Dir en Grey

Dir en grey (ディル・アン・グレイ ,Diru An Gurei?) is a Japanese band formed in 1997 and currently signed to Firewall Div., a sub-division of Free-Will. As of 2008, they have recorded seven full-length records and while the group's lineup has remained consistent since its inception, numerous stylistic changes have made its music's genre difficult to determine (though it is generally considered to be a form of rock music). Originally associated with Japan's visual kei movement, the band has opted for less flamboyant attire in recent years.[1][2]

Dir en grey has toured through Asia, Europe and North America;[3][4] Billboard commenting on the group's international fanbase, that the band "has transcended the language barrier in the United States through its music" and "gained its audience without singing in English"

The Gazette

The Gazette (ガゼット ,Gazetto?, typeset as the GazettE) is a Japanese [1] band formed in early 2002, currently signed to PS Company, King Records and CLJ Records.

In March 2002, Ruki, Uruha, and Reita (all former band mates), and Aoi and Yune (also former band mates) formed a band under the name Gazette.[2] Originally signed to Matina, they released their first single, "Wakaremichi", and a video release in April. By September they had released two more singles and another video, headlining a show for the first time in October.

In early 2003, Yune decided to leave the band, and he was replaced by Kai. Shortly after, they signed with the PS Company label, and in May released their first EP, Cockayne Soup. They started their first tour, with the band Hanamuke, and along with the tour, the bands collaborated on two songs. A second tour followed with the band Vidoll, and the bands were featured together on the November issue of Cure, a magazine focusing on Visual Kei bands.[3]

In early December they played a co-headlining show with Deadman. On December 28 they performed at Fool's Mate magazine's Beauti-fool's Fest which was later released on DVD.

On January 16, 2004 they recorded a solo performance at the Shibuya-AX, which was released on DVD as Tokyo saihan ~Judgement Day~.[2] On March 30, 2004 they released their Madara mini-album, which reached #2 on the Oricon Indie Charts. Madara was followed in May by a companion DVD, which included six music videos and an in-the-studio documentary. The same month, Gazette was featured in Shoxx magazine's Expect Rush III, a catalogue of independent Visual Kei artists.[4] A second live DVD, Heisei Banka, was released in August.[2] During September and October they toured with fellow PS Company bands Kra and BIS. Their debut album, Disorder, was released in October, and made it to the top 5 of the indies Oricon Daily Charts.

The band spent the remainder of 2004 and 2005 touring extensively, releasing Gama (another mini album) in August.

In 2005 the band released their first major label single, Cassis, in December.[5]

Starting 2006 with a name change—from Japanese characters to a romanized script—they released Nil, their second full-length album, on February 8, 2006,[2] and embarked on another Japanese tour, ending at the venue Nippon Budokan.[6] That July, The Gazette performed at the Beethovenhalle in Bonn, Germany, their first show outside of Asia. The concerts were arranged in conjunction with the AnimagiC anime and manga convention.[7]

Three more singles were released followed by another studio album, Stacked Rubbish on July 4, 2007. It reached #2 on the Oricon charts within a day from the release. The album debut was followed by a promotional tour from July through September. In October, The Gazette started their first European tour stopping England, Finland, France, and Germany.

A single called "Guren" was released on February 13, 2008, which landed a #1 spot on the Oricon Charts, and it was announced that a new DVD would be released in August, and a new single Leech in Autumn 2008 [8], which also landed a #1 spot on the Oricon daily charts.[9]

The Gazette accomplished a one man tour through all of October called "From the Distorted City", referencing to the song "Distorted Daytime" in their single "Leech". It portrays Tokyo as a Distorted City, in terms of the society and political crisis sweeping over Japan in current days. "From the Distorted City" illustrates 'A Message from the Distorted City of Tokyo'.

On November 15, 2008, the GazettE hosted their first Secret Live in Shinjuku Station. Originally, around 250 people were to be anticipated, but instead, over 7000 came to the live, the most in history. Due to the amount of people on the streets, the police were forced to shut it down after two songs. [9][10] On 3rd January 2009, the GazettE performed alongside their fellow bands signed to the PS company label to celebrate the record labels 10th anniversary where they announce that on March 25, 2009, they will release a new single called "Distress and Coma". In addition to their new single the band have announced that they will be releasing a new album "DIM" on July 15th.

