Luna Sea
Luna Sea is a Japanese rock band formed in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1986. Due to the use of makeup and costumes early in their career and their widespread popularity, they are considered one of the most successful and influential bands in the visual kei movement. Throughout the mid-1990s they used significantly less makeup, and after a one-year break in 1997, came back with a more mainstream alternative rock style and toned down their on-stage attire. They disbanded in 2000. In 2003, HMV ranked Luna Sea at number 90 on their list of the 100 most important Japanese pop acts.
Initially founded in 1986, by bassist J and rhythm guitarist Inoran while in high school, the band was originally called Lunacy. In 1989 they recruited lead guitarist Sugizo, drummer Shinya and vocalist Ryuichi, a lineup that has remained the same. They released a few demo tapes prior to renaming themselves Luna Sea and releasing their self-titled debut album in 1991. The band achieved their breakthrough success with a sold-out tour in 1991, which helped them get a contract with MCA Victor, and with the release of their second album Image, which reached number nine on the Oricon music chart. Following the critically acclaimed albums Eden, Mother and Style, the band switched to Universal in 1998 and released their best-selling studio album, Shine. In late 2000, after their seventh studio album Lunacy, Luna Sea disbanded.
Luna Sea reunited for a one-off reunion concert in 2007 at the Tokyo Dome, and again in 2008 for the hide memorial summit. In 2010 the group officially reunited and held a world tour. Three years later they released their first new album in thirteen years, A Will. Their ninth album, Luv, followed four years later in 2017. At the end of 2019, their tenth album Cross, co-produced by Steve Lillywhite, became their first to top Billboard Japan.
History
1986–1991: Formation and debut album
Childhood friends Jun "J" Onose and Kiyonobu "Inoran" Inoue founded a band called Lunacy in high school in 1986. The name was chosen because they felt something akin to "madness" in their sound, the future they aspired to, and the things they were doing. As the other members left to pursue careers or college, they recruited Pinocchio drummer Shinya Yamada and guitarist Yasuhiro "Sugizo" Sugihara on January 16, 1989. J had originally asked Shinya, but the drummer insisted that his friend Sugizo also join, and the bassist did not object as he found the prospect of a twin guitar setup between Inoran and Sugizo to be intriguing. According to Sugizo, they played a single concert before firing their vocalist for a lack of talent. However, in his autobiography, J recalls that vocalist Yasuhiro "Yasu" Imai, one of his closest friends, suddenly told him one day that he wanted to quit. He speculated that Yasu might have become uncomfortable because, like any band, the members grew at different rates, differences in direction became apparent, and their expectations of each other gradually increased. At the same time, J learned that Ryuichi Kawamura was considering leaving his band Slaughter, and said the timing worked out perfectly for Ryuichi to replace the outgoing Yasu on May 6.The finalized lineup of Lunacy made their debut on stage at the 100-seat capacity Play House in Machida, Tokyo on May 29, 1989. They released their first demo tape, "Lunacy", on August 9, with all one hundred copies sold out. In October, they transferred their activities to Meguro, where they performed at local venues such as Rock-May-Kan and Live Station. In December, the band's second demo "Shade" was released, with all one thousand copies sold out, and on December 17 the band sold all 150 tickets for their first official one-man live concert at Machida Play House. In 1990, Lunacy continued to play small venues, but held their first concert outside Tokyo in Osaka. They held their first anniversary concert, Kurofuku Gentei Gig, at Machida Play House on June 10, where they distributed the free demo "Lastly". When the band started working towards creating their first album, J suggested Lunacy change their name. He felt that continuing with a name meaning "madness" might eventually trap and confine them, and wanted one that conveyed a deeper and broader meaning. "Luna Sea" suddenly came to him one day, and he proposed writing it in Japanese as "", which would evoke a mystical energy reminiscent of the ebb and flow of the tides. Additionally, he liked that there were very few bands that used something found in nature as their name, and the fact that no other band would dare change their name at such an important time as their debut album. The Japanese spelling was ultimately not used, and their first concert with the new name was held at Live Station on November 24.
