i like the cover.. it's better than the first one.. at least they didn't use that rolling stone lips anymore. this V is more japanese and original even they still have the 70's smell just like what miko_chan mention.
and the best of it.. no more naked girls hahahaha

(06-19-2010, 06:52 PM)cathb Wrote: I guess it depends on how you view it. I see it as more of a stained glass effect. Plus the double-image thingy.....do you see the VAMPS going around the edges or do you see the hand in the middle doing the V? My mind sees the edges first and then goes to the hand.

I saw the hand first, then thought "But where does it say BEAST..?" XD
It's like something out of Mindtrap o.O

All in all I really like what I've seen about the album so far... and I'm really excited about the PV's for the album DVD, those two songs sounded the most interesting to me~

(06-20-2010, 12:26 PM)VAMPkito Wrote: I didn't even SEE the name! I thought it was just a bunch of squiggly lines! XD - So, now that I see that and can't get it out of my head, I actually really like it. It's very nice, and actually it improves on some complaints I had on their previous box arts. Those being-

1) over-abundance of girls
2) unfitting colors and imagery (well, from the two singles we have, it seems pretty fitting anyway)
3) lack of creativity
4) Overly-Simple fonts (typically, the font is just Impact; I've always had a motto that if the average consumer can immediately recognize how you did something, then it's a bad piece of art. Here, there's actually a lot of creative design behind the lettering that matches the concept)

So yeah, this album art is pretty much an answer to my hopes @_@

I'm ok with naked girls X-D... as longs as it doesn't look cheap.
I liked the color palette! D-:
Creativity was ok to me because of the typographic work.
It is not IMPACT exactly, Impact is very close, can be used as a susbtitute... but it is NOT regular Impact. See it like "I can't believe it's not butter" or soystreak X-D

(06-20-2010, 12:26 PM)VAMPkito Wrote: It astounded my mother when she saw VAMPS and she was like "They don't even LOOK Japanese!" So it showed her that although they were from very different parts of the world, it was not... you know... THAT different, and that's what initially vexed me about the box art. You tell them they're from Japan, they're like "Oh god wut" then they see the box art and they feel like "Oh man, I'm going to be soooo lost @_@"

I dunno. You see, Americans can be very stupid. When we think of Japanese music, our minds, for some reason, initially think of classical Japanese music. We don't think of modern rock n' roll or anything like that. But what REALLY vexes me is when they say something like "OH JAPANESE? YOU MEAN, LIEK, WITH THE INSTRUMENT?!" ... You know, because Japanese people only have one instrument!

I've also being told they don't look japanese X-D And sure, some ppl thinks japanese music still uses only a few notes and has to involve geishas or old men playing the shamisen :-p

Well I like it :)

I don't know what's the big deal about it seeming Japanese (which I don't see actually ... more of a "groovy" vibe, really. But if it does seem "Japanese" then maybe it's peoples' faults for having a stereotypical image.

I always describe VAMPS as Japanese Rock to avoid confusion I guess

But anyway, I'm liking it! I didn't mind naked girls at all XDDD It fit their "hardcore" image but this is a nice change.

The first thing I thought when I saw the cover was "Hmmm... somehow the hand/the fingers look deformed." I was concentrating on how long the fingers look and what that hump on the left side of the index finger should be . Well, the hand of a beast eh...? Or my eyes get the picture wrong .
Ehem, but beside that I like the Seventies Style of the letters around the V-hand really much and the cover is a refreshing change after the mentioned single covers... I haven't had any problems with the lips cover, though , I like it actually. A Vamps album with Vamps' lips. What could be more logical ?

I like the seventies / psychedelic style very much, it remembers me Fillmore posters. I also loved the first Album design, which I think was inspired by an eighties movie named "VAMP". About the naked girls, I don't mind if they appear; I'm not surprised / scandalized to find stuff like that in a ROCK band, this is not High School Musical or something LOL

(06-21-2010, 06:11 AM)derMauersegler Wrote: The first thing I thought when I saw the cover was "Hmmm... somehow the hand/the fingers look deformed." I was concentrating on how long the fingers look and what that hump on the left side of the index finger should be . Well, the hand of a beast eh...? Or my eyes get the picture wrong .
Ehem, but beside that I like the Seventies Style of the letters around the V-hand really much and the cover is a refreshing change after the mentioned single covers... I haven't had any problems with the lips cover, though , I like it actually. A Vamps album with Vamps' lips. What could be more logical ?

