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Directory: About / ADAMS / Gallery / Kusomoto Maki's "Dolis" / "Figumania" (2003) / Serial Experiments Lain DVD Scans (Pioneer, 1998) / Litchi Hikari Club / ライチ光クラブ (1985) / Lost Games / "Replicant" Volume 11 (2002) / Saya no Uta - Tenshi no Nichou Kenjuu -Angelos Armas- Official Works (Mediax, 2005) / Sayonara wo Oshiete Official Art & Material Book (3rd edition, 2002) / Scans / Tokyo Grand Guignol / Translations / The Miraculous Notebook (Shigeru Mizuki, 1973) / Tutorials
ADAMS was a visual kei band active from 2011 to 2015. They described themselves as a "NEOSEXUAL" rock duo, incorporating the theme of Ultimate Love across the borders of gender into their lyrics, videos and live performances. The NEOSEXUAL concept encompasses hints of homosexuality, scandal, and électro-pop sounds. ADAMS aimed to change their sound with each album while sticking with their theme of Ultimate Love. Artistically provocative, but always in the most aesthetic way, ADAMS told the story of a new Genesis featuring two Adams (instead of Adam and Eve) committing the First Sin.
ADAMS members (vocalist Adam and guitarist Yokoyama Shota) wanted to create something "original, revolutionary and timeless".
In 2011, they launched with the motto, "Revolutionary. Originally. Timeless.", along with a cryptic mission statement that ADAMS would "be born in 2021". Shota and Adam had roughly mapped out their career path for up to ten years following the band's initial launch.
They expected to achieve sensational success before their 10th (and final) 2021 anniversary. Their fans were affectionately dubbed "EVES". Shota was the band's producer and manager while Adam provided lyrics and vocals. ADAMS operated under the record label HIGHFeeL JAPAN.
While singing ADAMS' debut song, Dizzy Love, at a scheduled tour performance in Warsaw, Poland, Shota suffered a stroke and collapsed on stage. After battling for 36 hours, he sadly passed away on November 30th, 2015. He was 31 years old.
He is survived by his wife, Aurélie Vandecasteele, co-founder and co-owner of HIGHFeeL JAPAN. Adam has since quietly vanished from social media. He now lives out of the public eye with his wife and children.
2011:
Nov.: Debut
2012:
Aug 11th: DIZZY LOVE , 1st single
Nov. 21st: NEO SEXUAL, 1st album, is released
2013:
Feb. 20th: Boku no Sei/Kimi no Sei, 1st download single released
Jul. 19th: Release of Bittersweet, 2nd single
July: The Bittersweet Tour: 5 shows in Europe (Luxembourg, Germany, The Netherlands)
Nov. 18: Release of Seseragi, 3rd single
2014:
March/April : The First Sin EU Tour: 23 shows in Europe and Russia
Mar. 14th (pre-release) : SIXNINE, 2nd album
Sep. 24th: Release of Akisame, 2nd download single
November: Debut in Latin America (2 shows in Mexico City, J'Fest)
2015:
Feb to May: 30 shows in Europe and Russia for the SEXPLOSION TOUR
Feb 20th: Pre-release of SEXPLOSION, 3rd album
Albums
[2012.11.21] NEO SEXUAL
[2014.03.14] SIXNINE
[2015.02.20] SEXPLOSION
[2015.11.18] Original Love
Singles
[2012.08.11] DIZZY LOVE
[2013.07.19] Bittersweet
[2013.11.18] Seseragi (せせらぎ)
[2013.02.20] Kimi no Sei / Boku no Sei (キミノセイ / ボクノセイ)
[2014.09.24] Akisame (秋雨)
The Revolutionary Love Forum was created in January 2013 for fans and information about ADAMS. It has since been closed. Here are a few screenshots of the forum and a few stamps from its inception.
Queerbaiting is defined as a marketing technique for entertainment in which creators hint at, but do not depict, LGBT representation.
Adam and Shota never publicly answered the question of whether they were dating or not. In interviews they agreed that they love each other, with Shota noting that Adam's "angelic singing voice" is his favorite thing about him. He likened himself to a devil and Adam as an angel. Adam described himself as being "awakened" by Shota. They referred to themselves as non-human beings that have transcended gender, and that they'd become human at the time of their 2021 anniversary. Obviously these ideas are just part of their gimmick, but most chuuni VKei interviews tend to sound like this so I wouldn't take it too seriously.
Given that Shota was married to a woman and the duo never publicly confirmed experiencing IRL same-sex attraction outside of ADAMS, would ADAMS count as queerbait?
TL;DR: Yes.
But does it matter? No, not to me at least. ADAMS produced tasteful music and entertainment that resonated with me as a queer person, whether it was "real" or not. Sure, it's a bummer that Adam and Shota weren't really a mysterious bishie couple, but that doesn't lessen the profound impact their music had on me when I was a confused baby queer looking for people like myself.
I like to think that I'm one of ADAMS' biggest fans. I first read about them in a 2013 interview with Otaku USA.
Sorry for the poor scan quality >__<
ADAMS was the perfect amount of queer and edgy for me to sink my teeth into. I was twelve at the time and had an inclination towards J-Rock and Vocaloid, but I hadn't fallen into VKei just yet. ADAMS was my gateway drug. I had never seen a band so blatantly cite homosexuality and gender deviance as their inspiration before. I followed them ever since and kept up with each release. Because of ADAMS' adult themes, I ended up getting in trouble with my parents after downloading a copy of the SIXNINE album to my iPhone4S... Ah, memories. I'll cherish them, no matter how cringe.
It wasn't until much later that I collected all their physical CDs.
In 2021, I bought a t-shirt, a photo print and all their CDs from HIGHFeeL's online shop. I was thrilled when the package arrived. Aurélie so gratiously threw in a ton of stickers, pins and promo materials. Unfortunately the HIGHFeeL merch shop seems to have disappeared :( I'm so relieved that I was able to snag CDs while they were still available!
Please give ADAMS a listen if you haven't already, especially if you like VKei or you're a fujoshi, or both! I highly recommend their original song, Sweet Dreams (not the Eurythmics cover, though that song is a banger too). I've uploaded their entire discography for free streaming here.
"ADAMS is all about LOVE. An ultimate love, far from the barriers of gender, borders, clichés. A universal message, a humanist band, this is ADAMS."
"By NEO SEXUAL, we wish to create a new gender, something unisex, erasing the borders between men and women, because love is a universal story. Our sound is the same. We do love songs, which are not clearly visual kei, nor J-Pop, nor club music. It's a borderless mix between all of that, like a new music genre." - Shota
"I love my fans always and kisses." - Shota
"LOVE and KISS." - ADAM