Along with "DIM"'s release, the band will be having another Japan-wide summer tour starting July 2009, the tour final to be on September 5th at Saitama Super Arena.


Members

* Ruki – vocals
* Uruha – guitar
* Aoi – guitar
* Reita – bass guitar
* Kai – drums

Former members

* Yune – drums

Kaya (Japanese musician)

Kaya (迦夜 ?) is a Japanese musician, who was a vocalist of the now defunct electro/darkwave duo Schwarz Stein (2001-2004) and also Meties and Isola under the alias of Hime. Originally on his own label, Kaya recently signed to a Japanese record label next muxic inc., and the label name was changed to next media communications inc. Aside from his vocal talents[who?], Kaya is also known for his androgynous appearance, elegant dress and collaborations with Hora (ex-Schwarz Stein) & Kalm (ex-Velvet Eden).

Schwarz Stein

Schwarz Stein was a Japanese electronic music band formed by Hora and Kaya in 2001 (as "Rudolf Steiner") and disbanded in 2004.

Schwarz Stein was a darkwave/electronic-based project, creating dark songs during their three years of activity.

During its three years of activity, the group consisted of Kaya on vocals (ex-ISOLA) and Hora (ex-Velvet Eden) as keyboardist and programmer. The two originally worked together under the alias Rudolf Steiner until their signing to ex-Malice Mizer guitarist Mana's record label Midi:Nette. Upon their 're-formation', Mana discarded the name Rudolf Steiner and christened the duo "Schwarz Stein" (pseudo-German for "Black Stone").

Prior to their name change, two demo tapes (Queen of Decadence and Perfect Garden) had been released. A re-worked version of Perfect Garden was later created as their Midi:Nette debut single. Schwarz Stein went on to release their first full album New Vogue Children in June 2003, the single Current in November of the same year, and then their final album Artificial Hallucination in February 2004. They opened for Moi dix Mois on several occasions, played at various events, and also made a number solo appearances as well.

Following their last performance on March 29, 2004, Schwarz Stein officially disbanded due to creative differences between its two members. The band was briefly reunited for the "Dis Inferno III: Last Year Party" event on December 15, 2004, hosted by their former label Midi:Nette.

A collaboration CD "Another Cell" was released in April 2006, limited to 1000 copies and only available for order through Kaya's official site. This limited edition CD features re-mixed/re-worked versions of Rudolf Steiner's "kuro ageha" as well as several songs from Hora's first CD "INNER UNIVERSE", making up three of the eight total tracks.

Versailles (Japanesse band)

Versailles (known as Versailles -Philharmonic Quintet- in the United States) is a Japanese metal band formed in 2007. It is composed of several notable figures in the visual kei scene. Versailles' key characteristics are their renaissance-esque costumes, dueling guitar sounds and heavy but melodic arrangements.

2007: Formation

In March 2007, Versailles was formed by Kamijo (ex-Lareine), Hizaki (ex-Sulfuric Acid), and Jasmine You (ex-Jyakura). Later, Teru (ex-Aikaryu) and Yuki (ex-Sugar Trip), who were recommended by the Rock May Kan venue in Tokyo joined the band.

Kamijo and Hizaki created the concept of Versailles in the autumn of 2006 and spent six months gathering members to express it. Their band concept is “the absolute youshikibi (beauty of form) sound and extremes of aestheticism”. In March 2007 the details of the band were announced. They released promotional material through the Internet, set up an English language page on MySpace, and had several interviews with foreign press.

Versailles made their first appearance with a showcase on June 23, followed by their first performance on June 24. On these dates they also distributed their first single and DVD single, The Revenant Choir.

The band signed a contract with the German CLJ Records label and released its first album, Lyrical Sympathy on October 31, both in Japan and Europe.[1] Their song "The Love From A Dead Orchestra" also appears on a compilation album released by Sony BMG in Germany on November 9, called Tokyo Rock City.

