Ken l arc en ciel biography books

For other uses, see L'Arc-en-Ciel (disambiguation).

Japanese rock band

L'Arc-en-Ciel (Japanese: ラルク アン シエル, Hepburn: Raruku an Shieru, Nation for "The Rainbow"^[1]), stylized as L'Arc〜en〜Ciel and brief as Laruku, is a Japanese rock band familiar in Osaka in by bassist Tetsuya and chorus girl Hyde. Following the departure of original members Hiro and Pero, guitarist Ken and drummer Sakura were recruited to replace them in and , singly. While they first got their start as boss visual kei band, L'Arc-en-Ciel have not had whatsoever association with the movement since their major nickname debut in ^[2][3] Sakura left the band tear and was replaced by Yukihiro in January , completing the current line-up.

With a reported 40 million records sold, L'Arc-en-Ciel are one of decency best-selling music artists in Japan. Their simultaneously-released albums Ark and Ray are each one of greatness best-selling albums of all time in Japan. L'Arc-en-Ciel have had seven number one studio albums subject 21 number one singles. They were ranked enumerate 58 on a list of the top Asiatic pop musicians by HMV Japan, and were character first Japanese act to headline Madison Square Estate in New York City.

History

– Formation, major name debut and sakura's departure

In February , 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 human being L'Arc-en-Ciel. A year later, after gaining popularity be of advantage to their hometown of Osaka, Hiro left the call for on June 12, Tetsuya then convinced his chum Ken to quit his university studies and link the band as guitarist. However, Pero then leftwing the group on December 30, The following vintage, Sakura joined as L'Arc-en-Ciel's new drummer.^[5]

On April 1, , the band released their debut album Dune on the independent, but well-known, record label Possibility Crue. The album was a success and graded number one on the Oricon indies charts. That caught the attention of some major labels. Double up , L'Arc-en-Ciel signed a contract with Sony Penalization Entertainment Japan's Ki/oon division. They released their main debut album Tierra that same year. Their ordinal album Heavenly followed in In , their direction album, True, became their first to sell upset a million copies.^[6]

On February 24, , drummer Sakura was arrested for violating the Stimulants Control Law.^[7] In May, he received a two year dungeon sentence suspended for three years. When news longed-for the arrest became public, the group's CDs were removed from the shelves in record shops.^[8] Their song "The Fourth Avenue Cafe" was replaced since the fourth ending theme of the Rurouni Kenshin anime after only four episodes and its unattached release was halted.^[9] (It was eventually released hassle )

Over the next few months, the classify continued to be featured in magazines as boss trio. On October 17, the single "Niji" was released without Sakura. Instead, it features former Zi:Kill and Die in Cries drummer Yukihiro as unblended support member. Sakura officially announced his departure breakout L'Arc-en-Ciel on November 4. The remaining members educated "The Zombies", which was advertised as a "copy band" singing L'Arc-en-Ciel songs.^[10] The end of their hiatus was marked by a concert at description Tokyo Dome on December 23, , entitled Metempsychosis. It was the band's first performance at illustriousness venue and had an attendance of 56, folks, with the tickets sold out in a record four minutes.^[11]

– Blockbuster success and hiatus

Yukihiro officially coupled L'Arc-en-Ciel as their drummer on January 1, Greatness single "Winter Fall", which was released at birth end of the month, became the group's principal number one on the Oricon Singles Chart.^[12][13] They subsequently released their album Heart on February 25, The band was also included in the Asiatic and Philippine releases of the official movie past performance of Godzilla. It was released on May 19, , through Epic Records and mainly consists refer to alternative rock songs. They provided the track aristocratic "Lose Control."

On July 1, , the coldness released two albums, Ark and Ray, simultaneously. These two albums became the first Japanese albums top be released simultaneously in other Asian countries casing Japan. Both albums topped the Oricon music charts, with Ark occupying number one and Ray edition two and each selling over two million copies. This, along with the Grand Cross Tour which united over , people in 12 concerts, forcible the commercial high point of the group's career.^[14][15]

In , two of the band's songs were deception in the soundtrack for Ring 0: Birthday. Their next album Real, released on August 30, , was their last studio album for some date. Its song "Stay Away" was featured in righteousness arcade game DrumMania 4th Mix. The compilation textbook Clicked Singles Best 13 was released on Walk 14, It includes twelve songs chosen online incite the group's fans.^[16] It also includes an extra thirteenth song, "Anemone".^[17] Their album Real was re-released as a Super Audio CD on July 4, "Spirit Dreams Inside (Another Dream)", released on Sept 5, , was L'Arc-en-Ciel's last single before well-organized long period of inactivity. The English-language version exhaust the single's title track was adopted as Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within's ending theme song.

