Upcoming Featured Guests

Suicide Ali

Formed by vocalist Goshi and guitarist Hiroshi, Suicide Ali breathed it's first breath in 2004. Described as a bastard child of deep psychological ideas and questioning, the band's music and ideas seem to explore and attempt to discover what truely is the meaning of life, from its epic battles to its smallest nuances. The two brought in Yuu on guitars and Hisashi on drums in mid 2005. Having only a few downloadable demos on their website, the band managed to gain wide notoriety with both the Japanese and American visual kei fanbases. When Yuu announced he would be departing the band in early 2009, Koji was welcomed in to fill the void. The band continues to bring its unique autonomy and outlook on life to the world, with hopes to one day conquer it.

Echostream

Who do you look for when you want something dark and mysterious, yet edgy and hard at the same time? Why, echostream, of course! Based out of New York City, echostream has been taking the East Coast by storm over the last few years! Comprised of Ryoko on vocals, Tomo on guitar, Tony on keyboard, and CJ and Jen on drums, the group has performed at dozens of conventions and served as the opening act for several tours, including Japanese industrial/goth/rock band BLOOD. Be sure to catch them the next time they come to your town!

Kaya

Musician-performer Kaya has been a part of various visual kei/darkwave bands, including Metties, ISOLA, Rudolf Steiner, and Schwarz Stein (a pet project of Malice Mizer’s ex-guitarist, Mana, under his label Midi:Nette). Even before his major debut on April 23, 2008 with “Chocolat,” he’s been attracting attention as a solo artist. Kaya deals heavily with the idea of expressionism through the use of aesthetics, always seeking to experiment with new and different sounds and genres, mixing jazz with rock or traditional Japanese music. Sound, composition, lyrics and visual effects are all equally important to Kaya. He works with dancers, drag queens, ballerinas, and actors, and with CD jacket designs, make-up, and live performances, he ensures that these elements flow together to take the listener to a place that is beyond their normal reach, thus creating what he calls Revolution of the Sense of Beauty.

Quaff

“Samurai Rock” and vivid Japanese visual expression are here to pierce your skull with the genre-breaking sound of Quaff! Quaff is a band like no other; they bring elements of traditional Japanese music and culture into their heavy-hitting music and live performances. Based on the Japanese concepts of “uta” (melody) and “tsuzuri” (rap), Quaff rocks out with dual vocalists emphasizing their Japanese roots. Everything from the vocal melodies, to the rapping, to the drum beats, to the music screams of Japanese takes their rock sound to a completely unique level. Even in a country flooded with musicians, Quaff is one of the very few to create a fusion between the traditional Japanese aura and modern music. This attention to detail saturates their music which is carefully tweaked with nothing short of pure passion. Their live performances are intense, upbeat and sound amazing. After bringing their incredibly successful US tour in 2008 and 2009 to a close, Quaff heeded their fans’ demands and are coming back with their unsheathed katanas in hand! Make sure you bring a traditional Japanese fan to the concert to join in on the fun!

Steven Jay Blum

Most known as the voice of Spike Spiegel in Cowboy Bebop and TOM from Cartoon Network’s Toonami block in the 90s, Steven Jay Blum has literally hundreds of credits to his name! Working in various media such as anime, video games, and American animation, he has become one of the most beloved voice actors in the industry over the years due to his unique sense of humor, inherent talent, and ability to deliver stellar performances.

J Michael Tatum

An American voice actor working largely for FUNimation, J Michael Tatum usually portrays the more docile-natured characters as foils to his energetic and at times eccentric counterparts in anime. He is best known for his roles as Kyouya Ootori in Ouran High School Host Club and Doumeki in xxxHolic. In 2007, he began to venture out from voice acting into ADR directing, working on such series as Hell Girl, Aquarion, and Ouran. Look out for him in the newly-licensed series Spice and Wolf coming out soon from FUNimation and Kadokawa Pictures USA!

geist

Baltimore based, JRock inspired, band geist is made up of Kane, Kazuya, Sai, Hiro, and Kuni. They recently released their first full-length album, Grotesque.