LAREINE

LAREINE

AKA	LALIENE (1995-1996)
Spelling	ラレーヌ
Status	indies, disbanded major (1999-2000) 2015.12.28 (revival)
Origin	Tokyo, Kantō
Years	1994.11 - 2001.06 2002.08 - 2007.02.18 2015.12.28, 2016.7.18
Genres	Visual Rock Neoclassical Gothic Rock Synthpop
Labels	Sherow Artist Society (2006-2007) APPLAUSE RECORDS (2000-2007) SME Records (1998-2000) LA-REINE (1995-1998)
Related	NEW SODMY MALICE MIZER
Website	http://lareine.jp/
Fanclub	Fleur

LAREINE was one of the key bands of the visual kei scene of the late '90s. Their early sound was very reminiscent of MALICE MIZER's style, with complex guitar melodies, influenced by classical music, and an elegant and gothic atmosphere, though LAREINE always had a "lighter" image. LAREINE are know for their references to French and Renaissance culture, highly influenced by the historical manga Versailles no Bara (by Ryoko Ikeda, who also designed covers and costumes for LAREINE). KAMIJO admitted to have been influenced mainly by film score music in his compositions.

Band history[]

LALIENE days (1994 - 1996)[]

LAREINE's history began in August 1994, when KAMIJO and MAYU (both MALICE MIZER roadies back then) met for the first time. Sharing the same musical vision, they decided to play in a band together that they called LALIENE, in November. The first lineup had KAMIJO (using the stage name SHOKI) on vocals, MAYU, SAKUREU and Hirono on guitar and 鏡花 (Kyouka) on drums^[1]. They later recruited bassist Emiru by putting an advertisement in a magazine called Rockin'f and were ready to debut as of March 1995.

However, some days before LALIENE's debut concert at Shikawa CLUB GIO on March 25th, MAYU left the band due to musical differences with SAKUREU, whose playing was similar to more gothic bands like 黒夢.

The second concert of LALIENE took place at Meguro Rockmaykan on March 29th. The first demo tape Laliene (limited to only 100 copies) was distributed at that event. After a short event tour April SAKUREU left LALIENE for unknown reasons, causing MAYU's comeback to the band in May 1995. In the following months LALIENE played at several live events where they distributed their second demo tape (also sold in stores since August 22). The demo sales went pretty good and the 1000 copies printed for stores sold out in a short time. However, Kyouka and Hirono both left the band in October 1995, leaving LALIENE without a drummer. Hirono seemed to have retired from the music scene since then while Kyouka joined Eliphas Levi a couple of year after leaving LALIENE.

A new drummer, MACHI (another roadie of MALICE MIZER) was introduced at a concert held at Meguro Rockmaykan on November 19 1995. Shortly after that LALIENE toured Japan with a live event tour titled "Pain of Love Story" until February and few other appearances in March 1996. The most important event of this era took place at Shinjuku LOFT on March 26th. It was LALIENE's first anniversary concert where they distributed the promotional single Saikai no hana and officially changed their name to LAREINE (at the same time SHOKI changed his name to KAMIJO, which is also his real name).

Rise to fame (1996 - 1999)[]

In 1996 LAREINE seemed to get more popularity and were joined by a second guitarist called AKIRA. The first release with him was the story demo tape 月夜の歌劇 (Tsukiyo no kageki), whose 1000 copies sold out so quickly that an additional press of 500 copies was released after a month. The release was promoted with the event tour QUEEN OF OPERA DANCE in August 1996. In December of the same year LAREINE released their first EP BLUE ROMANCE.

On January 11 1997 LAREINE held their first oneman live Meguro Rockmaykan and started the tour ROMANCIA, closed with a free oneman celebrating the band second anniversary. The tour success made LAREINE add two more tour finals where the promotional single ROMANCIA was distributed in two different colours. However, the last ROMANCIA REAL FINAL (August 28 at Meguro Rokumeikan) saw also the departure of AKIRA, leaving LAREINE for personal reasons. His withdrawal was commemorated by the special demo tape MIST, featuring a song composed by AKIRA himself.
LAREINE decided not to replace AKIRA and kept on touring for the rest of the year and even released their first full-length album BLUE ROMANCE～優しい花達の狂奏～.
On April 21st 1998 LAREINE announced the establishment of their official fan club Fleur, followed by a single by the same name in the following month. The national tour supporting Fleur ended with LAREINE's first seated concert hall oneman live at Nippon Seinenkan on September 27th. By October 1998 LAREINE's popularity increased so much that their single LILLIE CHARLOTTE was printed in 20,000 copies.

Major days (1999 - 2000)[]

In January 1999 LAREINE were asked to sign a contract with the major label SME Records (Sony Music Entertainment Japan).

The last indies concert was the Métamorphose tour final held at Shibuya Koukaidou (now C.C. Lemon Hall) on March 26th 1999, recorded for the video release Chantons l'amour. Earlier that day LAREINE clips were showed publicly at the Hachiko plaza in Shibuya. The rest of the year saw LAREINE having their first major live tour Le vent express and releasing the singles fiançailles, Billet and 冬東京 (Fuyu Tokyo). Between August and September a special TV show about LAREINE was also aired by TVK in three parts, and in December their official website opened.

