My favorite band, Dir en grey

[Oni]

"Formed in 1997, with the sole purpose to spread the feeling of hurt and sorrow caused by weakness, shallowness and egoism of humanity. Since then, their grotesque ways, their warped affection, and their crazy live shows took the independent record scene by a storm, putting them on the very top.
In 1999, their fame caught the attention of then CEO of East West Japan. Thus signing them to a major record label. They debuted releasing 3 singles at once, very rare for a newcomer. Of course, all 3 songs hit the top 10 on the charts. After that, all their releases would hit the top 10 on the charts proving that more and more people were sympathizing with their lyrics.
In 2002, their fame hit all of Asia. During their Asia Tour they traveled to Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Shanghai. And in Shanghai, public safety officers had to be called in to calm the excited fans.
When they first formed, their expressions of pain came from struggling and writhe, hiding inside the feelings of hurt and suffering. But as time passed, their pain became a cry also a message.
Now, Dir en grey has changed its target from Japan to the World. From their unstable beginning, the band itself has gone through many changes and revolutions. It is clear that their music is their tool to send out a message, and they have only just begun. " -Taken from the official site.

Dir en grey is comprised of Five members.
Kaoru Niikura (known as Kaoru) On guitar


Nishimura Tooru (known as Kyo, because he hates his real name) As the vocalist.


Daisuke Andou (known as Die) Is the Rhythm Guitarist (and my favorite member!)


And last but not least, Toshimasa Hara (Known as Toshiya) On the Bass Guitar! (truly my idol, seeing as I place the bass guitar as well)


(All members except Shinya sing background vocals as well)

Since their forming in 1997, they have released 24 singles, 12 albums, 12 DVD's, and 9 different VHS video tapes.
For the purposes of making this message shorter, i have decided not to list the entire discography, and link to it here: http://tsukiyo.hu/index_en.php?page=en/band/disco

When they first started, they all did their own hair and make-up

Their first Single, Missa, released a huge hit, Garden, into the world. People that were fans of their previous band, La: Sadies flocked to see this new album, and some were disappointed by the change of sound, and they missed out on probably the biggest Japanese rock band today.
Dir en grey's 1st full length album, Gauze, was very diverse. The tracks on this album ranged from hard rock with metal undertones (such as -Zan-) to pop-sounding bass driven songs, (such as Raison D'etre and Cage) To beautiful Soft rock (Such as Akuro no Oka) Upon the release of their first album, many many people appeared as their fans.

Dir en grey's songs usually comprise of beautifully written musical scores, which are usually written by Kaoru, and a set of deep, dark lyrics that depict the bad and evil things of this world. The lyrics are usually written by Kyo, who stated that there is too much happy music in the world today, and a happy ending is too cliché. Despite such horrid things being written, each song of theirs sounds beautiful and individual from the rest.

Dir en grey has gone through many phases when it comes to their individual dress style. They have gone from Visual Kei to a more refined style now.

(left to right) Die, Toshiya, Kaoru, Shinya, Kyo

(left to right) Shinya, Toshiya, Kyo, (nice abs ), Kaoru, Die

On to the Individual band Biographies!

Kaoru Niikura

Full name: 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) (such small feet!)
Favourite cigarette brand: Mild Seven Light
Favourite sport: soccer, and 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, potato salad, hamburger, chocolate, sushi, double cheeseburgers, chinese food, ramen, okonomiyaki, (i agree with that one) takoyaki, onigiri, gyudon curry, gyudon kimechi
Food he detests: prawn
He likes to get: clothes, accessories
Favourite colours: purple and black

Kaoru is referred to as the leader-sama, seeing as though he is the oldest in the band, and going by the Japanese system of Honour, more respect should go to him.
Kaoru is near-sighted, but wears contacts.
He likes his Adam's apple, seeing as though it makes him feel masculine.
Kaoru is the lead composer of the band's songs
He is apparently very good at drawing.