[edit] 2008: Noble

In 2008, Versailles made their first appearances in Europe and United States. In March and April, the band performed cooperatively with Matenrou Opera across Europe.[2] Versailles was later invited to perform by Tainted Reality later performed shows on May 30 at Project A-Kon in Dallas, Texas and on June 3 at the Knitting Factory in Los Angeles, California as their American debut.[3] Teru stated in the band's official blog that the concert at Project A-Kon pulled in more than 3,000 people and the Knitting Factory show sold out completely.[4][5]

On July 9, 2008, Versailles digitally released their first full album, Noble, exclusively on international iTunes Music Stores. This was followed by its general Japanese CD release on July 16 and its international CD release on July 30.

Following the release of Noble, Versailles' Japanese record label announced on August 19, 2008 that they received notice of a musician in the United States already using the name "Versailles".[6] The Japanese band was compelled to create a new promotional name in order to proceed with their plans to tour in the United States again, so they called upon their fans to send in ideas.[6] On September 14, 2008 the band announced on their website that their new name for the U.S. was to be "Versailles -Philharmonic Quintet-", but that they planned to continue using their original name in Japan and elsewhere outside of the America.[7] "Prince" is the title of their first single released under the new name and it was available as a free digital download.

[edit] 2009: Going Major

Kamijo announced at the C.C.Lemon Hall oneman that Versailles will be going major in June 2009, both in Japan and internationally on Warner Japan. They will simulatenously be releasing their first major single, 'Ascendead Master' on June 24th.

Versailles' have announced their last indies' tour in Japan, with live dates from March till April. It has been entitled 「The Fragment Collectors」.

Juka (musician)

Juka (Japanese. ジュカ, rumored to be named 藤本大樹, en. Fujimoto Hiroki; born October 4, probably 1981 in Yamaguchi, Japan) is a Japanese musician who came first into the scene when being recruited by famous Visual Kei artist Mana for his solo project Moi dix Mois.

Moi dix Mois

When Mana discovered Juka in 2002, nothing in particular was known about him. Like his band colleague Kazuno he was a newcomer to the Japanese music scene. While Juka was in Moi dix Mois, they produced three singles, two albums and two live DVDs as well as countless live concerts with the band, even in Germany and France. Juka left Moi dix Mois right after the Invite to Immorality Tour Final concert on April 30, 2005. The official reason given for his departure was musical differences. As a result of lacking a vocalist, Mana's fellow band members Kazuno and Tohru also decided to leave the band soon after. From there, Moi dix Mois had to be formed completely anew.

[edit] HIZAKI grace project

At the end of 2006, the Japanese guitarist HIZAKI announced that he would release a new album named Dignity of Crest in the beginning of 2007 with his solo project, HIZAKI grace project, which included Juka as their vocalist. The participation of Juka caused all copies to be sold out within two months (Source: CDJapan.co.jp). A live DVD named 紋章 (en. monshou) was released on May 5, 2007. It contains the complete live footage of HIZAKI grace project's Japan tour final concert on February 17. Furthermore, HIZAKI released a second album called Ruined Kingdom on September 19 which contained some tracks of the live again as well as three new songs featuring Juka in his last recordings for HIZAKI grace project. He officially left the band after the concert at Omotesandou FAB on October 5, 2007. During the 日本耽美革命 (en. nihon tanbi kakumei) tour in November 2007, Juka performed as support vocalist along with KAMIJO and Kaya.

[edit] ノード・オブ・スケルツォ (Node of Scherzo)

In March 2007, the ノード・オブ・スケルツォ (en. Node of Scherzo) event took place. Juka takes the role of vocalist alongside Kamijo and Kaya while HIZAKI and Jasmine You support the three on guitar and bass. According to KAMIJO, the show is supposed to be a theatrical show combined with music and illumination effects. While Juka and Jasmine You represent the dark side, KAMIJO and HIZAKI form their opposite as the light side. Between them stands Kaya personifying beauty. A certain focus is cast on the tragic love story of Juka and Jasmine You. When the three vocalists performed a new specifically created song at the end of the show, the song found so much approval of the audience, that they decided after a second Node of Scherzo show in May 2007 to record this song on a CD. It was finally released on October 31, 2007. The buyers of all Halloween releases by the labels トロイメライ (ger. Träumerei, en. reverie) and Sherow Artist Society, which are Carmilla (by Kaya), Saint Croix (by Juka), Lyrical Sympathy (by Versailles) and for sure the Node of Scherzo single were given the possibility to obtain a special live clip DVD by sending all the coupons to be found on the obi slip wrapped around the CD case on a special slip of paper together with 5 80 Yen stamps to the label by December 12, 2007. The DVD contained a 5 minutes live clip accompanied with the Node of Scherzo song. Further performances of the song could be seen during the national tour 日本耽美革命 (translation see above).

