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Vamps
All info from Wikipedia
Vamps is a Japanese rock band formed by Hyde and K.A.Z under the label Vamprose.
Origin
Japan
Genres
Rock
Years active
2008 – present
LabelsVamprose
Associated acts
L'Arc~en~Ciel
Websitevampsxxx.com VAMPS Live 2009 U.S.A. Official Site
Origin
Japan
Genres
Rock
Years active
2008 – present
LabelsVamprose
Associated acts
L'Arc~en~Ciel
Websitevampsxxx.com VAMPS Live 2009 U.S.A. Official Site
Profile
VAMPS is the name of the band formed by HYDE (L'Arc~en~Ciel) and K.A.Z (Oblivion Dust). HYDE and K.A.Z have been working together on HYDE’s solo work since 2003. After years of collaboration, the two finally decided to form their own band and agreed that there was no better way to announce VAMPS than getting out in front of the fans right away.
Their first Nationwide tour of Japan, "VAMPS LIVE 2008", kicked off at Zepp Tokyo. Between August 1, 2008 and October 28, 2008, VAMPS played 46 shows at the prestigious Zepp live houses throughout Japan. The tour was totally organized by VAMPS and the venues were custom decorated by spray art such as the now-famous VAMPS castle. The band played 6 to 10 shows at each Zepp venue and every single show was sold out. The continuous string of sold out shows were unprecedented and had never taken place during any other Zepp live house tour before. Their second single "I Gotta Kick Start Now" was released on March 13, 2009. A new single "Evanescent" was also featured as a PV.
On January 31st 2010 the band has been awarded with the "Billboard Japan Ranking International 2009" Award for their efforts and success with their Tour in the U.S.A.
After the band released the DVD Vamps LIve 2009 U.S.A. on March 17, 2010, they released the single "Devil Side" on May 12, 2010. Their sixth single, "Angel Trip", was released on June 9, 2010. Following its release, their 2nd album, Beast, was released on July 28, 2010.
Their first Nationwide tour of Japan, "VAMPS LIVE 2008", kicked off at Zepp Tokyo. Between August 1, 2008 and October 28, 2008, VAMPS played 46 shows at the prestigious Zepp live houses throughout Japan. The tour was totally organized by VAMPS and the venues were custom decorated by spray art such as the now-famous VAMPS castle. The band played 6 to 10 shows at each Zepp venue and every single show was sold out. The continuous string of sold out shows were unprecedented and had never taken place during any other Zepp live house tour before. Their second single "I Gotta Kick Start Now" was released on March 13, 2009. A new single "Evanescent" was also featured as a PV.
On January 31st 2010 the band has been awarded with the "Billboard Japan Ranking International 2009" Award for their efforts and success with their Tour in the U.S.A.
After the band released the DVD Vamps LIve 2009 U.S.A. on March 17, 2010, they released the single "Devil Side" on May 12, 2010. Their sixth single, "Angel Trip", was released on June 9, 2010. Following its release, their 2nd album, Beast, was released on July 28, 2010.
2009 Live U.S. Concert Tour
In April 2009, Vamps announced their "Vamps Live 2009 U.S.A. Tour". The tour covered 10 U.S. cities from July 11 - August 1. VAMPS rocked both coasts, stopping in the following cities: New York, Baltimore, two Warped Tour shows (Hartford & Columbia), Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Vegas, San Diego, and finishing off in Los Angeles.