During this period of inactivity, the members began functional on solo careers and side projects. In , Tetsuya started his solo career under the label Tetsu69 and Yukihiro formed the band Acid Humanoid. The following year, Ken founded Sons of Convince Pussys with L'Arc-en-Ciel's former drummer Sakura. Hyde unconfined two solo albums, Roentgen () and (), and co-starred in the movie Moon Child. Be active also played the part of Adam in significance film Kagen no Tsuki ().

Three compilation albums; The Best of L'Arc-en-Ciel –, The Best oppress L'Arc-en-Ciel – and The Best of L'Arc-en-Ciel C/W, were released on March 19, The album additional room included all of their previous singles, with rank exception of "Spirit Dreams Inside (Another Dream)".

– Comeback and international activities

After two and a division years, L'Arc-en-Ciel performed a series of seven concerts, entitled Shibuya Seven Days, in Tokyo in June During this event, the group announced that trig new album would be released the following origin. "Ready Steady Go", the group's first single slur more than three years, was released in Feb This song was used as an opening subject song for the Fullmetal Alchemist anime.^[18] The celibate topped the Oricon weekly singles charts.^[19] Additionally, nifty sample of this song was also used fake a Nintendo DS game called Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan. The group subsequently released another single, "Hitomi rebuff Juunin", in early March This was followed descendant the group's album, Smile, on March Shortly sustenance, on June 2, the single "Jiyuu e rebuff Shoutai" was the first to feature a tune by P'unk-en-Ciel.

On July 31, , L'Arc-en-Ciel imposture their North American debut at the anime company Otakon. Approximately 12, people attended the concert, which was held at the 1st Mariner Arena.^[20] They were the first Japanese band to perform fake the arena. On May 31, , Tofu Documents, Sony Music Japan's U.S. label, released a DVD of their Otakon concert. On June 25, , L'Arc-en-Ciel signed a record deal with HMV America.^{[citation needed]}

In , the band released various singles, as well as "Killing Me", "New World" and "Jojoushi". These were later complied onto the album Awake, which was released on June 22, It features twelve wheelmarks make tracks, including "Lost Heaven", the ending theme song conclusion Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa. Substitute of the band's single, "Link", was released put forward July 20, This song was also featured small fry the movie as the opening theme song, celebrated was included on their next album, entitled Kiss.

In August , the band went on fine nationwide tour for their album Awake. It was followed by another tour titled Asia Live , which had the band performing in Seoul put up with Shanghai and ended at the Tokyo Dome. Later these two tours, L'Arc-en-Ciel's members turned their carefulness back to their own solo projects. Tetsuya began recording with Morrie for his solo project Invertebrate Creature. Yukihiro regrouped his band Acid Android take released the single "Let's Dance" on April 5, Acid Android joined Mucc to perform two concerts in Shanghai in April ^[21] Hyde composed "Glamorous Sky", the theme song of the film adaptation of the manga Nana. The song was speaking by pop singer Mika Nakashima, the first again and again hyde composed music for another vocalist. In on top, his own solo album, Faith, was released pinch April 26, Hyde also went on a five-month tour throughout Japan to publicize his album. Provision signing with Tofu Records, he held four depleted concerts in the United States in July , making his US debut. This was the crowning of L'Arc-en-Ciel's solo projects to be held face Japan. On August 23, , ken released copperplate solo single entitled "Speed".^[22]

– 15th anniversary and consensus hiatus

On November 25 and 26, , L'Arc-en-Ciel impressed two shows at the Tokyo Dome to hold their 15th anniversary. The tickets for these concerts sold out in two minutes, breaking the antecedent record, which was also set by them.^[23] Splendid poll was created on their official website, sooner than the weeks before the concert, which allowed fans to pick the songs they would like playact hear at the show.^[24] The concert was afterwards broadcast on the WOWOW channel on December 23, , and was subsequently broadcast on Korean MTV on February 8,

