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Vocal : Daishi
Guitar : Lida
Guitar : AYA
Bass : seek
Drums : Yura-sama
PROFILE
Psycho le Cemu was one of few bands that you could actually describe as being "unique." While many bands would don somewhat outlandish costumes at the beginning of their careers only, the members of Psycho le Cemu took their cosplay to a whole new level.
Their outfits weren't the only things that set them apart from the rest. Drummer YURA-sama spent many hours choreographing difficult "furitsuke" (a dance
style) routines to several of their songs and he, along with guitarist Aya, would perform them during both PVs and lives.
Leader and lead guitarist, Lida's skillful compositions along with seek's always audible bass lines and Daishi's powerful vocals made Psycho le Cemu quite a force to be reckoned with. Though they're no longer together, each member is active in his own solo project.
BIOGRAPHY
The idea for Psycho le Cemu began back in 1999. Vocalist Daishi and guitarist Lida's (whose real name is Tatsuya) former band MYU had just broken up and they teamed up with Aya (gt; ex Isabelle), seek (ba; Sculp) and YURA-sama (dr; Sculp roadie).
Just what does Psycho le Cemu mean exactly? According to its members, it's a combination of all their former bands/projects and it means "absolutely nothing."
The five members met up in March and by May, they started performing around Himeji in Osaka. July 7th saw the release of their first demo, Self Analysis, that contained six tracks and was more like a mini album than a demo. For the rest of the year, they held many more performances and were determined to make a name for themselves.
Because of the sheer volume of bands trying to make it into the business, the members of Psycho le Cemu knew that they had to come up with something unique and original to get them noticed. They started off with outlandish costumes like were shown on their first demo and kept on with a similar style for their next release: the single -Kronos-.
The corresponding PV for the single gained this young band plenty of attention, not just because of their costumes, but also because of the quality of the song and its composition as well as Daishi's powerful vocal delivery. They then went on to hold a tour with other bands in Nagoya and held their first oneman, which sold out, in November. A few days later, they released a new single and ended the year with a fifteen date promotional tour, all of which sold out.
In 2001, things started picking up for them as each of their subsequent releases and lives sold out almost immediately. September saw the release of their first album and in December, they were invited to share the stage along with larger well-known bands like
La’cryma Christi and Pierrot as part of the Sweet Trance Main Stage: 2001 The Space Odyssey event.
Not wasting any time, they held a live at the beginning of January and released a mail order only mini album entitled Prism. It was a huge success and the PV featured one of YURA-sama's furitsuke routines that had fans everywhere eagerly trying to imitate it. All the band's hard work finally got them noticed by Nippon Crown and by that October, they had achieved the highly sought-after major status. Their debut release was the single Ai no Uta and it made it to the #10 position on the Oricon Charts.
Psycho le Cemu gained much more success with the release of their double A-side single Gekiai Merry-go-round/Shun Ka Shuu Tou in January. Gekiai is a very upbeat and additive tune and, if you ask many fans, they will hands-down declare this their favourite song. The PV for the song was more like a movie as the members had to save seek from a planet of odd monsters that were trying to harm him. With the PV also came even more complicated and elaborate furitsuke.
In April, they covered Roman Hikou, a song by the legendary band Kome Kome Club. In addition to performing it the way that their predecessors did, they also composed a "rock tune" version of it that, oddly enough, sounded less rock than the original version!! Nevertheless, it was another hit for them. The band took on the alias of Saikoro Korokke and released a single that was used for an anime. Towards the end of the year, their first major album, FRONTIERS, was finally released and the limited version came with one of five miniature figurines modeled after the members.
After many more successful releases and events, Psycho le Cemu decided to please their overseas fans by appearing for the first time in America. They held a mini tour called Psycho Invasion and appeared at anime conventions in California and Texas. Both concerts saw very high attendance, both by devoted fans and by curious anime fans that were new to the JRock scene and/or the band itself. As a result,
Psycho le Cemu gained even more devoted fans to back them up. Later on, footage from both lives were combined into one DVD.
The members decided to show a different, non-cosplay side of themselves and created an "alter ego" band. They performed a few secret lives for members of their FC, Kronos, and released a special, hard-to-find single entitled Bad boys, be ambitious!. After the release of another album and it's corresponding tour, the band was invited to appear at Fool's Mate magazine's Beauti-Fool's Fest '04.
