Dir en grey is a Japanese rock band formed in 1997. While the lineup has
remained constant since the group's inception, numerous stylistic changes
have made its genre difficult to determine (though it is generally a form of
Rock music). Originally part of Japan's Visual Kei movement, Dir en grey
has opted for less flamboyant attires in recent years.
Dir en grey's roots go back to the independent band La:Sadie's, which
ended up including four of Dir en grey's current members. After
disbanding and parting ways with La:Sadie's bassist Kisaki, Kyo,
Kaoru, Die and Shinya along with the newly recruited bassist,
Toshiya, briefly re-grouped as Deathmask [citation needed]
but then changed their name to Dir en grey, after a show in
Nagano in early 1997.
A few months later, a first EP, MISSA, was released. In 1998,
they became the first Japanese indies band to reach the singles
top ten on the Oricon music charts after the release of their first
singles JEALOUS and -I'll-. This caught the attention of
Yoshiki Hayashi of X Japan fame, who produced and
arranged the singles of their subsequent album, GAUZE,
released in 1999.
In 2000, vocalist Kyo was hospitalized with hearing trouble
(he remains partially deaf in his left ear). The tour in support
of Dir en grey's upcoming album, MACABRE, had to
be postponed. After Kyo recovered,
TOUR 00>>01 MACABRE eventually took off later the
same year.
In 2002, along with the release of their 3rd full-length album
kisou, Dir en grey gave their first performances outside of
Japan, touring China, Taiwan, and South Korea. In Shanghai,
fans became excited to the point that authorities
attempted to cancel a planned second concert. The band and
their management eventually resolved the dispute, and the
concert was performed as scheduled. Back in Japan, the l
ast dates of the tour were already in support for the band's
second EP, six Ugly.
In 2005, Dir en grey played their first shows in Europe. Their
concerts in Berlin and Paris (as part of the It Withers and
Withers tour) sold out without any sort of promotion save for
newsletters by import record stores and internet-based word
of mouth. The band also appeared at two major festivals, Rock
am Ring and Rock im Park. These events apparently inspired
a change in the band's live routine. They had not performed
alongside other bands since their being signed to a major label,
but after these festivals, Dir en grey had a French band, Eths,
open up for them at their show in Paris. Later that year, they
invited long-time associate Wednesday 13 and his band to
play at a show in Japan. Dir en grey also performed in the
Japanese leg of the international Taste of Chaos tour. 2005
saw the first domestic European releases as well, such as
that year's album, Withering to death., which eventually
reached #31 in the Finnish album charts (Dir en grey's
first non-Asian chart position). The subsequent single,
CLEVER SLEAZOID, later became #15 of the singles
charts in the same country.
In early 2006, the first concerts in the United States took
place, performed in Austin, Texas (SXSW06), New York
(Avalon Club) and Los Angeles (Wiltern Theater). All dates
sold out in a very short amount of time. The audience
comprised of people from several countries. Soon afterwards,
the American release of Withering to death. and the live
DVD TOUR05 It Withers and Withers followed. After
more shows in Germany in summer 2006, singer Kyo
was again hospitalized in July, due to inflamed vocal cords.
While two concert dates in Japan had to be postponed, Dir en grey
were still able to join Korn's Family Values Tour, which concluded
in September.