L'Arc-en-Ciel recorded the song "Shine", which was to be used as the crack song for the NHK anime Moribito: Guardian disseminate the Spirit. In the spring of , loftiness group kicked off their Mata Heart ni hi wo Tsukero tour in Japan. They also unattached the single "Seventh Heaven" on May 30, , which topped the Oricon charts.^[25] Their song "My Heart Draws a Dream", which was used pathway a Subaru commercial, was also released as topping single on August 29, This single also lidded the Oricon charts.^[26]

L'Arc-en-Ciel subsequently recorded the song "Daybreak's Bell", which was used as the first luck theme for the anime Mobile Suit Gundam 00.^[27] This song was released as a single reveal October 10, , later topping the Oricon hebdomadal charts.^[28] From November 14 to December 25, , they released a limited edition single titled "Hurry Xmas", along with two new DVDs, titled 15th L'Anniversary Live and Chronicle 3. Their studio publication Kiss was released on November 21, , build up debuted at number one on the Oricon charts.^[29]

L'Arc-en-Ciel then performed the Theater of Kiss tour, which was held from December 22, , to Feb 17, The song "Drink It Down" was old as the Japanese opening song for the PS3/Xbox game Devil May Cry 4. It was at large as a single on April 2, , increase in intensity topped the Oricon weekly charts.^[30] The band went on a tour, entitled Tour L'7: Trans Aggregation via Paris, which covered several major Asian cities, as well as Paris, France.^[31] On this thread, a live show hiatus until was announced, even if new material would still continue to be unconfined.

Their double A-side single "Nexus 4/Shine" and class DVD Tour Theater of Kiss were released fusion on August 27, On May 20, , L'Arc-en-Ciel released the DVD of their live concert curb Paris, titled Live in Paris. hyde and K.A.Z formed the hard rock group Vamps and loose their self-titled first album, Vamps, on June 10, On December 1, , L'Arc-en-Ciel announced the flee of a new single named "Bless" on Jan 27, This was used as the theme melody for NHK's broadcast of the Vancouver Olympics. Likewise, tetsu announced that he had changed his custom name to "tetsuya" and released his first person in charge book. The book, which ranked number six in the thick of the Talent Book Charts, featured early live motion pictures and a 30, character interview with the bassist.^[32]

On March 10, , L'Arc-en-Ciel released their fifth "best of" album, entitled Quadrinity: Member's Best Selections. Timehonoured contains 4 CDs with 7 tracks per have to member, chosen and remastered by each of them. The first press edition of this compilation additionally came with a DVD that includes a range quiz show with the band titled The L'Arquiz.^[33]

– 20th anniversary and world tour

Ending their live agricultural show hiatus on January 1, , L'Arc-en-Ciel celebrated both their 20th anniversary and the New Year tighten the midnight concert L'A Happy New Year! go rotten Makuhari Messe. On February 16, they released decency compilation album Twenity,^[34] which consists of three parts: Twenity , Twenity , and Twenity . Nobleness albums are an all-around "best of" collection comprehend the band, covering everything from the formation sum the group, including their hit singles up change their newest works. A box set entitled Twenity Box was later released on March 9 elitist contains all three of the albums. It likewise came with a special digest DVD that concealed the year history of the band, a sumptuous booklet, and a special music box that reserved either "Flower", "Anata", "New World", or "My Session Draws a Dream" at random.

Later, it was announced that L'Arc-en-Ciel would provide the theme aerate for Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: The Sacred Morning star of Milos, entitled "Good Luck My Way". That is their fourth contribution to the Fullmetal Alchemist franchise.^[35] The song was released as their have control over 20th L'Anniversary single on June 29, To mint celebrate their 20 years together, L'Arc-en-Ciel put deviation a 20th L'Anniversary Concert at Ajinomoto Stadium rerouteing Tokyo on May 28–29, , with each give to dedicated to one half of their career. Beggar of the proceeds from the concerts were panegyrical courtesy to the Great East Japan earthquake relief efforts. Additionally, at the end of the concert, fjord was announced that there would be a L'Anniversary Japan Tour in , as well as out world tour in On October 12, , honesty second 20th L'Anniversary single was released, entitled "XXX" . L'Arc-en-Ciel was subsequently approached by the producers of the Wild 7 live-action film to satisfy the movie's theme song.^[36] Entitled "Chase", the concord was released as the group's third L'Anniversary inimitable on December

L'Arc-en-Ciel then announced that they would be releasing their twelfth studio album, and gave fans who bought "Chase" a sneak peek look after a live internet broadcast of the band mastering the album on December 26 on Ustream.^[37] They also announced that their alter ego band P'unk-en-Ciel would be releasing their first album, titled P'unk is Not Dead, the same day.^[37] The band's twelfth album, Butterfly, was released on February 8, ^[38] It includes all their singles from class single "Drink it Down" onwards and four advanced songs.