2010 World Tour
VAMPS are set to embark on their first-ever world tour this fall. They are to make stops in the following countries: United States, Chile, Spain, France, and China (Shanghai). For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit their official website at: http://www.vampsxxx.com
Members
Hideto Takarai AKA Hyde
Real Name: Hideto Takarai
Stage name: Hyde
Born January 29, 1969 (age 41)
Birthplace: Wakayama, Japan
Genres: Alternative rockHard rock
Occupations: Vocalist, Songwriter, Lyricist, Guitarist, Actor
Labels:Ki/oon Records/Haunted Records(JP), Gan-Shin(EU)
Associated acts: L'Arc~en~Ciel, VAMPS
Website: http://www.hyde.com/
Stage name: Hyde
Born January 29, 1969 (age 41)
Birthplace: Wakayama, Japan
Genres: Alternative rockHard rock
Occupations: Vocalist, Songwriter, Lyricist, Guitarist, Actor
Labels:Ki/oon Records/Haunted Records(JP), Gan-Shin(EU)
Associated acts: L'Arc~en~Ciel, VAMPS
Website: http://www.hyde.com/
Fun Facts about Hyde
- Hyde has his belly button pierced!
- He got his angel wings tattoo probably around 97/98.
- Before he was in L'Arc~en~Ciel he was the guitarist for the band Kiddies Bomb (which changed it's name to Jeruselem's Rod shortly before he left it)
- Supposedly, his mother would make him wear a red backpack to school when he was a child. (Red backpacks are/were typical for girls.)
- Hyde has several copies of his (custom made) pentacle ring in different colours and has been known to lose one a few times. Apparantly, the original ring design is a copy of one of Marilyn Manson's rings.
- He has a huge appetite and eats a lot, which is insane considering how thin he is
- On the most common picture of his wing tattoo (The one that has the Japanese written on it) the words were written by the tattoo artist and they say:
Hyde tattooed a pair of wings on his back,
even though Hyde said 'I prefer the devil.'
Still, he chose the angel in the end.
After many observations,
I realized that angel's wings are really more suitable for Hyde.
During the photo shoot, as I saw the wings,
on Hyde's pale, never-been-tanned skin,
I felt a fleeting yet imprinted feeling of satisfaction;
From now on, using that pair of wings,
Hyde can fly freely.
- One time, while on set for Moon Child, Hyde was waiting for Gackt to finish his filming for the day and started riding around on his motorbike, making a lot of noise and showing off to try and get Gackt's attention, but Gackt never looked at him!
- Hyde loves to draw but, because he is colour blind, he mostly sketches in black and white.
- Hyde designs some of his own clothing (shirts and such) as well as some of the Hydeist goods you can buy on his site.
- Tetsu has nick-named him Doi Hachiro, which I've roughly translated to mean 'top degree of trouble' (someone correct me if I'm wrong here? My Japanese isn't the best) as he is often very mischievious. I've also heard it said that the Doiha part of it is because it's Haido backwards (when written using katakana) ドイハ = ハイド (ha/i/do = do/i/ha ) So I believe that Tetsu calls him that to tease him for both those reasons.
- He's a big fan of Harry Potter.
- Another Moon Child story: one time, Hyde was napping in his chair on set and when he woke up, Gackt was very very close to his face and said something about wanting to kiss him.
- Gackt has admitted to being in love with Hyde. Whether as a friend or more, we'll probably never know.
- Apparantly, Hyde was in the audience at one of Gackt's performances in 2004 (I think it was the one on his birthday?) and blew Gackt a kiss.
- In the early days of L'Arc~en~Ciel, Hyde would often ask Tetsu to give him hickey marks on his neck before they went on stage. (Not quite sure what the point of that was, probably just to tease the fans, but Tetsu talked about it in a... magazine interview)
- Hyde appears to have some sort of obsession with flicking his tongue. In my opinion, part of it is to try and hide the fact that his bottom teeth are kind of crooked, as well as just him flirting with his fans.
- His album Roentgen was recorded in England and there was believe he had the help of an English orchestra
- He also recorded two versions of Roentgen; the Japanese version that features a mix of English and Japanese lyrics as well as an overseas version done comepletely in English, which has now been re-released in Japan with an additional 3 tracks (which are just the c/ws for the Roentgen singles)
- Hyde hates hot and sticky weather. However, he doesn't seem to be overly fond of cold weather, either.
- Hyde has his belly button pierced!
- He got his angel wings tattoo probably around 97/98.