Daisuke Andou

Die is the joker of the group. He smiles a lot, loves to have fun, and drinks probably more than he should.
Full name: Andou 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: Salem Light
Favourite sport: soccer, baseball )just like Kaoru)
Favourite music: Sakai Noriko, Hide
His former bands: kazari, 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 (which, you will soon find out, so does toshiya)
Dislikes: raw things, rain
According to him, the most important thing is life
Favourite food: tofu, potatoes, bacon, cheese omelets, milk, cheese, spaghetti, roasted meat, okinomiyaki, curry, pizza, hamburger, ramen, pastries etc...
Food that he detests: seafood, thorny animals, raw foods
He likes to get: cigarettes
He likes not to get: raw things, candy

Die's favorite color is red. Most of the time, his hair is dyed red. He has a heartwarming smile, and luckily, he probably smiles more than anyone in the group. DIe is a prankster, because he always plays tricks on Shinya and teases him. This is rumored to be because at first he thought Shinya was a girl, and he had taken a liking to him, but then later found out he was actually not a girl. (oh die, that would only happen to you)


Kyo

Well, Kyo. He's hard to explain. Mix the words "eccentric", "eclectic", "hyperactive", and "grotesque (in a good way)" and you have Kyo.
Some Facts:

Full name:(Kyo) (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: (Gesshoku), Visun, Masquerade, (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 collects: Doraemon, Warumono figurines

Kyo, since he does such strange things, such as cutting himself and bleeding on stage, is thought to have had a troubled childhood. The truth is, his life was pretty average. Kyo thinks that being in school is pointless, so he concentrated more on his social life. His father called him stupid once, but that is about the worst that has happened to him (from what he has told people)

He lived in Kyoto until he was around 19. He liked the place because of it's atmosphere of quietness and the temples there. His family ran a bread shop, so he eventualy grew to hate the scent of bread :<

As a child, he liked to hop on his bike, and go search for new places to play, like parks and such. He played a lot with his friend, whose family had a lumberyard. They made a jungle gym from the logs, even built a fort at the top. They liked to climb around on the logs. Kyo once fell from this edifice, but luckily, he didn't hurt himself.
At this time, most of his friends were girls.

He used to go at his grandpa's house in Ishiyama to stay over. There were rice paddies there, and he would go play around there. They would go to the river and catch fish with a net, and eat them later. Kyo really liked eating these fishes.

He liked to play video games a lot. He got his first Famicom console when he was around 7 years old. He was also a big fan of action and sci-fi themed movies; movies like Superman. He watched shows like Goranger and Kikaider.

In Japan, new school students are persuaded to join a club. Kyo was in Shogi (Japanese chess) when he was in primary school; but he never went to the club events or meetings, so he could go home earlier.

He hated all his classes at school, he thought they are completely useless and playing outside for a kid is much more important. When he realized all his friends started studying, and he felt a bit left behind; so the first time in his life he felt the urge to study, and sat by his desk for 2 hours; but his dad told him it's still not enough, his motivation disappeared and he stopped studying alltogether. He studied some Japanese and matemathics though, because he considered math basics and kanji writing useful.

Even at a young age he had a very strong will. He would not do what he doesn't want to do; but if there was something he wanted to do, he would do that whatever it took! He felt he's different from other people, and didn't wanted to be as other people either. He didn't study, because he felt it was unnecessary. He thought, if some years later, he's living under a bridge, that would be the result of his own actions. His sense of dissimilarity was very strong. And even though he get along with everyone well, he didn't had close friends. He couldn't make really close friendship with the though guys, because he hated violence, neither with the serious guys, because he hated studying. But he had a lot of girl friends to have fun with. No hentai stuff though, he just liked playing with girls >_<

His classmate had a Buck-Tick poster on her desk. When he first saw that poster, he thought, Atsushi Sakurai looked like an anime character. From that time on, he started listening to rock music. When he discovered X, he decided to be a musician, and gradually began to delve deeper into indies music. He listened every kind of music. He even dyed his hair to pink, and after that, he tried other colors too!

His parents always told him it's important to have dreams. And he only wanted to be in a band. He liked to listen to X because he liked their fast songs. He appreciated Hide playing the guitar, so first he put his poster in his room and bought a guitar. But soon he realized he couldn't suddenly be able to play X songs on it, so he gave up on that. He tried many different instruments too: like flute in elementary school, guitar and bass later, even the piano. When he decided to be in a band, he told his parents he won't go to high school which made his parents very angry. He dedicated his life to his vocalist career, so he can show his parents he can be somebody, not a useless person as his parents told him.

When he finished school, he began to work in different places. He would do the packaging and shipping of different kinds of freezed and refrigerated goods. He also made packaged lunches in a factory. He rarely worked more than a month though. He didn't even went back to get his payment!

