The Corona Report

Well... this isn't nice news. But we'd rather you hear it from us than The Net.

As of about 9:30 this morning, Buck-Tick were all ready set to go on tour to Fish Tanker's and Love and Media Portable (minus everyone overseas) in Nagoya... and then a little past noon, the fan club announced via email that Mr. Sakurai was not feeling well, had been examined by a doctor, and had tested positive for Covid-19. So, the tour is postponed, or possibly cancelled. The management have not yet made the call on whether to cancel or postpone the show, but have stated that due to issues with the venue, cancellation may be the only option.

How much does this suck? A lot. It sucks of lot of ducks. Will this affect next week's fanclub only show at Toyosu Pit, and the recently announced livestream? That depends on a negative test, most likely. Given Buck-Tick's celebrity status, we expect the management will err on the side of caution.

However, one thing we'd like to say is that the level of medical care in Japan is extremely high. The level of serious illness and complications in this country is much lower than in many other countries, most particularly the USA. Many of our friends and acquaintances here in Japan have tested positive in recent months and in most cases, they have either been minimally ill, or they got ill, but it hasn't been cause for serious alarm, though getting sick is never, ever fun. Mr. Sakurai has certainly been vaccinated and boosted, as per the needs of his job, and there is no question that he will receive whatever support he needs to get well as soon as possible. 

At the same time, after two years of cancelled tours, now this? We can imagine he's feeling very upset, disappointed and grumpy (at least that's how we'd feel if we were him right now). So, y'all, please, send prayers and positive energy his way. The power of prayer is huge. It has even been scientifically verified. Let's get him out of bed and singing again as soon as is feasible (though of course, he needs to take the proper amount of time to recover). 

And y'all... I feel extremely the opposite of happy about this and if you could leave a comment with some good vibes, please do it, for Mr. Sakurai, for the band, for the blog, and for little old Cayce. Frying pan into the fire, rock and hard place, come the fuck on, I want us all to be happy floating on cotton candy clouds riding unicorns and it's like sucker punch after sucker punch and just, [insert word of exasperation here].

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Update: The Fish Tanker's Only show on August 11th at Toyosu Pit has been postponed, pending possible rescheduling. For everyone looking forward to the live stream, it sucks, but I don't believe it's cause for concern as the general Covid policy in Japan is at least seven days of isolation, and really, having Acchan go onstage one week after testing positive just doesn't seem like a great idea even if he feels totally well and chipper by then. Health is first priority. For what it's worth, I do believe that even if the other shows are cancelled, Toyosu and the live stream will be rescheduled. If you're in FT, go ahead and write to their absolutely horrible Kafkaesque nightmare feedback service and tell them how much you hope the show will be rescheduled along with the live stream. The show scheduled for August 14th has also been postponed. Everything else depends on Mr. Sakurai's status of health... so what are you waiting for... if the postal service in your country still works (haha lol what a big IF, but yeah), send him a get-well card! Get-well cards can be mailed to the Fish Tank office, addressed to Sakurai-san. He might not be in the mood for reading mail but I'm sure a stack of get-well cards from overseas will give him some warm fuzzy feelings, even if he's totally recovered by the time he gets them. These last few years have been hard on us all. If you need the address, drop us a line.

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Why, Fish Tank Tour Goods?

Welp, we can't post the photos of the goods here because they're all too fucking tiny. Web design, in Buck-Tickistan? What country do you think this is, eh?

But, while they have all the money and the lack of web design skills, we have the WHYs y'all are looking for. So, here's why.

1. Imai-designed Masks and "Half Pants" (c'mon Imai, these are call shorts. I know, I know, "shorts" is a euphemism for "panties" in Japan, but if Acchan-chan did it, so can you.) So, why? Chiropractor, kids. For his old man brokedown hip. We recently sprained our non-corporeal knee and we've been commuting once a week to the generously insurance-underwritten chiropractor, where we lie on an air conditioned bed listening to 90's and 2000's pop (both Japanese and Western... by the way, we are never, ever ever getting back together.) while receiving exotic services such as electric massage and chiropractic manipulations by an extremely handsome, charismatic young man who should probably be a televangelist or a used car salesman instead of a chiropractor, but we respect him the more for the fact that he isn't. And what happens when you go to a Japanese chiro clinic with a sprained knee, folks? They have you change into these standard-issue "half-pants" that look pretty much exactly like the ones Imai's got on offer. The masks go without saying. Cuz corona is gonna kill you but them masks will save you. Vax or no vax. So you're snorting into your mask and your half-pants and just wishing that that 90's playlist included "Dress," which of course, it doesn't. Mr. Imai, 9500 yen is a lot of money for some chiro clinic pants, and you know it. But your hip still hurts, and you really, really want to get back up onto those ridiculous boots, so we get it.

2. Yutaka: Serious Bear Round Squishy Ball Keyholder. Well, well, well. We know that aside from Mr. Imai, Yutaka is the most happily married of the bunch in Buck-Tickistan, and what Serious Bear doesn't love to lightly squish a nice, squishy, squishy ball? At 2000 yen, this is very cheap, fit for an everyman... every man who wants a nice, squishy ball. Yutaka, my but you're sweet. Squish squish, it's a boob, it's a ball, it's a stress reliever (is there any difference?) Why does poor Serious Bear look so glum? Probably because none of us can attend the tour and that fucking sucks. But we could buy this thing and squish all of our latent, long-lost longing for Buck-Tick into it, and even if that doesn't make things feel better, it does help that this baby is very cute (and would also make a good cat toy, probably. If Yutaka has a cat. Or if he goes to visit Acchan-chan, which is unlikely.) Yutaka, you are the sweetest, the bestest. We love you.

3. Yagami Toll: Super Ice Cold Ultra-Chilled Sake Set, anticipating our annual global warming 36-degree summer here in Japan. Toll is going to turn 60 on August 19th, kids. Right in the middle of that sauna. Will it be 36 degrees? Will it be 37 degrees? Let's hope to fuck it's not 60 degrees, or we really will all die. But yeah, what does Toll like? Nihonshu. That is to say, "Japaneez sake" (as Mr. Sakurai sings in "Goblin"). When does he like it? Whenever he goddamn well pleases. He has surely earned that right, by now. But if you buy this sake set, you not only get to enjoy that cute zombie-with-a-mohawk Toll graphic, and remember that Toll was ready to give up rock music for a life of drinking away his misery before he ever joined Buck-Tick (see Love Me on This is NOT Greatest Site for more info), but also, Toll has been drinking sake that entire time and he's still alive and pushing sixty, so really, the point is, what you can learn from Toll's life is that you should do what you love, *if* doing what you love involves painstakingly reviewing each and every video of your drumming post-concert (while drinking nihonshu), lecturing to young drummers (while drinking nihonshu) that they shouldn't be so show-offy and should pare their style back to something more refined and Japanese minimalist so as to better show off Mr. Sakurai's voice (like nihonshu), and just plain ol' drinking nihonshu. While maybe checking out your super-duper cool mohawk in the mirror (and toasting your reflection with nihonshu), even though you're alone in your house. (Who says he doesn't do that? Can you prove he doesn't do that? No, you can't!)