- Before he was in L'Arc~en~Ciel he was the guitarist for the band Kiddies Bomb (which changed it's name to Jeruselem's Rod shortly before he left it)
- Supposedly, his mother would make him wear a red backpack to school when he was a child. (Red backpacks are/were typical for girls.)
- Hyde has several copies of his (custom made) pentacle ring in different colours and has been known to lose one a few times. Apparantly, the original ring design is a copy of one of Marilyn Manson's rings.
- He has a huge appetite and eats a lot, which is insane considering how thin he is
- On the most common picture of his wing tattoo (The one that has the Japanese written on it) the words were written by the tattoo artist and they say:
Hyde tattooed a pair of wings on his back,
even though Hyde said 'I prefer the devil.'
Still, he chose the angel in the end.
After many observations,
I realized that angel's wings are really more suitable for Hyde.
During the photo shoot, as I saw the wings,
on Hyde's pale, never-been-tanned skin,
I felt a fleeting yet imprinted feeling of satisfaction;
From now on, using that pair of wings,
Hyde can fly freely.
- One time, while on set for Moon Child, Hyde was waiting for Gackt to finish his filming for the day and started riding around on his motorbike, making a lot of noise and showing off to try and get Gackt's attention, but Gackt never looked at him!
- Hyde loves to draw but, because he is colour blind, he mostly sketches in black and white.
- Hyde designs some of his own clothing (shirts and such) as well as some of the Hydeist goods you can buy on his site.
- Tetsu has nick-named him Doi Hachiro, which I've roughly translated to mean 'top degree of trouble' (someone correct me if I'm wrong here? My Japanese isn't the best) as he is often very mischievious. I've also heard it said that the Doiha part of it is because it's Haido backwards (when written using katakana) ドイハ = ハイド (ha/i/do = do/i/ha ) So I believe that Tetsu calls him that to tease him for both those reasons.
- He's a big fan of Harry Potter.
- Another Moon Child story: one time, Hyde was napping in his chair on set and when he woke up, Gackt was very very close to his face and said something about wanting to kiss him.
- Gackt has admitted to being in love with Hyde. Whether as a friend or more, we'll probably never know.
- Apparantly, Hyde was in the audience at one of Gackt's performances in 2004 (I think it was the one on his birthday?) and blew Gackt a kiss.
- In the early days of L'Arc~en~Ciel, Hyde would often ask Tetsu to give him hickey marks on his neck before they went on stage. (Not quite sure what the point of that was, probably just to tease the fans, but Tetsu talked about it in a... magazine interview)
- Hyde appears to have some sort of obsession with flicking his tongue. In my opinion, part of it is to try and hide the fact that his bottom teeth are kind of crooked, as well as just him flirting with his fans.
- His album Roentgen was recorded in England and there was believe he had the help of an English orchestra
- He also recorded two versions of Roentgen; the Japanese version that features a mix of English and Japanese lyrics as well as an overseas version done comepletely in English, which has now been re-released in Japan with an additional 3 tracks (which are just the c/ws for the Roentgen singles)
- Hyde hates hot and sticky weather. However, he doesn't seem to be overly fond of cold weather, either.
Iwaike Kazuhito AKA K.A.Z
Real Name: Iwaike Kazuhito (岩池一仁)
Stage Name: KAZ
Age: 42
Birthday: October 11, 1968
Birth Place: Kofu, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan
Height: 1.70cm
Weight: 55kg
Blood type: O
Favourite band: Meat Beat Manifesto
Hobby: fishing (he likes to go fishing on the mornings before they do a live performance)
Siblings: He has an older sister.
Fun Facts about KAZ
KAZ is a Japanese musician, producer and guitarist.
When he was a child, he was very competitive and absolutely hated to be defeated in anything. He can be an extremely obsessive person and can totally commit himself to something. However, if he's not interested in something, he just won't bother about.
He was guitarist of Gemmy Rockets and The Lovers, later of Oblivion Dust, until September of 2001, where Oblivion Dust disbanded.
