(In which Break lets loose quite a bit of rambling - it is what she does best)
I can't claim to be one of those fans who has loved UnsraW through and through. I fell for them the instant I heard -9- at the end of 2006, and then I fell even harder when I heard Spiral Circle at the beginning of 2007, but then it tapered off. They released Calling the following March which I didn't like, and later that year they released the Abel and Kein mini-albums which to this day I'm still not a fan of. But over and over I would come back to Spiral Circle and just listen to it on a loop. Yuuki's voice is far (far far) from perfect, the guitarists are good but not exactly inspiring, I will admit that as far as skill goes the points have to go to drummer Shou because that man is seriously underrated behind that drumkit.
Of course then Yuuki became sick and the band went on their year-long hiatus, and still I couldn't stand their mini-albums, still I looped Spiral Circle. And somehow, in this year-long silence, their power seemed to grow without me realising it. When they announced their comeback it was like Christmas come early to me, the excitement was unbelievable. I don't know how or when they began to meant that much, as far as I was concerned they were just an interesting band who released a brilliant album and then couldn't quite sustain it, but with their announcement it felt like I had regained something big, something I never thought I'd have back, something I never realised I had lost. Undeterred by the immediate loss of their bassist they ploughed on with a new single release and it was an UnsraW I never imagined, an UnsraW who weren't picking up from where they left off but who had grown and transformed in their year off, not just in sound either. Gone were the masks, gone were the skin-flashing costumes (for a while at least), and the vocalist Yuuki had gone from being gangly and probably too thin to a ridiculously intimidating powerhouse of a man. Their lyrics had changed. Their production had changed. And they had turned into a band that demanded the attention and respect that they might just be due.
I can't claim to be one of those fans who has loved UnsraW through and through. I fell for them the instant I heard -9- at the end of 2006, and then I fell even harder when I heard Spiral Circle at the beginning of 2007, but then it tapered off. They released Calling the following March which I didn't like, and later that year they released the Abel and Kein mini-albums which to this day I'm still not a fan of. But over and over I would come back to Spiral Circle and just listen to it on a loop. Yuuki's voice is far (far far) from perfect, the guitarists are good but not exactly inspiring, I will admit that as far as skill goes the points have to go to drummer Shou because that man is seriously underrated behind that drumkit.
Of course then Yuuki became sick and the band went on their year-long hiatus, and still I couldn't stand their mini-albums, still I looped Spiral Circle. And somehow, in this year-long silence, their power seemed to grow without me realising it. When they announced their comeback it was like Christmas come early to me, the excitement was unbelievable. I don't know how or when they began to meant that much, as far as I was concerned they were just an interesting band who released a brilliant album and then couldn't quite sustain it, but with their announcement it felt like I had regained something big, something I never thought I'd have back, something I never realised I had lost. Undeterred by the immediate loss of their bassist they ploughed on with a new single release and it was an UnsraW I never imagined, an UnsraW who weren't picking up from where they left off but who had grown and transformed in their year off, not just in sound either. Gone were the masks, gone were the skin-flashing costumes (for a while at least), and the vocalist Yuuki had gone from being gangly and probably too thin to a ridiculously intimidating powerhouse of a man. Their lyrics had changed. Their production had changed. And they had turned into a band that demanded the attention and respect that they might just be due.
They announced their first EU tour and despite it not coming to our fair British isles I insisted on going. My gig-buddy was hesitant and to this day I still don't know why I was so persistant, but just months later we were treading back through fresh Munich snow trying to find words to express how that might just have been the best live show ever.
They lost a guitarist and quickly replaced him, finally getting a new official bassist too, and went on to release another mini-album which was just as brilliant as the single. Within the same year they announced ANOTHER EU tour which we of course attended, which left us saying "We thought that Munich was probably the best show ever, but this was without a DOUBT the best live we've ever seen". They released three more singles, and then of course What Happened Happened, Yuuki suddenly left for his own reasons and the band disbanded after their last live. This is no place to discuss that. We carried on. The members played session lives, became support members, we relistened to old songs (Spiral Circle, Spiral Circle) and found new gems, and the world turned round and round. Spurred on by the lessons learned in watching them your humble blogger here uprooted and moved herself across the planet almost entirely alone.
March 14th, after travelling a circuit around Hiroshima, Osaka and Kyoto we returned to our beloved Tokyo, put up coincidentally in Room 509, and read the news that UnsraW would be returning for one last live, with five members, with Yuuki onstage again. The rest, I guess, is history.
Most of everyone reassured me that it wouldn't sell out, not quickly at least, but just for the fun of it I set myself the challenge of getting a ticket the very minute they were released. Lucky I did, because they were sold out by the time I left the store. And quite taken aback themselves I think, the band announced a second live (or a prequel I suppose?) the day before the last live, and in the name of fairness I decided not to get a ticket - if I didn't, someone who missed out on the original tickets would get a chance. But it turns out that I am only human, and my resolve held strong until I had a particularly bad day just a couple of days before the second launch (a bad day that called upon the need for coffee jelly with vanilla icecream, AND iced cocoa in one sitting) (... it was bad). Cue the calling in of favours, cue the brilliant Bloody Fashionista rolling out of bed early on her day off and mailing me that she had got us both tickets
I don't know where time has gone between now and then. I spent a long time conflicted about the last lives altogether actually, after the remaining four members had given their all to an amazing last live last year and then being called back to do it again with their vocalist. But I realise that that doesn't matter. All conflict put aside it is now just a few days until I see the conclusion of the best and most inspiring live band I've ever seen, and ... well. UnsraW are my last fandom. I guess we'll see what I have to say afterwards.
- Break