LOL! Maybe the "deformation" is to preserve the proportions of the "negative space" to arrange the letters. Or maybe they look strange because they are "snake-ish"?

Well, most of the time if I tell people that my favorite music is Japanese Rock and Pop, I get weird looks. Then I tell people I lived in Japan for 4 years when I was a teenager and somehow it becomes more "acceptable." Like, "Poor girl. She can't help that she has bad taste. She was exposed to it from an early age." I lived overseas for 9 years and I've been back in the states for 8, but my impression is that Americans *typically* don't like anything "un-American." So I agree that if VAMPS want a bigger overseas audience, they're going to have to think very carefully about the marketing and presentation. Look at Utada Hikaru's album from last year. From what I heard, her new single was getting decent airtime on the coastal radio stations. People were making comments that they couldn't believe that this gorgeous, velvety voice was coming from a *gasp* ASIAN! But look at the marketing. Her face is plastered on the cover of her album...which works great in Japan as she is an icon there and anyone there could recognize her face from a million miles away and go, "Oh Crap! A new Hikki album! Get!" But while she remains unknown here, putting the face of an Asian on an album (even if that is who is singing the tunes) is artistic suicide in this country. I wish it were not so, but it is -.-

What I can't figure out is...Why was there a Latin music invasion 10-11 years ago and we can't get an Asian music invasion going??? Asians don't have the sex appeal Latinos do? I know that the average American girl only sees the Asian stereotype (as laid out in 80's movies like Sixteen Candles where the only representation of Asians is weird/nerdy/wimpy). This was something I discussed at great length with my Japanese exboyfriend. "Why are Asian girls hot to American guys, but Asian dudes have low appeal to the average American girl?" Why do these double standards exist??? What is going on here?? I could go on and on forever about this, but I won't crowd up the board. I guess I'm just agreeing with those who say that as annoying as it is, if we want our beloved VAMPS to gain any ground here in the grand old US of A, they need to be very meticulous about how they market themselves. No detail should be overlooked, and their Asian-ness should be sidestepped at all costs only if and until they've established themselves. Once you've established yourself as a legitimate "artist" in this country, you can pretty much do what you want (I use the term "artist" loosely here because I find the majority of American music to be unimaginative, uninspiring and 2-dimensional). I think I'll stop there before I find myself going off on anymore tangents haha.

(06-21-2010, 10:48 PM)harumi Wrote: Well, most of the time if I tell people that my favorite music is Japanese Rock and Pop, I get weird looks. Then I tell people I lived in Japan for 4 years when I was a teenager and somehow it becomes more "acceptable." Like, "Poor girl. She can't help that she has bad taste. She was exposed to it from an early age." I lived overseas for 9 years and I've been back in the states for 8, but my impression is that Americans *typically* don't like anything "un-American." So I agree that if VAMPS want a bigger overseas audience, they're going to have to think very carefully about the marketing and presentation. Look at Utada Hikaru's album from last year. From what I heard, her new single was getting decent airtime on the coastal radio stations. People were making comments that they couldn't believe that this gorgeous, velvety voice was coming from a *gasp* ASIAN! But look at the marketing. Her face is plastered on the cover of her album...which works great in Japan as she is an icon there and anyone there could recognize her face from a million miles away and go, "Oh Crap! A new Hikki album! Get!" But while she remains unknown here, putting the face of an Asian on an album (even if that is who is singing the tunes) is artistic suicide in this country. I wish it were not so, but it is -.-

While I agree with pretty much everything you said, I discovered something recently that I think needs touched up on. I'm not suggesting VAMPS move in this direction at all. In fact, I'm against it. But what I'm going to say will probably not come to a surprise to anyone who watched mainstream American television.

Well, quite simply. It's not that Americans don't like anything "Un-American." We have international music sections in every music store. The thing is, Americans don't like foreign things that MAKE SENSE. Americans like to think they're the only rational country on Earth. They like to think "Oh, those silly foreigners! They'll never get it right like us!"

