RHEDORIC Meet & Greet Event Report (3/11/16)

Friday, March 11th – A dedicated group of twenty plus people are waiting outside Xenon in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles for a full-member Meet & Greet/Talk Show with the Japanese rock band RHEDORIC to start at 7PM.  Anticipation peaked and then dipped once the fans realize that only two people will be allowed into the store at a time. Upon being beckoned inside by the store manager Justin, fans are presented with a wide range of merchandise to choose from: Newest Mini Album “Garyou Tensei” that released on 12/23/15, full album “Jiggy”, EP CD “Katasumi no Sekai”, T-Shirts, towels, stickers, checkies (polaroid photos) signed by a band member, posters, pins, glowing wristbands and glow sticks. Once a purchase had been made, the audience was directed to sit to the left of the room to make way for the band’s arrival later. To keep everyone engaged for the fated entrance, there was a TV in the front of the room playing the band’s music videos, along with the U.S. message to the fans that can all be found on RHEDORIC’s YouTube page.

Finally the clock struck 8 PM and a few minutes later Justin introduced the band who proceeded to walk in a single-file line into the store. Tomo (leader of RHEDORIC and guitarist) was the first enter and take the seat on the far right in the front. He was sporting a black zip-up jacket that was lined with sparkles that complimented his distressed jeans. Naruka (newest member and drummer), followed close behind wearing an off-white baseball cap backwards and sunglasses along with a white Diesel T-Shirt and a grey zip up jacket. Yuji (singer) was in the middle and he wore a very clean-cut look: black baseball cap, blue mid-length long-sleeved collared shirt with a grey shirt underneath, and solid blue jeans. Shigure (bassist) was second to last and his short permed black hair and classic black framed glasses helped frame his face in an altogether attractive way. Last but not least, Yusuke (guitarist) and his casual look involved a black knitted beanie with glasses, white khaki pants, and a black T-shirt/black jacket combo.
 
With all five band members seated, Justin kicked off the night with questions from the band to the audience. He volunteered Naruka to go first who asked, “What kind of men/women do you like?" A female fan replied with “Japanese guys” to which Naruka gave an enthusiastic “Very good!” in English. The next question came from Shigure who was curious to hear which RHEDORIC goods the fans were happy about and what would the fans like to see in the future. This was a fantastic question since it set up the audience for a rapid string of replies. Suggestions for bags (which Shigure is going to be making in their next YouTube video challenge), hats/beanies, puzzles, photo books, keychain to patches were thrown out.
 
Guitarist Yusuke then asked the audience, “Where do you guys find out about Japanese bands?” which would give RHEDORIC a great chance to up their social media/online presence. The fans responded with Tumblr, YouTube, Visual Kei Heaven, Nippon Heaven, JPop Asia, Twitter, and Instagram (follow Tomo @tomo.rhedoric and Yusuke @suga_yusuke). Upon finding out that people followed him on Instagram, Tomo replied with “I love you” to those fans. Yuji changed the topic away from promoting the band and asked the crowd, “What Japanese words do you like?”. Replies ranged from “Roppongi” to “Daisuki” (“I really like you”). In a joking manner, Tomo told the audience that he had a suggestion for a good Japanese phrase, “Yuji ga dai kirai” which meant “I really hate Yuji” which rallied up laughs from the audience.
 
The next question from Naruka highlighted an interesting difference between the U.S. and Japan - middle names. Naruka posed the following to the crowd, “My last name is Sugiyama but I don’t have a middle name because it’s not something that Japanese people have. So can you please give me a middle name?”. With little hesitation, the suggestions started coming from the crowd - Marie, Matthew, Brett, Trent but Naruka replied that since he likes visual kei he would like a more visual kei sounding name. On that note, he decided to go with “Sullivan” since it was the edgy name of the deceased Avenged Sevenfold member. Shigure was next and he broke the stereotypical image of Japanese boys who don’t like sweets by asking, “Do you have any recommendations on dessert places to visit in Los Angeles because I went to Cheesecake Factory and I loved it!”. This one was easy for the fans and they got so excited that they began to chime over each other with suggestions like Marie Calendar’s, Porto’s, See’s Candy, and Yum Yum Donuts. There were so many proposed dessert places that Justin passed out post-it notes so the fans could write their recommendations down for Shigure.
 
The conversation took a more serious turn with Yusuke’s next question - “What kind of band do you want us to become or to be?”. One brave male fan pipped up with the iconic word, “legends” which Justin wittingly said would make the fans history. The fans all gave touching and emotional replies, “to be themselves”, “to express themselves in ways people wouldn’t imagine, “to have fun and love what you do”, “to have passion and pride”, “to not be like other bands” and to stick together as a band since they’re family. In true leader fashion, Tomo strongly replied with “Leave it up to me!” after each answer from the crowd to which the fans giggled. Emphasizing the strong feeling of loyalty that each fan just expressed, Yuji asked the audience the last question of the night - how they would describe the band or band members in one word? The crowd responded with uplifting words such as, fantastic, unique, “the best”, inspiring, passionate, and enthusiastic.

---

Now it was time for the fans to ask the questions. The first one was well-posed to kick off this portion of the event because it was an inquiry into why the band decided to name themselves RHEDORIC. Yusuke took on the challenge of answering this by explaining that the name is based off of the word “rhetoric” which means to say something clearly. This is something that RHEDORIC wants to do with their music even if it’s messy. That is why they switched the “t” to a “d” to represent the dirtiness that may arise from saying whatever it is they want to say. Bringing the conversation to the concerts that were to take place the following two days, a male fan asked what kind of reaction RHEDORIC wanted to see from their American fans. Yuji promptly responded with “Passion!” and Yusuke followed up with saying that he wants a natural reaction from the fans since they won’t want to provoke a certain response. The last question of the night was deeply insightful - if each band member were to take a mentee, what would their advice be? Naruka bravely gave the first answer; to keep people laughing and happy in any way that you can (through music, jokes, etc.). Shigure replied that he would tell his mentee to evolve his/her experiences and ideas. Yusuke preached a message of “Don’t do the same thing as others” and Tomo said to express your own identity. Yuji was last with a firm theme of not listening to what other people tell you to be and to always keep to your own beliefs.
 
With all the questions having been asked and answered, each member of RHEDORIC went around and expressed thanks to the fans for bringing them to the U.S., the other bands that they are performing with and for the opportunity to be here. The overall message from the band was that the fans should be themselves and express their true feelings. The most touching part of the ending was Yuji’s speech about appreciation and how the band has so much appreciation for their fans and in turn he wants the fans to keep appreciation for the other people around them as well.
 
The meet and greet took place shortly after the Q&A session. RHEDORIC first began with signing the large RHEDORIC posters purchased before the event. Once the autographs were finished, the band animatedly began to take selfies and checkies with the fans. There was no end to the cute poses - from hugging, peace signs, to gangster poses, the fans were pleased with the quality time they were able to spend with the RHEDORIC member of their choosing. But every good thing has to come to an end and once the pictures were done, Justin ushered the fans saying that the band wanted to sleep and get ready for Whiskey A Go Go the next day.
 
Little did the fans know that the next two days of back-to-back concerts (3/12 at Whiskey A Go Go and 3/13 at Amplyfi) would shine in their memories like a bright star.

---