2014
On January 22, the documentary movie Gekijoban Buck-Tick ~Bakuchiku Gensho~ was released on DVD and Blu-ray. It included parts I & II that was shown in theaters. There was also a limited edition box set which included a bonus part III and photo cards.
Also on January 22, the double single "Love Parade / Steppers -Parade-" was released. The single is perhaps the most democratic of all Buck-Tick singles since both songs have equal billing and feature the most common songwriting combinations of the band. Although, "Steppers -Parade-" has lyrics written by both Atsushi and Hisashi, which is rare for Buck-Tick to have multiple lyricists on a song. There were no other songs on the single that could be considered B-sides but the special edition version did include a DVD with live footage from the Cosmic Dreamer Tour.
At the end of January, Hisashi shared his latest dental work on his blog. He had "BT" added to the front teeth that he's missing on what appears to be a denture partial.
On May 14, the single "Keijijou Ryuusei" was released, (meaning 'Metaphysical Meteor'). The song's lyrics were written by Atsushi and music by Hisashi. The B-sides included a song available on the upcoming album and a self-cover version of "Victims of Love" with the duo Kokusyoku Sumire. It was the only single from the album Arui Wa Anarchy, which was released on June 4. There was a special edition box set of the album that included the single. It was vinyl LP size but contained CDs only. The album title means "Or Anarchy," so some of the merchandise or other items from the time included "Or Anarchy" on it. According to Hisashi, the album title is actually " " and the subtitle is Arui Wa Anarchy. The title is empty space. The title can't be said, seen, heard, etc. So really, one should probably take a pause when saying the album title, and then proceed to say Arui Wa Anarchy. The album artwork and song titles were influenced by Dadaism and Surrealism. Dadaism being thought of as an anarchist art movement, or anarchy.
On June 2, Atsushi appeared on the radio as a guest on "The Dave Fromm Show" on Inter FM.
To celebrate the release of the album, Buck-Tick appeared on a special live stream for Nico Nico on June 4 titled "Buck-Tick De Nemurenai," a play off of their new song "Baudelaire De Nemurenai." Atsushi was the only member that did not appear. This special is notable for having illustrator (and musician) Mikaru Sera draw karuta cards as the band was interviewed. (Mikaru is now known for Empress Age ~Yami Shakai No Shuyaku Wa Wareware Da!.) Karuta (carta; letter) is a traditional Japanese card matching game where illustrated cards are spread around the middle of the players and someone reads a sentence that corresponds to one of the cards spread out so the players furiously try to find the matching card first. This is typically played by small children and helps them learn the alphabet, so to speak. At least, the version intended for children was all I experienced growing up and I never saw adults care about karuta until this special was aired. I must admit that the karuta cards drawn live were so well done that I wished it would have led to official Buck-Tick karuta cards being created.
The supporting tour for the album, Tour 2014 Arui Wa Anarchy, began on June 18 in Tokyo and was held for 28 dates. It ended on September 26 in Tokyo. Kokusyoku Sumire joined the band for a couple gigs including June 21 in Ichikawa City, June 28 in Tochigi, June 29 in Gunma, September 14-15 in Osaka, September 21 in Nagoya, and September 25-26 in Tokyo. The second part of the tour was entitled Tour 2014 Metaform Nights -Arui Wa Anarchy- and began on October 25 with a fan club only gig in Tokyo. The tour was held for 17 dates and ended on December 13 in Tokyo. These tours are quite unique in that they started and ended in the same city. I believe that this is the first time that the band started and ended a tour in the same city but on top of that, they did so for both tours for the album. For some songs, Hisashi wore a red bandana to partially cover his face.
Mucc, (who opened up for Buck-Tick in 2012), held a series of concerts from March through September entitled Six Nine Wars -Bokura No 7kagetsu-kan (meaning Our 7 Month War) and during the middle of Tour 2014 Arui Wa Anarchy, Buck-Tick were the guests along with Tenkan for Episode 6: Armageddon at Zepp Namba in Osaka on August 19.
I am not sure of the exact date, but I believe it was in September that the city of Nakatsugawa in Gifu prefecture announced their artist handprint project to promote city tourism. As the city claims to have held outdoor music festivals since before Woodstock and with The Solar Budokan event held in the city, they decided to cast artist handprints in stone. From the 2013 Solar Budokan performers, 9 were selected to participate. Their handprint and autograph were set in stone and put on public display. From Buck-Tick, Atsushi was the only member represented. His handprint is on display in front of the Nakatsugawa train station, in the little green space (mini park) directly across from the train station. Cross the street until you run into a bush and look down towards your feet and you can't miss it. The stones are 30cm squared and I am not sure if they are life size but I believe they were in the first year they did this. Subsequent years had different artists and their stones are on display at other locations. Some included a footprint and the footprint/handprint combo stones don't appear to be life size, at least from the photos posted online.
From October 21-27, there was a collaboration with several Tower Records where panel photos of the members were on display. These included locations in Tokyo, Yokohama, Hiroshima, Sendai, etc. The Shibuya store also had tour costumes on display. Some stores, such as Nagoya and Osaka, had the photos on display slightly later from October 28-November 3.
On October 22, the live album Tour 2014 Arui Wa Anarchy was released. On the same day, U-ta's solo book U-ta -A Days of Innocence- was released through Tower Records Japan. In the book, U-ta describes his childhood and the early days of the band with rare photos, including the first officially published photo of the mysterious older Higuchi brother whose early death can be said to have inspired both U-ta and Toll to take up music. A well-known fan of baseball, there are also photos of him playing baseball as a child and a meeting a member of his favorite pro team as an adult.
During the tour, Buck-Tick began selling a perfume called Kanbina Shiga -Qüan Vie Nnâ Sigue Eÿe-. The name means 'exquisite corpse' and the fake French is just how to read the kanji. Don't worry, the perfume did not smell of death. Exquisite corpse was a well-known artistic game amongst surrealists in the 1920s.
In Japan, there is a Hello Kitty version of everything and finally in 2014, Buck-Tick collaborated with Hello Kitty to sell a smartphone case for ¥3,300. Can you honestly say that something or someone is famous until there is a Hello Kitty version of it?
A year end encore performance of the album's supporting tour was held as Arui Wa Anarchy -NPPNBDKN- at the Nippon Budokan on December 29 instead of calling it "The Day In Question" as is customary for shows on December 29 at the Budokan.
