Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on June 2010

Courtesy of Avex Entertainment

Living in Tokyo, you become attuned to the differences between gyaru and ganguro gyaru, or haafu and nyu haafu. But overseas, such distinctions tend to get lost in translation.

When I catch up with Aural Vampire in Aoyama, the Tokyo duo’s better-looking half, singer Exo-Chika, is just back from a goth fashion show at an anime festival in the States. “The theme was J gothic, and I went there with Laforet brand Atelier Pierrot,” she explains. “It was a blast—surprisingly, that sort of fashion show doesn’t really happen here.”

But wait a second: aren’t the anime and goth scenes entirely separate? “In Japan, yes,” she answers, “but over there they view them as part of the whole Japanese pop culture package.”

Exo-Chika met producer Raveman in high school a decade ago, and founded Aural Vampire on a shared love of gore and horror B-movies. The duo went viral worldwide thanks to the phenomenal growth of MySpace, hitting a sweet spot at the confluence of the twin booms of social networking and “Japanese cool.” The pair now boasts some 50,000 “friends” on their page.

In person, Exo-Chika comes off as a kind of sweet, Elvira-style vampire, while Raveman—who wears his mask throughout the interview—is your archetypal faceless music otaku. “I thought he was kind of weird, but when we had the chance to actually speak I learned that he was a producer,” recalls Exo-Chika about their first meeting. “I asked him to make a song for me, and that’s how we formed. At first Raveman didn’t wear a costume, but it seemed too conventional, so I told him to wear a mask. He said, ‘Sure, why not?’”

The pair toured overseas for the first time in 2007, playing Europe and gracing the cover of German goth magazine Astan. They’ve since done dates for anime festivals in the US and Mexico, on top of touring Australia and Europe with fetish party Tokyo Decadance.

With Aural Vampire’s long-awaited major debut, Zoltank, record company Avex is clearly hoping to kick-start a worldwide phenomenon. The album is built on twin strains of electro and J-pop, and reflects the duo’s schlocky, campy approach to the goth/horror esthetic.

“We’re not as violent as we seem,” Raveman explains. “We’re not really a heavy band and our lyrics are often pretty pop.” Despite song titles like “Border of the Dead,” he notes that the content is mostly tame: “Economical Animal,” for instance, is apparently a fight song for Japanese salarymen.

“I’m into cute, sexy vampires,” Exo-Chika says, baring a fang or two. “Rather than typical goth vampires, I like contemporary vampires that you might find in jeans. Just because you’re a vampire doesn’t mean you have to wear goth clothes and play goth music—the possibilities are infinite.”

That said, she’s not averse to the occasional bucket of blood, and admits to a fondness for fresh kill. “I like raw meat, and pig brains—it’s delicious!” she enthuses. “We like to try all different kinds of meat when we go overseas: kangaroo in Australia, baby goat in Mexico…whatever we can.”

Aural Vampire
Darkwave electronic duo with Urban Garde and others. June 12, 7pm, ¥2,500 (adv)/¥3,000 (door). Club Asia, Shibuya. Tel: 03-5458-2551.