What makes me say this statement? Well, you know there ARE Japanese bands that make it popular here. Many of them being of the weird variety. The one that most comes to mind are The Polysics and the pillows. They're both bands with a very "weird" feel to Americans. It's not like VAMPS who have serious, heart-felt messages in their songs. No, those are reserved for American artists. The aforementioned Polysics, however, can be purchased at pretty much any Wal-Mart store (or at least online). I don't know for sure, but this is why Tofu Records mysteriously disappeared. They distributed Japanese bands in America that were serious and mainstream. (For those of you who don't know, Tofu Records was at one point HYDE's US distribution label, which essentially allowed you to pick up his FAITH album at very specific stores)

Quote:What I can't figure out is...Why was there a Latin music invasion 10-11 years ago and we can't get an Asian music invasion going??? Asians don't have the sex appeal Latinos do? I know that the average American girl only sees the Asian stereotype (as laid out in 80's movies like Sixteen Candles where the only representation of Asians is weird/nerdy/wimpy). This was something I discussed at great length with my Japanese exboyfriend. "Why are Asian girls hot to American guys, but Asian dudes have low appeal to the average American girl?" Why do these double standards exist??? What is going on here?? I could go on and on forever about this, but I won't crowd up the board. I guess I'm just agreeing with those who say that as annoying as it is, if we want our beloved VAMPS to gain any ground here in the grand old US of A, they need to be very meticulous about how they market themselves. No detail should be overlooked, and their Asian-ness should be sidestepped at all costs only if and until they've established themselves. Once you've established yourself as a legitimate "artist" in this country, you can pretty much do what you want (I use the term "artist" loosely here because I find the majority of American music to be unimaginative, uninspiring and 2-dimensional). I think I'll stop there before I find myself going off on anymore tangents haha.

The Latin American music invasion, if I remember right, was a result of an increase in Latin Americans migrating to the US who wanted to take their culture with them and as a result, more people in general started to get into them. We don't have a significant amount of Asians entering the country. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of them, but not quite as substantial as Latin Americans. Besides, Latin Americans speak a language that comes from the same Latin origin whilst Asians, well, don't.

As for Asian stereotypes, I pretty much agree. The thing, I think, is that most Asian Americans here tend to be taught by the media that they're Asian and they should look, act, and sound like that. They're taught that they should be treated as inferiors to the better American men. Asian women, on the other hand, well... they're women. To a typical American male, it doesn't matter what ethnicity they are as long as they're thin and have boobs. (That is, of course, not to say the typical American males are indiscriminate about girls; actually, foreign males are the same way for the most part. That's why I don't relate to males that much, among other reasons, but that's a rant best saved for another post!) But yes, you see what I mean. Asian women are women and that's the only reason they're treated with any more respect than Asian men.


(NOTE - I am not Asian American at all, so if I've said something that is totally wrong, be aware this is from the perspective of a bystander not the actual subject so please do not throw your rotten tomatoes or whatever else you've come prepared with!)

@Vampkito

the pillows aren't "werid'(thats not a word I'd use really). If you read some of their songs translated they have just as much important meaning as some VAMPS songs. The point is that they can do a few tours again is because of Fooly Cooly the anime show. Even Sawao himself said in Japan that the reason most people come to their shows in the US is because 99% of them heard them through that anime. Another 1% from various other places like the net while searching Japanese Music.

I think Dir en Grey are more popular than the pillows and could get more fans than the pillows at a show. It depends X Japan are playing lollapalooza in August and they were added by the guy who organizes the event just from seeing/hearing them record a few PV's in Hollywood.

I don't think anytime soon any Japanese band can get real success here, like their PV's playing in the Top 40 or having their albums reviewed in rollingstone.com or say some British mags like NME, Q etc. I just think some Americans views on music are too indifferent and quite frankly suck. There will always be the underground scene/fans like us though.

~On the topic of the level of an asian male attractiveness vs the female

I think only a minority of American females would consider dating a male Japanese. For example if hyde wasn't famous and he went to America how many of you would look at him twice? Be honest? He is good looking for sure but if he was just another nobody(not famous) in the street would you give him a second look?

...And for all you who would. Is it only because you love Japanese music?

Like someone said, it seems alittke different for some of us male's because we are attracted to any sort of woman , I guess? I mean there was John Lennon with Yoko Ono and he got alot of sh*t for being with her but he really loved her,so he stuck by her. David Bowie is with Iman and he has also said they get weird looks sometimes(interracial couple). It's just racism is still deep in the subconscious of society, this topic is too complex for me to explain in a text comment. It's too frustrating it's more better suited for a conversation.

Although I have seen really attractive girls with Asian guys. It just depends is the guy what the girl is looking for? Every girl is different. Some girl might be looking for a kinda jock boyfriend and if she meets a feminine Japanese guy she is not going to be interested and vice versa.

Just like some American male might like a Japanese or say African girl but is scared to admit it in front of friends incase they put him/her down.

Anyway I don't know where this is going but that's my opinion...somewhere in there XD

ON Topic:
I'm so happy My First Last is having a PV since I'm most interested in this song.