Dir En grEy ProfIlE
Full name: 新倉 薫 (Niikura Kaoru)
Nicknames: Leader-sama, Kao, Kaokao
In the band, he is a guitarist
Date of birth: 02.17,1974. (Hyougo)
Astrological sign: Aquarius
Zodiac sign: Tiger
Blood type: A
Height: 170cm
Weight: 52 kg
Clothes' size: L
Shoe size: 39,5 (5 1/2)
Favourite cigarette brand: Mild Seven Light
Favourite sport: soccer baseball
Favourite music: HIDE, X-Japan, Shiina Ringo
His former bands: CHARM ® La:Sadie's
Personality: bad, difficult nature
He sees himself as a person with complicated nature
Likes: Gundam
Dislikes: prawn
According to him, the most important thing is fans
Favourite food: curry, potatoe salad, hamburger, chocolate, sushi, d
ouble cheesburger, chinese food, ramen,
okonomiyaki,
gyudon curry, gyudon kimechi
Food he detests: prawn
He likes to get: clothes, accessories, Gundam things
Favourite colour: purple, black
Fun facts: He is near-sighted, sometimes he wears glasses. When
he was younger, he played soccer. He likes he's adam's apple
on his
body, he thinks it is very masculine. He doesn't like his hands,
because they are rather small, and it is difficult to play on the
guitar with small hands. He likes sleeping in bed instead of doing
it on a futon. He needs completedarkness to sleep. He follows
every new fashion. His favourite parfums is Egoist Platinum and
CK One; his favourite piece of clothing is jeans; his favourite
season is autumn.
When Kaoru was young, he got bored with his original black
hair and he began to slowly brightening it to brown. When his
parents noticed the change and asked him about it, he told
them that the chemicals in the swimming pool were causing it,
which is funny, because Kaoru can't swim.
He has Japanese Zombie Heroez
tattooed on his right arm; and recently, he got tattoos all over
his left arm.
Kaoru is the oldest of the group - and as one, he appears to
be the most mature - and he is the stoic leader-sama; all of t
he other members look up to Kaoru in a way. He is the main
composer for most of their songs, and an excellent one at that;
because every diru song is different, so he must have an
amazing imagination to come up with so many different musical
variations. His guitar skills are positively astounding too, he
holds his audience captive through his playing.
He rarely smiles - though when he does, it's a definitely
heart-warming sight. However, he was the one member of the
group who scared all the others when they first met. You can i
magine, even the Waru was scared of him! Also he is quite s
erious and very deliberate. But as adult-like as Kaoru appears
- he has a sweet, childish side that he shows sometime: he is a
big fan of anime and manga (especially Gundam), and loves to
tease Shinya with Die, or simply to joke around.
On concerts, Kaoru remains relatively still, but sometimes he
just runs around the stage and pumps the crowd up. He is also
famous for headbanging along to the music. He is a very big fan
of Hide, he even joined to one of his fanclubs, sent him a letter
and got an autograph! Altough he dislikes to admit it, he is very
good at drawing.
He likes sports like soccer very much, not like sport-hater Shinya.
Kaoru doesn't wear much make-up - compared to the rest of the
group, that is - he only accents his eyes and lips. He has no need
to bring out his cheekbones, because they are pretty enough as
they are! His hair is ever changing: it tends to go through various
shades of purple and pink, even honey brown, and is currently black
and blonde.
He wears a lot of black that rarely shows much of his skin. His
clothes look comlex (and sometimes bizarre, like the parasite
hat O_O), and he states if any of his fans can cosplay his clothes
he will be very amazed!
_________________________________________________________
Full name: 安滕 大助 (Andou/Kondo Daisuke)
Nicknames: Die, Dai, Dai-suki
In the band, he is a guitarist
Date of birth: 12.20,1974. (Mie)
Astrological sign: Sagittarius
Zodiac sign: Tiger
Blood type: B
Height: 178cm / 5'10"
Weight: 61 kg
Clothes' size: L
Shoe size: 41 (8)
Favourite cigarette brand: Salm Light
Favourite sport: soccer, baseball
Favourite music: Sakai Noriko, Hide
His former bands: ka･za･ri ® La:Sadie's
Personality: sincere and honest ... and impudent, because he likes
to tease people
He sees himself as a hard-working, sincere, honest person
Likes: cheese, sake, tease Shinya
Dislikes: raw things, rain
According to him, the most important thing is life
Favourite food: tofu, potatoes, bacon, cheese omlett, milk, cheese,
spaghetti, roasted meat, okonomiyaki,
pastries etc...
