History
[edit]
1991–1996: Early
career
In February 1991,
bassist
tetsuya (then known as TETSU) recruited
vocalist
hyde (then
known as HIDE)
[4], guitarist HIRO
and drummer PERO. Together, they formed a band and named themselves
L'Arc-en-Ciel. A year later, after gaining popularity in their hometown of
Osaka, HIRO left the band on June 12, 1992.
tetsuya then convinced his friend
ken to quit his university studies and join the
band as guitarist. However, PERO then left the group on December 30, 1992. The
following year,
sakura joined as L'Arc-en-Ciel's new
drummer.
[1]
On April 1, 1993, the
band released their debut album
Dune on the independent, but
well-known, record label
Danger Crue. The album was a success and
ranked number one on the
Oricon indies
charts. This caught the attention of some major labels. In 1994, L'Arc-en-Ciel
signed a contract with
Sony Music Entertainment Japan's
Ki/oon division. They released their major debut
album
Tierra that same
year. Their third album
Heavenly followed in 1995.
In 1996, their fourth album,
True, became their first to
sell over a million copies.
[5] However, the success
would be short-lived.
[edit]
1997: sakura's
departure
In February 1997,
drummer sakura was arrested for heroin possession.
[6] He officially quit
the band on October 4, 1997. This proved to be the lowest point in the band's
history, when news of sakura's arrest became public, the group's CDs were
removed from the shelves in record shops.
[7] Their song "
The Fourth
Avenue Cafe", was replaced as the fourth ending theme of the
Rurouni Kenshin anime after only four
episodes. In addition, the release of the "The Fourth Avenue Cafe" single was
postponed.
[8] It was eventually
released in 2006.
Over the next few
months, the group continued to be featured in magazines as a trio. The members
formed "The Zombies", which was advertised as a "copy band", and sang their
songs.
[9] They also
covered
Marilyn Manson's "Irresponsible Hate
Anthem".
[9] The return
from the break was marked by a concert entitled Reincarnation 97 Live in Tokyo
Dome. During the concert, they also revealed their new drummer
yukihiro,
former drummer of the groups
Zi:Kill
and
Die in Cries. This
concert was also the group's first performance at the
Tokyo Dome and had an attendance of 56,000 people,
with the tickets sold out in a record-breaking four minutes.
[10]
In 1997, "
Niji", the group's first single
after sakura's departure, was released with yukihiro being listed as a support
member. Not long after its release, yukihiro was signed on as the official
drummer for L'Arc-en-Ciel.
[edit]
1998–2000:
Blockbuster success
L'Arc-en-Ciel's single
"
Winter Fall", which was
released in 1998, became the group's first number one single on the Oricon
charts.
[11][12] They subsequently
released their album
Heart on February 25, 1998.
On July 1, 1999, the group released two albums,
Ark and
Ray, simultaneously. These two
albums became the first Japanese albums to be released simultaneously in other
Asian countries outside of Japan. Both albums topped the Oricon music charts,
with
Ark occupying number one and
Ray at number two, with each
selling over two million copies. This release marked the commercial high point
of the group's career.
[13]
Their next album
Real, released on August 30,
2000, was their last studio album for some time. The song "
Stay Away", was
featured in the arcade game
DrumMania 4th Mix.
[edit]
2001–2003: Hiatus and solo projects
The compilation album
Clicked
Singles Best 13 was released on March 14, 2001. It includes twelve songs
chosen online by the group's fans.
[14] It also includes
an additional thirteenth song, "Anemone".
[15] Their album
Real was re-released as a
Super Audio CD on July 4, 2001. "
Spirit Dreams Inside (Another
Dream)", L'Arc-en-Ciel's last new single before their hiatus, was released
on September 5, 2001. The English-language version of the title track was
adopted as the
Final Fantasy: The Spirits
Within's ending theme song.
After "Spirit Dreams
Inside (Another Dream)" was released, the band went on a hiatus. During this
period of time, the members began working on solo projects. hyde released two
solo albums (
Roentgen and
666) and
co-starred in the movie
Moon Child. He also played the part
of Adam in the film
Kagen no Tsuki ("Last
Quarter of the Moon"). ken founded
Sons of All Pussys with L'Arc-en-Ciel's
former drummer sakura. tetsuya started his solo career as Tetsu69 and yukihiro
formed
Acid Android.
Three compilation
albums;
The Best of
L'Arc-en-Ciel 1994–1998,
The Best of
L'Arc-en-Ciel 1998–2000 and
The Best of L'Arc-en-Ciel
C/W, were released on March 19, 2003. The album series included all of
their previous singles, with the exception of "Spirit Dreams Inside (Another
Dream)".
