~A History*General Welcome
*A History
*Albums
*Tours
*Candid Photos
1991 Febuary, Tetsu formed L'Arc~en~Ciel with Hyde on vocal, Hiro on guitar,Tetsu on bass, and Pero on drums. The name L'Arc~en~Ciel was chosen by leader Tetsu, and this name means "an ark in the sky " in french, which literally means rainbow. This was a name of a french movie that Tetsu had seen. He decided that it suited for their band name. Of course he wouldn't have known how much this name actaully can reflect their band right now, and probably become one of the most significant words in the late 90s of Japanese rock history...
In that year's May 30th, they had their first LIVE in Nanba Rockets, they became very popular inside the indies circle and from that point on they've started a lot of activities around Osaka. They had many more lives in Nanba Rockets.. and also other live houses for that time.
In 1992, guitarist Hiro left the band and Tetsu called his childhood friend Ken right away, since they desperately needed a guitarist for a LIVE that was upcoming. At that time Ken's was still in a University in Nagoya studying architecture, and under Tetsu's pushing and persuading..Ken decided in 3 days that he'll stop his studies and return to Osaka to join L'Arc~en~Ciel. Of course Ken's parents were extremely angry about this... (And it's rumored that he hasn't spoken to his parents since!)
After that they continued their activity, and in October 1st they recorded "Voice" for the Omnibus CD "Gimmick" And 1 month later, Nov 25th, they released their 1st single " Flood of Tears" (c/w Yasouka) and it was only a limit of 1000. (it's like impossible to find that single now..since there were only 1000 copies! and it's seen in Japan for 60,000 yen!- original price 971 yen!!!!)
However, in Dec 30th, drummer Pero left the band after a LIVE performance at Osaka Music Hall. Tetsu then called up Sakura and asked him to be their drummer. However, they didn't even know Sakura, and Sakura was in Tokyo. Tetsu had just seen him in some lives before and thought of calling him up. Sakura didn't even know L'Arc~en~Ciel either..but he still travelled from Tokyo to Osaka to see who they are.
In 1993 Jan 16th, Sakura joined Laruku. That year April, they released their 1st album "DUNE". However some songs were written by Hiro, and they couldn't use it in their album so they got in quite a lot of trouble. (I think Claustrophobia was written by Hiro? but then they changed it to Shutting From the Sky in DUNE) During the recording of DUNE Laruku members had to live in the weekly mansions in Tokyo ^^; ( except Sakura because he was originally from Tokyo anyways) And the album " DUNE " got #1 in Oricon Indies Chart in May ^_^ Then following they had the tour ' Close to DUNE", " Feel of DUNE" from June to the endof that year. It had been a lot of trouble for them since they live in Osaka, they always have to drive back and forth from Tokyo to Osaka in ther "Laruku car". Tetsu was the driver because Hyde drives so extremely slow (like an old man Haha) that everyone couldn't stand him. (Although he claim that he drives so slow because it's not his car) and Sakura doesn't know the road very well and he always end up going in big circles (and wasting gas) and Ken's such a reckless driver that although Tetsu always falls asleep, he can't even sleep when Ken's driving because he'd have to pay attention for him, and ending up not sleeping which made no difference..so he decided to drive.
In Sept 93, all members of Laruku slowly moved to Tokyo to persue their career. But Haido didn't really want to move to Tokyo..because that would mean that he would not be able to meet his friends and parents very often,and Tokyo just seemed like a metropolis with not very friendly people..litte trees..dirty streets to him.
In 1994 Feb, there was a TV Special " L'Arc~en~Ciel Valentine TV Special" called " Nostalgic no Yokan" and in Sept, Hyde starred in an Axia tape CM. Their success continued till 1997 with release of videos, singles, and tours and with their 1st million seller album "True".
Unfortunately, in 1997, Sakura was arrested for some drug related problem, and he officially left L'Arc~en~Ciel on 1997 Nov 4th. The release of the single "the Fourth Avenue Cafe" was also cancelled. Laruku then stopped their activities for a few months, and they came back in their Reincarnation 97 Live in Tokyo Dome with new drummer Yukihiro (ex DIE IN CRIES), breaking the ticket sales record of Tokyo Dome with a sold out in 4 min. They then released the album " Heart" and continued to release big hit singles like Winterfall, Dive to Blue, and they made it to the Kohaku of 1998 for their first time with their million seller single HONEY. In July 1st 99 they released 2 albums at once "Ark" and "Ray" and sold a 5 hundred million. They then had their national Grand Cross Tour 99 with over 650,000 fans. They then continue to spread their music to other parts of the world, and had a promotion trip to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand in Sept 99. They crossed the year 2000 with 55,000 fans in Tokyo Big Sight in Reset Live and also making their 2nd apperance in Kohaku, also releasing their 1st single in the new millenium NEO UNIVERSE/finale on Jan 19th 00. In the summer of 00, they released their album REAL, which again proved their talents as muscians. After REAL and REALIVE, they released their first best album Best Clicked Singles 13 with 13 songs all voted by fans across asia online. Their promotion even went over asia into the US and started a whole L'Arc America campaign. On top of that, their new single "spirit dreams inside" was used as an ending theme song for the movie Final Fantasy (spirits within) all across the world. Since then, each member began to indulge in their own solo work, and had not been releasing anything as a band for more than a year.
But ... after so many years, of ups and downs, L'Arc~en~Ciel is now one of the top bands in the Jrock scene, and their legend is to be continued with their colors shining above us.
Information provided by the Fourth Avenue Cafe.
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