Food that he detests: seafood, thorny animals, raw foods
He likes to get: cigarettes
He likes not to get: raw things, candy
Fun facts: He has 4 sisters. His breast is especially ticklish. He is
near-sighted, he wears contactlenses. He is the most serene and
easy-going member.
Die was disgusted of some Chinese food served on their tour once,
he was not impressed with the chicken-head soup. He was not able
to look at it! Kyo and Toshiya on the other hand, thought it cool and
Toshiya was playing with a head!
There was a fire in Die's apartment once. He tried to smother it with
a fire extinguisher, but he just succeeded spraying the foam all around
his feet and then he ran outside. He said: "That was so uncool!".
Altough Die is the second guitarist in the group, he is no less talented
than our leader-sama, Kaoru. By the way, he is pretty amazing guitarist,
the way he and Kaoru play together makes really gorgeous music.
For some of their songs - especially in older ones like "Ash" and "Zan"
- Die even sings backup vocals; he has a lovely, definite but soft voice.
During concerts, Die is just like any other guitarist: he struts accross
the stage to pump the crowd up, or just stands beside Kyo while he is
singing. His idol is Takigawa Ichiro, the guitarist of Craze.
He is the most talkative member of the band, also extremely playful, and
quite a joker, too: he likes to tease the others especially Shinya, together
with Kaoru. On the video taken in Osaka-Jou Hall, Toshiya pushed
Shinya to the ground, and pounced on top of him, while Die covered them
with feathers. So, he can make the others laugh almost any time.
Die's real name is Daisuke, and the nickname for it is Dai. Some say that
he changed the spelling of it to that of the English word "die", aiming to a
more serious aspect. So Die is to be pronounced as "dai", not "di-eh".
He is very proud of his mane which he had grown since high-school. It is
almost dyed in red, often use to defy the laws of gravity - sticking upwards
in all directions - making for a punkish hairstyle. But nowadays he wears
his hair short and dark chestnut-coloured, also he uses less hair-styler. Die
confesses: if someone state that he looks awful, he takes it as a compliment
^_^.
After some of his fans complained that he was too fat - Die supposedly had
eating and weight problems, because he took their ramblings to his heart,
and became heavily underweighted.
When Dir en grey was still dressing up in Visual Kei style, Die was quite
extreme when it came to his looks and fashion; though his makeup was not
always as daub-like as Kyo's. He was almost always leather-clad with lots
of silver accessories - he always looked like a tough J-Rocker.
Even though his music and scary outfits give off a hardcore attitude, Die is
an extremely sweet and caring person. He has a kid hidden in himself, the
way he seems to always be up to something.
_____________________________________________________________________
Full name: 京 (Kyo) 西村享 (Nishimura Tooru)
Nicknames: Kyo, Waru, Warumono
In the band, he is a vocalist
Date of birth: 02.16,1976. (Kyoto)
Astrological sign: Aquarius
Zodiac sign: Dragon
Blood type: B
Height: 160cm
Weight: 43 kg
Clothes' size: S/M
Shoe size: 38 (5)
Favourite sport: terrorising the others!
Favourite music: X-Japan, Shiina Ringo, Buck-Tick
His former bands: 月蝕 (Gesshoku) ® Visun 殆磨 ® Masquerade
® 廃人黒薔薇族 (Haijin Kurobarazoku) ® La:Sadie's
Personality: hot-tempered, moody, funny
He sees himself as a warumono
Likes: videogames, sleeping, anime
Dislikes: people
According to him, the most important thing is fans
Favourite food: scorpion, sausage, muffin, pens <(^×^)>
Food he detests: liver, carrots
He likes to get: games (LDSoft, GameSoft), old, traditional clothes
He likes not to get: candy
He colletcts: Doraemon, Warumono figurines
Fun facts: Kyo can play guitar and bass to some extent. He tried
many different instruments before he decided he would be a singer
instead.
