'm not a surface level music fan, at all.
That's one long rant on pop music. I'm out now since I'm all out. Until next time...which...I'm not sure when that will be. Probably when I finally decide to check out Unfake, Birth, Bridget, Sunlite and more. White Jam, which recently just signed to Universal Music Japan coincidentally about the same time that Da-iCE did, is already grabbing my attention at the moment but it's not yet to the level of the hold Vimclip has over me. Something about the current state of the underground-ish part mainstream Jpop industry seems to excite me due to Swish and Danzen introducing and exposing so may of these...that'll be for another rather lengthy post however.
*****Some amazing people from the small Vimclip fandom have provided fans all over the world with fancams of their mini-lives promoting the releases of their mini-albums and singles, lives during the Swish concert tours and even a recording of their short live on the Danzen stage that was streamed via Ustream on Youtube. To hear and see what they have to offer, just type in Vimclip in the Youtube search bar. There are even some fun Danzen episodes up from said amazing local Vimclip, Da-iCE and Code V fans which mostly has them doing batsu games between each other and random karaoke-ing.
Vimclip's account on the Japanese massive blogsite, Ameblo or Ameba is also worth the visit should you want to know what they have been up to on a daily basis. Like Da-iCE, Vimclip is very visible on social media sites particularly Twitter. Each member has a Twitter account along with one for their staff. The best thing about them having their own Twitters? THEY ACTUALLY REPLY TO THEIR FANS AND INTERACT WITH THEM...as well as with their other colleagues like Da-iCE's members, AAA's members (who has Twitter because Nishijima Takahiro really only shares with Hidaka there...sometimes). Their official site is a good source of information on their gigs---note: they actually have free concerts around the Tohoku area on some days of the year (really lucky local Vimclip fans in Japan, cue me crying now). Those free lives are often held outdoors so it's just amazing to go where they are and hold a picnic with friends while listening to them talk, sing and rap and watching them dance. They have their mailmag fans can subscribe to...it's protocol for officially launched Avex acts, apparently and I'm pretty sure they have a facebook account somewhere. I don't have one---I just really dislike fb and find it useless to maintain---and I'm not subscribed to their mailmag. :( For some reason, even after I have been following certain Avex acts for a year or two now, I don't really subscribe to their mailmags nor am I a member of their fan clubs. It's probably because I'm more a casual fan than an actually highly devoted, quasi-obsessed one.
For more of my Vimclip fawning over/stanning/fangirling...all of them are on my fangirling tumblr now. Mostly photos of Eiki and some of Kazuki. The 3 other members haven't been getting much love from me. Haha.
Anyway, I'll go enjoy my Vimclip now.
kg*
P.S.
Is it just me or does anyone else here hate or dislike to a certain degree the new LiveJournal front page? I liked the old front page interface. The new look causes a lot of confusion in me. Looks like things have been going downhill for LJ since the change of ownership...
It's been awhile since I blogged about fandom. I'm not in hiding or something. Life's a mess at the moment (when has it ever not been a mess?) but at least fandom is quite fine. So let's not get into how chaotic life is and instead go straight to the good: Vimclip.
That Vimclip, yes...exactly. Okay, WHAT?! Another Japanese boyband/boygroup...again?! If it helps, at least they aren't from Johnny's Entertainment. They are therefore safe from the danger of having to wear those weird, most likely made of shiny leather trench coats and shiny shirt things that scream *kira kira* I'm-your-ikemen-overlord complete with roller skates and other such extra excessive paraphernelia they probably can't even tout on stage anyway because they're so bulky and uncomfortable to wear and insanely difficult to use or move around in when they have to do lots of dancing, singing and rapping in their songs. They're not Johnny's Entertainment. Period. Even their music is distinct and different from your regular cheesy idol music (which, by the way, I just currently detest and have always detested since time immemorial unless I went back to that short phase where I was addicted to an E-girls' song because it was just...addicting by nature.) I'm a unique-type of Jpop best friend but a bubblegum, jpop idol music fiend. You can disregard my owning 3 copies of Kis-My-Ft2's CD singles in real life. That one's only because I can't really access the more unknown but really good Japanese pop music stuff from where I currently am unless I bought them straight from Japan.
