Mad Stalin

Buck-Tick will be participating in a tribute album to legendary Japanese punk rocker Endo Michirou. The album, entitled ROMANTIST ~The Stalin/Endo Michirou Tribute Album~ will be released on December 1st, 2010, in honor of Endo's 60th birthday. Other artists to be featured on the album include AA=, Ginnan BOYZ, Group Tamashii, Kuroneko Chelsea, Dir en grey, Togawa Jun, Flower Companyz, Merry, YUKI, and Wagdug Futuristic Unity.

If you ever wondered who could possibly bring Buck-Tick, Dir en grey, Merry, and Judy and Mary together, Endo Michirou is your man. (Though Shinya and Nero have been known to appear at BT-hosted parties.)

It's really no surprise that Buck-Tick is participating in this album, given that The Stalin was one of their first and largest musical influences. Some of you may know from reading Love Me that at Buck-Tick's first-ever live performance (at the Shinseido Little Rock festival, under the name Hinan GO-GO, with Araki on vocals and Sakurai on drums) the band played covers of three songs by The Stalin, including "Romantist," the song that has been used as the title for this tribute album. Endo Michirou also appeared on Buck-Tick's tribute album PARADE ~Respective Tracks of Buck-Tick~, with his amazingly lecherous traditional-Japan-meets-old-West wolf-howl-inflected cover of "Sasayaki" (all you lazy people who only ever listened to the Kiyoharu and Abingdon Boys School tracks on that album, go listen to Endo's "Sasayaki" right now.) Endo also appeared on Buck-Tick's Parade tour in summer of 2007, in addition to playing at Buck-Tick Fest 2007 ON PARADE, where he was joined by Imai as a guest guitarist on his song "Echoes of Warsaw." No doubt because he was finally playing on the same stage as one of his most deeply respected idols, Imai was grinning like a little boy throughout the performance (all you lazy people who only watched Buck-Tick's section of the Parade DVD, go watch Endo's performance right now.)

Buck-Tick is certainly having an exciting and musically collaborative year (as if they ever don't). Now all we need to do is cross our fingers and hope for some surprise guest appearances...