[edit]
2004: Comeback
and U.S. concert debut
In June 2003,
L'Arc-en-Ciel performed a series of seven concerts in
Tokyo entitled Shibuya Seven Days. During this event, the
group announced that a new album will be released the following year. "
Ready Steady
Go", the group's first single in more than three years, was released in
February 2004. This song was used as an opening theme song for the popular
anime adaption of
Fullmetal Alchemist.
[16] The single topped
the Oricon weekly singles charts.
[17] Additionally, a
sample of this song was also used in a
Nintendo DS game called
Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan. The group
subsequently released another single, "
Hitomi no Juunin", in early March 2004. This
was followed by the group's album,
Smile, on March 31. Shortly
after, on June 2, the single "
Jiyuu e no Shoutai" was the first to feature
a song by
P'unk-en-Ciel.
On July 31, 2004,
L'Arc-en-Ciel made their North American debut at the anime convention
Otakon. Approximately 12,000 people
attended the concert, which was held at the
1st Mariner Arena.
[18] They were the
first Japanese band to perform at the arena. On May 31, 2005,
Tofu Records, Sony Music
Japan's U.S. label, released a DVD of their 2004 Otakon concert. On June 25,
2007, L'Arc-en-Ciel signed a record deal with
HMV America.
[citation
needed]
[edit]
2005–2006: Asian tour and solo projects
In 2005, the band
released various singles, including "
Killing Me", "
New World" and "
Jojoushi". These were later complied
onto the album
Awake, which was released on
June 22, 2005. It features twelve tracks, including the "Lost Heaven", the
ending theme song of
Fullmetal
Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa. Another of the band's
single, "
Link", was released
on July 20, 2005. This song was also featured in the movie as the opening theme
song, and was included on their next album, entitled
Kiss.
In August 2005, the
band went on a nationwide tour for their album
Awake. It was followed by
another tour titled Asia Live 2005, which had the band performing in
Seoul and
Shanghai and ended at the
Tokyo Dome.
Following these two
tours, L'Arc-en-Ciel's members turned their attention back to their own solo
projects. tetsuya began recording with, veteran metal vocalist of
Dead End, Morrie for
his solo project Creature Creature. yukihiro regrouped his band Acid Android and
released the single "Let's Dance" on April 5, 2006. Acid Android joined
Mucc to perform two concerts in Shanghai in
April 2006.
[19]
hyde composed "
Glamorous Sky", the theme
song of the film adaption of the
manga Nana. The song was sung by pop singer
Mika Nakashima, the first
time hyde composed music for another vocalist. In addition, his own solo album,
Faith, was
released on April 26, 2006. hyde also went on a five month tour throughout Japan
to publicize his album. After signing with
Tofu Records, he held four small concerts in the
United States in July 2006, making his US debut. This was the first of
L'Arc-en-Ciel's solo projects to be held outside of Japan.
On August 23, 2006, ken
released a solo single entitled "Speed".
[20]
[edit]
2006–2008: 15th Anniversary and Europe concert
debut
On November 25 and 26,
2006, L'Arc-en-Ciel played two shows at the Tokyo Dome to celebrate their 15th
anniversary. The tickets for these concerts were sold out in two minutes,
breaking the previous record, which was also set by them.
[21] A poll was created
on their official website, during the weeks before the concert, which allowed
fans to pick the songs they would like to hear at the show.
[22] The concert was
later broadcast on the
WOWOW channel on
December 23, 2006, and was subsequently broadcast on Korean
MTV on February 8, 2007.
L'Arc-en-Ciel recorded
the song "Shine", which was to be used as the opening song for the NHK anime
Moribito: Guardian of the
Spirit. In the spring of 2007, the group kicked-off their Mata Heart ni
hi wo Tsukero 2007 tour in Japan. They also released the single "
Seventh
Heaven" on May 30, 2007, which topped the
Oricon charts.
[23] Their song "
My Heart
Draws a Dream", which was used in a
Subaru commercial, was also released as a single on
August 29, 2007. This single also topped the Oricon charts.
[24]
L'Arc-en-Ciel
subsequently recorded the song "
Daybreak's Bell", which was used as the first
opening theme for the anime
Mobile Suit Gundam 00.
[25] This song was
released as a single on October 10, 2007, later topping the Oricon weekly
charts.
[26] From November 14
to December 25, 2007, they released a limited edition single titled "
Hurry Xmas", along with two new
DVDs, titled
15th
L'Anniversary Live and
Chronicle
3. Their studio album
Kiss was released on November
21, 2007, and debuted at number one on the Oricon charts.
[27]
L'Arc-en-Ciel then
performed the Theater of Kiss tour, which was held from December 22, 2007 to
February 17, 2008. The song "
Drink It Down" was used as the Japanese opening
song for the PS3/Xbox360 game
Devil May Cry 4. It was released as a
single on April 2, 2008, and topped the Oricon weekly charts.
