Tag Archive: Tamaki Carmilla


The next iteration of the revitalized Club Theatic takes place at Studio 326, an event arena with up to three floors of events going on at the same time. This event takes place on a Sunday evening allowing you to get the darkness out before the week begins. Live acts feature Psydoll and Gadget. and DJ’s include Wakana and Chihiro.

** Important! This show is dress coded for Gothic & Dark Fetish, no casual or street clothes **

Where:
Where Studio Cube 326
Address: 3-2-6, Tamachi, Minato-ku, Tokyo :: 108-0002 東京都港区海岸3-2-6 :: Map
Tel: 03-5439-9199
Live: Gadget., Psydoll, Gregor Samsa, Gothic Logic, Deomoid 13 (Nagoya).
DJ’s: Chihiro, Wakana, DoomSpider (Stigmatic, Nagoya) and VenoMoth (Stigmatic Nagoya).
Performances: Taizo and Tamaki Carmilla.
Open: 16:30
Price: 3,000 yen Advance or with flyer :: 3,500 yen @ Door

* DON’T FORGET – This event is DRESS CODED *

Club Theatic

Castle-master, Genet, took TDC to a new level with the best mix of live Goth-flavorings yet!

Despite the Osakan invasion from Midnight Necropolis, the Goths were out in force @ TDC and they were the best-dressed, most-dressed Goth’s I have seen. The crowd was larger than the last two events and the punters had decked themselves out in costumes you wouldn’t believe… except Igor, who’s really just a nerdy dreg capable of sleeping in a dumpster when required. But I digress.

Execution of tonight’s event was superb. Past TDCs have been great, but TDC 13 was just damned slick. All the sets were nailed tight and the night moved with a feline grace. This level of quality shows TDC as a true international-class underground event that SHOULD NOT BE MISSED. There should be tours for this.

Gaijin invasion
Between the regulars, the irregulars, the new arrivals, and an Australian guy with a very big camera, the foreigners were a major minority @ TDC 13 and the gaijin/local mix looked fantastic. Maybe around 20 or so exquisitely dressed and painted Gothic gaijin were igniting the landscape throughout the night.

Bands!
There are good bands out there that will never get a night at Tokyo Dark Castle, but TDC is the quality-assurance sticker for Japan’s Goth scene. Any band making it to TDC is worth seeing – not only at TDC, but wherever they play. So, if you’re looking for some J-Goth and not sure where to look then you can’t go wrong with the bands who have done a tour or two of the Castle.

Tonight’s bands were on fire. Hell, they were infernos from start to finish. No flubs, no anarchic over-runs, no worried looks, just plug it in and rip through the f*cking set. It was a Hell Yeah, kind of night folks.

Satanyanko
These Osakans were back for revenge after their first blooding in Tokyo saw them stuck in a distinctly non-Goth club event. Taking the first slot Satanyanko let rip from the start. The band has forged itself into a moody, lively punk group who work the stage with aplomb. It was great to see the axes getting it on and lead-kitty Rie-nyan putting out some great femme angst in her vocals.

Auto-Mod with Tamaki Carmilla
Tonight’s set was driven hard like a rivet to the forehead. True veterans of the business, Auto-Mod know their craft and can deliver any night of the week, but tonight they were playing like a band possessed. Great dark rock sounds from the Goth-Daddy and his crew. It’s sad to note that tonight was Tamaki Carmilla’s last performance with the band – her dark femme voice added an extra dimension to the band.

Destruct System
It’s great to finally hear these guys as I’ve heard such good things about them. They had a lot of aggression going from the start and were obviously seasoned performers – very smooth delivery of the hard stuff. I bet they must have been shocked by the foreign gothers madly seeking to buy their CD (selling CDs is usually a very tough part of the business).

Cut the Crap
Igor was too busy socializing outside to catch these guys, but when the other Gaijin came out they were totally fucking pumped. Why? The tiny bassist had blew them to bits. Man, why do I always miss out on the legendary bits? Now, I have just got to get my ass to one of their gigs. More CD hunting could be seen after their set.

Jubilee
Oh, these guys know how to work the crowd during a set. The veteran Glam-gothers from Osaka got going at a nice pace, then cranked it up to another level mid-way through the set. Good sound throughout and the mid-set ignition was great.

Selia
Ah, it was time to enjoy the more ambient/classical sounds of Selia. Truly a siren of the night, Selia had all sitting to appreciate a voice that could make you cry…

Unfortunately, my night drew to an early close thanks to a phone call. After a quick exit to take the call, Igor found himself talking to some drunk who had the wrong number. The drunk was looking for his friend, but ended up befriending Igor and scoring himself an impromptu English lesson in the process…. Alas, the wind was taken from my sails, my wings were clipped. It was such a shame as I was looking to catch…

Euthanasie!
I missed them (DAMN!), but let me just do a short spiel, because they are one hot electro-industrial band with a mad dose of sex appeal. They do a mighty set working a slick delivery style into their sounds and building the energy the whole way through. Definitely worth catching wherever they play. Sorry Andro!