[edit] Solo career

In the middle of February 2007 Juka announced the start of his solo career while continuing the activities with HIZAKI. He also announced the upcoming release of his first maxi single Aravesque on March 28, 2007 which is produced by the vocalist of the Visual Kei band Lareine KAMIJO as well as HIZAKI and Juka himself. The three tracks provide a large style selection. While the first song Aravesque makes the listener remember of Mana's sinister gothic sounds, the second track S is definitely leading into the direction of metal music. The third track aimless has much in common with a French song called Chanson and doesn't share any kind of style with one of the first two tracks. Furthermore, all tracks are on the disc as instrumental tracks too. Another release called Luxurious in the shape of a mini album was announced for June 2007. However, the official homepage does not contain any live dates as of now. Juka released his second single "Saint Croix" on October 31, 2007. Juka announced he will be "pausing" all of his musical activities at the end of 2007 due to circumstances of personal matter; all future plans are on hold/cancelled.

[edit] Seventh Sense

Seventh Sense was going to be a new band for Juka to sing for, tentatively featuring Kazuno, the first bassist of Moi dix Mois. However, due to Juka withdrawing himself from the music scene, this band is to be canceled and the new Omnibus that Seventh Sense would have been featured on, will now feature Juka singing 水面華 (en. suimenka) instead. Juka will release a best album on February 6, 2008 called Seventh Sense.

Kazuno (musician)

Kazuno is a Visual kei and Japanese rock artist

Kazuno became popular after being recruited by the popular visual kei artist ,Mana (musician) ,to be the bassist for the band, Moi dix Mois in 2002. Kazuno was new to the visual kei/Japanese rock music scene and this was one of his first bands. Kazuno along with drummer Tohru left Moi dix Mois soon after the lead vocalist,Juka, quit in 2005.On January 12,2006, Kazuno played a solo session with ex.X JAPAN bassist, Heath.The support band was called Lynx. Kazuno's former bandmember, Tohru played drums for this session. Kazuno was a live guest for ex.Schwarz Stein Vocalist,Kaya for one concert. The latest activity of Kazuno was with ex.Moi dix Mois vocalist, Juka. Kazuno and Juka created a band called Seventh sense but, this band was cancelled after Juka announced that he would put a halt on all musical activity.

Moi dix Mois

Moi dix Mois is a Japanese musical project founded by Malice Mizer's front, Mana. As part of the visual kei movement it is marked by Mana's selection of guest performers rather than a typical band structure, and exhibits a combination of classical elements of gothic metal.

Apart from playing guitar, Mana composes all of Moi dix Mois' music and lyrics, arranges, produces, and designs the stage costumes and acts as overall artistic director. In contrast to Mana's previous bands, Moi dix Mois is explicitly billed as Mana's solo project; while the project members have input during the performance and recording of the music, Mana essentially determines the band's artistic direction on his own. All of Moi dix Mois' music is released via Mana's own independent record label, Midi:Nette.

Since the debut release of the single "Dialogue Symphonie", Moi dix Mois has released four singles, three full albums, and one mini-album.

Eve of Destiny

Eve of Destiny is a Japanese industrial rock band founded in 1999 by Haruhiko Ash (formerly of punk rock / hard rock band The Zolge). For a long time, Eve of Destiny was a solo project of Ash, with not much real activity, but this changed in 2002, after guitarist Közi of Malice Mizer fame joined and they started to tour outside Japan on a regular basis. The group have performed in Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, The Philippines, Slovakia, The Netherlands, Japan, France, Austria, Australia, Sweden, and Poland.