[28] The band went on a
tour, entitled Tour 2008 L'7: Trans Asia via Paris, which covered several major
Asian cities, as well as
Paris,
France.
[29] On this tour, a
live show hiatus until 2011 was announced, although new material would still
continue to be released. Their double A-side single "
Nexus 4/Shine" and the DVD
Tour
2007-2008 Theater of Kiss were released together on August 27, 2008.
[edit]
2009–2010: Live
show hiatus
On May 20, 2009,
L'Arc-en-Ciel released the DVD of their live concert in Paris, titled
Live in
Paris. hyde and
K.A.Z formed the hard
rock group
Vamps and
released their self-titled first album,
Vamps, on June 10, 2009.
On December 1, 2009,
L'Arc-en-Ciel announced the release of a new single named "
Bless" on January 27, 2010. This
was used as the theme song for
NHK's broadcast
of the
2010 Vancouver Olympics. Also, tetsu
announced that he had changed his
stage name to "tetsuya" and released his first
artist book. The book, which ranked number six amongst the Talent Book Charts,
featured early live pictures and a 30,000 character interview with the
bassist.
[30]
On March 10, 2010,
L'Arc-en-Ciel released their fifth "best of" album, entitled
Quadrinity: Member's Best
Selections. It contains 4 CDs with 7 tracks per band member, chosen and
remastered by each of them. The first press edition of this compilation also
came with a DVD that includes a variety quiz show with the band titled
The
L'Arquiz.
[31]
[edit]
2011–present: 20th Anniversary and world tour
On January 1, 2011,
L'Arc-en-Ciel celebrated both their 20th anniversary and the New Year with the
midnight concert L'A Happy New Year! at
Makuhari Messe. On February 16, 2011, they
released the compilation album
Twenity.
[32] This album
consists of three parts:
Twenity 1991-1996,
Twenity 1997-1999, and
Twenity
2000-2010. A box set entitled
Twenity Box was later released on
March 9, 2011. The albums are an all-around "best of" collection of the band,
and it covers everything from the formation of the group, including their hit
singles till to their newest works.
Twenity 1991-1996 covers their work from
their album
Dune until their album
True.
Twenity 1997-1999 covers the releases
from their single "
Niji" to the single "
Love Flies".
Twenity
2000-2010 covers their releases from the double A-side "
Neo
Universe/Finale" up to their commercial-only song from 2010, a cover of "
I Love Rock 'n Roll". The
Twenity
Box released on March 9 contains all three of the albums in one release. It
also comes with a special digest DVD that covers the 20 year history of the
band, a deluxe booklet, and a special
music box that contains either "
Flower", "Anata", "
New World" or "
My Heart
Draws a Dream" at random.
Later, it was announced
that L'Arc-en-Ciel would provide the theme song for
Fullmetal
Alchemist the Movie: The Sacred Star of Milos, entitled "
Good Luck My Way".
This is their fourth contribution to the
Fullmetal Alchemist
franchise.
[33] The song was
released as their first 20th L'Anniversary single on June 29, 2011. To further
celebrate their 20 years together, L'Arc-en-Ciel put on a "20th L'Anniversary
Concert" at
Ajinomoto Stadium in Tokyo on May 28–29,
2011, with each day dedicated to one half of their career. All of the proceeds
from the concerts were donated to the
Great East Japan Earthquake
relief efforts. Additionally, at the end of the concert, it was announced that
there will be a L'Anniversary Japan Tour in 2011, as well as a world tour in
2012.
On October 12, the
second 20th L'Anniversary single was released, entitled "
X X X" (Kiss Kiss Kiss). L'Arc-en-Ciel was
subsequently approached by the producers of the
Wild 7 live-action film to perform the movie's theme
song.
[34] Entitled "
Chase", the song was released as
the group's third L'Anniversary single on December 21, 2011.
L'Arc-en-Ciel then
announced that they will be releasing their twelfth studio album, and gave fans
who bought "Chase" a sneak peek with a live internet broadcast of the band
mastering the album on December 26 on
Ustream.
[35] They
also announced that their alter ego band P'unk-en-Ciel will be releasing their
first album, titled
P'unk is Not Dead, the same day.
[35] The
band's twelfth album,
Butterfly, was released
on February 8, 2012.
[36] It
includes all their singles from the single "Drink it Down" onwards and four new
songs.
The band's 2012 world
tour took them to Hong Kong on March 3, Bangkok on March 7, Shanghai on March
10, Taipei on March 17, New York on March 25, London on April 11, Paris on April
14, Singapore on April 28, Jakarta on May 2, Seoul on May 5, Yokohama on May
12–13, Osaka on May 19–20, Tokyo on May 26–27, and Honolulu on May 31.