4. Hide: Hairband, With Bow (presumably intended to be affixed to your dog's head as she goes running with you.) Why? Well, Hide is an over-50 soccer dad whose very uncool hobby is getting up at 5AM to go jogging along the river. Why does he do this? To stay in shape for playing soccer? Nope. He's just that kind of guy that likes to get up very early in the morning to go jogging. And he's secretly flattered by the groups of 80-something year old ladies who regularly and unabashedly hit on him, with pickup lines like "oooooh look at the handsome prince!!!" They have no idea who he is, no idea that he's famous, no idea what a Buck-Tick is or where to buy one. All they know is they saw that silver fox in his hairband, modestly priced at a department-store price of 2500 yen (price of the man or the headband, you decide, this is a choose your own adventure), because he's an everyman, jogging by the river with his little dog, and their jaded hearts were stirred by his purity of spirit, and by his well-exercised muscles, and by his chiseled features, and his silver beard. 

They heckle and heckle, because when you're 85, you're just over it. "Nice pecs!" "Nice beard!" "Nice biceps!" "Nice bxx!" "Whoo-hoo!" "We like a man with a nice dog!!" "We like a man with a nice headband!!!" And somehow, Hide feels just as small and shamed as any 18-year-old girl getting cat-called by construction workers... and yet... he's still flattered. His ego is inflated and deflated in equal measure (as are other parts of him). Because he knows, work that thang when you still can (and how long can he?? Oh, god, don't go spiraling down this loop anymore...). Because secretly, loss of self-confidence is a very real fear for this extremely handsome, talented, six-foot-tall professional rock star jock. Because everyone's life has to be hard somehow!!! But look, early-morning jogging is a slippery slope. By the time Hide's 70 (oh dear we said it perish that thought now kill it with fire), his wake-up time will have moved back to 4AM. Fun fact: one time Cayce was walking along the seawall in Yokosuka in the middle of winter at 4AM (please, please don't ask why.) And we kid you not, there were not one, not two, but a whole steady stream of very old Japanese people (we mean like octogenarian old), wrapped up in anoraks, jogging along. And, kids, they looked so very, very miserable, running through that blistering wind. They were cold and it was still pitch dark out, and their were heavily hoisting their venerable bodies along the road, and we couldn't help but want to ask them... my dudes, why don't you just wait until it's like 10AM and it's sunny and warm out here and you can see the ocean while you jog? We've got nothing against jogging, exercise or health. These are undoubtedly good things, keeping Japan with the longest life expectancy in the world. But, why put yourselves through this sadness and hardship, at a time in your life when you could and should just be kicking back and working in the garden and cuddling with your cats? Is misery virtue? Welcome to Japan, a country where that question has never been satisfactorily answered.

5. Mr. Sakurai. Hanky Panky Hankies. Okay, we know what you're thinking. You know we know what you're thinking. Lace handkerchiefs into which to loose your impotent fantasies is so much more romantic than tissue paper. "You are the honey I spill all alone" ("Sasayaki"). So much more elegant with a hanky than a tissue from the grocery store, ain't it? And ain't nobody getting any younger. You think he can still actualize those fantasies of his? What woman would do it? What woman could do it? They are all listening to K-Pop and playing otome games now, he's an old, old, OLD man, like 5666666 years old, and those fantasies of his, well, they are epic. Nope, Acchan-chan is alone, alone, in a world of plastic-surgified very young very perfect-faced male idols and very, very scary large and overripe fangirls, and he's a hikikomori who prefers to stay safe at home in his own home sweet home house, thank you very much, and make his own "fun." With some nice, lovely, silk handkerchiefs. 

Except, kids, that's not even what's going on here. You know what Acchan-chan loves, even more than sxx (fun fact: he gave that up long ago, he's faking it, no one is worth it anymore, Covid ruined everything, goodbye, I don't even watch porn anymore, it's all an act, signing off. Nen nen korori yo.) Acchan-chan loves watching really sad, scary, and/or twisted movies. His favorite Ghibli film, by his own accounting in multiple sources, is Grave of the Fireflies. He's currently penning lyrics all about how fucking pissed he is that there is another fucking war in central Europe/Asia. And you know what happens when you write lyrics about the war in Ukraine while watching Grave of the Fireflies on repeat? You cry, kids. You bawl. You snivel. You hork snot and then you snivel some more. Because what the fuck even is this life and why the fuck does it have to suck this much, kthxbai. It sucks for everyone, Ukrainian, Russian, Japanese, American, every fucking person, it just blows (like you blow your nose in that hanky panky hankie). Jobs suck. Being bombed sucks. Being blacklisted by the world through no fault of your own sucks. Being ruled by oligarchs and megalomaniacal egomaniacs sucks. Late-stage capitalism is what's sucking us all dry.

Japan sucks a lot less than the rest of the world in many ways, but when you're Acchan-chan, you feel ALL of the world's feels at once, so you're in constant pain, but you are too gentle and retiring to complain enough to get a well-insured appointment with that spiritual chiropractor. And furthermore, Sugar does not have the time or the patience to be Acchan's napkin on which to rub his bogeys, even though he would prefer Sugar's fur (Kurumi would just scratch his lovely old old OLD 56666666 year old face and glare at him and have done and he just doesn't have the heart to inflict his misery on Maru because for him Maru is a little angel and maybe the only scrap of loveliness this world has left, because Sugar is guilty of Gluttony and Kurumi is guilty of Envy and in a way that makes him feel closer to them bc 7 deadly sins and all but he needs to feel something of the divine just to get the energy to get out of bed and into the studio each morning). But, he's Acchan-chan. He has class. He has style. Whether or not he's getting any hanky-panky, he needs a fucking hanky. Here you go. A whole 4500 yen's worth (per color!), and you can't even go to the tour - he's got that covered, too. This is your hanky to cry in. Can't go to the tour. It sucks. Cry with him in solidarity.  

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The National Tour that Wasn't, and other news

Back on September 21st, 2000, the 13th anniversary of Buck-Tick's major debut, the band embarked on a tour entitled "Phantom Tour," to promote the album One Life, One Death, which had been released the previous day. They followed this eight-stop tour with a second seven-stop tour, entitled "Other Phantom Tour." If they only knew what lay in store... little could they have anticipated, back then, that the actual phantom tour wouldn't arrive for another 20 years.

