The success of Kaya, an openly bisexual, fabulously flamboyant cross-dresser, was a wake-up call for Japan’s notoriously conservative music industry. Born Tatsuya Kasei on July 17, 1983 in Tokushima, he started out in music in 1999 under the name Hime (Princess) in the short-lived visual kei bands Meties and Isola, but his career really started to take off when he met Hora, keyboardist of the band Velvet Eden. In 2001, they formed the gothic electro-industrial duo Rudolf Steiner, named after the 19th century Austrian mystic. They attracted the attention of famous producer Mana — former guitarist of the massively successful Malice Mizer — who signed them to his own label, changing their name to Schwarz Stein (pseudo-German for Black Stone). At the same time, Hime changed his stage name to Kaya, after the name of the legendary bird karyoubinka. Kaya’s clear, pure, yet powerful tenor was especially suited to Hora’s dark electronic music, and the duo’s two albums, New Vogue Children and Artificial Hallucination, acquired cult status both in Japan and around the world, especially in Europe. In 2004, they split over musical differences, disappeared from the scene for two years, then reunited briefly in the project Another Cell before launching solo careers.

Panic Priest is the darkwave-centric project of Chicago-based “dark crooner” Jack Armondo, who channels themes of death, sex, and doomed romance into haunting anthems for our turbulent times. By blending atmospheric synths, soaring guitars, dancefloor-driven beats, and commanding baritone vocals, Panic Priest creates emotionally charged and infectious midnight melodies that stand at the forefront of the modern darkscene.

Known for his electrifying one-man live performances, Panic Priest fuses hard rock energy with the pulse of hook-laden, danceable dark pop. Since his acclaimed self-titled debut in 2018, Armondo has toured and shared stages with Light Asylum, Vision Video, ACTORS, and Twin Tribes, and performed at Cold Waves, Absolution, Terminus, Sanctum and Verboden. His latest album Once Wild arrived in August 2025.