You may recall from past jpop music fangirling posts that I am a Da-iCE fan. It took time, however, for me to get into Vimclip even when I already had a copy of their PV for My Generation which has Ohno Yudai and Hanamura Sota from Da-iCE. It also took time for them to sink into my core when they have been considered the brother boyband or boygroup to Da-iCE. I don't remember what the reason is for my taking so much time to finally notice them but yep, it took a loooong...time for me to warm up to them. It's their Summer Step I blame for my being a fan of theirs now. As a whole, their music just is the kind to make any listener happy if they were into the urban, hiphop with the kpop/western synthed dance music slant. It certainly had that effect on me and I'm now hopelessly hooked. They can be incredibly inconsistent at times, however but perhaps that can be overlooked because they have more upbeat songs than slow ones. I didn't really like their collaboration with May J. much, it was the type of music you'd put on to sleep to.
So basically, yes, Vimclip's music can be kpop-y/western synthed dance (Ellie Goulding, maybe Icona Pop...) type. It's definitely very modern and pop. There's rap in most of their songs which makes their music even more hip.
While Da-iCE is made up of guys who were grown and whose talents were honed within the confines of the Avex Academies all over Japan, Vimclip's guys didn't have it easy. They actually had to audition to be where they are now. Their audition can be found on their page on the Avex youtube channel. Currently, Vimclip consists of 3 vocalists (Tomo, Eiki and Kazuki) and 2 performers or dancers (Reo and Take). They used to have a DJ, Takuro, but he's been MIA since late 2012 and hasn't been appearing in any stage or MV with them post-Ba+Ba+Bye era. I'm still trying to figure out why he hasn't been with this group since. It's either he was sacked or he quit which is just...sad. There's nothing to worry about, however, because it seems the remaining 5 members are doing fine without him to this day.
Obviously, they're ikemens, mostly anyway so it's kind of the thing that drills between the eyes or so they say. It's not that difficult to be a fangirl of theirs or to sway to their camp in an instant. Eiki is really good looking and may just have a tiny bit of foreign or western blood in him due to his sharp features. Girls consider Reo the Vimclip prince and he actually has almost 7000 followers on twitter. Then you have Kazuki who's just as good looking as the other two. Tomo can look cute on certain angles and Take...well...he's got the abs...err...body and he's not too bad to look at as well. But this is surface value, I think. At least in my case, it is. But it's certainly one of the reasons why I got into Vimclip. Confession: I have a huge bias on Eiki and Kazuki is my close second bias because who wouldn't intensely crush on Eiki when he's basically like, this cute?! (Note: Eiki's self-made, self-established introduction goes: Eiki: A-B-C-D-E, crowd answers: Eiki!)
Oh, and Kazuki...don't get me started on Kazuki...
I'm obviously not a humongous Reo fan so I'll skip on posting photos of him here. So, anyway, back on point. Their looks are simply the thing that drills between the eyes and in the mind but what really got me was the talent this group has. Their dancing is about just at a satisfying level. They can dance but of course, Da-iCE has the better choreography thanks to the help they get from the best choreographers around Japan (Sh*t Kingz) and LA, California which gives them an edge over Vimclip. But when it comes to singing and rapping, well...mostly singing, Vimclip has it in the bag. Kazuki has to have the smoothest, most soothing voice around that can go as high as he wants and wills it to go. He's actually got a high range for a guy. Possibly an alto, if I recall my music lessons correctly on male voices. Or a tenor. I'm not sure. Haha. Eiki's median range allows him both to sing on the range he's most comfortable with and rap at the same time. Tomo has a low, deep and rich timbre to his voice that complements both Eiki and Kazuki and yes, he does most of the rapping. He also can go as high as his range allows him to which gives him an edge in different songs he may sing on karaoke. They sung this one song on Danzen's karaoke thing and it's one of the best thing I've heard by far right beside anything Da-iCE's Sota and Yudai may try to sing in karaoke or something.
