No event that ends with "--con" is complete without highly specialized musical guests. (Just check out, for example, this long list of wizard-centric bands that just rocked the huge Harry Potter convention in Chicago earlier this year. Anime Supercon, South Florida's biggest anime/comic/manga/etc. convention, which takes place Oct. 31 through Nov. 2, is no different. In keeping with the event's theme, most of the acts just announced this year are rather theatrical. The biggest booking coup here is an appearance by Tadahisa Yoshida, adored by J-rock/visual kei fans for his electro-flavored, scary-sexy jams and androgynous, fetishy style.
The one local act on the bill, Kill Miss Pretty, is no less, uh, pretty or made-up. For longtime scene followers, or people who care about this sort of thing, the driving force behind this act is local musician Scott Putesky, who, once upon a time, was Daisy Berkowitz in Marilyn Manson.
Follow the jump for more information about the musical guests, from the latest official Supercon press release.
(These artist biographies come from the Anime Supercon official web site.)
Tadahisa Yoshida: Japanese Visual Kei and JRock superstar Tadahisa Yoshida returns to Supercon for a second appearance. A singer/songwriter, Tada writes and performs all his own music and has been taking the west coast scene by storm.
akai SKY: akai SKY stands as the premier American JRock band in Northern California. The San Francisco-based band fuses Japanese pop lyrics and heavy rock sounds to create a unique mesh of music. The band tours all across California, as well as throughout the country, including Nevada and Texas. With a plethora of shows under their belts, akai SKY strives to share their distinctive sound with the international music scene. Anime Supercon marks the first ever Florida convention appearance of akai SKY.
DJ Heavygrinder: One of the hottest new DJ's to emerge from the West Coast's underground dance scene, DJ Heavygrinder made her way to LA after growing up in Japan and loves to spin hard house and drum and bass.
DM Ashura: Ashura is an electronic artist whose work can be found in the music games Dance Dance Revolution Universe 3, Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 4, Flash Flash Revolution and O2Jam. DM stands for Digital Maestro, while "Ashura" is Japanese for "fighting demon". He has made a number of remixes, and won first place in Tournamix 4. He has also written a great deal of original tracks and is well known in the music game community for his work. Anime Supercon marks the first ever Florida convention appearance of DM Ashura.
Kill Miss Pretty: Spooky, punky, electro-popsters, Kill Miss Pretty spin their web of sound any way they choose, blending Rock, electronics, synthesis, groove and FUN into an over-the-top feast for the senses. Comprised of married super-duo Alicia "the Flexible" (Industrial Nation cover girl) on vocals, Russ (Cleopatra Records' Numb Ones) on Guitar/Synth/Programming, and all around wonder-chum Martin on bass, KMP has taken off on a fantastical journey that could lead them just about anywhere. Fans of the Faint and Jucifer will revel in KMP delectable grooves, while affecionados of fugazi-tinged razor guitar will find them irresistable.
Chickenbox!: Musical guests Chickenbox! return to A.S.C. to bring their unique style of punk rock to the fans and to eat their food as well.