Then he worked as a roadie for nearly 2 years. During this time, he learned what the world of J-Rock bands are, got to know a lot of people. He helped the band and learned hairstyling (how to make their hair stand upward), fixing and setting up different kinds of instruments. After the lives, he was made to drink with the staff, altough he didn't like alcohol at all.

During his time as a roadie, he realized he wanted to be in a band, so he started to gather members. His first band consisted of a guitarist, a drummer and a bassist. He tried out himself as a vocalist for the first time. It didn't go very well at first, but he tried to do his best nevertheless.

He stated he writes the lyrics all for his sake. You can't always write about happiness and he doesn't have any interest in doing so. He thinks his lyrics can be the base everyone compares their bad experiences. So they can think to themselves 'I thought I'm in a bad period of my life, but it could be worse'. He thinks that's how his lyrics should be used.

In 2000, the tympanum in his ear got ruptured when Dir en grey played the intro of Rasetsu Koku. Because of this sudden illness, soon he had to go to heal in the hospital. Many lives on their ...DEEP (-), DEEP (-), DEEP (er) tour were postponed until next year. Kyo was very surprised when he saw the huge pile of fan letters wishing him to get better. When he left the hospital with his ear cured, he still had to take medicines regularly, which had various side effects like having more appetite thus getting fatter, also getting pimples on his face. But he got encouragement from his band mates and fans who folded thousands of paper cranes for him - other Japanese bands asked about his condition too, worried about his state. Kaoru even went to his house and they watched a video tape Kaoru bought with him (Kaoru said, he would be embarassed if he came over to Kyo's house without anything ^_^). Kyo got over the illness a few weeks after, and from what he said, it made him more stronger and more self confident too. Sadly, this condition has a chance to happen again, so the band's still worried.

He knows how to fall asleep absolutely anywhere: he was even sleeping in a middle of an interview! He's speciality is to sleep in cars: he'd fall asleep when the car's engines start; and immidiately wake up when they reach their destination (he's not in the driver's seat of course ^_^ 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.

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 knows 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.

***

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! He has a younger sister. Kyo doesn't like winter, because he can't go out anywhere. He only loves warm weather.
When he was a little kid, he decided he will not learn 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.
The director of Battle Royale offered the role of Yoshitoki Kuninobu to him, but Kyo's management forbade him to take it.


Toshiya

Full name: (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, 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!


Shinya

Full name: (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: (Jinkou Tenshi), Siva, Ruby, (Haijin Kurobara Zoku), 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

Musical Career
In the 7th grade, Shinya and his friend from elementary school decided to start a band. His friend told him to play drums (even though he only played trumpets before in the school's instrument club) so Shinya took all his New Year's money and bought a new drum set. He knew how to play on the drums right away! After that, Shinya went to a new school, so this band disbanded, but when he came back, and as a drummer, he was sought by many bands. His first live show was in the community hall they've borrowed. He played on the drums for five bands, about 100 people came to watch their shows.

His first "real" band was called Jinkou Tenshi, the band members were Shinya's friends from high school. A year after, he was in Siva, a new band. They played in livehouses at night, so Shinya had a hard time keep up with school. He also had a part-time job, but the money he earned still wasn't enough. So he stopped buying food, and saving up his lunch money his parents gave him. He stayed 6 months with Siva, but he really had a tough time there.

Then Shinya was invited by Kisaki to join a new band (Ruby), so he decided to move to Tokyo along with the old band members of Siva (except the bassist).



Thank you for reading my article,and if you haven't really listened to Dir en grey before, go ahead! I'm Sure they have written something you will like.






DISCLAIMER: THIS ARTICLE WAS "WRITTEN" FOR INFORMATIVE PURPOSES ONLY, AND I TAKE ABSOLUTELY NO CREDIT IN MOST OF THIS ARTICLE. ALL CREDIT GOES TO THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE (http://direngrey.co.jp)
AND THE WRITERS AT TSUKIYO DIR EN GREY SHRINE
(http://tsukiyo.hu)

(sorry, had to put that so i didn't get in trouble)
If there is another thread like this, please feel free to merge or move this one. Also, if this is breaking any rules of some sort, DELETE! DELETE!

again, thank you for reading my article on Dir en grey, and i hope all of you may become interested in them.

I am sorry if my english is bad...