Much as we had a feeling that something like this would happen, that doesn't really make it any less of a letdown. Buck-Tick will not be canceling their fall 2020 Abracadabra tour - they'll be converting it into an actual phantom tour, in which the band themselves will not appear onstage. Instead, some sort of concert film will be screened at each of the venues at which the band were to have played, and each screening will be held twice at each venue (or most of them at any rate) - an afternoon session and an evening session - due to the fact that the government's social distancing requirements mandate that venues operate at no more than 50% capacity. Fans will be seated in every other seat, so there will be an open seat between each person, and kids, much as we may have longed to not be smooshed up against the flabby upper arms of some very stinky fangirl shrieking her head off at Acchan-chan in a faux baby voice (unfortunately a real and true occurrence)... if we had to choose stinky screaming fangirls or post-apocalyptic phantom Buck-Tick, we would brave the fangirls. How times change!

Then again, as far as the fangirls go, this is exactly what they wanted. They've been on a campaign for years to attack and shame anyone at the shows who dares to look like they're having fun. Someone dancing too much? Shame them on 2channel. Two guys drinking beer and screaming "Buck-Tick are the BEST!" from the back of Pacifico Yokohama? Go and aggressively shush them up. The trend among the fangirls over the years has been strictly NO dancing, NO cheering, and especially NO SMILING. So we've no doubt they're overjoyed that the rules for the Abracadabra Plague Phantom Tour are as follows:

- Wear a mask so as to keep your offensive, shameful, and era-inappropriate smile well hidden.

- Disinfect your feet on the mat at the door so that if you should dance, you won't give the venue floor coronavirus while doing it. (Yes, they are having fans disinfect their feet before entering the venues. Why? Are my Acchan cosplay Christian Louboutins going to get the virus, too??)

- Register with the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's contact-tracing app so that if you dance, the government can publicly shame you about it.

- Submit your personal information, and the personal information of your companions, to masked, gloved, face-shielded Plague Storm Trooper venue staff or be denied entry to the venue. 

- No cheering in loud voices because even though you're wearing a mask, cheering spreads coronavirus. So do joy and happiness.

"Yaaaaaaaay!" cheered all the fangirls (soto voce, so they don't spread coronavirus). "No more pesky people enjoying themselves! Virtual Acchan belongs to us at last!" For, after all, on-screen tour promises many more close-up shots of garters than a man on a stage 30 rows of seats away from you when you're stuck in the back of the venue. It's a win-win-win!

In fact, there many more rules and warnings than those we've listed above - the above was just a sample. Yet amid all that fine print, they neglected to tell us what we really want to know: is it going to be the same movie at every single stop of the tour, or are they going to change the content at some point? The reason many of us attend multiple shows is because they're different every time. While there definitely a lot of Buck-Tick fangirls who would pay 4500 yen per ticket to see the same Buck-Tick movie ten times, some of us are short on cash and short on patience with this whole ludicrous charade. Tell us, Buck-Tick's management? Is it actually worth it for us to attend this more than once, or can we just go to Kokusai Forum, feel creeped out by the misery of it all, see closeup shots of Acchan's garter belt on a giant movie screen, call it an anticlimax together, and go home? Are you going to do something to make it worth it? Holograms? Live action Rocky Horror actors? A baseball pitching robot repurposed to shoot guitar picks and water bottles at the crowd? (Just kidding, guitar picks spread coronavirus). Robots that play Imai's guitar and forget the lyrics? A rain machine that rains on the audience instead of the stage, just to rain on our parade a little more than this year already has?

On the bright side, at least y'all overseas fans, who are currently barred from entering the country, don't have to feel bad that you're missing out. Of course they'll release the thing to DVD. It's been a DVD from the very beginning (unless it's a collection of holographic Rocky Horror actors and guitar-pick spitting baseball machines). The only difference will be not hearing the music over the venue sound equipment, which, given that Pacifico Yokohama has the worst sound of any music video we've ever visited, might be a bonus, if you have a nice sound system in your very socially distant home.

Of course, the band members are almost certainly at least as disappointed about this as the fans. Touring musicians is what they are by profession, but also by the divine calling of their souls. Live performance is where they really shine - you haven't truly heard them until you've heard them play live. When they're in top form, their live shows are overwhelming, theatrical, transcendental experiences. To sit at home every weekend, thinking, "tonight we were supposed to be playing in Hiroshima... tonight we were supposed to be playing in Sapporo..." how must that feel? At least the fans have somewhere to go and something to do, even if they're not allowed to have any fun while doing it.

It also certainly seems silly that with all this concern over the virus, they're still having fans congregate in large groups in one place. If the band members won't appear on the stage, why bother? Money, kids. The thing that's been fucking up absolutely everything since it was invented. They have to make money on this tour somehow. They can't reschedule it, not only because a tour of this scale has to be scheduled more than a year in advance, but also because of the uncertainty of the virus situation. Touring is where they make most of their money, and it's far from just the band members themselves - it's the tour promoters, the whole staff team, and the venue staff, too - nobody wants to lose their jobs and go bankrupt. Buck-Tick's tickets are already hard enough to get even for venues operating at full capacity. No doubt the band members decided that playing for crowds half as big as usual would be too unfair to everyone who would surely miss out, and it's not possible for them to play two back-to-back shows per day over the course of an entire national tour. So they've tried to compromise. We're certain it wasn't their idea or their preference, but it is what it is.

At the same time, they could still do a live stream that the overseas fans could watch. Wouldn't you love to see them do that? Maybe if y'all write to the management and suggest it, they'll do it. After all, they've taken our suggestions before.

It seems sort of pointless to post the tour dates since most of y'all are not in Japan and are legally barred from attending, but we'll do it anyway, just for posterity's sake. Look how many of them there are! Scroll fast and try not to cry.

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2020.9.26 (Sat) Tokyo: Tachikawa Stage Garden
Early Show: Open 12:00 / Start 13:00
Late Show: Open 17:00 / Start 18:00

2020.10.3 (Sat) Fukuoka: Fukuoka Sun Palace Hotel & Hall
Early Show: Open 12:00 / Start 13:00
Late Show: Open 17:00 / Start 18:00

2020.10.4 (Sun) Hiroshima: Hiroshima Ueno Gakuen Hall
Early Show: Open 12:00 / Start 13:00
Late Show: Open 17:00 / Start 18:00

2020.10.9 (Fri) Gunma: Takasaki Arts Theater, Large Theater
Early Show: Open 11:30 / Start 12:30
Late Show: Open 17:30 / Start 18:30

2020.10.11 (Sun) Tochigi: Utsunomiya Cultural Hall, Large Hall
Early Show: Open 12:00 / Start 13:00
Late Show: Open 17:00 / Start 18:00

2020.10.18 (Sun) Shizuoka: Shizuoka Municipal Cultural Hall, Large Hall
Early Show: Open 12:00 / Start 13:00
Late Show: Open 17:00 / Start 18:00

2020.10.24 (Sat) Kanagawa: Pacifico Yokohama National Large Hall
Early Show: Open 12:00 / Start 13:00
Late Show: Open 17:00 / Start 18:00

2020.10.25 (Sun) Tokyo: Showa Women's University Hitomi Memorial Hall
Early Show: Open 12:00 / Start 13:00
Late Show: Open 17:00 / Start 18:00
(Whaaaat... Buck-Tick were going to perform live at a women's university, and we're missing it!?!? Fuck you, coronavirus! You've ruined our chance to see Buck-Tick dropping some college-student panties!)

