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February 20th, 2007 BALZAC special show in Hamburg!
On April 06th, BALZAC and SHOCKER EUROPE will celebrate the 13months anniversary of SHOCKER EUROPE in MOLOTOW CLUB Hamburg St. Pauli. Every attending fan will get a free BALZAC Greatest Hits 13 Hits from Dark Ism CD with exclusive variant cover, which is only available at this show. On top of things, not only Yuya (Shocker Japan), Armin (Shocker Europe) and Paddy (Fiendforce) will spin the record tables, but AKIO, TAKAYUKI and ATSUSHI from BALZAC will perform a special DJ SET after the concert. February 13th, 2007 BALZAC x BELA B. split-CD! BALZAC will release a split-CD single with BELA B. Bela is one of the most famous and successful German Punk musicians for the last 20 years with several Top 10 and number one chart hits throughout the years. He has been a long time fan and supporter of BALZAC and this should be a great release. Bela's versions will be *very* different from the original versions. The CD-S will be released in Germany on March 6th. February 10th, 2007 BALZAC Live in Germany (and Austria)! BALZAC will return to Germany in late March for a 10 days tour (incl. one show in Vienna, Austria). The band will first play 4 shows with their friends from MUCC and will then continue on their own with solo shows. Here are the dates: MUCC & BALZAC BALZAC Tickets are 31,90 EUR for the MUCC/BALZAC shows and 15,40 EUR for the solo shows. More infos on the tour here: http://www.balzac308.com/eutour2007 December 10th, 2006 "Deep Blue" - European release! G-Force Records will release BALZAC's new album, "Deep Blue: Chaos From Dark-Ism" on February 16th, 2007 on CD. A special vinyl LP will follow a little later. The CD features four bonus tracks: Rain (Single Version) 3:58 The limited vinyl LP features only 13 tracks but will come in a (yet secret) silkscreen cover and on coloured vinyl, limited to 308 copies worldwide. Here's the CD cover:
June 10th, 2006 BALZAC news from the HQ! Finally we have received some great news directly from Hirosuke: + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + We have recently finished up our nationwide tour of Japan promoting our “Deep Blue” record. In August we will be playing another rare performance in Osaka where we will play the songs from “Deep Blue” that we did not play on the regular tour. This will essentially complete the Deep Blue: Chaos from Darkism II Tour This year we will also be playing another show under the name “Zodiac”. We will also be included on the Shinjuku Loft 30th Anniversary CD that is most likely going to be released the end of June. The Mad Capsule Markets, and Thee Michelle Gun Elephant will also be included on this CD. We will be including the song “Wall” on this CD. The USA version of “Deep Blue” will also be released this summer on Misfits Records. Look forward to the release as it will contain some rare material. Another exciting project that we have been working on over the past few months is soon to come into fruition. We will be launching Shocker Europe very soon. Here our European fans will be able to purchase not only Balzac merchandise, but also Shocker, Dementia 13 and Culture clothing, accessories, and other items. When the project launches we will let you know. That's all for now! Hirosuke April 29th, 2006 New "Best Of..." album / new DVD! While BALZAC are getting ready for the next leg of their current japanese tour, they keep releasing some new and exciting material. Here's a report from our good friend Ryan: + + + + + + + + + "I finally got my hands on the upcoming greatest hits CD, "13 Hits from Darkism". Like the title suggests, it is a re-recording of 13 of Balzac's best songs from the past. In a way it is like a continuation of "Beyond the Darkness"/"Out of the Light...", but these songs are mixed a lot rougher and have that really aggressive edge that Balzac is also known for. I also noticed that Hirosuke's english pronounciation has gotten a lot better too, and he is singing a lot clearer on these tracks. There is still no release date scheduled though, so I can't disclose the tracklisting yet. But, if you are a fan of Balzac, there is surely going to be a handful of your favorites on here... but most likely the whole disc will make you wet. ;D The tour goods on the Deep Blue Japan tour just got a little sweeter too. Takayuki had been working on a couple of remxes of "Human Blood" and "Sorrow 9" that will be available in at a few shows on the remaining tour dates. These songs are on the 13 Hits CD (okay, I gave two of them away!), but these special versions are quite different - mostly because they have a lot of heavy distortion. Very cool. There are also new T-Shirts that go with the new remixes (you might have seen them on the Official Site).
