Dir En Grey
Dir En Grey is a Japanese heavy metal band formed in February 1997 and currently signed to Firewall Div., a sub-division of Free-Will. With a consistent lineup of vocalist Kyo, guitarists Kaoru and Die, bassist Toshiya, and drummer Shinya, they have released eleven full-length albums. Numerous stylistic changes have made the genre of their music difficult to determine, though it is generally considered to be a form of metal. Originally a visual kei band, the members later opted for more subtle attire, but have continued to maintain a dramatic image on stage.
History
1997–1999: Early career
Dir En Grey was preceded by the independent rock band La:Sadie's, which was formed by vocalist Kyo and bassist Kisaki in November 1995. They were joined by guitarists Die and Shio, as well as drummer Shinya and made their live debut on January 14, 1996. Shio seceded after three shows and Kaoru joined them in April 1996. After a very successful independent career and over 80 shows in one year of activity, La:Sadie's disbanded on January 15, 1997. The reasons for the disbandment are unknown, but later statements made by the individual members hint at disagreements between bassist Kisaki and the other members in regards to their status as an independent band. Kisaki said he was asked to leave the band and that he failed to take care of the other members, "I thought doing lots of good live shows would please the members, but I was wrong. By not giving them time to rest and deciding on recording schedules in between, I must have put a lot of stress and burden on them." After parting ways with Kisaki, members Kaoru, Kyo, Die and Shinya recruited bassist Toshiya and regrouped as a new band. After playing one show as a Kuroyume cover-band called "Deathmask" at the live house Nagano J on January 24, they officially formed Dir En Grey on February 2, 1997.The band name is a combination of German "dir", French "en" and English "grey" and was thought to mean "Grey Silver Coin"; the Japanese translation was used as the name of their fanclub's magazine. They wanted to convey a musical image that was neither black nor white, so they picked grey. In an early interview, vocalist Kyo explained that he knew the name before the band was formed. During the WOWOW Special in 2020, Kaoru elaborates that they took the name from another band that was famous around that time. This band was Lareine, who had released a song called "Dir en gray" in 1995. The song starts with the line , with the part written in the Latin alphabet having the same meaning as the Japanese part, namely "to you in grey". In a later interview, Kaoru explained that "at the time we chose the band name, it had some meaning but right now it doesn't express the band anymore, so it has come to not mean anything specific. We chose the band name because it sounded right, and it also reflects an image that probably doesn't exist elsewhere."
They released their first EP, Missa, a few months later and attracted mainstream attention in 1998, by entering the top ten on the Oricon music charts with the still independently produced songs "Jealous" and "-I'll-". Five subsequent singles, arranged and produced by X Japan co-founder Yoshiki, were published during the first half of 1999. The band's first full-length record, Gauze, followed. One of the shows in support for the album would later become the first of several live concerts to be released on VHS and DVD.
2000–2004: From ''Macabre'' to ''Vulgar''
In 2000, vocalist Kyo was hospitalized with hearing trouble and several dates of the tour in support of Dir En Grey's then-upcoming album, Macabre, had to be postponed. Tour 00 >> 01 Macabre eventually took off later the same year and was concluded at Nippon Budokan shortly after the release of the single "Ain't Afraid to Die" in April 2001.In the following year, along with the release of a third full-length album, Kisō, Dir En Grey gave their first performances abroad, touring China, Taiwan, and South Korea. Back in Japan, the last dates of the lengthy Rettou Gekishin Angya tour were already in support for the band's second EP, Six Ugly. In the same year, they released the single "Child Prey", which was featured as the second opening theme of the Baki the Grappler anime series, and also the beginning of their fourth album called Vulgar. In summer 2003, Dir En Grey performed at Akasaka Blitz for five evenings in a single week, with each show themed after a certain album, the last featuring songs from the then yet to be released Vulgar. A DVD set, titled Blitz 5 Days, was later released exclusively for members of the band's official fan club, titled "A Knot". Vulgar was released in September 2003 and tours in support for the record would last well into 2004.
2005–2006: Early non-Asian touring
In 2005, Dir En Grey performed in Europe for the first time. Their concerts in Berlin and Paris sold out without promotion save for newsletters by import record stores and internet-based word of mouth. The band also performed at two major festivals, Rock am Ring and Rock im Park. Becoming more involved with the international music scene, French band Eths opened for them at the Paris concert and Dir En Grey invited American musician Wednesday 13 and his band to play at a show in Japan. Dir En Grey also appeared at the Japanese leg of that year's Taste of Chaos tour.2005 saw the group's first official European releases as well, beginning with Withering to Death. The band's music had previously been available through means of import and Internet file-sharing only for European fans. The album achieved Dir En Grey's first non-Asian chart position, reaching No. 31 in the Finnish album charts. The subsequent single, "Clever Sleazoid", later climbed to No. 15 on the singles charts in the same country. Several Dir En Grey songs were also featured in the soundtrack of the 2005 film Death Trance.
