D'espairs Ray
D'espairs Ray is a four-member Japanese Visual Kei band, signed with Sweet Child Records. The band consists of Hizumi, Karyu, Zero, and Tsukasa.
Sound and Style
D'espairs Ray are known for their dark and heavy sound, often intertwining fast paced guitar riffs with hard, fast moving bass and drum lines. Very often in their music you will hear a few external noises, such as a fiddle in "Marry of the Blood", or the sound of wind blowing wind chimes in the beginging of "Reddish ~DIVA Version~", to the background shouts of German gestapo shouting "Sieg Heil!" in "Facism". Very often as well, Hizumi will give death screams or gaspings etc., to enhance the darkness of their music.
D'espairs Ray fans are known as Mania Muke, or Manias (plural).
History
D'espairs Ray was created on September 9, 1999, its line-up has remained the same since that time. Hizumi and Tsukasa had played in Le'veil before, Karyu had played in Dieur Mind (where he used the name Yoshitaka). They play their very first concert on September 24, during an event at Takadanobaba Area.
In late October of 2000, the band released their first single, "Kumo", it sold so well that it was re-released in April of 2001. A second single, "Genwaku", was released on the same day. That was followed up by an E.P. "-Terrors-".
2002 saw the band touring (Tour Mania theater) to support the release of a new limited edition demo-tape. Another single followed soon after "Sexual Beast". 2003 began with a secret cd, "Itanji" and in February, they organise a free concert, at Meguro live Station: Itanji.
A twenty-one date tour followed the release of another single "MaVERICK", by this time the band were building a larger fanbase. Soon after the tour, they play at the Stylish wave 2003 Mega force concert at Shibuya Kokaid?ith Laputa, Vogus Image or Stray pig Vanguard. A new tour began in July: tour '03 MANIA no ikusa. November saw the release of their fifth and most sucessful single "G䲮et". It reached the first place in the Indie Oricon rankings.
D鳰airs Ray were invited to significant Visual Kei events: They played at Beauti-fools Fest 03, which was organised by the Fool's Mate magazine, other bands invited inculded Miyavi, MUCC and Gazette. Their sixth single "Born" was then released, followed by another in September called "-Gemini-".
In October 2004, they played outside Japan for the first time, playing in Berlin, Germany on 30th, then in Paris on 31st. On June 29, 2005 the band finally released their debut album "Coll:Set", in two different editions. The Limited Edition was a 12 track CD housed in an 18 page booklet called "The world in a cage". The second version was the Regular Edition, which contained 14 tracks, including "G䲮et" and "[Fuyuu shita Risou]", which were not on the Limited Edition.
That same year D'espairs Ray embarked on two tours in the United States, Infectious Mania Tour Act I and II, this marked their first two visits to the US. D'espairs Ray also made an appearance at Sugoi-Con 2005 in Covington, Kentucky in the United States. Towards the end of 2005 D鳰airsRay toured in Germany and France on the Coupling Tour with kagerou.
Current
They began 2006 with their first European market release, they released the European version of Coll:Set on January 13, 2006.
Members
Hizumi - Vocals
Karyu - Guitar
Zero - Bass
Tsukasa - Drums
Discography
Album
Coll:Set (2005)
E.P.
-Terrors- (2002)
Singles
Kumo (2000)
Genwaku (2001)
Sexual Beast (2002)
MaVERICK (2003)
G䲮et (2003)
Born (2003)
-Gemini- (2003)
Information From: http://answers.com