Kyo hasn't got much luck with his eyebrow piercings. When he first
had one, it got infected and was very tender, so he decided to leave
it alone and have another piercing on the other side, but the same thing
happened to that one too!
Don't call this guy cute, EVER. Even though he is *so* adorable,
he considers himself to be evil looking and scary. Many of his fans
state that the scarier image he tries to put on, the more kawaii (cute)
he seems to be (I love his evil little grin!).
The nickname of Kyo is Warumono, meaning "bad person" in Japanese,
but at the same time it is his favourite manga.
When he was a little kid, he decided he will not learn any kanji, so in
lieu of his original name he chose to use the "Kyo" kanji from his
birthplace's name, Kyoto, which he speaks of quite fondly. Another
explanation to his name is that he hated his original name and simply chose
to use Kyo instead; the fact that he never used it - not even in his former
bands - seems to comfirm this version.
Kyo began his music career as a roadie for the band Kuroyume. He
joined his first band, Gesshoku, at the age of 17 and he changed his name
to Yoma - this band was together in Kyoto for only half a year. In his next
band, Visun he went by the name, Hotoma. From there he joined the
MASQUERADE. This was followed by Haijin Kurobarazoku where
Kyo was joined by Shinya (drums) and KISAKI (bass). By this time,
Kyo had changed to his current name. After that, La:Sadies was formed
where Kyo, Shinya and Kisaki were joined by Die and Kaoru (guitars)
later.
He knows how to fall asleep absolutely anywhere: he was even sleeping
in a middle of an interview! He is also known to enjoy lying during
interviews, meaning one can never be sure that what he said has even a
little verity in it.
He has 2 pets, Puchi and Buchi, the kangaroo rats.
It is said that he didn't get into the music business until he was 15, when
he found out that it is something he really liked. He is a great fan of the
band Kuroyume, and he looks up to the vocalist Kiyoharu. He has many
piercings and tatoos
He has such an eccentric and powerful voice that he can do amazing
number of things with: singing, screaming, choking, laughing; he really
know how to sound like he's vomiting or like he's having an orgasm in
almost the same breath. It's almost as if he's doing some sound effects to
his songs. For example, if you listen to Taiyou no Ao and then Zan, you
think two completely different things about him. Also he has a maniac
giggle - that can be found in some of his songs -, that you can't help but
smile at... yeah, too cute!
He's not only amazing as a vocalist, but as a songwriter as well. He wants
to describe pain, so his lyrics never have a happy ending; all his songs
are either really twisted or mournful and sad.
During lives, Kyo takes the advantages of being the vocalist to its fullest:
he practically throws himself around the stage, he is not only a singer, but
a performer. He may be small, but he is a twisted bundle of energy. He is
incredible to watch, for you can almost feel the pain in his vocals by just
looking at him.
His hearing to his left ear is very bad, because in 2000 he had an "Acute
Acoustic Trauma" (I don't really know what it is, but sounds bad to me),
and because of that, many lives were postponed to next year.
In the band only Kyo likes to use daub-like, thick make-up. His hair changes
color constantly: raging from black to red, to bleached blonde; he just spikes
it up or combs it down, or just puts it under a hat or a bandana. Nowadays
he keeps it at shoulder-lenght and dyes it black. In their Visual Kei days,
the clothes he designed were often based on a traditional japanese kimono,
interwined with modern materials like pleather and corsets.
___________________________________________________________________________
Full name: 原 敏政 (Hara Toshimasa)
Nicknames: Toshiya, Tochi (Totchi)
In the band, he is a bassist
Date of birth: 03.31,1977. (Nagano)
Astrological sign: Aries
Zodiac sign: Snake
Blood type: B
Height: 179cm
Weight: 58 kg
Clothes' size: S/M
Shoe size: 41 (7)
Favourite cigarette brand: VIRGINIA SUMS LIGHT 6mg
Favourite sport: Baseball
His former bands: Pierrotのローディ ® D+L ® GOSICK
Personality: spoiled, impatient, selfish, egoist
Likes: fishing, resting at home
Dislikes: bad things ^_^'
According to him, the most important thing is parents, Dir en grey,
the fans
Favourite food: lots of things, vegetable juices
Food he detests: parsley, broccoli
He likes to get: clothes, shoes, accessories, figurines (he is a very
devoted collector), cigarettes
He likes not to get: perishable things and sweets
Favourite colour: mostly blue, red
Favourite designers: Vivienne Westwood, Masaki Matsushima, Milkboy
Fun facts: He learned fashion design. His nose is the ticklest part of him.