There is also a new special DVD (we talked about it in another thread already) available on tour. It's a show from September 2004, and is called the "Yami Live". Everyone was wearing "Yami" bandana's. It is only about 15 minutes - that was how long the set was (it was a special afternoon show). It comes with a bunch o' stuff too.
I think that's it for now... They hit the road again tonight for the next leg of the tour, so there won't be much news until they get back from that." March 24th, 2006 New album - limited edition with toy!
The new album "DEEP BLUE: Chaos from Darkism II" has been released in Japan on March 8th, 2006. The album was released as a regular CD (with six different covers, pictured below)
and also as a limited edition set (limited to 1.000 copies) that include a really cool "Skull-Bat" toy figure. A limited number (308 copies) of the toy figures will come in a RED variant version. Check out the SkullBat figure here:
We will get a few copies for the members of the FIENDISH CLUB EU plus also copies of the regular version which will include mini versions of tzhe Skullman cushion.
Check www.balzac-shop.de for more info. On April 1st, BALZAC will embark on a long tour throughout Japan to promote the "Deep Blue..." album. January 11th, 2006 BALZAC news from the HQ! The new year starts with some great news, directly from Hirosuke: + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + First off, we would like to wish all of our fiendish fans all over the world a Happy New Year and thank them for their continued support! 2006 looks like it is going to be another great year for Balzac fans with lots of new stuff coming your way! We played a special show in Tokyo for the 2005 final on the 29th of December. It was a great show and all had a good time! At that show, we released a limited CD version of 308 copies of our new single. It was immediately sold out! It includes the songs "HorroRock" with "Rain". "HorroRock" will be included on the new album, but "Rain" is only available on this single! We have be recording our new album ever since September of last year and we are just about to put the finishing touches on it now. The title of the new album will be "DEEP BLUE: Chaos from Darkism II". This album is the sequel to the mini-album, "Darkism". It includes many aspects of the Balzac universe into one tight package. It includes very catchy pop tracks, dark and heavy tunes, fast and slow songs, and everything in between! It includes the new single, "HorroRock" as well as a cover of David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust". The Japanese release is on March 8th, 2006. In April, the band will embark on a long nationwide tour of Japan to promote the album. The tour final will be one of the most special Balzac performances to date as we will play at the first club we ever played at, which is an extremely small venue. Only 138 fans will be able to see the show and the set list will be exactly what we played that very first show! During this tour a new DVD including 66 songs will be given away at the shows. It will be split into two volumes since there is just too much to fit on one DVD. The first half will be given away to fans in the east of Japan and the second half to fans in the west. This month we will also be shooting a new promo video for one of the tracks off the upcoming new album. It will be included on an upcoming Balzac release, so it will be something else to watch for in the near future. Our long anticipated overseas web store has also gone online recently. Shocker World Wide (www.evilegend13.com/shockerworldwide) has opened to great success so far and will will be continuing to add new stuff as we go along. You are now able to purchase a wide variety of japanese merchandise, including collectible figure, clothing, accessories and much more! Limited items only available at Shocker World Wide will also make an appearance form time to time, so make sure to check back often! That's all for now! Hirosuke December 24th, 2005 Balzac - new album, old songs, new DVD plus a cover song! The title of BALZAC's upcoming album will be "Deep Blue: Chaos From DarkIsm II". The album will be released in Japan on March 8th 2006 and a little later here in Europe on G-FORCE RECORDS possibly with a tour to follow. Here's the tracklisting: 1. I BRING DEATH AND CONFRONTATION This is Balzac's first full-length album in 2 years and it includes 16 songs. The total running time of the CD is like 60 minutes. This is Balzac's biggest album to date, and it also has the most variety, I would say too, even including a Bowie cover. This time around the album deals with the themes of "darkness" (as usual) and fear. The CD will be available in a special cd case (regular version) or bundled with the new SkullBat figure. After doing a cover of the track "Moon Light" by japanese rock band BUCK TICK for an upcoming BUCK TICK tribute CD, BALZAC have recorded a nice rendition of DAVID BOWIE's glam classic "Ziggy Stardust". We have heard that it's not too shabby. ;) Speaking of re-recordings - three old fan-favourites are about to get the re-recording treatment: "Human Blood", "No Resistance 1968", plus the all-time-fav..."Isolation From No.13" are gonna be re-recorded soon and released this spring! Last but not least here is also gonna be a massive DVD coming up that sounds like it will have more than 60 songs on it! We don't have many details yet, but it will possibly include footage from the special 13th annivarsary event in September (the one where they played a whole bunch of rare stuff... including "Nothing" which had not been played for more than a decade!). It will most likely be available during the upcoming Japan tour. November 13th, 2005 Balzac - new single PLUS action figure! BALZAC have just confirmed the release of their new single "Horrorock". The 12" vinyl single will contain one other (yet untitled) track and (collectors, hold your breath!) will come with a killer 12" BALZAC ACTION FIGURE by MediCom!!! This 12" action figure is similar to the action figure that was available a few years ago and that has turned into one of the most sought after BALZAC collectibles worldwide. According to the band's website the highly detailed figure comes in a faux leather skeleton jumsuit, equipped with a paperbag mask, a large knife and a detailed version of Hirosuke's very own megaphone. Check out the pictures below.