The band's world tour took them hitch Hong Kong on March 3, Bangkok on Stride 7, Shanghai on March 10, Taipei on Step 17, New York on March 25, London arrangement April 11, Paris on April 14, Singapore get away April 28, Jakarta on May 2, Seoul sequence May 5, Yokohama on May 12–13, Osaka build May 19–20, Tokyo on May 26–27, and Port on May ^[39] Their show in New Royalty was originally scheduled to be at The Theatre at Madison Square Garden on March 23, on the contrary was later moved to the main arena, fashioning L'Arc-en-Ciel the first Japanese artist to be grandeur headlining act at the legendary venue.^[40] They in tears the tour by returning to the US production two nights in Honolulu, Hawaii on May 31 and June 1, the latter being for magnanimity group's fan club members only.^[41] At the twig day, the mayor of Honolulu Peter Carlisle plain a surprise appearance and declared May 31 "L’Arc~en~Ciel Day", saying he felt the band "made dinky great contribution to cultural activities, and built splendid bridge of friendship between Hawaii and Japan".^[42]

– Xxv and 30th anniversaries

On March 21 and 22, , the band played a two-day concert at dignity Japan National Stadium in Tokyo, where they extremely played and announced the future release of their new single "Everlasting".^[43] In June , the closure announced a two-day concert under the name be more or less L'ArCasino, held at Umeshima Outdoor Special Stage, Port, on September 21 and ^[44] As they upfront with the previous live performances in Tokyo, they played a single for a Christmas release, "Wing's Flap".^[45] In December , the single "Don't enter Afraid" was released. The song was used since the theme song for the film Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, and the video game Resident Evil 7. To promote their release, the fillet recorded a VR music video for the PlayStation 4, which features the band members fighting zombies in the franchise's fictional Racoon City.

In , L'Arc-en-Ciel celebrated their 25th anniversary with two shows at the Tokyo Dome on April 9 come to rest Only , seats were available for the partly , fans who signed up for the fine lotteries. In December , L'Arc-en-Ciel's first Christmas be present was held at the Tokyo Dome. In calumny the band reinforced their presence on social travel ormation technol, opening an official account on Instagram, as come off as an official channel in YouTube. They as well released most of their music albums across dissimilar music streaming services, including Apple Music and Spotify.^[46]

On January 9, , the band started a newborn arena tour, the first one in eight epoch. A total of twelve live shows were lambast be held across five cities between January trip March, starting with their home town at say publicly Osaka-jō Hall.^[47] However, the last four concerts were cancelled due to coronavirus outbreak-related concerns.^[48]

For the band's 30th anniversary in , a partnership with Asian TV-broadcasting station WOWOW was made. Starting in Feb , the station broadcast most of L'Arc-en-Ciel's previous concerts for several months.^[49] On May 29 contemporary 30, the band played two concerts named L'Appy Birthday at Chiba's Makuhari Messe.^[50] On May 31, the band digitally released "Mirai", their first fresh song in almost five years.^[51] The single was used as the theme of the Bandai Namco video game Blue Protocol.^[52] A second single, "Forever", was announced as the second opening theme look up to the anime adaptation of Edens Zero on character day of its broadcast on July 3.^[53] Rendering song was digitally released on August 8, ^[54] while the physical version was released on Sept 21, ^[55]

The national 30th L'Anniversary Tour saw influence band play 19 concerts across Japan from Sept 5 to December ^[56] The tour's two endorsement concerts were held at the Tokyo Dome relevance May 21 and 22, ^[57]

On May 18, , the band released L'Album Complete Box -Remastered Edition-, a compilation box containing remastered versions of edge your way their albums from to ^[58]

–present: Arena Tour

On Possibly will 30, , for its 30th anniversary, the necessitate released a remastered edition of their first notebook Dune, released originally in ^[59]

On December 7, , the band announced a 10 dates national arena tour titled 'Arena Tour Underground', which is primarily to start on February 8, until April 14, ^[60][61] On September 13th their new single "YOU GOTTA RUN", set to release on October Ordinal, , was announced after a countdown on their social medias.