He wears contactlenses. On his free days he forgets his laziness.
Toshiya has a red bedroom. He wanted it so, because red generates
energy and excitement and he needs these when he finally gets home
after a hard day's work.
Embryo was the very first song when he played on his bass using his
fingers instead of a pick. Even now he alternates between the pick and
his fingers.
Toshiya's apartment got soaked once: on the first floor he noticed the
wet carpet, but no matter how he tried to dry it up, it got wet again.
He called his landlord but it was late: all the wooden furniture in his
house got wet and moldy!
Toshiya is the only member who was not a part of La:Sadies before
Dir en grey; he came from Deathmask. When he first met with Dir en grey,
he couldn't decide what to think of them. He had heard some rumours
about them, particularly about the blonde singer, Kyo. But he was
impressed when he heard Kaoru scold a man who had claimed that they
wouldn't make it as a real band. Kaoru told him in a proud tone that they
surely would be famous. And it turned out that Kaoru was right after all.
Toshiya often states jokingly that he was "kidnapped" by Dir en grey, but
he seems pretty happy to be their "victim".
Before he picked up the bass as his instrument, he had tried many before,
like drums and guitar. However, he chose the bass because it had less
strings and he thought it would be easier to play on it, but soon he had to
find out that wasn't true. He spent lot of time practicing and thus he became
one of the most talented bassist as a result. You just have to check out his
bass solo in Cage, it's absolutely wonderful: his play is continous and the
melody flows perfectly. Or you just have to listen to "Itoshisa wa fuhai ni tsuki"
(which is on their new album); this song seems to have been made to show off
Toshiya's bass.
Toshiya - as Kaoru - is very good at drawing, he often makes comics of his
band mates, also he is a big fan of anime and manga. Actually, a lot of his
influences in his costumes came from reading them. He loves watching horror
movies.
He didn't have many boys in his neighbourhood to hang out with, so he
just played with the girls instead. This had its drawback with his class mates
later, for they became very jealous of him.
On the video taken in the Osaka-Jou Hall, Toshiya pushed Shinya to
the ground, and pounced on top of him, while Die covered them with feathers.
Toshiya loves his fans, he often acts flirtatious on stage with the others
(us, fangirls love this!). He is also famous for his water gun: he likes to
spray the audience with it!
He is open with his emotions, not afraid to show his beaming smile, or
drop a tear (too sweet...); probably it has to do something with his
dominant boyish personality.
Totchi is beautifully slim and maybe he is the most beautiful in a feminine
way, and he wore quite revealing outfits showing off his perfect figure; he
wore lots of pvc and fishnet, lace and leather. His outfits were very intricate,
and he looked (still looks), great in all of them. However, nowadays he
seems to have handed this accentuated feminine style over to Shinya.
Despite his attire, he is the vibrant and childish one, full of energy and boyish
charm; he always seems to be ready to have some fun. On videos, he is
*constantly* laughing and messing around.
His face is naturally beautiful, so it hardly needs any makeup, but if he wears it,
he makes himself more stinking in doing so. Like Kyo, he sometimes go to
extremes, accentuating his lovely lips and pretty eyes. He keeps his hair
cut fairly short, dyed with varieties of darker colours, like blue and black,
but he dyes it a deep dark brown shade lately.