Apart from the singing and rapping, this group is just GREAT at musically arranging their songs. Of course, they tend to be inconsistent in that department at times---there are still some songs of theirs that have yet to grow on me---but those can be corrected in time. They also do not really commit that much inconsistencies in making their own music...about 3/4ths of their mini-albums and their first full length quickly got my favor so that's something that makes them GOOD (and I'm a music otaku so I probably should know or should I...?) to me.
Yes, I've come to find out in the course of looking into them and their craft that they do make their own music. The first single, Koigokoro wasn't by them but Labyrinth's melody was made by D.N.A. Instrumental of which Tomo is a member. The lyrics for that song was also written by Tomo. I have yet to check the credits for the other songs in their mini-albums and their full-length album but that's pretty much the thing that makes me like Vimclip, that they are actually very involved in making their own signature sound. That's the kind of artist/jboyband I can appreciate because they don't allow others to meddle with how they want to sound like. What's even more surprising is that they are able to make their own music in 3 to almost 4 years' time from their debut. That's really quick development for such a young dance, vocal and rap group. Sure, they synth their voices at times to make it sound like it's highly digitalized and modern, their music as a whole but I find that it's something they seem to consider necessary in their signature sound. It's not like they use that excessively, it actually just fits right with such a modern-sounding group as them. Songmaking, yes, beat that, Johnny's Entertainment boys...I doubt you could.
Also, if you listen to their albums as a whole, you'll find there are actually some music mix breaks which are about 1-2 minutes long. They're basically short mixes of their songs or just random rap melodies with decent, groovy music like Hi-Five. V.I.M.C.L.I.P. is another example of this but I'd like to think that one is their official anthem as it showcases the abilities of each member in singing, rapping and dancing. They must've learned that from their DJ who seems to now have left the group circa late 2012.
While Da-iCE works with other artists/songmakers in polishing their music and chosen signature sound like those from White Jam among others, it seems to me that Vimclip acts on their own where that is concerned. Sure, recently, they've collaborated with May J and AAA's Urata Naoya but it seems easy to suspect they've had significant input on how those tracks should come out. It really doesn't help that Eiki seems to like posting photos of keyboards of different kinds on their blogs so it's not really only Tomo who seems to be responsible for their music. Do they make music for other artists? That one, I have yet to find out.
To wrap things up, Vimclip isn't really that huge a group mainstream but there are a lot of things that a fan can appreciate from them, particularly those who really love music and how it is made in the pop mainstream industry. They've been around for, give or take, 3 or 4 years but they have yet to catch onto Da-iCE's and other male and female group acts' fame but they can't seem to get to it. I think it's because not a lot of people can really tolerate the rap/hiphop/urban hints they seem to exhibit on majority of their songs. Bottomline is, apart from the fact that a huge fraction of them are really good looking (Eiki! Kazuki!), they've caught me hook and slinker because of their unique musicality. You don't see hear this kind of music from a country that is hugely crazy about the kawaii idol, bubblegum pop music they churn in overwhelmingly great numbers---I'm looking at you, AKB48 and Johnny's Entertainment acts.