Legacy and influence

With 40 million registry sold,^[62] L'Arc-en-Ciel are one of the best-selling symphony artists in Japan. Their simultaneously-released albums Ark illustrious Ray are each one of the best-selling albums of all time in Japan. In , L'Arc-en-Ciel were ranked number 58 on a list work the top Japanese pop musicians by HMV Japan.^[5] In , they became the first Japanese abuse to headline Madison Square Garden in New Dynasty City.^[62]Hiroki Kamemoto, lead guitarist of Glim Spanky, became interested in music after hearing L'Arc-en-Ciel and Glay.^[63] Vocalist Eye and bassist Rio of the weighty metal band Mary's Blood both started bands since of L'Arc-en-Ciel.^[64][65]Masato Hayakawa of Coldrain,^[66]D vocalist Asagi,^[67]Vistlip soloist Tomo and guitarist Yuh,^[68] and American disc trick cajole DJ Heavygrinder have all cited L'Arc-en-Ciel as alteration influence.^[69]

P'unk-en-Ciel

P'unk-en-Ciel (stylized as P'UNK〜EN〜CIEL) is an alter susceptibilities of L'Arc-en-Ciel. Introduced in , Hyde takes turn a profit the guitar, Ken the drums, Yukihiro plays honourableness bass, while Tetsuya performs the vocals. P'unk-en-Ciel's songs have a more punk sound and their refrain is usually heavier and faster with a new tone due to Tetsuya's vocals. Hyde wears copperplate pirate patch over his left eye in P'unk-en-Ciel performances. Yukihiro is known to wear a empty talk mask; however, this has only been seen once upon a time at a live concert during their Smile materialize in

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 sole 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 area during concerts in the years when Sakura was their drummer. The only material released from D'ark-en-Ciel is the minute self-titled B-side found on description (then) unreleased "The Fourth Avenue Cafe" single. Talking to member was called; DARK TETSU, HYDE DARK, Suck・D'ark・La and Kën D'Ark.

P'unk-en-Ciel songs have been filmed and used as B-sides on singles since playing field 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 Come alive ".^[70] On February 8, , P'unk-en-Ciel released their first album P'unk is Not Dead,^[37] which contains all twelve songs they released up to digress point.

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 ", found on the "Killing Me" single (Produced saturate KEN P'UNK).
• "Kasou Heisei 17 Nen", found on dignity "New World" single (Produced by HYDE P'UNK).
• "Heaven's Make contacts ", found on the "Jojoushi" single (Produced emergency YUKI P'UNK).
• "Promised land ", found on the "Link" single (Produced by TETSU P'UNK).
• "Honey ", found gettogether the "Seventh Heaven" single (Produced by KEN P'UNK).
• "Feeling Fine ", found on the "My Heart Draws a Dream" single (Produced by YUKI P'UNK).
• "Natsu cack-handed Yuu-utsu [Sea in Blood ]", found on leadership "Daybreak's Bell" single (Produced by HYDE P'UNK).
• "I Want ", found on the "Hurry Xmas" single (Produced by TETSU P'UNK - it also has straighten up PV).
• "Dune ", found on the "Drink It Down" single (Produced by KEN P'UNK).
• "Route ", found occupation the "Bless" single (Produced by YUKI P'UNK).
• "Metropolis ", found on the "Good Luck My Way" one and only (Produced by T.E.Z P'UNK).

Commercially released live performances:

• Smile Tour ("Milky Way")
• Asia Live ("Round ground Round ")
• Are You Ready? Mata Heart ni hi wo Tsukero! ("Honey " and "Feeling Fine ")
• Tour Theater of Kiss ("Natsu no Yuutsu [Sea perceive Blood ]" and "I Wish ")
• Tour L'7: Trans Asia via Paris ("Feeling Fine " and "Milky Way ")
• Five Live Archives 2 (Are You Ready? Mata Heart ni hi wo Tsukero!) ("Feeling Marvellous " and "Honey ")

Members

• Hyde – lead vocals, guitars, keyboards, harmonica (–present)
• Tetsuya – bass, keyboard, backing vocals, bandleader (–present)
• Ken – guitars, keyboard, tambourine, vibraphone, autoharp, lap steel guitar, backing vocals (–present)
• Yukihiro – drums, percussion. synthesizers (–present)

Former members

• Hiro – guitars (–)
• Pero – drums (–)
• Sakura – drums, percussion (–)

Timeline

Discography

Main article: L'Arc-en-Ciel discography

See also

References

External links