Malice Mizer History

Tetsu era; The Indie era of Malice Mizer (1992–1994)

Mana and Közi formed Malice Mizer in 1992 with Tetsu on vocals, both Mana and Közi on guitars/synthesizers, Yu~ki on bass and Gaz on drums. From the outset, the band established their trademark "twin guitar"' sound, whereby two guitars play different melodies creating polyphony. Malice Mizer's sound during the Tetsu era was a mixture of rock, early 1980s goth, and strong classical influences. Their first official release was the song "Speed of Desperate" on the 1993 compilation Brain Trash. Before this, they had released a demo tape called Sans Logique which contained no vocals. Shortly after the release of Brain Trash, Gaz left the band to join Kneuklid Romance, while Kneuklid Romance's drummer Kami in turn joined Malice Mizer. In 1994, the band released their first album, Memoire, on Mana's newly founded independent record label Midi:Nette, and shortly after re-released it with an additional bonus track, "Baroque" under the title Memoire DX. Only days later, singer Tetsu left the band. While the exact reasons are unknown, Tetsu went on to take a different direction in his work and some say it was because he disliked the flamboyant image of the band. The band's continued use of his lyrics in songs they continued to perform with later vocalists suggest an amicable split.


Gackt era; Voyage and Merveilles (1995–1999)

In 1995, after a year of inactivity, Malice Mizer recruited Gackt as their new vocalist. With a new concept created by Mana, the band's music became more Progressive rock, incorporating even stronger classical and electronic elements. Visually, the band abandoned their 1980s goth look for colourful historical costumes always with a gothic feel. In 1996, Malice Mizer released their second album, Voyage ~Sans Retour~. The band became increasingly popular and in 1997 signed with Columbia Records, where they released a number of successful singles, a short film (Bel Air ~Kuuhaku no Shunkan no Naka De~ de L'image), and, in 1998, their third album, Merveilles. The band even had their own radio show around this time and played a two day live at the Nippon Budokan which involved a large building as a stage prop and amazing theatrics; each member performing a skit with another member on their own. It was a massive success and was released on Video as Merveilles l'espace. In January 1999, at the height of Malice Mizer's success, Gackt suddenly left the band, and after just four months he released his first solo album. There are many rumors circulating as to why he left, but none of them have yet been confirmed. The most likely of these rumors however, is that Gackt had wanted to write the music for the band along with the lyrics, and Mana asked him to leave the group. Malice Mizer left Columbia shortly after and returned to Midi:Nette.

A few months after Gackt's departure, drummer Kami died of a subarachnoid hemorrhage on June 21, 1999, leaving behind a handful of songs, which the band eventually released as part of the EP/video boxset Shinwa, which consisted of 2 songs composed by Kami and short track 'Saikai' which was written by the band. Kami was never replaced; from that point on, Malice Mizer would only use support drummers (namely Shue, who is not shown in the band's later and final music videos, nor credited) and Kami would be credited as "eternal blood relative" on all their future releases. [2] Because of Kami's untimely death and other factors, the Band decided to shift their image and music.


Klaha era; Bara no Seidō (2000–2001)

In the second half of 1999 and the beginning of 2000, Malice Mizer — still without an official vocalist — released a number of singles and began to work on a new album. Eventually, they recruited Klaha (real name Masaki Haruna), vocalist of darkwave band Pride of Mind. By then the band had abandoned the lighter pop music sound of the Gackt era for a dramatic mixture of classical music, gothic/goth and heavy metal music, and adopted an elaborate funeral Goth look. In the summer of 2000, they released what would be their last album, Bara no Seidou, followed by a very spectacular and theatrical live show, featuring pyrotechnics, a choir of veiled nuns and a scaled-down cathedral as stage prop. In 2001, Malice Mizer starred in a feature length vampire movie (Bara no Konrei ~Mayonaka ni Kawashita Yakusoku~), and released three more singles: "Gardenia", "Beast of Blood", and "Garnet ~Kindan no Sono E~"- "Gardenia" and "Garnet" being of a considerably lighter tone than their previous album, signifying the start of a new era for the band. Unfortunately, those few singles were all the world would see of the yet again reborn Malice Mizer, as the band members decided to go their own separate ways in 2001, leaving disband messages on their official website, Miroir, which can still be viewed today. The split was spoken of as a "hiatus", however, so as not to exclude the possibility of a future reformation.