2005 saw another US mini tour and another single in April before the members announced that they wished to take time off from the band to work on solo projects. YURA-sama and Lida joined forces and became Dacco while Aya's former band, ISABELLE, re-formed and seek joined as a support bassist. However, Daishi decided to go by his real name of Kajinaga Daishi. His good friend and fellow musician Miya (of
MUCC) produced his first solo release: Jitsuroku Shounen Hanzai Ki Kagaku. The title track was dark and angsty and was completely unlike anything of Psycho le Cemu’s. It was released on May 25th and he held a mini tour to promote it.
However, things turned bad when Daishi was said to have suddenly fallen ill and was unable to appear at the last date of the tour. Instead of being ill, he had actually been arrested for violating Japan's stimulant control use law. He was found in the possession of methamphetamines. Not wasting any time, Nippon Crown cancelled the future shipment of all of Psycho le Cemu's releases. Eventually, the band decided to leave the label and their management and they reverted back to indies status. Daishi was put on trial and was placed on a suspended sentence. During this ordeal, the other members continued on with their musical careers the best that they could given the situation.
ISABELLE released a very limited album that was only sold at lives during the summer. They also released a single the same day as Dacco, on October 20th, and both singles saw similar high success.
Just as it seemed that Psycho le Cemu was over for good, the members announced in mid-March 2006 that the band was getting back together. Though as hard as they tried, the long separation and stress over the ordeal pulled the members apart and they just couldn't regain the magic that they once had. Psycho le Cemu completely disbanded in the first week of May and the members went their respective separate ways.
YURA-sama and Lida continued on as Dacco and they traveled to America in July for an appearance at San Diego, California's ComiCon. ISABELLE stayed active until June and then they ended up disbanding as well. Daishi seemed to disappear from the scene until recently when he held a solo live at Shibuya CYCLONE and has announced more lives, as well as new solo work, for the beginning of 2007.
Dacco
Dacco (consisting of ex-Psycho le Cému members, Lida and YURAサマ) formed in 2005 after Psycho le Cému announced that they would be going on hiatus. Their first release came in the form of a 3 track single named コイガオカ (Koi ga oka). Shortly after this release the duo went on tour with fellow ex-Psycho le Cému members AYA and seek (Who at the time were in the band ISABELLE) under the SYNECTICS guise. Then on 2006/3/1 the band released their first full length album named ベビー (Baby). Baby contained 11 tracks including a new mix of Koi ga oka. The majority of the album features an electronic pop sound which is different from the acoustic guitar and tambourine of their singles. Dacco then toured to support the new album, and played in the US for the first time at the San Diego Comic Convention (7/21/06 - 7/22/06).
In may 2007, Dacco signed a record contract with Sony.
DAISHI : Vocal
Real Name: Daishi Kajinaga
Birthdate: February 5, 1976
Blood Type: B
Astrological Sign: Aquarius
Height: 163cm (about 5'3")
Weight: 51kg (about 121lbs)
Distinguishing Feature: The resident short guy of the group.
Costume Role: Hero
Former Band: MYU (with Lida)
Lida : Guitar
Real Name: Tatsuya Akeda
Birthdate: January 16, 1976
Blood Type: A
Astrological Sign: Aquarius
Height: 170cm (about 5'6")
Weight: 49kg (about 108lbs)
Distinguishing Feature: Usually has bright orange hair.
Costume Role: "Whatever's left over."
Former Band: MYU as Tatsuya (with DAISHI)
AYA : Guitar, Dance
Real Name: Naoki Ohkawa
Birthdate: March 17, 1980
Blood Type: O
Astrological Sign: Taurus
Height: 175cm (about 5'8")
Weight: 58kg (about 127lbs)
Distinguishing Feature: Usually has bright pink hair.
Costume Role: The Girl
Former Band: ISABELLE
seek : Bass
Real Name: Takuma Shiramizu
Birthdate: September 14, 1979
Blood Type: AB
Astrological Sign: Virgo
Height: 178cm (about 5'8")
Weight: 63kg (about 138lbs)
Distinguishing Features: Nine facial piercings.
(2 lip, 2 labret, 1 bridge, 3 eyebrow, 1 nose)
Costume Role: Special Character or Monster
Former Band: support bassist for SCULP
YURA-sama : Drum, Dance, Vocal
Real Name: Takeshi Kuroiwa
Birthdate: September 12, 1979
Blood Type: AB
Astrological Sign: Virgo
Height: 170cm (about 5'6")
Weight: 51kg (about 112lbs)
Distinguishing Features: Has bleached pale blond hair.
Costume Role: Mystic or Warrior
Former Bands: SCULP, roadie for TRANSTIC NERVE & MYU
*member profiles found on PLC's English Fan Site Super Cosplay Band