2020.10.31 (Sat) Miyagi: Sendai Sun Plaza Hall
Early Show: Open 12:00 / Start 13:00
Late Show: Open 17:00 / Start 18:00

2020.11.1 (Sun) Tokyo: LINE CUBE Shibuya (Shibuya Kokaido)
Early Show: Open 12:00 / Start 13:00
Late Show: Open 17:00 / Start 18:00

2020.11.3 (Tue/National Holiday)
Kyoto: Rohm Theater Kyoto (Kyoto Kaikan) Main Hall
Early Show: Open 12:00 / Start 13:00
Late Show: Open 17:00 / Start 18:00

2020.11.7 (Sat)
Aichi: Nagoya Lots of Kanji Forest Hall
Early Show: Open 12:00 / Start 13:00
Late Show: Open 17:00 / Start 18:00

2020.11.8 (Sun) Hyogo: Kobe International Hall, International Katakana Hall
Early Show: Open 12:00 / Start 13:00
Late Show: Open 17:00 / Start 18:00

2020.11.12 (Thu) Satiama: Omiya Sonic City, Large Hall
Open 17:30 / Start 18:30

2020.11.21 (Sat) Okayama: Kurashiki Municipal Hall
Early Show: Open 12:00 / Start 13:00
Late Show: Open 17:00 / Start 18:00

2020.11.22 (Sun) Kagawa: Sanport Hall Takamatsu, Large Hall
Early Show: Open 12:00 / Start 13:00
Late Show: Open 17:00 / Start 18:00

2020.11.27 (Fri) Tokyo: Nakano Sun Plaza Hall
Early Show: Open 12:30 / Start 13:30
Late Show: Open 17:30 / Start 18:30

2020.11.28 (Sat) Tokyo: Nakano Sun Plaza Hall
Early Show: Open 12:00 / Start 13:00
Late Show: Open 17:00 / Start 18:00

2020.11.29 (Sun) Chiba: Chiba Prefecture Cultural Hall, Large Hall
Early Show: Open 12:00 / Start 13:00
Late Show: Open 17:00 / Start 18:00

2020.12.4 (Fri) 

Hokkado: Sapporo Municipal Education & Culture Hall, Large Hall
Open 17:30 / Start 18:30

2020.12.6 (Sun) Tokyo: Tokyo Kokusai Forum Hall A
Early Show: Open 12:00 / Start 13:00
Late Show: Open 17:00 / Start 18:00

2020.12.11 (Fri)
Nagano: Hokuto Cultural Hall, Medium Hall (Nagano Prefecture Citizens' Cultural Hall)
Open 17:30 / Start 18:30

2020.12.12 (Sat) Ishikawa: Honda no Mori Hall
Early Show: Open 12:00 / Start 13:00
Late Show: Open 17:00 / Start 18:00

2020.12.19 (Sat) Osaka: GranCube Osaka, Main Hall
Open 17:00 / Start 18:00

2020.12.20 (Sun) Osaka: GranCube Osaka, Main Hall
Open 17:00 / Start 18:00

2020.12.26 (Sat) Osaka: GranCube Osaka, Main Hall
Open 17:00 / Start 18:00

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What about the Budoukan you ask? For now, let's not think about it.

Fanclub tickets for this tour are on sale, and will remain on sale until Tuesday, August 18th, at 2PM, Japan time. Tickets cost 4500 yen apiece, which is really a whole lot for not seeing a band and not cheering while breathing through a mask for two hours in a hall half-full of fangirls wearing smugly disinfected shoes. But Victor needs to wring some money out of their 33-year-old cash cow somehow. General ticket sales start on Saturday, September 12th, at 10AM Japan time.

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In other news, which we should have posted earlier but totally forgot about in the flurry of many announcements in Buck-Tickistan, Buck-Tick will be releasing the long-lost, long-awaited Fish Tanker's Only 2011 to DVD and BluRay. To our abiding chagrin, this is not the show at which Mr. Sakurai displayed his erect hair and "free man in tights" spirit to the world, it's the show that was rescheduled due to the Great East Japan Earthquake and held at Zepp Tokyo on December 9th, 2011. However, we really had fun on this tour and it had been a source of enduring disappointment to us that they never saw fit to release it. Now they need money, so here it comes. What else are they sitting on? The Six/Nine tour? That show where Buck-Tick opened for Marilyn Manson at Shinkiba Studio Coast? The Cosmic Dreamer show where Mr. Sakurai threw a hissy fit, threw the microphone, and stomped off the stage in a huff? Where's that At the Night Side blooper-reel spirit? Please, guys. More back catalog video.

As usual, the release comes in both limited and regular versions. The limited edition includes a live CD, booklet of photos from the tour, and special packaging. The prices for the various editions are as follows:

Limited Edition BluRay: 13200 yen, including tax

Limited Edition DVD: 12100 yen, including tax

Regular Edition BluRay: 6600 yen, including tax

Regular Edition DVD: 5500 yen, including tax

Fan club members can reserve the limited edition versions up through September 30th. The video will be released some time in early December. Those of you not in the fan club who are interested in purchasing this release, shoot us an email.

The track list is as follows:

1. Empty Girl

2. ...In Heaven...

3. Gekka Reijin

3. Razzle Dazzle

5. Kyouki na Deadheat

6. Mugen

7. Django!!!

8. Tango Swanka

9. Hamushi no You ni

10. Love Letter

11. Madman Blues

12. Voo Doo

13. Dokudanjou Beauty

14. Baby, I want you

15. Memento Mori

~en. 1

16. Kuchizuke

17. Yougetsu

~en. 2

18. Zekkai

19. Tenshi wa Dare da

~en. 3

20. Alice in Wonder Underground

21. Rendezvous

This is one of the only shows at which the band ever played "Voo Doo" live, and the last time they ever performed "Yougetsu" (really wish they'd revive that one). "Empty Girl" and "Madman Blues" aren't also songs they play every day, so our verdict is, very worth it! Plus you get to see Imai in an ugly red plastic jacket. If our memory serves us correctly.