On February 16 2000 LAREINE released their second full-length フィエルテの海と共に消ゆ～The Last of Romance～ (Fierté no umi to tomo ni kiyu), their only album release to enter ORICON's top 20 chart. A PV collection was also released on the same day. However, LAREINE seemed to have disappeared from the scenes and didn't announce any concert date nor public appearances. After some months of silence Emiru announced his intention to leave LAREINE for musical differences, and was then followed by MACHI and MAYU, who didn't want to go on without him. Fleur members had their chance to see their favourite band one more time at the fanclub-limited concert tour Miss CARMILA, held in Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo in early August 2000. Memorial box Miss CARMILA was sold to commemorate LAREINE's last tour.
Emiru's career would go on with a new band called RIBBON in Summer 2002, while MACHI announced the debut of his solo project Chanton l'amour some months after leaving LAREINE.

LAREINE as a solo project (2000 - 2003)[]

KAMIJO decided to pursue LAREINE's activity as a solo project and set up his own record label APPLAUSE RECORDS in late Summer 2000. He also established a free newsletter titled GRAMMAR to keep in contact with his fans. In late 2000 LAREINE released the single GRAND PAIN (whose PV was recorded in Vienna) and the full-length album SCREAM. On the same day of the release of this album KAMIJO joined the Halloween Party arranged by Shock Wave at Shibuya O-EAST.
On January 5th 2001 the first actual concert of LAREINE as a one-man band, titled Stranger in new days, took place at Ebisu LIQUIDROOM. Sadly this was also the last concert, since KAMIJO decided to freeze his solo activities to join NEW SODMY in June of the same year.

NEW SODMY was KAMIJO's first non-visual kei band and saw him collaborating with MAYU one more time. However, this band didn't last long and in late 2002 KAMIJO's solo activities with LAREINE were resumed once again.
In October 30 and 31 2002 APPLAUSE RECORDS held two Halloween Parties featuring among others RIBBON, NEW SODMY, Chanton l'amour and, of course, LAREINE with Emiru, MAYU and machi as special guests. In November 27 a new single titled 蝶の花/レッスン (Chou no hana/Lesson) was released to introduce the second solo album ETUDE. In this release MAYU, Emiru and machi played as secret guests but didn't join LAREINE officially. The release of ETUDE was promoted by an instore events tour in January 2003.
On March 26th LAREINE held a special revival live titled 再会の花 (Saikai no hana), at Shibuya-AX. In fact at this concert Emiru, who had just left RIBBON, announced his intention to join LAREINE. A new drummer called KAZUMI (also ex-member of RIBBON) was also introduced to the fans. To celebrate the addition of these two members a VHS titled 再会の花 (Saikai no hana) was distributed to the audience. On the very same day the two compilation albums Reine de fleur I and Reine de fleur II and a remake single of 再会の花 (Sakai no hana) were released.
On May 17th another revival live titled もう一つの約束 (Mou hitotsu no yakusoku, meaning Another Promise) took place at Shibuya-AX. At that concert MAYU rejoined and LAREINE officially resumed activities as a band.

Revival (2003 - 2007)[]

The reborn LAREINE toured Japan with the Scarlet Majesty tour in August 2003 (whose final date was recorded for a DVD release) and attended many live events. The band was also busy recording several singles that have been either sold in stores or distributed at concerts. The most prominent releases of this phase were the actual comeback single Scarley Majesty and a story series in three parts (MAJESTY, KNIGHT, PRINCESS). However, these releases were just a preview of a new full-length album titled Never Cage, released on September 5th 2004 after an intense studio and live activity. The album was pretty succesful for the indies scene and a deluxe edition was released after the first press sold out in November.
In 2005 LAREINE celebrated their 10th anniversary with two memorial concerts at HOLIDAY SHIBAURA (March 26) and Meguro Rockmaykan (March 28). UNDER CODE PRODUCTION also produced a tribute EP for LAREINE titled Anamorphosis and a memorial event at Nihon seinenkan.
Right after that LAREINE toured again with the tour Through a Deep Forest, closed with a performance at Shibuya O-WEST on October 16 2005 (recorded for the live album Deep Forest). Between 2005 and 2006 LAREINE had several releases seemed not to stop touring, but suddenly KAZUMI announced that he would leave LAREINE and retire from the music scene after the concert held on March 1 2006 at Kawasaki CLUB CITTA. The last release with KAZUMI was the EP Winter Romantic.
While looking for a new drummer LAREINE performed at few concerts with 風弥 (Kazami) as support member, but at the same time MAYU started not to show up at the band rehearsals and concerts and literally vanished into thin air.
For this reason in early October LAREINE announced their intention to disband after their last instore event on February 17th. The last LAREINE concert had taken place at the Halloween Party produced by KAMIJO and KISAKI on October 31 2006, with HIZAKI as support guitarist.