Ah, a lovely night. ‘Twas a pity it was cut short by that most peculiar phone call…

Tokyo Dark Castle #14 :: October 29
This takes place on Halloween and you know what that means?! A Goth parade through the streets of Shibuya before the night kicks off! The event promises to be just as good, or even better than TDC 13 and will be the second last TDC of the year. Check Tokyo Dark Castle.

Alice in Wonderland meets Alice in Chains. Simply a magical night filled with leather angels, lacy devils, good music and alcohol – yes, always the alcohol. Igor buzzed in at one o’clock and kept buzzing until the end. Not a dull moment, and no angst that you might associate with a Shibuya night. Quite simply a devilish night of fun.

Deseo is easy to find and the maps (notorious for leading you astray) actually led straight to the club. Of course it was easy to spot with members of the crowd enjoying some light conversation outside the club between shows. They got a dressing room out the side, so now you guys know why people slinked off around the corner.

The costumes…. Oh the costumes! Imagine your copy of Gothic & Lolita Bible had burst open and all the models had spilled out onto the club floor. That would be nothing compared to TDC. The costumes of the girls and some of the guys were exquisite. Shiny, frilly, lacy, laced up, tied down, etcetera, etcetera. It was all there. The place was like nothing I’ve seen in Tokyo before, and this was the Golden Week edition of TDC! Imagine what Halloween must be like!

The entrance area was a nice coffee shop size. After thrusting my yen and proving I was over 18 years old (first time to show ID in 11 years) I received my re-entry stamps and a ream of paper. Ye gods, more fliers than you’ve seen in your whole miserable life. Great I thought and started ferreting the fliers into various pockets on my person noting with satisfaction the complimentary CD from Sins of the Flesh. Woot! Two drink tokens too. Double Woot! Another promo CD was received shortly after. Triple Woot!

I managed to snark the last part of the Euthanasie set, but I was just getting into things so I can only say I liked the sounds a lot.

Slinking closer to the speakers, I had a rather nice surprise. The amps must have been set at 9 instead of the Spinal Tap 11 that a lot of the smaller events tend to favor (especially if there’s some death metal to be played). It was quite refreshing to be able to enjoy the music without jamming plugs into my ears. Ahhh, bliss.

Euthanasie finished and it was time to get the second free drink. I enjoyed a conversation with a maid-cossied fellow while I was waiting for service. I must say he looked quite elegant in the straight maid costume. I wound up spending a little too much time outside (there was only one guy at the bar) and had to rush in for Genet’s Auto-Mod with Tamaki Carmilla. Genet’s the organizer of TDC and truly is the Goth-father of Japan’s underground music scene. He’s been in the business since 1979 (and I know his real age!) and is a polished performer, playing with the crowd and indulging in some witty repartee with Tamaki (the Japan underground’s answer to Elvira). Very polished the whole way through with Goth-rock, followed up by his new metal/neo-punk style.

Somewhere during this set as I slooked my way to the front, I managed to spill half the rum and coke all over myself. Didn’t matter, I was having fun and got a lovely shot of Genet’s boot.

More drinks then back inside for Agent Murder. I first saw the lead, Awi, at a Kichigai event at Bar Jap. The Kichigai event was mad! Essentially it finished up a blood/cutting performance. Anyway, TDC saw Awi getting pretty wild on stage and showing no signs of stopping. I enjoyed seeing the drummer getting up for a bit of a scream in the second half, but it would have been even cooler if another member took over the drums while he was screaming. That would have got a big woot from the crowd and saved us from programmed drumbeats.

He also gave a first-hand introduction into the sempai-kouhai (master-pupil) relationship by getting a little bit too crazy and receiving a boot up the patoot from the TDC sempai for his troubles. I was having a great time so not sure what the exact problem was (going waaay overtime, a bit of verbal castigation, too wild on stage, I don’t know). He even wrote an apology on the TDC Web site earlier this week. It just goes to show you that even in the hedonistic lifestyle of underground music, the traditional structures will hold strong. Before the end of the set, Awi kind of glud over the rails and I managed to support him from going splat (now I didn’t expect that).

More drinks then back for Gadget. These guys were the highlight for Igor’s night (yeah, I play favorites). Very cool performance and seeing the girl smacking the hell out of the drum kit was just hot. Loved the sound the whole way through. I completely missed the crowd leap by the lead singer, but I think there needs to be more people up front for a successful surf. Very lively band that I’d be happy to see again.

After Gadget, I was pretty vogued out, just swanning around. I got to take a photo of Genet and got to talk with U-Tarou and (maybe) Mikito of Chronotrigger, Jude from Sins of the Flesh and others. I picked up a bit of Phantasmagoria at the end of their set, but missed Falling You as I got into a quite an interesting discussion with Despair’s lead singer, Rieu (hey Rieu!). It was really amazing to get the chance to meet all of these guys and others during the night.

Alas I missed Selia’s operatic performance in the middle of the night and neglected the DJ sets due to my need to consume alcohol between sets (another bartender would have solved that problem). So props to those unsung heroes at the back, DJs Taizo, Chihiro and Violet and VJ Kihito.

A fantastic night, a fairy tale night, that sadly finished at 6:30. I walked out with seven CDs and fine memories of what went on stage and the people I got to meet there.