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And last but not least, the music video for "Moonlight Escape" has been posted in its entirety on YouTube. Wow, what is this? Giving us the whole music video for free in advance of the release, instead of some measly 30-second clip that shows the part of the song that sounds the worst when taken out of context!? It's almost like we're back to the days of MTV, or something! We're not going to take a crack at translating the lyrics or analyzing the video till we have the lyric booklet in our hands, so you'll have to wait two weeks for that. But who cares what the lyrics are about when you get to see... Acchan-chan with long hair! Isn't this the only reason anybody likes the band? Isn't this what y'all have been waiting for since he was 28 years old and y'all were either disembodied souls floating in the cosmos waiting to be conceived into a willing uterus, or entirely unaware of Buck-Tick's existence? Kyaaaaaa! Yeeeeek! Did you say "willing uterus"? The uterus is willing and the soul is yeeeeeeek! (Is the internet broken yet? Is it broken? Please tell us it's broken. No more Zoom calls, and it's all Acchan-chan's fault. You have nobody but him to blame.)

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Fish Tanker's Only Live Streams

For those of you Blog-Tickers who are Fish Tankers or members of Love & Media Portable, Buck-Tick have some good news for you. In apology for the postponement of the Fish Tanker's Only Tour 2020, Fish Tank Web and Love & Media Portable will be streaming all the Fish Tanker's Only tour DVDs, one every Sunday, from May 31st through July 12th. Each will be available for 12 hours, between noon and midnight, Japan time.

The streaming schedule is as follows:

May 31st: Fish Tanker's Only 2006

Buck-Tick's first-ever Fish Tanker's Only tour! Hot on the heels of the 13th Floor tours, the set list for this show is dark and smoky, including 13th Floor era gothygoth songs the band rarely perform anymore, mid-90's darker than darkness tracks, and some surprising rearrangements of really old songs. The band members are dressed in simple, classic costumes and the cinematography owes a lot to classic 80's post-punk. If you're one of the fans who's drawn to Buck-Tick's gothical side, this is the show to watch. One of Cayce's favorite Buck-Tick concert videos.

June 7th: Fish Tanker's Only 2008

Buck-Tick's second standalone Fish Tanker's Only tour, with a unique set list, lighter than 2006, featuring many songs from Tenshi no Revolver and Cosmos. This tour was special because the band members' costumes were designed by the fans, winners of the one and only ever costume design contest held by the band. The fan who designed Mr. Sakurai's costume gets bragging rights for designing the single worst costume ever to adorn the contours of Gothique Prince Acchan's much lusted-after body. If you're into attractive men wearing kitschy Christmas decor, this show will send you over the moon.

June 14th: Fish Tanker's Only 2009

Held contiguously with the Memento Mori Rebirth tour, Fish Tanker's Only 2009 features mainly songs from Memento Mori, plus the requisite favorites and oldies. Shamed into submission by the horrified shrieks of fangirls, Mr. Sakurai had already shaved his Memento Mori tour beard by this point, so if beards scare you, have no fear. Back in 2009, Hide was still a little shy and awkward on stage - seems unthinkable now, doesn't it?

June 21st: Fish Tanker's Only 2013

Held contiguously with the Cosmic Dreamer tour, Fish Tanker's Only 2013 is the only Fish Tanker's Only video not to have been filmed at one of the Zepp Tokyo venues - this one was held at Tokyo Dome City Hall - a MarioKart maze of a venue which Buck-Tick have not braved again since. The set list is Yumemiru Uchuu songs plus favorites, oldies, and the elusive "My Baby Japanese," which to our knowledge the band never performed except on this tour. Imai is dressed like a spun sugar pastel elf, Sakurai proudly displays his much worked-out shoulders while being drenched by a rain machine (one of the greatest Buck-Tick moments of all time!) Hide goggles at bikinis before a horde of screaming fangirls.

June 28th: Fish Tanker's Only 2014

Held contiguously with the Arui wa Anarchy tour, Fish Tanker's Only 2014 features Arui wa Anarchy tracks plus back catalog selections veering toward the dark and romantic. ("Hyper Love"! "Heroin"!) If you're dying to see Mr. Sakurai sing the entirety of "Romance" with a mostly-opaque scarf completely obscuring his head, this is the show for you.

July 5th: Fish Tanker's Only 2017

Another standalone, this tour replaced the Atom Miraha standing tour, and therefore features mainly songs from Atom Miraiha No. 9 plus other darkly industrial matching tracks and crowd pleasers. Includes psychedelic graphics, badly behaved fangirls mostly skillfully edited out of the video, and really, really tight leather pants. 

July 12th: Fish Tanker's Only 2018

Held contiguously with the Guernican Moon tour, Fish Tanker's Only 2018 is going to go down in Buck-Tick history as "the tour of the lace stockings." The day after this show, Mr. Sakurai collapsed and was rushed to the hospital, but you wouldn't know it from the way he runway models those stockings in this video! The set list features one of our favorite long-lost Hide songs, "Kyouki na Deadheat." As for what and where Hoshino Valley is, we don't know. You tell us.

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Unfortunately for those of you who aren't Fish Tank/Love & Media Portable members, you won't be able to watch these streams, because they require a member ID to view... but if you're very keen to view them, you can always join Fish Tank.

In addition to the streams, the Buck-Tick web shop will be reissuing the Fish Tanker's Only tour DVDs/BluRays for 2013, 2014, and 2017 (the first edition of 2018 is still for sale). If you're not a Fish Tank member but you'd like to order any of these items through Cayce, just shoot us an email. We have to warn you that shipping will be delayed, as the Japanese postal service is not currently shipping international parcels - but we will happily hold your items for you till the postal service gets up and running again. 

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And for those of you jonesing for the new album - good news. Imai is back in the studio, recording. Playing with some surreally angelically conversational guitar effects. And wearing the ugliest mask ever, because Imai just can't get into the mood in the studio unless he's wearing something ugly. That's part of what makes Buck-Tick's magic happen.

Buck-Tickistan Stays Home

All right, enough with the metaphysics for now. What y'all really want to know is, what's going on in Buck-Tickistan? Are they under lockdown? Are they under military quarantine? Are there plague doctors with carts going around to collect bodies like in Monty Python and the Holy Grail? And is Imai secretly one of those plague doctors?

Well... not exactly. The Anarchic Republic of Buck-Tickistan has sealed its borders for the moment, and has reported zero cases of the virus to date. In a controversial recent report, Buck-Tickistani gossip tabloid The Hisashi Inquirer broke the news that all members of the Royal Court of Buck-Tickistan are apparently immune to the virus, due to the presence of a mysterious DNA sequence which the Inquirer speculates may be extraterrestrial in origin. The exact functions of this DNA are not currently known, but it appears to code for an entheogenic hormone dubbed DMT (Dank Musical Talent), which not only confers apparent immunity to coronavirus and the eponymous dank music talent, but also facilitates the ability to expand one's consciousness into astral realms in search of esoteric inspiration. As to why Buck-Tickistan has a royal court despite being an Anarchic Republic... the Royal Court styles themselves that way because they really like living in gothic castles full of ornate mirrors and chandeliers. And they have lots of admirers and really nice wardrobes, like Kate Middleton. 