In early 1998, he joined in hide with Spread Beaver as guitarist (although, he follows as Oblivion Dust member).
In 2001, he started working with L'Arc~en~Ciel's bassist tetsu on tetsu's solo project TETSU69.
In 2002, he formed the rock unit Spin Aqua with vocalist/model/actress Tsuchiya Anna. After producing three singles and one album, they dispersed in middle 2004.
In 2003, KAZ being Spin Aqua member began to work along HYDE as co-producer and guitarist in various singles and the album of 2006 FAITH, also supporting HYDE as support guitarist of his tours.
In late 2004, he started Sonic Storage with I.N.A. of Dope HEADz.
In late 2006 he produced a remix song from FAKE? and was released as a bonus.
In June 28th, 2007 was announced that KAZ is reuniting as Oblivion Dust member again.
Stage Name: KAZ
Age: 42
Birthday: October 11, 1968
Birth Place: Kofu, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan
Height: 1.70cm
Weight: 55kg
Blood type: O
Favourite band: Meat Beat Manifesto
Hobby: fishing (he likes to go fishing on the mornings before they do a live performance)
Siblings: He has an older sister.
Fun Facts about KAZ
KAZ is a Japanese musician, producer and guitarist.
When he was a child, he was very competitive and absolutely hated to be defeated in anything. He can be an extremely obsessive person and can totally commit himself to something. However, if he's not interested in something, he just won't bother about.
He was guitarist of Gemmy Rockets and The Lovers, later of Oblivion Dust, until September of 2001, where Oblivion Dust disbanded.
In early 1998, he joined in hide with Spread Beaver as guitarist (although, he follows as Oblivion Dust member).
In 2001, he started working with L'Arc~en~Ciel's bassist tetsu on tetsu's solo project TETSU69.
In 2002, he formed the rock unit Spin Aqua with vocalist/model/actress Tsuchiya Anna. After producing three singles and one album, they dispersed in middle 2004.
In 2003, KAZ being Spin Aqua member began to work along HYDE as co-producer and guitarist in various singles and the album of 2006 FAITH, also supporting HYDE as support guitarist of his tours.
In late 2004, he started Sonic Storage with I.N.A. of Dope HEADz.
In late 2006 he produced a remix song from FAKE? and was released as a bonus.
In June 28th, 2007 was announced that KAZ is reuniting as Oblivion Dust member again.
Ju-ken
Name: Jun-ken
Age: 39
Birthday: June 27, 1971
Birthplace: Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, Japan
Genres: Alternative rock, Hard rock, Pop punk, Pop rock, Pop
Occupations: Session musician, Bassist Instruments bass, contrabass
Years active: 1998–present
Associated acts: Anna Tsuchiya, Fake?, Gackt, Heath, Tomoyasu Hotei, Oblivion Dust, VampsWebsite: http://ju-ken.velvet.jp/
Age: 39
Birthday: June 27, 1971
Birthplace: Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, Japan
Genres: Alternative rock, Hard rock, Pop punk, Pop rock, Pop
Occupations: Session musician, Bassist Instruments bass, contrabass
Years active: 1998–present
Associated acts: Anna Tsuchiya, Fake?, Gackt, Heath, Tomoyasu Hotei, Oblivion Dust, VampsWebsite: http://ju-ken.velvet.jp/
Arimatsu
Drums
Jin
Keyboard
Discography
Albums Singles
- Love Addict (July 2, 2008)
- I Gotta Kick Start Now (March 13, 2009)
- Evanescent (May 13, 2009)
- Sweet Dreams (September 30, 2009)
- Devil Side (May 12, 2010)
- Angel Trip (June 9, 2010)
- Vamps Live 2008 (February 4, 2009)
- Vamps Live 2009 U.S.A. (March 17, 2010)
- Vamps Live 2009 (May 12, 2010)
Well there it is! Hope you got your fill all VAMPS fans, and hope it informed and maybe got all of you who aren't fans into the band ^.^