Malice Mizer

Malice Mizer (マリス・ミゼル; Marisu Mizeru) is a visual kei rock band from Japan. They were active from January 1992 to December 2001. Formed by Mana and Közi, the band's name stands for "malice and misery", extracted from "nothing but a being of malice and misery" — their reply to the question "what is human?". Their earlier music and themes were characterized by their strong French and classical influences, later moving away from deliberate French romanticism and incorporating Gothic-Victorian aspects after several tragedies befell the band. Despite the stated archetypes, Malice Mizer is best recognized as a thoroughly original entity.

Malice Mizer is as famous for their music as for their live shows, featuring lavish historical costumes and stage sets, short silent theatre pieces preluding various songs, whimsical dance routines, and even a particularly notable instance of the vocalist descending to Earth (the stage) as a fallen angel, only to ascend again at the end of the concert. Throughout their history, the band has gone through several different lineups and three drastic image changes.

On December 11, 2001, it was announced that Malice Mizer would go on an indefinite hiatus.

However, as Mana recently wrote on his homepage, three of the four members (Mana, Közi and Yu~ki) have regained frequent contact with each other from the middle of 2008, and on December 27, seven years after the hiatus started, Mana and Közi finally met again on stage along with members from Moi dix Mois to perform in front of the fans with a session concert. They were overwhelmly greeted in joy by the fans.

Visual Kei bands

1

* 12012

A

* Aion (Japanese band)
* Alice Nine
* Aliene Ma'riage
* An Cafe
* Anti Feminism
* Ayabie

B

* BIS (band)
* Baiser
* Baroque (band)
* Blam Honey
* Blood (band)
* Buck-Tick
* By-Sexual

C

* Cali Gari
* Cascade (band)
* Charlotte (band)
* Color (band)

D

* D (band)
* D'erlanger
* D'espairsRay
* Deathgaze
* Devil Kitty
* Die in Cries
* Dio - Distraught Overlord
* Dir en grey
* Duel Jewel
* Dué le Quartz

E

* Eight (band)
* El Dorado (band)
* Eve of Destiny
* Exist Trace


F

* Fairy Fore
* Fanatic Crisis

G

* GPKism
* The Gazette (band)
* Genkaku Allergy
* Ghost (2004 band)
* Girugamesh
* Guniw Tools

H

* Hide (musician)

I

* Inugami Circus-dan

J

* Jealkb

K

* Kagerou (band)
* Kagrra
* Karma Shenjing
* Kaya (Japanese musician)
* Kra (band)
* Kuroyume

L

* L'luvia
* Laputa (band)
* Lareine
* Lucifer Luscious Violenoue
* Luis-Mary
* Luna Sea
* Lynch (band)

M

* Malice Mizer
* Matenrou Opera
* Megamasso
* Merry (band)
* Mix Speakers, Inc
* Miyavi
* Moi dix Mois
* Mucc


N

* Nheira
* Nightmare (band)

O

* Onmyo-Za
* Oresama

P

* Panic Channel
* Penicillin (band)
* Phantasmagoria (band)
* The Piass
* Pierrot (band)
* Plastic Tree
* Psycho le Cému

R

* Raphael (group)
* Rentrer en Soi
* Rice (Japanese band)

S

* Sadie (band)
* Schwarz Stein
* Shazna
* Sid (band)
* Silver Ash
* Skin (Japanese band)
* Sug

T

* The Candy Spooky Theater
* The Dead Pop Stars
* Tinc (band)

U

* Unsraw

V

* Versailles (Japanese band)
* Vidoll
* Vistlip

X

* X Japan

Z

* Zi:Kill

Visual Kei

Visual kei (ヴィジュアル系 ,vijuaru kei^?, lit. "visual style") refers to a movement among Japanese musicians, that is characterized by the use of eccentric, sometimes flamboyant looks. This usually involves striking make-up, unusual hair styles and elaborate costumes, often, but not always, coupled with androgynous aesthetics. Some sources state that Visual Kei refers to a music genre, or to a sub-genre of J-rock (a term referring to Japanese rock in general), with its own particular sound, related to glam-rock, punk and metal. However other sources state that Visual Kei's unique clothing and make-up, fashions, and participation in the related sub-culture, is equally as important as the sound of the music itself in the use of the term.