From left to right: Owen, Falcore, Chibi, O.E, Rainbow, and Rhim
"I wore my black and white dress to the birthday massacre, birthday massacre, birthday... I wore my black and white dress..."
Happy Birthday
The Birthday Massacre are a Canadian synthrock/alternative/industrial band who formed in 1999 under the name Imagica and changed their name in 2002. As the band wrote on their official website:
The Birthday Massacre is an audio/visual project that has been in development since 1999. The sights and sounds of the Birthday Massacre branch into the wide range of creative themes and blend together a colorful palette of music genres and contrasting imagery. By combining imagery, sound, fashion, and performance, we aspire to create an experience for our audience that is both unique and multifaceted. Through the use of creative media, we've developed a world inspired by emotion, memories, satire, horror, romance, fantasy, nostalgia, and tragedy; a world we hope to evolve and explore for a long time to come.
And they are awesome.Their current line-up is:
Chibi- vocals
Rainbow- guitar
Michael Falcore- guitar
Nate Manor- bass
Owen (Formerly spelled O-en)- keyboards
Rhim- drums
Former members include:
Dank (1999-2001)
Adm (2002-2004)
Aslan (1999-2007)
O.E. (2000-2010)
Their discography is:
Nothing and Nowhere (2002, rereleased in 2004)
Violet (2004)
Walking With Strangers (2007)
Looking Glass (EP, 2008).
Show and Tell (live album/DVD, 2009)
Pins and Needles (2010)
Imaginary Monsters (EP, 2011)
Hide and Seek (2012)
And their DVDs are:
Blue (2005)
Show and Tell (2009)
The video for Blue now has its own page. Because it's just that epic.
Ascended Meme: The rabbit logo started out as nothing more than a loading screen on the band's website, and was never intended to be anything other than an interesting thing to look at while the site loaded. Fans got other ideas, and started showing up to performances wearing bunny ears; eventually the band decided Sure, Why Not? and incorporated it into their album art.
Breakup Song: "To Die For", "Kill the Lights", "Always", "Secret", "Forever", "Left Behind", "Over".
Canada, Eh?: Mostly averted, although in one interview they do have an argument over how to pronounce "about".
Common Knowledge: There are no videos for "Velvet" and "Make Believe". Some fans believe that there are, but the two videos thought to be "Velvet" and "Make Believe" are old demos of "Blue" and "Violet".
Owen: When I first joined the band, they called me 'Waffles'...
Everyone Went To School Together: Of the band's present line up, all but Falcore attended the same college in London, Ontario. Despite this, Chibi and Rainbow are apparently the only ones who knew each other before this period.
YMMV perhaps, but it seemed more like the girl was cheated on and then took her revenge by locking her (former) lover in a celler, which eventually led to the boy suffocating to death.
Fading into the Next Song: All of Walking With Strangers and Pins and Needles. From the other albums:
Nothing and Nowhere: "Promise Me"-> "Under The Stairs" -> "To Die For".
Violet: "Prologue" -> "Lovers End" -> "Happy Birthday", and then "Violet" -> "Red", and then "The Dream" -> "Black" -> "Holiday" -> "Nevermind".
Fan Disservice: Chibi's severed head at the end of the "Blue" video.
Face Heel Turn: The Doll in the video for "In the Dark" seems like a friendly character, but in the end of the video she returns and kidnaps Chibi.
Fingore: The first couple of lines of "Midnight" go "I can't decide. Which one of us will leave here alive? Your fingers breaking as I place them over mine."
Hair-Raising Hare: The artwork of each album features at least one Franken-bunny.
Hot for Student: The main character, 6, in the video for "Looking Glass" has a crush on the teacher.
If I Can't Have You: Seems like the protagonist of "Queen of Hearts" is like this.
Instrumentals: "Black", "Red", "Prologue", "The Night Loop", "The Spooky Loop", "Before Dark (Intro)", "Nowhere"
Keep Circulating the Tapes: There are certain songs which can only be downloaded off the Internet due to never making it to an album- (or only being on the demos, but those are so rare that getting a demo would be almost impossible...) TBM's cover of the theme to The Neverending Story, "Nothing and Nowhere", "Nighttime", and "Queen of Hearts", for a start.
Mind Screw: the videos for "Looking Glass" and "Blue".
Mood Dissonance: "Blue" whiplashes between light, airy verses with upbeat keyboard accompaniment and a much heavier chorus with dark lyrics sung in something approaching a growl. It's jarring, creepy, and cool.
And "Broken", which has Chibi singing sweetly on the verses and much deeper on the chorus.
"Down" has beautiful melodic verses which distort into a sort of yelling and hard riff before the chorus.
''We put her down in a shallow grave She wears a dress like a body bag, every day And this way she won't have to run away And she can keep her regrets at bay, every day.
Shout Out: In the beginning of "Video Kid", the beeping noises sound identical to the ones made by the grandson playing the video game in the beginning of The Princess Bride.
Thinking hurts and thoughts don't rhyme For those of us who've never tried To find a face behind our lipstick smiles. And as our pretty faces die, Our broken hearts will wonder why The makeup just won't hide the scars of time.
Rainbow: I think Gangle brings peace to Chibi. Chibi: I bet you Gangle brings peace to us all. Rainbow: I don't think we realise it. I think consciously, like I think that Gangle brings peace to you because you're his caretaker. Chibi: Yeah. Rainbow: But it's kind of like having... Chibi: But it's kind of like having a little friend, like a little... Rainbow: Gangle's like a little mini-Buddha. Rhim: He's good to talk to. Rainbow: I don't talk to him. Chibi * talking over the top of them* : A few years ago, we were playing and he came flying out of the crowd, right at me, and I looked into his eyes. Rhim: Arms wide. Chibi: Arms wide.
Torture Always Works: "Midnight" has the line '"The only thing I need is time/to change your mind," I said'. Combined with the line about 'your fingers breaking as I place them over mine'... yeah.
Twist Ending: How many people thought the video for "Blue" would end with a shot of Chibi's severed head lying several feet from her body?
Villain Protagonist: The POV Character of "Happy Birthday", and quite possibly the protagonist of "Midnight" too.
And maybe the protagonist of "Blue".
Yandere: The protagonist of "Blue" gives off major yandere vibes.
Also possibly the protagonist of "Midnight".
You Are Number Six: A literal case in the "Looking Glass" video- the main character's mask bears the number 6, and we have no clue as to her identity, or anyone else's, for that matter (all the students wear identical masks with numbers.)
0 reviews 