In any case, the Buck-Tick members are fine. Staying home. Practicing new ways to use lipstick and hair dye, making banana juice cocktails, and working on the new album from home. This album has been going through some growing pains, and Mr. Sakurai reports that the pains are mostly due to Mr. Imai, but who knows. They say the new album will be the birth of a brand new Buck-Tick, and we have no reason to doubt them - they have always outdone themselves in the past. But if they're attempting to outdo a masterpiece like No. 0, growing pains aren't exactly surprising. If the album is released on schedule, it will be released this summer... but given the circumstances, don't bank on it. We're betting fall.

And yeah. The Fish Tanker's Only 2020 tour that was scheduled to begin on May 23rd has been postponed indefinitely, which is pretty much a given considering the circumstances. A concert hall pit squashed cheek by jowl with sweaty fangirls is about as socially un-distant as it's possible to get. Also, while Japan isn't on lockdown like some places, the government has ordered a state of emergency, and while essential businesses are still up and running, the clubs, concerts, and parties have all been canceled for the time being.

The band members have stated that they will wait and see about when to reschedule the tour dates, in order to make sure that they can safely hold the tour. We don't doubt that the tour will be rescheduled if possible, but even if the pandemic dies down soon and everything reopens quickly (dubious, considering that Japan's state of emergency is has been extended until the end of May), Buck-Tick have an album tour scheduled for fall, and given the amount of money and hassle involved in cancelling or rescheduling what is bound to be a national tour of 20 or more stops, it seems likely that they'll proceed with the album tour if at all possible, which means that the Fish Tanker's Only tour will have to come later - that is to say, winter 2021 at the earliest. But given that all bands have had to reschedule their tours and everything's up in the air now, there's bound to be a scramble for venue bookings, so it's possible that the FT Only 2020 tour might have to wait till spring 2021, or even fall - if the Olympics happen in 2021, summer is unlikely. However, nobody knows what will happen at this point.

Here are the messages from the band members regarding the cancellation of the tour:

Sakurai: How are you doing? Thank you as always. We know you were looking forward to our live house tour, but unfortunately, it has been postponed. However, this will help prevent the fans, staff members, and band members from being infected, so honestly, we're also relieved. 

First, I assume that there are at least a few health care workers among our fans. I would like to extend my respect to you who are working on the front lines to prevent further spread of the virus. My applause to you.

Starting in April, we suspended recording, but the band members are doing what they can from home. Please, all of you, take care of yourselves. And to protect your beloved families, friends, lovers, and cats, stay home! The band members and the staff thank you for your help and cooperation.

The rain will stop. The cherry blossoms will bloom. We will meet again. For sure. Until then, stay healthy.

April 13th

Buck-Tick

Sakurai Atsushi

Imai: We're making cool songs, so you've got a lot to look forward to ~~♪
I can't wait to have a blast with you at a live show ~~♪ PEACE!

Hide: Let's meet again for sure, with smiles on our faces!

Yutaka: The Fish Tanker's and Love & Media Portable Only lives have been postponed. We would like to postpone the tour until the problem of the novel coronavirus is solved, and we can safely enjoy playing live with you all, so just wait until then, okay?

Toll: Unfortunately, due to the spread of the novel coronavirus, we've postponed the Fish Tanker's and Love & Media Portable lives, for the safety of the fans. However, we promise that the next time we meet, we'll show you a powerful new version of Buck-Tick, so please wait for a bit. Thanks for supporting us!

Buck-Tick / Drums
Yagami Toll

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Yeah, it's old news now, and we apologize not reporting on it in a more timely fashion (we will try to get back on top of the news going forward). To make up for the postponed tour, Buck-Tick's YouTube channel is holding a weekly event called Buck-Tick Saturday Live Streaming. Every Saturday until June 13th, at 9PM Japan time, Buck-Tick's YouTube channel will stream one of Buck-Tick's concert videos. All the concerts to be streamed have already been released on DVD, but this is a nice opportunity for those of you who don't own the DVDs, and those of you who'd like to join in a socially distant international internet Buck-Tickathon. The first stream, held on May 2nd, was the Sabbat concert from 1989, while the second stream, held on May 9th, was the 1992 Climax Together. The upcoming streams are as follows:

May 16th: Atom Miraiha No. 9 Tour Final (December 29th, 2016)

May 23rd: The Parade 30th Anniversary ~High Side~ (September 24th, 2017)

May 30th: The Day in Question 2017 Day 2 (December 29th, 2017)

June 6th: Tour No. 0 at Kokusai Forum Hall A (July 26th, 2018)

June 13th: Locus Solus Bestia Day 2 (May 26th, 2019)

Nico Video also held a Buck-Tick live stream event over Japan's Golden Week holidays, featuring reruns of Buck-Tick concerts which were originally broadcast live on Nico Video. However, since this event is already over, it seems pointless to report on it (sorry for not staying on top of the game.)

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In addition to Buck-Tick's Fish Tank tour being postponed, three concerts at which the Higuchi brothers were scheduled to appear as guests were also postponed. Yutaka was scheduled to perform on February 29th at Akasaka Blitz, at a show honoring deceased actor Harada Yoshio, while Toll and Yutaka both were scheduled to perform on March 3rd at Shimokitazawa Garden, at a show celebrating the 50th birthday of Harada Kenta, who has played guitar and done vocals for Toll's band Yagami Toll & Blue Sky. Toll was also scheduled to perform at Garden on April 28th, at a show celebrating the birthday of Kaname, who has played bass and done vocals for Yagami Toll & Blue Sky. All the shows have been postponed indefinitely pending further pandemical developments.

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Another Buck-Tick endeavor which has been postponed due to the pandemic is Buck-Tick's collaboration with their hometown of Fujioka, Gunma prefecture. For those of you who don't already know, the Buck-Tick members all grew up in the same small town: Fujioka, a short but very infrequent train ride away from Takasaki, one of Gunma's only real cities. Fujioka is so rural that the train station is nothing but a small shack in the middle of the farm fields, so naturally, Buck-Tick are massive hometown celebrities - Fujioka cab drivers even make a certain amount of money off fans who visit Fujioka for the "Buck-Tick tour" of spots the band members frequented when they were young. Now, Fujioka has decided to literally cement Buck-Tick's local fame by installing a cement block with the band members' hand prints, as well as at least one Buck-Tick themed manhole cover, and a Buck-Tick commemorative flower bed in front of Fujioka High School (now Fujioka City General Learning Center), the band members' alma mater.