______________________________________________________________________
Full name: 寺地 心夜 (Terachi Shinya)
Nicknames: Shinya, Shin-chan
In the band, he is a drummer
Date of birth: 02.24,1978. (Osaka)
Astrological sign: Pisces
Zodiac sign: Horse
Blood type: B
Height: 170cm
Weight: 42 kg
Clothes' size: M
Shoe size: 38
Favourite cigarette brand: he doesn't smoke!
Favourite sport: he hates sports
Favourite music:Ayumi Hamasaki, Morning Musume, the music
of Yoshiki
His former bands: 人工天使 (Jinkou Tenshi) ® Siva ® Ruby ®
廃人黒薔薇族 (Haijin Kurobarazoku) ® La:Sadie's
Personality: He claims himelf "cool", then kami no ke o sawaru
(he touches his hair)
He sees himself as a girl
Likes: music
Dislikes: stinky cigarettes
According to him, the most important thing the fans everywhere
Favourite food: jelly, raw salad and cabbage, beef, spaghetti
Food that he detests: arisugiru (perishables), almost all foods
He likes to get: clothes, CDs
He likes not to get: plush toys
Fun facts: His whole body is ticklish. He is near sighted, he wears
contactlenses. He likes to drink all kinds of alcohol. When he travels,
he carries with himself the "Shinya sama travelling set". He admires
Yoshiki. He learns Kung-fu since 2nd grade. In his school he liked
the music class, and hated English. He likes spring and autumn,
because neither are hot nor cold.
Even though Shinya not really talks about his love life, he said once
that he wouldn't consider himself to be truly "grown up" until he will
be a dad.
The first and the last time he actually smoked was when he and his
friends blew the smoke into bubbles. He thought it looked cool and
he wanted to try.
When Shinya started to perform on lives, he had no idea how to do
the stage make up, so his mother helped him with that!
Shinya is the "baby" of Dir en grey, him being the youngest and most
serious member. Allegedly he is the most stubborn in the band, so the
others allow him to do almost everything he wants. I find it amazing to
hear him playing on the drums, such a powerful sound coming from a
seemingly small person. He is the only one in the band who doesn't smoke,
and likes to keep a healthy diet; he also likes to solve riddles.
It is quite hard to get to know anything about him, as he doesn't give
straight answers in interviews. He is constantly quiet, and never volunteers
any information about himself. In fact, it was 6 months before the others
found out what his phone number was! Also it is a rare occasion to see
him flashing his pretty smile.
His ideal is Yoshiki, the drummer of X Japan, who became the manager of
Dir en grey. He also rarely speaks about his childhood nor love-life: his
every answer was "normal is good" to interview questions in the latter topic.
He loves his fans, on lives he often throws his drumsticks or waterbottles into
the crowd. Shinya loves pop-music, especially girl pop. This is rather ironic,
since he is in a J-Rock group ^_^.
Shinya is an animal-lover; he has 2 dogs: Miyu the chihuahua and Puppy the
papillon (the latter lives with his parents); he spoils them badly. Miyu is always
with him, sometimes even on photoshoots, for they have some pictures together.
As he confessed in the "21 questions for the 21st century" interview, the 3
most important things in his life are Miyu, then Puppy
(the 3rd one is Dir en grey ^_^').
He is definitely the most feminine in the band - altough Toshiya is almost as
female-looking as him sometimes. Allegedly, Die had a crush on him because
he actually thought Shinya was a girl O_O. Poor Die. He gets picked on the
most, probably because he is the youngest.
Shinya is very tall and thin (only 42 kg!); usually he wears only a light dusting
of makeup, a very feminine style, emphasizing his big pouty lips and beautiful
eyes. He alwas has a beautiful hairstyle, and he constantly tries out something
new. Like: after they finished recording the Yokan video, he had his long and
curly hair cut; Die and Kaoru joined to the "ceremony". His haircolor usually is
a shade of blonde or honey brown; and is currently bleached blonde. He
makes a habit of dressing in a female fashion: like skirts and dresses with thigh
-high boots. |
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