In early 2006 touring expanded to the United States. The band performed in Austin, Texas, at the South by Southwest festival, New York City at the Avalon Club and Los Angeles, California, at the Wiltern Theatre, followed by the North American release of Withering to Death. Again, all shows sold out within days. After more concerts and festival appearances in Germany during the summer, singer Kyo was again hospitalized due to inflamed vocal cords. While two concert dates in Japan had to be postponed, Dir En Grey was still able to join Korn's Family Values Tour 2006. In October, the band was back in Japan to perform at the Loudpark Festival, along with bands such as Megadeth, Slayer and Children of Bodom. Their 22nd single "Agitated Screams of Maggots" was released on 15 November during the Japanese leg of the Inward Scream tour. On 30 December, the music video for -Saku- was voted the No. 1 video of the year on the MTV2 show Headbangers Ball.
2007–2009: ''The Marrow of a Bone'' and ''Uroboros''
In February, Dir En Grey went on its first North American headlining tour, visiting sixteen cities as its sixth full-length album The Marrow of a Bone was released on February 7 in Japan and in the United States and Europe in the following months. It saw a change in capitalization of the band name, from a sentence case capitalization to an all caps variant. From May to July, the group opened for the Deftones on their United States tour and afterwards did another European tour, which included their debut shows in Denmark, Finland, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, as well as several festival performances across the continent, including Ankkarock, M'era Luna Festival and Wacken Open Air.The group went on another international tour in September named after their most recent single "Dozing Green", beginning in Japan and continuing in Europe, including their first performance in the Netherlands and Switzerland. In late November, Dir En Grey opened two shows for Linkin Park at Saitama Super Arena and in December performed another Japan tour with 10 Years as a supporting act. Commemorating Dir En Grey's tenth anniversary as a band, two greatest hits compilations, titled Decade 1998–2002 and Decade 2003–2007 respectively, were released on December 19.
At the beginning of 2008, Dir En Grey announced plans to begin recording a new studio album. Their first touring of the year in May was another Japan tour with a conclusion of three shows at Shinkiba Studio Coast, titled Death over Blindness. Between touring, Dir En Grey performed at one night of the two-night hide memorial summit on May 4, alongside X Japan, Luna Sea, and others. A second Japanese tour, titled Tour 08 The Rose Trims Again began on September 10, the same day as the release of their single "Glass Skin".
On August 1, Dir En Grey announced the release of their seventh studio album, Uroboros, which was released on November 11, 2008, in the United States. The band also toured the United States and Canada in support of the album, with dates scheduled for November and December with opening act The Human Abstract. Touring that fall included a series of four shows titled Bajra, two being fan-club exclusive, and a single show on December 29 under the moniker Uroboros -Breathing- at the famous Osaka-jo Hall where Dir En Grey had not performed since December 18, 1999.
Beginning in 2009, Dir En Grey made their first thorough tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland with Kerrang!'s "Relentless Tour '09" alongside Mindless Self Indulgence, Bring Me the Horizon, Black Tide and In Case of Fire. In February, the band announced the public release of the live DVD, Tour 08 The Rose Trims Again, as well as switching European record labels to the newly founded Okami Records, a sister label of their former European representation, Gan-Shin.
During spring of 2009, the band began to fully promote Uroboros with a series of nationwide tours under the title Tour 09 Feast of V Senses. The tour was interrupted briefly while in Sapporo and Sendai, with an announcement on the band's official website, explaining that Kyo had been diagnosed with edema of the larynx, and would require the postponement of three shows, which were rescheduled for early May.
Dir En Grey continued their Feast of V Senses tour in Europe, with a mixture of festival performances, headlining shows, and one co-headlining show with Killswitch Engage. The festival performances included their third appearances at Rock am Ring and Rock im Park, as well as their initial concerts at Download Festival, Nova Rock, and Metaltown. Among the headlining shows, Dir En Grey were also making debut concerts in Italy and the Czech Republic.
After several shows of their late-summer tour, All Visible Things, Dir En Grey announced their next single for December, "Hageshisa to, Kono Mune no Naka de Karamitsuita Shakunetsu no Yami", as well as a North American and South American tour also under the title All Visible Things. Their new single was released on December 2, 2009, and reached number 2 on the Oricon Weekly Chart: the highest position to date for the band. Their 2009 tour season ended with a three-live tour titled Dorje. They finally ended their long Uroboros centered tour by doing two back to back performances at the Nippon Budokan, titled Uroboros: with the proof in the name of living..., where tickets sold out in 15 minutes.