In tandem with this, there's going to be a Buck-Tick billboard in front of Fujioka station (for a limited time only), and a screening of Buck-Tick: The Movie in the large hall at Mikabo Miraikan, a municipal community center.

Who knows when it will happen, now, but let's focus on the positive here: Buck-Tick's hometown is commemorating the band! Official hometown heroes in perpetuity! That's awesome! More fun things to visit next time you make a trek to Imai Shoten. (For those of you who don't know, Imai Shoten is the Imai family business, and the place where the idea for the band was born. They welcome fan visits. Which reminds us, we never posted that story about our visit to Imai Shoten... stay tuned!)

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Postponed, postponed, postponed... this spring has nothing but a series of sad trombones, it seems. But what's the best thing to keep yourself amused and the economy going while remaining socially distance? Shopping for lounge clothes online, of course! And Imai Hisashi has an answer for you on that one. Music-themed apparel brand Amplifier, which previously released various t-shirts featuring photos of Mr. Imai has released a brand new Imai Hisashi hoodie, for the low, low price of only 14,800 yen, excluding tax. So if you're one of those people who still has a job, here's a new candidate for your "being a couch potato is now patriotic" lockdown life wardrobe. All the better if you wear this hoodie without putting on any pants.

But the REAL treasure, friends, is THIS:

What is this, you ask? Why, it's a 24 centimeter tall 10,000 yen collectible vinyl Imai Hisashi doll, and a very terrifying yellow eyeless Imai Hisashi head, to be released in June (probably). What do you think, folks? In a cage fight between ImaiDoll and Sakurai Sphinx Sexmonster Fucky Lucky Cat, who would win? Place your bets in the comments below.

(Sakurai Sphinx Sexmonster Fucky Lucky Cat: "Remember me?" *wink*)

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...But that's not all! Gain Tokyo, a new clothing brand about which next to nothing is known at the moment, has announced that they will be releasing a t-shirt featuring an illustration of the Buck-Tick members by cult rock manga artist hero Kamijo Atsushi, author of the manga To-y and Sex. Kamijo's work has been beloved since the 80's by rock and alternative types in Japan, yet oddly, it never seems to have made its way overseas. But if anyone wants to pay us to translate it, we gladly will. Kamijo's art is gorgeous, and well suited to Buck-Tickistan, as we can see:

(This is supposedly not a drawing of Mr. Sakurai, but of the main character from the manga Youkai Hunter. And Imai didn't steal the title of Mona Lisa Overdrive from the 1988 novel by William Gibson.)

For further information, follow Gain Tokyo on Twitter.

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Once again, thank y'all for bearing with us and our sporadic blogging. We hope to post more content soon. In the meantime, keep enjoying life. There's no time like the present to turn off the news, turn up the Buck-Tick, and dance without pants!

Buck-Tick 2020: the New News

Happy New Year, Blog-Tickers! Here's hoping your 2020 is off to a nice lazy, sensual start full of cat pics and chocolate-eating, and that you popped the champagne instead of letting it pop you. As promised, we bring you the updates from Buck-Tickistan, in chronological order, and boy (seven deadly sins) are there a lot of them!

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Ongaku to Hito

Messrs. Sakurai and Imai will appear on the cover of the February issue of Ongaku to Hito, to be released on January 7th. The magazine will feature a cover interview with the two, plus the usual monthly update from Yutaka. Those of you wishing to order this magazine through us, send us an email. In the meantime, enjoy the cover. 

Fine lipstick, Mr. Sakurai! Very fine! (Won't you tell us the color, please? We promise we won't give it away...)

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Tower Records

Also on January 7th, the latest installment of the Tower Records Buck-Tick Cafe will open in the cafe space at Tower Records Shibuya, to be followed by Tower Records Buck-Tick Cafe events opening at the Tower Records Cafe Umeda NU Chayamachi in Osaka, and the Tower Records Cafe Sapporo Pivot in Sapporo, Hokkaido.

The Shibuya event will run for a whole month, from January 7th to February 7th, in two sessions: the first running from January 7th to January 20th, and the second from January 21st to February 7th. Just in time for the 14th anniversary of This is NOT Greatest Site, y'all! (Our anniversary is January 27th). Shucks, how cute! The Umeda and Sapporo events will also run in two sessions, the first from January 21st to January 29th, and the second from January 30th to February 7th. Not only that, but the menu has already been announced! Let's take a look at it, shall we?

First, we have the obligatory Buck-Tick beer, this time with two different labels, one featuring the Datenshi promo photo, and the other featuring the Datenshi single cover. At 1000 yen per bottle, this beer isn't cheap, but we've drunk it many times before and we can say that it tastes great. No loss here. If you drink the beer in the cafe, you get to take the bottle home with you, and it's also possible to purchase unopened bottles of the beer to take home with you for later.

Next, we have the band member cocktails, starting with Mr. Sakurai's "Fluff Fluff" Viennese coffee, "inspired by the warm, soft, fluffy belly of his beloved cat, Maru." Doesn't say whether this is alcoholic coffee but for 890 yen we sure hope it is.

Mr. Imai's offering is, surprisingly, also coffee, which Tower Records is calling "Irish Coffee," and yet they say it contains cognac, not Irish whiskey, so please Japan, study your Europe a little harder. 900 yen.

Mr. Hoshino, yearning as ever for tropical paradises full of surfing mermaids and boys in bikinis, brings us 980 yen worth of banana juice, which is supposedly going to be the Next Hot Shit in Japan once the bubble tea craze bubbles out (jeez, kids, bubble tea was sooo 2004!)

Yutaka, sticking to tradition, brings us a Serious Bear houji-cha latte for 850 yen. All we can say is that if you haven't tried houji-cha, you should try it. It's a very different flavor from green tea, extra warming in the winter.

And finally, Toll brings us the Bulldog, another sake cocktail from Musubi-bito, the sake brand behind his signature sake "Doramu," which, we hate to say it, tasted terrible. But this is mixed with grapefruit juice, so maybe not so bad? 900 yen.

Next, the food menu for the first round, inspired by tracks from Parade III.

"Lullaby III," inspired by the European bar vibe of the song, is Navarin, or French mutton ragout with turnips, for 1890 yen.

"Iconoclasm" is a prosciutto and burrata salad, featuring five ingredients (five for Japanese babies). Burrata, for those of you who don't know, is an Italian cheese that spills out cream when you cut into it, for that "clash and clash" vibe. Or Sexual XXXXX vibe. Your choice.

"Tenshi wa Dare da" is ringo apple Tarte Tatin with strawberry sauce, to evoke that "ai ai love love" feel of the song lyrics... but don't they know that Shiina Ringo covered Uta?

