Solo project by Yoshiki Hayashi that has spanned over 20 years of work. Violet UK has produced music for, among others, the movies Catacombs ("Blue Butterfly,"), Repo! The Genetic Opera ("VUK-R"), Goemon ("Rosa"), a Japanese news station ("Blue Sky Heaven"), as well as a series of previous songs that were performed in a 2002 symphonic concert (one of which, "Unnamed Song," was Covered Up by X Japan vocalist Toshi in his 2010 farewell solo live). Technically (though it can also be considered under Yoshiki's solo classical project), the 2014 song Hero for Saint Seiya: Legend of Sanctuary also is a Violet UK song due to the project's sole remaining vocalist (Katie Fitzgerald) being the vocalist of record for it.
Provides Examples of:
- Bowdlerise : "Blind Dance", which for its commercial version/radio edit was not only cut for time and style (the original runs 18 minutes long and is Gothic Metal) but also for orgasmic moans, references to BDSM, and a Cluster F-Bomb.
- Bound and Gagged: Not necessarily gagged, but the protagonist having the sex in "Blind Dance" is blindfolded and bound.
- Break-Up Song: "Amethyst" is a Break-Up Song/Grief Song (undesired breakup due to death and longing for the dead partner to return).
- But Not Too Foreign: Played straight and defied at the same time. Violet UK has had only one Japanese vocalist (two if you count Toshi's covering two songs), and it seems a prerequisite for vocalists to be female, thin, modelesque, European, and preferably blonde (though Nicole Scherzinger was an exception for European and blonde). Therefore the trope is played straight for Hollywood, but defied for Japan.
- Cluster F-Bomb: One can be found in the full version of "Blind Dance" (the 17 minute plus version). "Fucking, fucking, fucking..."
- Cool Car:
- In the "Confusion" PV, Yoshiki is driving a black sports car with the marque obscured but it's likely a Porsche or Lamborghini.
- One also appears in the allegedly fanmade PV for "Sex and Religion" - part of the composite footage the editor used was from a TV documentary on Yoshiki featuring him driving a white Lamborghini.
- Combat Stilettos: In the "Confusion" PV, Yoshiki's bodyguards are all models. Wearing high heels.
- Cover Version: Toshi has covered "Unnamed Song/7th", and "I'll Be Your Love".
- Dominatrix: Heavily implied in some of the fashion, and again "Blind Dance" could be with one of these... or a lover.
- Improbably Female Cast: In regard to Visual Kei at least - aside from Yoshiki himself, Toshi covering a couple of songs, and Sugizo guest starring on guitar once, Violet UK is mostly female members at least in stage performance.
- Love Hurts: "Amethyst". The entire song is a grieving lover for his beloved...
- Precision F-Strike: "It's still fucking my mind!" in "Sex and Religion".
- Performance Video: Only one actual one exists - "Confusion/White Poem II", and it's more of a video full of film clips than performance. There is a video for "Sex and Religion" that is allegedly fanmade but has some very high production value and has archival footage from Yoshiki's collection that hadn't widely circulated the internet outside it - leading to some
speculation that the video was either made by Yoshiki himself/his in-house video staff and given to a staffer posing as a fan to post/the account posting it was his Sock Puppet, or that the fan was a high-level kankeisha who was either given the footage or the video.
- Self-Harm: The lyrics of "Hero" reference Self-Harm, suicidal feelings, and the struggle to overcome both.
- Talking Down the Suicidal: "I'll Be Your Love" could be either this or a lesser version, the singer trying to convince the listener there is hope in life...