In early 1991, they were discovered by hide and signed to his X Japan bandmate Yoshiki's independent label, Extasy Records. Luna Sea took part in the label's Nuclear Fusion Tour in March with Gilles de Rais and Sighs of Love Potion. On the tour, a 3-track sample CD including a song from each band was freely distributed, to which they contributed a short sample of "Precious". The self-titled Luna Sea was released on April 21. They held larger live performances throughout the year with their first national tour titled Under the New Moon, which was separated into three legs or "Episodes", with 45 performances, of which the final concerts attracted an audience of over one thousand. The tour gathered seventeen thousand people in total. On October 29, they performed at that year's Extasy Summit concert, at the sold out Nippon Budokan.
1992–1994: Breakthrough success; Major label debut with ''Image'', ''Eden'' and ''Mother''
In January 1992, the band's official fan club Slave was launched. Its name was derived from "slave tapes", a term used for backup tapes that are synchronized during the recording process, in order to symbolize that the fans "synchronize" with the band. In March they held a small fan club tour and on May 20 performed their last indie concert, the third kurofuku gentei gig at Machida Play House. On May 21, Luna Sea released their first major label studio album, Image, on MCA Victor. They had originally been approached by Akira Sekiguchi of Victor Invitation when it was still not publicly announced that they had signed to Extasy, so when the time came to sign to a major label, they decided to go with Victor, as they were the first to approach them and Sekiguchi had been very enthusiastic. However, negotiations were conducted with someone else, and talks broke down when the band felt the offer was not enough. But they were then told a new Victor label was launching. Because it was new with only one other Japanese artist, Mari Hamada, MCA Victor could provide Luna Sea with the level of support they wanted, agreed to their requests, and even allowed them to have Sekiguchi act as their representative. The album peaked at number 9, spending 14 weeks on the Oricon charts. It was followed by the band's debut tour Image or Real in May, and corresponding with their increasing popularity, continued with After the Image tour in September. There were 25 concerts with an audience of more than twenty-eight thousand people. On October 31, they performed at another Extasy Summit at the Nippon Budokan.Luna Sea's first single, "Believe", was released in February. The single peaked at number 11, spending 7 weeks on the charts. The band started working on their second album and began touring throughout the country for it on April 16, with the Search for My Eden tour. The tour included 14 concerts in the same number of locations, and mobilized an audience of around twenty-six thousand people. The album Eden was released on April 21, and peaked at number 5, spending 19 weeks on the charts. It was certified gold, for shipment of over two hundred thousand copies, by the RIAJ. In July they released their second single "In My Dream ", which peaked at number 9 and spent 4 weeks on the charts. In August, the four concert Search for My Eden Encore tour was held, of which the latter two shows on August 26 and 27 were planned for the Nippon Budokan. However, the last concert was postponed until August 30 because of the Category 4 Super Typhoon Yancy. In December the Sin After Sin video compilation was released, which included performances from smaller venues during the year, and the band started the Garden of Sinners 93-94 tour, with 20 concerts that mobilized forty thousand people. At the end of the year, the band received the "Grand Prix New Artist of the Year" award at the 7th Japan Gold Disc Awards.
On February 12, 1994, the band performed the tour's final concert at the sold-out 17,000 seat Yokohama Arena. On July 21, their third single "Rosier" was released. It peaked at number 3, spent 25 weeks on the charts, and was certified gold by the RIAJ. In December, the single's promotional video was awarded the "Best Promotional Video" at the 36th Japan Record Awards. Between August 9 and 30, the band went on a sold-out five-stop tour with Soft Ballet and Buck-Tick titled LSB. It is now looked at as a legendary tour in Japanese rock, not only due to the three headlining acts coming together, but because the then up-and-coming guest acts, The Yellow Monkey, L'Arc-en-Ciel, The Mad Capsule Markets and Die in Cries, all went on to achieve success. On September 21, Luna Sea released their fourth single "True Blue", which topped the charts, and was certified platinum for selling over four hundred thousand copies. Responding to the popularity, the band released their third album Mother on October 26. It peaked at number 2, spent 30 weeks on the charts, and eventually sold more than half a million copies. In December they performed at the Osaka-jō Hall, and three times, of which two were consecutive, at the Nippon Budokan.