Blood Shed: The “Ryuketsu” Avant Garde Performance Style in Japan
*This posts contains depictions of self harm and photos of blood.
Some artists put their health and safety on the line to put on the most intense shows possible.
Famously, a few musicians in the West go above and beyond, like the time Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters broke his leg on stage and continued to perform the entire show.
Speaking of Foo Fighters, they performed at Fuji Rock this year. A manga was just released this week recapping their performance…
anime dave grohl
In Japan, some artists take dangerous performances a step further.
Today I wanted to introduce the performance style of bleeding on stage, famously attributed to Noko from Shinsei Kamattechan.
The style is called “ryuketsu raibu“, or a bloodloss concert.
noko with his signature neon pink guitar
Since it is Halloween this week, let’s take a look at the artists who didn’t shy away from using injury as part of their performance.
****This post is only to document some of the unique performance styles throughout history. If you are struggling with mental health, please use the resources available to you. It is NOT safe to imitate these styles!!!
The punk prog jazz group Midori is fronted by icon Mariko Goko.
Their performances are always intense. Midori is fully in touch with their animalistic side, noted for climbing on speakers during the concert and even stripping naked on stage.
Mariko started bleeding one time after she repeatedly banged the mic on her head.
You can see her bloodloss live show here.
GING NANG BOYZ (punk)
Ging Nang Boyz are known for their high energy performance style and for having zero spatial awareness. They are one of Japan’s most beloved punk bands thanks to their crazy, unrestrained energy.
Vocalist Mineta throws his body around the stage without looking both ways. At their Meet & Greet event in Los Angeles earlier this year, Mineta showed us some of his scars and injuries he got on stage throughout the years.
guitarist chin, also covered in blood
Their photo collection book of these intense moments is called “Pure Blood”.
You can get a sense of why Mineta bleeds so much from their performances.
the guitar he smashed at his LA show
He doesn’t hurt himself on purpose, he just has way too much energy that ends up in frequent accidents – from chipping his teeth on his microphone to (unintentionally) smashing his beautiful Rickenbacker guitar on stage.
Here is a performance with his first band GOING STEADY where you can see the kind of crazy energy Mineta has (and still has after 20+ years).
SHINSEI KAMATTECHAN (shoegaze)
Noko from Shinsei Kamattechan is the first person who pops up when searching for “bloodloss live”. SKC is a rock/shoegaze band who gained traction from livestreaming on NND, basically an early 2000s Japanese Twitch.
Noko streamed the band practices and all sorts of other shenanigans. It would often end in fights or some kind of crazy sh*t.
In this video, he insults his bassist’s singing at karaoke, and a fight breaks out around the 4:00 mark. He ends up bleeding from it.
They are one of Attack on Titan creator Isayama’s favorite bands, and ended up doing both an OP and ED for AoT per request of Isayama.
Noko has been very open about his mental health struggles. He often reassures fans that his mental health is much better nowadays, but in the past, he was known for forcing himself to bleed on stage.
((warning, the next photo is gruesome and depicts self harm))
He allegedly used a box cutter on stage.
Noko is very candid when talking about his early struggles with bullying at school.
Recently, when he livestreams, Noko gives advice to people who were struggling with the same issues he was going through in the past.
Here’s a blood live from Noko. This one wasn’t on purpose – the self harm lives are too grotesque for YT.
Thankfully, he is doing much better nowadays. He is even good friends with kawaii queen Kyary Pamyu Pamyu.
Actually, they hang out a lot. Their friendship really cute!
Another surprising friend of Noko is Japan’s most subscribed Youtuber and toy reviewer, Hikakin.
promoting an SKC album together
Even though Noko had a dark start, I respect how he persevered and was able to make good friends along the way.
I hope you enjoyed learning about some of the crazier performance styles from Japanese artists! This post isn’t to glorify injury, but to document some of the styles used by Japan’s iconic bands.
Shinsei Kamattechan was my first concert alone on my 17th birthday, so they have a special place in my heart. Even though I loved watching their concert DVDs, I was afraid of being in the crowd.
I wish I was a little older at the time so I could appreciate how Noko put his whole soul into his performance.
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