Before I truly end this post, let me just put it out there that I actually don't hate Johnny's Entertainment acts or even AKB48. I actually liked some songs from Kis-My-Ft2, AKB48 and even older acts like Kanjani8 and Arashi but they seem to stick only too loosely to me. I can't get emotionally invested in them as I do with acts like Vimclip and Da-iCE among others who exhibit a semblance of consistency in every record they release because they know their musical identity. Cute, bubblegum jpop music just isn't something I gravitate around it but it's something I don't hate either. Also, I'm always really down for discovering smaller, unpopular acts that actually have good music over the overrated ones that seem to have been around for eons and yet tends to disappoint me at some points in their careers because they just aren't that consistent musically-speaking. There's variety in their releases but there's nothing in their discography over the years they've been active that shows that they are Arashi or Kanjani8 or AKB48 or whatever and that's a huge requirement for me as a music fan. I don't see heart in their music at all like I do both Vimclip and Da-iCE and most underrated musicians that Avex and other indie Japanese record labels acts offer. I don't fall for surface level gimmicks either for groups to form their own unique identity like the newly launched Choutokkyuu that painfully sounds like Arashi, Sexy Zone, He!Say!Jump or Kis-My-Ft2. Thing is, I prefer my music being the main focus of groups or artists and not something that's only secondary to hosting or acting. I started getting into Jpop properly not because of Johnny's Entertainment music but because of Chemistry---yes, that legendary R&B musical duo responsible for so many good, classic hits from the late 90s era until today. It was their theme for the FIFA World Cup back 2002 that grabbed at me back then. After that, it was boybands outside of Johnny's Entertainment like W~inds., Lead and Flame. That was the longest years of musical attention span I had as a Jpop and occasional alt-Jrock fan. I'll definitely end with similar artists that are otherwise unknown to majority Jpop fans all over the world. I like smaller fandoms. That's another thing you an deduce from the things I gravitate around on in the Jpop music industry. I'd like my favorites to be bigger than the other groups in the mainstream jpop machinery but that's never going to happen so I'll just revel in the small, devoted and intimate fandom they have. It gives me leeway to add more artists into my growing list of contemporary Jpop acts today that are under the radar of the general public not only in Japan but all over the world as well. Even when it comes to Western pop and alt-rock industry, I employ the same criticism of how I get into certain fandoms. I just really detest huge and extremely insane and rowdy fandoms. They tend to make me want to hate humanity even more than I already do. I'm not a surface level music fan, at all.
That's one long rant on pop music. I'm out now since I'm all out. Until next time...which...I'm not sure when that will be. Probably when I finally decide to check out Unfake, Birth, Bridget, Sunlite and more. White Jam, which recently just signed to Universal Music Japan coincidentally about the same time that Da-iCE did, is already grabbing my attention at the moment but it's not yet to the level of the hold Vimclip has over me. Something about the current state of the underground-ish part mainstream Jpop industry seems to excite me due to Swish and Danzen introducing and exposing so may of these...that'll be for another rather lengthy post however.
*****Some amazing people from the small Vimclip fandom have provided fans all over the world with fancams of their mini-lives promoting the releases of their mini-albums and singles, lives during the Swish concert tours and even a recording of their short live on the Danzen stage that was streamed via Ustream on Youtube. To hear and see what they have to offer, just type in Vimclip in the Youtube search bar. There are even some fun Danzen episodes up from said amazing local Vimclip, Da-iCE and Code V fans which mostly has them doing batsu games between each other and random karaoke-ing.
Vimclip's account on the Japanese massive blogsite, Ameblo or Ameba is also worth the visit should you want to know what they have been up to on a daily basis. Like Da-iCE, Vimclip is very visible on social media sites particularly Twitter. Each member has a Twitter account along with one for their staff. The best thing about them having their own Twitters? THEY ACTUALLY REPLY TO THEIR FANS AND INTERACT WITH THEM...as well as with their other colleagues like Da-iCE's members, AAA's members (who has Twitter because Nishijima Takahiro really only shares with Hidaka there...sometimes). Their official site is a good source of information on their gigs---note: they actually have free concerts around the Tohoku area on some days of the year (really lucky local Vimclip fans in Japan, cue me crying now). Those free lives are often held outdoors so it's just amazing to go where they are and hold a picnic with friends while listening to them talk, sing and rap and watching them dance. They have their mailmag fans can subscribe to...it's protocol for officially launched Avex acts, apparently and I'm pretty sure they have a facebook account somewhere. I don't have one---I just really dislike fb and find it useless to maintain---and I'm not subscribed to their mailmag. :( For some reason, even after I have been following certain Avex acts for a year or two now, I don't really subscribe to their mailmags nor am I a member of their fan clubs. It's probably because I'm more a casual fan than an actually highly devoted, quasi-obsessed one.
For more of my Vimclip fawning over/stanning/fangirling...all of them are on my fangirling tumblr now. Mostly photos of Eiki and some of Kazuki. The 3 other members haven't been getting much love from me. Haha.
Anyway, I'll go enjoy my Vimclip now.
kg*
P.S.
Is it just me or does anyone else here hate or dislike to a certain degree the new LiveJournal front page? I liked the old front page interface. The new look causes a lot of confusion in me. Looks like things have been going downhill for LJ since the change of ownership...