One-night revival (2015)[]

On August 23, 2015, it was announced at KAMIJO's oneman live "KAMIJO World Tour 2015 -20th ANNIVERSARY BEST- JAPAN FINAL" at Tokyo Kinema Club that LAREINE will revive for one day on December 28 at KAMIJO 20TH ANNIVERSARY BEST GRAND FINALE at Zepp DiverCity Tokyo. The original members, consisting of Emiru, Mayu, and Machi, will perform alongside Kamijo at the live event.

Lineup[]

	KAMIJO Vocals & Programming (1994.11 - 2001.06; 2002.08 - 2007.02.18, 2015.12.28, 2016.7.18), Guitar (2000.08 - 2001.06) → 美辞麗句 → LAREINE → NEW SODMY → LAREINE → Versailles, Node of Scherzo → Versailles → KAMIJO → Versailles, KAMIJO
	MAYU Guitar & Backing Vocals (1994.11 - 1995.03; 1995.05.14 - 2000.08.06; 2003.05.17 - 2006.07, 2015.12.28, 2016.7.18), Guest Guitar (2002 - 2003) → LALIENE → LAREINE → NEW SODMY → LAREINE
	EMIRU Bass & Backing Vocals (1995.03 - 2000.08.06; 2003.03.26 - 2007.02.18, 2015.12.28, 2016.7.18), Guest Bass (2002 - 2003) → LAREINE → RIBBON → LAREINE → ANUBIS → EMIRU
	MACHI Drums (1995.11.19 - 2000.8.6, 2015.12.28, 2016.7.18), Guest Drums (2002) → LAREINE → Chanton L'amour

Former Members[]

	KAZUMI Drums (2003.03.26 - 2002.03.01) → Alicia → orivia → RIBBON → LAREINE
	AKIRA Guitar (1996.06 - 1997.04.28) → LAREINE → D+L → Bijou
	Hirono Guitar(1995.3 - 1995.10) → LALIENE →
	鏡花 (Kyouka) Drums (1994.11 - 1995.10) → LALIENE → Eliphas Levi → HERESY → Cupid
	SAKUREU Guitar (1994.11 - 1995.05) → LALIENE →

Support Members[]

NAOMI - Support Keyboards (1999 - 2000; 2003 - 2006)
→ NOISE FACTORY →
HIZAKI - Support Guitar (2006.10.31)
風弥 (Kazami) - Support Drums (2006.03.11 - 2006.10.31), Session Piano (2006), Roadie
→ Deone → Clavier → DaizyStripper
MOTOKI - Support Guitar (2003.03 - 2003.04, 2006.07.19), Roadie
→ D'AIR → Visui

Lineup Chronology[]

Discography[]

All music and lyrics by KAMIJO, except where noted.

Video[]

Others[]

2000.08.02 MISS CARMILA (live tour boxset with comment VHS)
2005.06.?? 女王という名の貴公子 (history book, first press includes CD single Imperial Concerto)

Omnibus albums[]

2006.08.05 Graceful Playboys

Live & Fanclub Distributed Discography[]

CD

VHS[]

1998.05.03 Fleurir～Le printemps～
1998.08.01 Fleurir～mode estivale～
2003.01.08 再会の花のエチュード (Saikai no hana no echūdo)
2003.03.26 再会の花 (Saikai no hana)
2004.07.01 Fleur～復活から一年の軌跡～ (Fukkatsu kara ichinen no kiseki)

DVD[]

2003.03.26 再会の花 (Saikai no hana)
2004.??.?? 蒼の巣窟 (Ao no soukutsu) -Live Document of 2004.03.26 Tokyo Kinema Club-
2004.??.?? 月の狩人 (Tsuki no karyūdo) -Live Document of 2004.05.01 Tokyo Kinema Club-
2005.03.26 MEMORIAL DVD
2005.06.30 剣の舞 (Tsurugi no mai)
2005.11.29 Making DVD
2005.12.?? Making Clips
2007.08.?? THE LAST OF ROMANCE I
2010.01.?? Last Song for You

Message Discs[]

1999.03.26 青い鳥の行方 (Aoi Tori no Yukue) [message disc]
2004.01.25 ごめんなさいCD (Gomen nasai CD)
2004.07.22 THEME OF ROMANCE
2005.07.21 Anamorphosis SPECIAL DVD (DVD)
2006.02.01 LAREINE CURE special disc [interview + promo]

Gigography[]

Main article: LAREINE Gigography

Notes[]

↑ It's not clear if there actually were three guitarists at that time. Hirono left LALIENE in October 1995, but it's still uknown if he was in the band since the beginning or joined in early 1995 to replace MAYU. Members change are not mentioned in the official homepage biography, and the LAREINE page at grass thread has several errors in the lineups. Vkdb.jp doesn't even mention SAKUREU, and fan-made biographies are quite contrasting each others.

External links[]

LAREINE official website

[Hirono-1] It's not clear if there actually were three guitarists at that time. Hirono left LALIENE in October 1995, but it's still uknown if he was in the band since the beginning or joined in early 1995 to replace MAYU. Members change are not mentioned in the official homepage biography, and the LAREINE page at grass thread has several errors in the lineups. Vkdb.jp doesn't even mention SAKUREU, and fan-made biographies are quite contrasting each others.

[1]