The 12" vinyl single with the action figure is strictly limited to 1.000 copies. Tentative release date is 25th January, 2006 We will get a few copies for the European fan club, but they won't be cheap. ;) November 10th, 2005 Balzac - US dates successful / new album! BALZAC recently returned from playing five successful shows on America's East Coast. Here's a quote from Hirosuke: "On the 27th, Dez, from the Misfits could not make the show so Balzac's Atsushi filled in for him and played the Misfits set. The people who saw that show were very lucky! On that night I also was on stage with the Misfits singing their songs. And, during our set Jerry came on stage and sang with us. It was a really good show, with very rare performances! The Halloween show on Oct. 31st in New York was also another great show. The performance was sold out and there was a lot of Balzac fans in attendance with those who came to see the Misfits. Now that Balzac has returned to Japan we are just about to start recording We will post some photos from the US shows soon. Stay tuned! October 9th, 2005 Balzac tour Germany - THANKS! Thanks to all you fiendish ghouls out there who attended the BALZAC shows in Germany and Austria! The tour was quite successful and everybody had loads of fun. On behalf of the band we'd like to say a big THANK YOU to you, the fans, who made it all possible. We at Balzac Europe also had a good time and it was great to finally meet some of the fans in person at the shows. - Webshop delays After the tour had ended we had a lot of stuff to take care of. That's why we had a delay in sending out all pending orders. We apologize for the delay and we're back to normal now. We are expecting a shipment from Japan soon with the Euro-tour 2004 DVD plus some other goodies. Stay tuned! September 8th, 200 Balzac Fiendish Club Europe jackets now available! The long-awaited BALZAC FIENDISH CLUB Jackets are now available for members of the BALZAC FIENDISH CLUB.
These are high quality "Eisenhower"-style jackets, made by DICKIES with logo embroidery on the front chest, a patch on the sleeve and a BIG "Fiendish Club" backprint. Very cool. Check www.balzac-shop.de August 28th, 2005 Balzac Euro-tour DVD in late September! Fans all over Europe had to wait a long time but now it seems that the wait is finally over: BALZAC will release the DVD documentary of the Euro-tour in 2004. The titel is "Falkensteins Castle Of Freaks"
and the DVD features over 2.5 hours of documentary material filmed during the 6 weeks of touring all across Europe, incl. a full live show filmed in Munich on May 22nd, 2004. Release date for the DVD is September 22nd, 2005. June 11th, 2005 Balzac Europe guestbook down! Due to some Spam attacks in the past, I have temporarily shut down the guestbook. It will be up again in a couple days. In the meanwhile check out the NEW English forum here and talk to us directly. June 10th, 2005 New items in our webshop! The shipment with new items has finally arrived and we can proudly offer the following new stuff: - 13th Anniversary book (black edition, comes with DVD) Also back in stock: Check out www.balzac-shop.de March 19th, 2005 Balzac Europe forum now online! Thanks to the friendly ghouls at Fiend Force, we now have an official Balzac Europe forum online. Check it out here and talk to us directly (in Deutsch or English) March 14th, 2005 New T-Shirt Design We have TWO new designs available at www.balzac-shop.de: - "Old Skull" design Frontprint: the classic "old skull" design, printed in white.
- "Old Skull" Fiendish Club Shirt Limited t-shirt, for Fiendish Club Europe members only. Black "old skull" frontprint on a high-quality black t-shirt (100% cotton) plus the Fiendish Club Europe logo printed in white on the right sleeve. We have only a few so when it's gone, it's gone.
