Versailles (known in the US as Versailles -Philharmonic Quintet- due to a legal conflict with an artist with the same name) is a metal band formed by ex-LAREINE vocalist KAMIJO and by ex-SULFURIC ACID guitarist and solo artist HIZAKI. The sound of the band concentrates on the concept of youshikibi 様式美 (absolute beauty of form) and the extremes of aestheticism. Trademarks are the dueling guitar sound and the heavy but melodic arrangements. KAMIJO's lyrics are connected to each other to tell a single story, often making use of narrating voices and concept videos.
BIOGRAPHY
Versailles was formed in Autumn 2006 by vocalist KAMIJO and guitarist HIZAKI. The lineup was joined by two members from HIZAKI grace project (bassist Jasmine You and guitarist TERU) and by drummer YUKI, who was recommended by the head of Meguro Rockmaykan.
The foundation of the band was announced at the first concert of Node of Scherzo (March 14th, 2007), though no details were given. The moniker and the members have been revealed by KAMIJO on his blog on March 29th, and the name of the band announced on March 30. On the 2nd of May, they posted a trailer for Versailles’s appearance on YouTube. Since then, they received a lot of proposals for tours and interviews from overseas. At the end of May, a German TV crew came to Japan and the band was interviewed. In June, the interviews with the German TV crews were on Sankei Newspaper (one of Japan’s domestic newspapers) and Versailles was featured in the article. Because of the large amount feedback, “Versailles Band” was in Yahoo’s top 5 search-keyword ranking.
Versailles' first public appearance took place at Meguro Rockmaykan on June 23rd, performing a short set and a having band showcase in front of an all-male audience. The first official concert followed at the self-sponsored live event Chateau de Versailles, held on June 24th at Ebisu LIQUIDROOM and celebrated by an instore event on the following day.
Versailles' sound has been introduced by the single The Revenant Choir (available as a CD single or DVD single), which has been sold exclusively at Versailles' first two concerts and some months after through SHOXX mailorders.
TERU was first announced as a support member due to his responsibilities toward 藍華柳 (Aikaryu). However, he became a permanent and official member right after the disbandment of 藍華柳 (Aikaryu) on July 15th 2007.
Versailles signed a contract with the German label CLJ Records for European distribution on August 30th, 2007. The first release to hit the stores is the mini-album Lyrical Sympathy (which ranked #4 on the official ORICON indies chart ), followed by the DVD and perfume set Aesthetic Violence.
Versailles toured Europe for the first time in March and April 2008 having concerts in Sweden, Finland, Germany, France and Spain with 摩天楼オペラ as support act. On May 3rd 2008 Versailles played in front of nearly 30,000 people as one of the acts of the hide memorial summit, and were also invited on stage by X JAPAN during the final performance of the fest on May 4th.
On May 6th Versailles held their first, sold-out one man concert at Daikanyama UNIT and at the end of the month debuted in the United States with two concerts in Dallas and Los Angeles.
The band activities got even more intense after the release of the first full-length album NOBLE on July and its promotion with a long event tour which reached its climax with two performances in Arlington and New York City in early October. In November Versailles started their first national oneman tour to support the release of their first maxi-single release PRINCE & PRINCESS. At the tour final held on December 23th at Shibuya C.C. Lemon Hall, KAMIJO announced that Versailles would go major and sign to Warner Music Group in June 2009. Spring 2009 saw the band touring Japan once again for their last indies tour The Fragment Collectors, held from March 26th until May 9th. Two consecutive DVD releases were planned for May 20th. CHATEAU DE VERSAILLES featured the full recording of the CHATEAU DE VERSAILLES Tour Final concert held on December 23th 2008, while HISTORY OF THE OTHER SIDE traced the band history with PV's, live videos, interviews and off-shot footage. Between May and June Sherow Artist Society arranged a series of free events titled Kakumei no Anthology 革命のアンソロジー. Tickets for these events were free and distributed to people who bought a random visual kei CD or DVD at the partner stores listed at Versailles' official website. Each event was hosted by one or two Versailles members who occasionally performed a song with Matenrou Opera. To commemorate their major debut Versailles had five consecutive last indies concerts at Meguro Rockmaykan from June 17th to June 21th. The major debut single ASCENDEAD MASTER was released on June 24th 2009 in four versions.
