October 10th

First Annual Pride/Virgo Bass Off

Stephan Steele

This Friday Club VoTeQ saw some unexpected action, as I was called into for impromptu competition held between bassists from both Pride and Virgo.

What apparently started off as private contest between Pride’s Xanxus from Junkyard Carnival and Virgo’s Ryouta Kise on twitter based on the latter’s twitter handle (@prefectbass) soon turned into competition between the two rival companies.

It was a surprising move considering that Lesedi Santiago and Edward Blanche had an altercation at the Vista Music Industry Award Gala, perhaps this was an attempt to show everything was business as usual.

The contestants were bassists Xanxus (Junkyard Carnival, 24) Ryouta Kise (Surviving Friday, 17) Luce (Flowers over Bones, 33) Weasel (Defying Atmosphere, 21) Tsubomi Kido (System Crash, 16) and sole banjoist Shotaro Hidari (The Old Dirt Road, 24). The venue was Club VoTeQ.

After all the contestants had played, the judges, including the manager of Club VoTeQ, Carlos Rodriguez, veteran bassists Donna Katzroy representing Virgo Entertainment, and Usagi Flowers of Pride Records and myself, made their decision.

All the contestants performed well, but to us, it was clear that Luce was the winner. She’s been given the nickname ‘Holy Mother of Bass’ and it’s clear the title couldn’t be more deserving. It may have started as joke referring to her past of almost becoming a nun, but this contest proved it means something else. That her gift is truly one from G-d.

“I wanted to cry, it was so beautiful,” Katzroy said. “Still room for improvement, but there’s always room for improvement.”

Second place was Pride’s Bad Boy Xanxus. “He played something from his old band,” Flowers said. “I would have liked to hear something newer from him, but it is what it is. He played good, and certainly beat out Kise.”  

Third Place was given to Kido. “She’s still very young,” Rodriguez commented on her, “And has a lot of talent, but her lack of experience was what cost her placing higher. I’m looking forward to her future career. Hopefully one away from System Crash.”

Fourth Place was awarded to Weasel. “I’m not sure what happened,” Katzroy confessed. “I know he’s better than the performance he gave today. He seemed to second guess himself on stage, and ended up not playing his best because of it.”

And coming in last place was the one who started it all. Ryouta Kise performed a piece he wrote on his own called ‘Run of the Angels.’ Kise only recently came onto the music scene whereas the others have been reported to have practiced their craft much longer, and it shows. He shows potential, but he still has a lot to learn. For the time being he should stick to writing lyrics and keep practicing.

“This was obviously a very humbling experience for him,” Flowers said. “We’ve seen it happen before. Some young gun gets into his head he’s G-d’s gift to music and needs to be brought down a peg. Well, that’s what happened today. If he’s smart, he’ll learn from this. If not, well, he can always go back to modeling.” Then with a knowing smirk she added. “From Twitter he’s going to give Xanxus a prize for winning. I wonder what exactly that prize is.”

Everyone agreed that Shotaro Hidari did very well on his Banjo, but everyone was confused about why he had participated in the Bass Off. Everyone but me, of course. He brought a Bass Banjo to the competition, whereas everyone else played on Bass Guitars. Comparing the two is really apples and oranges. Needless to say that had this been a bass banjo off, I’m fairly certain Hidari would have won.

It looks like this will be an annual thing between the rival companies, perhaps next year we can see that younger talent rise.