むやみに不幸な男たち
I didn’t want to say anything until I heard them try and explain what happened, the breakup announcement was hardly enough, and at the same time I found it hard to put everything into right words. But Hizumi’s Rock and Read interview was the proverbial last straw. I understand that there are a lot of things he cannot say, but I still get so annoyed at the fact that he writes everything off as his throat problems. If only that was the only thing they had to deal with! The fact that I cannot shake off the feeling that he tries really hard to get things across without actually spelling them out, only aggravates me more. How Japanese of him.
But it’s all secrets of Polichenelle anyway. A conflict with the management and no rights over their music and their own name, which belong to the label, thus no royalties whatsoever from CD/DVD sales etc. Being paid months later or not at all like in the case of their share from goods sales at Yokohama Blitz final (at least that was the situation when I heard about it back in June, 6 months after the live). They were left with no income while the label cashed in from sales of Yokohama final DVD and another forced “Best of” album. So much for members’ designed goods! So much for “Buy CDs, support the artists”! Even Love Parade lives that reeked of desperation from the start to the end meant that whatever money they made playing under a different name was theirs and the management could not come and take it away. This is what they were reduced to or chose themselves over bending over and playing a farewell live as D’espairsRay: a cover band playing in a tiny live house with a bunch of shitty bands and even their staffs helped them out without any pay.
Asia’s showbiz, be it Korean or Japanese, is notorious for slavery contracts, exploitation of the artists and almost nonexistent royalties. Unfortunately D’espairsRay is a tragic example of a band worked to death and, when they no longer could or wanted to continue, they were discarded. It’s been two and a half months, but I still feel the same rage over what was done to them and I don’t think it will ever change. A part of me is also resentful of D’espairsRay for being so stupid, naïve or just so very desperate to make music that they got themselves into this mess and their only way out was the breakup, that they let some scum in business suits use me, their fan.
I do have hope that they will be back. Be it under a different name, with different songs and after who knows how many side projects, I don’t care. It will still be the four of them together. The fact that they posted on twitter about having a long UMBRELLA-related meeting together only fuels that hope more. Because if it didn’t go well, if they didn’t come up with some sort of a plan, I doubt they’d say anything.
In the end I can only repeat what I already said back in June: mediocrity and vulgarity prosper and flourish, while the ones with a heart and talent get crushed by illness and others' greed. But I hope from the bottom of my heart that they have strength to pick themselves up and, as Hizumi said, we will meet again one day. Strange how much they came to embody their name for me: 闇と光.
Hizumi’s Rock and Read interview translation is almost done, I just need to proofread it one last time. I’ll post it tomorrow, I just can’t bring myself to do it right now. But I needed to get this off my chest.
But it’s all secrets of Polichenelle anyway. A conflict with the management and no rights over their music and their own name, which belong to the label, thus no royalties whatsoever from CD/DVD sales etc. Being paid months later or not at all like in the case of their share from goods sales at Yokohama Blitz final (at least that was the situation when I heard about it back in June, 6 months after the live). They were left with no income while the label cashed in from sales of Yokohama final DVD and another forced “Best of” album. So much for members’ designed goods! So much for “Buy CDs, support the artists”! Even Love Parade lives that reeked of desperation from the start to the end meant that whatever money they made playing under a different name was theirs and the management could not come and take it away. This is what they were reduced to or chose themselves over bending over and playing a farewell live as D’espairsRay: a cover band playing in a tiny live house with a bunch of shitty bands and even their staffs helped them out without any pay.
Asia’s showbiz, be it Korean or Japanese, is notorious for slavery contracts, exploitation of the artists and almost nonexistent royalties. Unfortunately D’espairsRay is a tragic example of a band worked to death and, when they no longer could or wanted to continue, they were discarded. It’s been two and a half months, but I still feel the same rage over what was done to them and I don’t think it will ever change. A part of me is also resentful of D’espairsRay for being so stupid, naïve or just so very desperate to make music that they got themselves into this mess and their only way out was the breakup, that they let some scum in business suits use me, their fan.
I do have hope that they will be back. Be it under a different name, with different songs and after who knows how many side projects, I don’t care. It will still be the four of them together. The fact that they posted on twitter about having a long UMBRELLA-related meeting together only fuels that hope more. Because if it didn’t go well, if they didn’t come up with some sort of a plan, I doubt they’d say anything.
In the end I can only repeat what I already said back in June: mediocrity and vulgarity prosper and flourish, while the ones with a heart and talent get crushed by illness and others' greed. But I hope from the bottom of my heart that they have strength to pick themselves up and, as Hizumi said, we will meet again one day. Strange how much they came to embody their name for me: 闇と光.
Hizumi’s Rock and Read interview translation is almost done, I just need to proofread it one last time. I’ll post it tomorrow, I just can’t bring myself to do it right now. But I needed to get this off my chest.