March 14th, 2005 ZODIAC / 13th Anniversary / Balzac Book / Live CD - Zodiac A while back, Balzac played a show for their fans, but it was under two different names. The first was as Zodiac. This is still the same band, but just under a different name. They released a limited cd (in red and brown and limited to 138 copies) featuring two songs, "Zodiac Killer part 1" and "Zodiac Killer part 2." Part 1 is more of a slow, eerie intro that sets up part 2. Part 2 is more akin to a Balzac song, and I personally think it's one of their best, albeit under a different band name. This song just rips from the get-go and has some seriously catchy whoas. According to Ryan at Isolation 13, Hirosuke wanted the song to be sort of like "Skulls" by the Misfits, but neither of us really think it sounds anything like that song. Hopefully we'll have the tablature and lyrics up for this song very soon at Horrorwood. As for the show, it featured a rare sight with Hirosuke playing guitar. And apparently the club was packed really tight and fans were all over the stage, at one time knocking Akio to the ground and one person accidentally cutting Hirosuke on the chin as they crashed from all sides. This show is supposed to be released on DVD and given away on the Dark-Ism tour. It will also feature the promo clip for "Zodiac Killer." At that same show, the second act was the Naniwa Misfits, otherwise known as Balzac again...this time doing a set of Misfits covers. - 13th Anniversary Show and DVD On April 3rd, the final show of the "Dark-Ism 2005" tour will be at the Liquid Room in Tokyo and this will be Balzac's 13 years anniversary show. The show will be recorded with several cameras, and there will be a special booth for the fans to make comments & messages for Balzac. The fan's comments and the live footage will be recorded for the DVD release. Also, the names of the fans at this show will be credited at the end of this DVD. - Balzac Book
There will be limited items sold during the tour as well. The Balzac history book, will be a hardcover bound book and it will feature unpublished photos, artwork from the posters, and even the handwritten lyrics by Hirosuke. It's also supposed to have a lot of stuff from the demo days as well, so it'll be a treat to see a lot of older material. It'll have the cloth hardcover, engraved stamp, and is numbered (ltd to 666 copies). The book will also contain the bonus DVD that has 2 unreleased video clips for the songs from the "Dark-Ism" CD. The songs are "Yami no hikari e" & "Gyakusatsu no mikougawa." - Live CD
Balzac's first live CD called "Live at O-EAST 20040305" is planned to be released. It will have over 60 minutes of the live recording and will come in the special package. This live CD will be only available during the tour and won't be sold at the shops. - Balzac / Misfits Live Show Balzac and the Misfits will be playing at a big live event called "Independence-D" in Tokyo on 3/13. Here's the website address: http://independence-d.com/. January 20th, 2005 D.A.R.K. Video & Audio clips and interview! BARKS (Japan) has a feature of the BALZAC x MUCC event up here with files and interviews: The D.A.R.K video clip: An audio clip of D.A.R.K: Check it out, it's pretty cool! November 25th, 2004 Damned, Photos etc.! - BALZAC TO BE INCLUDED ON DAMNED TRIBUTE CD Balzac will also be recording a new Damned cover song this December that will be a part of a new Damned Tribute CD. Balzac are huge fans of the Damned and one of their dreams came true when they got to tour with the legendary band in 2003. When more info is available, I will post it here. No release date is known at this time..
- "GHOULS NIGHT" LIVE SHOW Check the photos of the two "Ghouls Night" shows that Balzac played on Sept. 22nd and 23rd, 2004 at the Shelter in Tokyo here. The first night the band played in front of 138 die-hard fans, all wearing the paper bag mask. Very cool! October 31st, 2004 FIENDISH CLUB EUROPE now available!
The FIENDISH CLUB EUROPE is finally available now! Many of you have asked about this fan club since day one of BALZAC EUROPE and now you can finally sign up. Joining the FC is absolutely FREE! Everybody living in Europe can sign up now. US residents can still sign up at www.balzac308.com. To sign up, please click this link and follow the FIENDISH CLUB EUROPE logo. The link will lead you to our brand new online store (yep, that's the other good news!). We have worked hard and long to present you the new BALZAC EUROPE ONLINE STORE. The new store is bigger and better than the old store and shopping will be much more convenient. FIENDISH CLUB members have a special area where they can buy special goods that are available to members only. IMPORTANT! To sign up for the fan club, you have to sign up as a customer to the SHOP first! This is due to technical reasons. Signing up is totally free! After you have signed up in our shop you can click the link to sign up in the FIENDISH CLUB. Check out the NEW BALZAC EUROPE ONLINE STORE and let us know what you think about it.
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