[37]
Their show in New York was originally scheduled to be at
The
Theater at Madison Square Garden on March 23, but was later moved to
the main
arena. Making L'Arc-en-Ciel the first Japanese artist to be the lead act at
the legendary venue.
[38] They ended the
tour by returning to the US for two nights in Honolulu, Hawaii on May 31 and
June 1, the latter being for the group's fan club members only.
[39] At the
first day, the mayor of Honolulu
Peter Carlisle made a surprise appearance and
declared May 31 "L’Arc~en~Ciel Day", saying he felt the band "made a great
contribution to cultural activities, and built a bridge of friendship between
Hawaii and Japan".
[40]
[edit]
P'unk-en-Ciel
P'unk-en-Ciel
(stylized as
P'UNK~EN~CIEL) is an
alter ego of L'Arc-en-Ciel. Introduced in 2004, hyde
takes over guitar, ken the drums, yukihiro plays the bass, while tetsuya
performs the vocals. P'unk-en-Ciel's songs have a more punk sound and their
music is usually heavier and faster with a different tone due to tetsuya's
vocals. hyde wears a pirate patch over his left eye in P'unk-en-Ciel
performances. yukihiro is known to wear a gas mask; however, this has only been
seen once at a live concert during their
Smile tour in 2004.
Each member is called in capital letters; T.E.Z P'UNK (formerly TETSU P'UNK),
KEN P'UNK, HYDE P'UNK and YUKI P'UNK. Each member produces one song of their
choice, and they alternate their productions.
P'unk-en-Ciel is the
re-visitation of
D'ark-en-Ciel (stylized as
D'ARK~EN~CIEL), a
special event that took place during concerts in the years when sakura was their
drummer. The only material released from D'ark-en-Ciel is the 18-minute
self-titled B-side found on the (then) unreleased "
The Fourth
Avenue Cafe" single. Each member was called; DARK TETSU, HYDE DARK,
Suck・D'ark・La and Kën D'Ark.
P'unk-en-Ciel songs
have been recorded and used as B-sides on singles since 2004 and their
performances can be found on live DVDs. They also featured television
personality
Sayaka Aoki (called P'UNK
青木) in the song
"Round and Round 2005".
[41] On February 8,
2012 P'unk-en-Ciel released their first album
P'unk is Not Dead,
[35] which
contains all twelve songs they released up to that point.
[edit]
P'unk-en-Ciel songs
Recorded versions released on singles:
- "Milky Way", found on
the "Jiyuu e no
Shoutai" single (Produced by HYDE P'UNK).
- "Round and Round
2005", found on the "Killing
Me" single (Produced by KEN P'UNK).
- "Kasou Heisei 17 Nen",
found on the "New World" single (Produced by
HYDE P'UNK).
- "Heaven's Drive 2005",
found on the "Jojoushi" single
(Produced by YUKI P'UNK).
- "Promised land 2005",
found on the "Link" single
(Produced by TETSU P'UNK).
- "Honey 2007", found on
the "Seventh
Heaven" single (Produced by KEN P'UNK).
- "Feeling Fine 2007",
found on the "My Heart Draws a Dream" single (Produced
by YUKI P'UNK).
- "Natsu no Yuu-utsu
[Sea in Blood 2007]", found on the "Daybreak's Bell" single (Produced by HYDE
P'UNK).
- "I Wish 2007", found
on the "Hurry Xmas" single
(Produced by TETSU P'UNK - it also has a PV).
- "Dune 2008", found on
the "Drink It Down"
single (Produced by KEN P'UNK).
- "Route 666 -2010-",
found on the "Bless" single (Produced by YUKI
P'UNK).
- "Metropolis -2011-",
found on the "Good
Luck My Way" single (Produced by T.E.Z P'UNK).
Commercially released live performances:
- Smile Tour 2004 ("Milky Way")
- Asia Live 2005 ("Round and Round 2005")
- Are You Ready? 2007 Mata Heart ni hi wo Tsukero! ("Honey 2007" and
"Feeling Fine 2007")
- Tour 2007-2008 Theater of Kiss ("Natsu no Yuutsu [Sea in Blood 2007]"
and "I Wish 2007")
- Tour 2008 L'7: Trans Asia via Paris ("Feeling Fine 2007" and "Milky
Way 2004")
- Five Live Archives 2 (Are You Ready? 2007 Mata Heart ni hi wo
Tsukero!) ("Feeling Fine 2007" and "Honey 2007")
[edit]
Members
[edit]
L'Arc-en-Ciel
- Former members
- HIRO – guitars (1991–1992)
- PERO – drums (1991–1992)
- sakura – drums,
percussion (1993–1997)
[edit]
P'unk-en-Ciel
[edit]
Discography
- Studio albums
[edit]
See also
[edit]
References
