2011
Support for Razzle Dazzle continued with the Tour 2011 Utakata No Razzle Dazzle. The tour lasted for 20 dates and began on January 22 with a fan club only gig in Kanagawa. For this tour, the merchandise had "Razzle Dazzle Fragile" printed on it instead of "Utakata No Razzle Dazzle." Technically the band considers the first non-fan club only show to be the official start of the tour (January 23 in Kanagawa). On February 5, Buck-Tick held their first mobile site members only concert. In the middle of the tour, on February 20, Buck-Tick were one of the bands that performed at the Music and People Vol. 8 concerts, which commemorated the 200th issue of "Ongaku To Hito" magazine. The other bands to appear were Polysics and Kegawa No Maries. Tour 2011 Utakata No Razzle Dazzle ended temporarily after the fan club only show on March 6 due to a natural disaster and the dates were rescheduled to complete the tour.
On March 11, there was a magnitude 9.03 earthquake off the coast of Japan in the Tohoku region (literally, "northeast" but reversed for English compatibility) that spawned a deadly tsunami, aftershocks, and nuclear meltdown (but no Godzilla). Buck-Tick was supposed to play a few more dates, including the next day March 12 in Osaka. This was too far away from Tohoku to be directly affected but national panic is far reaching and it would be inconsiderate to continue on, plus such things as the (strange but oh so very Japanese) national electric grid were affected. (The hardest hit prefectures were Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima. Sendai was the nearest major city to the earthquake, a city Buck-Tick has toured since 1987.) Due to the national crisis, the continuation of the tour was postponed until November.
In response to the natural disaster, the band created some goods for charity to be sold through their fan club. Some items were very popular and they either put more into production (such as a thermos designed by Hisashi) or they sold out completely (I think the notepads designed by Atsushi sold out quite quickly). However, some fans can't just be supportive. It seems that Hisashi allowed his sister-in-law to sell some of the charity goods at her place of business and elitist fans took issue with this, resulting in Hisashi blogging his outrage, that they're just trying to help, and to please support his sister-in-law's business.
Buck-Tick increased their social media presence by creating their official Twitter account on March 14. The Buck-Tick Fest On Parade Twitter account began on April 2. They created a separate web site for the festival as well.
Several rock musicians wrote songs for model Chiaki Kuriyama's debut album Circus that was released on March 16. (Perhaps she was able to get her label to convince musicians she likes, such as Atsushi did for his solo debut.) Atsushi and Hide wrote, arranged, and produced the song "Shinkai". Hide played guitar on the track as well. This is the first time that two members of Buck-Tick wrote a song together for another artist. "Shinkai" may appeal to Buck-Tick fans as it sounds like "Dress" and "Miu" had a baby. The song was used as the theme song of the movie Ghostwriter Hotel. Taiji Sato from Theatre Brook also wrote a song for the album and Tomoyasu Hotei, former guitarist of Boøwy, had written one of her previous singles.
On April 6, the live video Tour 2010 Go On the "Razzle Dazzle" was released. The live footage was filmed towards the end of the tour, on December 15 and 16 at NHK Hall in Osaka.
On June 1, the Shiki Original Soundtrack was finally released, including versions of "Kuchizuke" and "Gekka Reijin" used for the cartoon tv show as reported for the previous year.
Auto-Mod held the Gothic Grotesco concert at Shinjuku Marz on July 10 and had several guest musicians, including Toll, Ken Morioka (formerly of Soft Ballet), Asaki (Age of Punk), etc. (Bonus point: one of the musicians in the photo below is wearing a Buck-Tick shirt. See if you can spot it.)
Hisashi joined Kiyoshi on August 5 for his acoustic concert. Hisashi played on the songs "Runaway Girl" (Rogue cover), "Sad Song" (The Roosters cover), "J.B. Honey" (Lucy), and "Rosie" (The Roosters cover).
Tomoyasu Hotei released an all star album of Japanese guitarists on August 17. It was entitled All Time Super Guest. Hisashi appears on the song "Guitarhythm" and performed with Hotei a couple of times the previous year. Miyavi and Siichi Nagai (Soutaisei Riron) also appear on the song "Guitarhythm."
On September 15, the retrospective book Buck-Tick -Since 1985-2011- was released.
Towards the end of the year, the band made a special announcement that they have created their own label, Lingua Sounda, under Tokuma Japan Communications, and that there would be a new single in the spring and a new album in summer. The label's logo was designed by comic artist Tsutomu Nihei who is known for several series: "Blame!," "NOiSE," "Abara," "Biomega," and "Cydonia No Kishi." They also created a special website for the upcoming 25th anniversary where fans got to vote for their favorite songs. The ranking results would be used for the following year's reissued and updated Catalogue videos.
The postponed portion of Tour 2011 Utakata No Razzle Dazzle continued on November 13 when Buck-Tick played in Okinawa. Two of the Fish Tank only shows had to be rescheduled as well. The rescheduled dates for the tour ended on December 9 with a fan club only gig in Tokyo.
In mid-late December, Buck-Tick held 4 of the annual The Day In Question concerts, ending as always at Nippon Budokan on December 29. This was the first time that The Day In Question shows were held in 4 different cities. Previously, the maximum was 3. This last DIQ show was simultaneously streamed on the Nico Douga (AKA Nico Nico) website, except for the encore. (It's the YouTube of Japan.) The full concert was released on video the following year. These DIQ shows were special in that they represented the band's history with a setlist covering their many years from "Hurry Up Mode" to "Dokudanjou Beauty." This DIQ was the precursor to all of 25th anniversary activities to occur the following year.