"Just One More Kiss" is a parfait that will "explode" in your mouth, just like that deep, heavy bass from Buck-Tick's Victor CDian commercial all those years ago! (Oh yeah, Tower, NOW we're talking. Explode in your mouth! This sounds more like the B-T we know! Keep going!) After you eat those "firecracker-shaped" Pocky sticks, mix in the "carbonated ice" (what carbonated ice say what??) with the jelly below to enjoy a wild diversity of taste sensation ;)

When you visit the cafe, you also get a free A3 sized place mat, with a different design for session one and session two.

Session 1:

Session 2:

You also get different business-card sized calendar cards for each order of food or drink. There are also a bunch of Datenshi-themed collaboration goods for sale, which you can check on the official site here (just scroll down below the menu). If anyone wants to order any of these goods through us, just let us know.

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Datenshi & Parade III

Buck-Tick's new single Datenshi and third tribute album Parade III will be released simultaneously on January 29th. If you'd like to order them through us, drop us a line. The third track on the limited edition of Datenshi will be the live version of the song the band performed in Takasaki on December 3rd at the opening show of The Day in Question 2019. This is the first time the band ever performed the song live. What a treasure!

Datenshi covers

Parade III cover

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Neko Kikaku

Small news, big news, who's to say? For some people, this may be the biggest news on the list: in spring of 2020, the animated film Neko Kikaku (The Cat Plan), in which Mr. Sakurai appeared as a voice actor, will be released on disc. Check the official site here for details.

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Fish Tanker's / Love & Media Portable Members Only Tour 2020

In a break from tradition, Buck-Tick are mounting a standalone standing tour in advance of the release of their new album! This time, the tour will be open to both Fish Tank members and Love & Media Portable members, but NOT to the general public. For overseas fans, that means that unless you're a Fish Tank member, you cannot buy a ticket to this tour. We cannot help you get tickets to this tour. If you want to attend this tour, you must join Fish Tank. Tickets to Fish Tank only tours are non-transferable, which means that you can't buy them for someone else. At the door, you are required to present both photo ID and your Fish Tank ID card, and the staff check carefully to make sure that the name on the ticket matches your Fish Tank ID and the name on your photo ID. Under the new ticket trade system, it may be possible to trade your ticket to another fan club member if you become unable to attend, but we've heard tell that overseas members aren't allowed to participate in ticket trades (please, someone, confirm or deny this. And if it's true, write to Fish Tank and complain!)

Anyhoo, the ticket lottery for this tour opens on January 18th at noon and closes on February 17th at 2PM Japan time. In order to attend the tour, you must join Fish Tank before that period. The tour schedule is as follows:

Saturday, May 23rd: Zepp Tokyo - open 17:00 / start 18:00

Sunday, May 24th: Zepp Tokyo - open 17:00 / start 18:00

Sunday, May 31st: Zepp Fukuoka - open 17:00 / start 18:00

Saturday, June 6th: Zepp Osaka Bayside - open 17:00 / start 18:00

Sunday, June 7th: Zepp Nagoya - open 17:00 / start 18:00

Saturday, June 13th: Sendai GIGS - open 17:00 / start 18:00

Sunday, June 14th: KT Zepp Yokohama - open 17:00 / start 18:00

Sunday, June 21st: Zepp Sapporo - open 17:00 / start 18:00

Please, kids. Come to this tour and dance up a storm. Dance your socks off. Dance your ass off. Dance the soles off your 30cm giant goth boots! Annoy the hell out of those prissy pursed-lipped "no dancing" fangirl biddies, just like Acchan-chan asked you to do. Because it's now the Roaring 20's again for the first time in a hundred years, and in the Roaring 20's, dancing is what they lived for. Dance like a flapper and flap your freak flag. Wear your Imai pajamas as regular clothes. Because that's the truth of life in Buck-Tickistan and no angry, jealous fangirl hatred can ever quench the firecrackers that crackle in your soul. Be like Sailor Moon, and crack up all the monsters with the fireracker of your love.

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Buck-Tick's New Album

It's coming in summer 2020. According to Imai, he wants it to be a clean break for the band, something "outside Buck-Tick's previous image." His keywords: "minimalism," "electronics." Our keywords: A lady-killing werecat with a fetish for red lipstick, a hyper-intelligent human-sized praying mantid from the Andromeda galaxy, and a Cosmic Surfer Dude in a Space Suit in the Nude pick up a pair of baseball-loving brothers from Planet Baseball in the Hanshin Star System for a tour of the Milky Way in their hyperdimensional interstellar zeppelin, lose a game of Truth or Dare, have to take the dare and descend to the little-known planet "Earth" disguised as rock stars and try to make it big... but nobody ever guessed how big they'd make it! Will anyone discover their true identities? And do they have an ulterior motive? And if so, what is it? And what are all these mysterious numbers we keep seeing everywhere? Two, Three, Five, Seven, Wake Up, It's 11:11 (Seven Eleven, oh thank Heaven!) Coming soon to a Tower of Babel Records near you. Bonus extra: random Egyptian hieroglyphs, because random Greek letters were so last-season. They're 500 yen each and you can't choose the hieroglyph so if you want the Eye of Ra, you have to just keep buying more till you get it.

Release date? We're guessing early July. But we could be wrong.

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The Mysterious New Album Tour

Buck-Tick (or the squad of aliens disguised as Buck-Tick) will be holding a hall tour to support their out-of-this-world new album in fall of 2020. We have to assume it won't start before September, and possibly not till October, because we're guessing that they, like us, don't want to touch the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with a hyperdimensional ten-foot pole. But what this really means is, y'all who prefer hall tours, or who want to hear the new album live, or who can't save up money in time for spring, or who don't want to join Fish Tank, will have a chance to see a Buck-Tick tour later in the year. They've given you the choice this time, to choose your tour. How nice of them!

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The Day in Question 2020

And finally, last but not least, Buck-Tick have confirmed that they will be playing The Day in Question 2020 at the Nippon Budoukan on December 29th. As the Budoukan was closed for refurbishment in 2019 in advance of the Tokyo Olympics, this will be a welcome homecoming. Fun as the Yoyogi National Gymnasium was, it just doesn't have that same Day in Question vibe. In fact, in all likelihood, Buck-Tick's December 29th 2020 show will likely be a final for their Mysterious New Album Tour, rather than a standalone DIQ. But no worries that they've given up their tradition of commemorating Imai's release from his not-quite-jail-sentence for doing a special kind of hugging with Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Aliens in disguise or not, the day Buck-Tick stop making drug jokes is the day they stop being Buck-Tick.

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And that concludes our news for now! To answer a last question, yes, we still provide our shopping service! If there's anything you like, feel free to contact us any time.

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