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Pierrot (stylized as PIERROT) was a Japanese
visual kei , abbreviated , is a category of Japanese musicians that have a strong focus on extravagant stage costumes that originated in Japan during the early 1980s. Koji Dejima of '' Bounce'' wrote that visual kei is not a specific sound, but rather it " ...
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
band formed in 1994 in Nagano. After changing their name from Dizy-Lizy to Pierrot and several member changes, the final lineup was completed in 1995 with Kirito on vocals, Jun and Aiji on guitar, Kohta on bass and Takeo on drums. After roughly ten years together, Pierrot disbanded in 2006. Their final single was named "Hello", an apt title for a band who started their major career with an album called '' Finale''. Vocalist Kirito embarked on a solo career in 2005, before reuniting with Kohta and Takeo to start a new band called Angelo. Aiji officially joined
maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...
, formerly of Ishihara Gundan and Sinners, in LM.C in 2006. Jun joined guitarist Koji (ex- La'cryma Christi) and vocalist Shouta (ex-NIOI) in creating a new band called ALvino sometime in 2006. Pierrot reunited for two shows in 2014, and another two in 2017.


History

In 1994, guitarists
Kirito is a Japanese rock singer and musician. He was born in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Formerly vocalist of the rock band Pierrot, he is now the vocalist of Angelo and also holds a solo career. Bands Kirito was initially involved with Pierrot (original ...
(then going by his real name, Shinya) and Jun formed a rock band named Dizy-Lizy in Nagano. They recruited Hidelow on vocals, Kirito's younger brother Kohta on bass, and Luka on drums. After changing their name to Pierrot, Luka left in November and Takeo joined. Their debut album, ''Kichigai Pierrot'', was released in December, having already been recorded with Luka. Then in February 1995, Hidelow also left the band while Aiji joined, completing the final line up of Kirito on vocals, Jun and Aiji on guitar, Kohta on bass and Takeo on drums. Around this time, future
Dir En Grey Dir En Grey (stylized as DIR EN GREY and previously as Dir en grey) is a Japanese Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in February 1997 and currently signed to Firewall Div., a sub-division of Free-Will. With a consistent lineup of guitari ...
bassist Toshiya worked for them as a roadie. After releasing their second album ''Pandora's Box'' in July, Pierrot signed with Sweet Child Management. This album was named one of the top albums from 1989-1998 in a 2004 issue of the music magazine ''Band Yarouze''. In 1998 they signed to
Toshiba-EMI , formerly , was one of Japan's leading music companies. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of British music company EMI Group Ltd. on June 30, 2007, after Toshiba sold off its previous 45% stake. Its CEO and president was Kazuhiko Koike. Wh ...
and released their major debut, the single "Clear Sky", which surprisingly reached number 6 on the
Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...
music chart. The album '' Finale'' was released in July of the following year, and in April they sold out the
Nippon Budokan The , often shortened to simply Budokan, is an indoor arena in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally built for the inaugural Olympic judo competition in the 1964 Summer Olympics. The Budokan was a popular venue for Japanese professional wres ...
, which was unheard of for a band just making their debut. Pierrot left Toshiba-EMI and signed with
Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company that is a subsidiary of Comcast ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of N ...
in 2001. In December 2003, they released their best-selling album, the self-cover ''Dictators Circus: Kijutsuteki Senritsu''. Following the release of two compilation albums in 2005, ''Dictators Circus: A Variant Bud'' and ''Dictators Circus: A Deformed Bud'', Pierrot announced they were disbanding. They officially disbanded on April 12, 2006, their last release was a single in June 2006, titled "Hello". Pierrot's song "Kumo no Ito" was covered by Hana Shounen Baddies on the compilation ''Crush! 2 -90's V-Rock Best Hit Cover Songs-'', which was released on November 23, 2011 and features current
visual kei , abbreviated , is a category of Japanese musicians that have a strong focus on extravagant stage costumes that originated in Japan during the early 1980s. Koji Dejima of '' Bounce'' wrote that visual kei is not a specific sound, but rather it " ...
bands covering songs from bands that were important to the '90s visual kei movement. "Haruka..." was covered by -Oz- for the similar album ''Counteraction - V-Rock covered Visual Anime songs Compilation-'', which was released on May 23, 2012 and features covers of songs by visual kei bands that were used in
anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
. Pierrot announced on April 12, 2014, exactly eight years since their disbandment, that they would reunite for two shows. The concerts were held at the
Saitama Super Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Chūō-ku, Saitama, Chūō-ku, Saitama (city), Saitama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. It opened preliminarily on May 5, 2000, and then was officially opened on September 1 of the same year. Its maximum capa ...
on October 24 and 25. In 2017, Pierrot reunited again to play a two-day performance with
Dir En Grey Dir En Grey (stylized as DIR EN GREY and previously as Dir en grey) is a Japanese Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in February 1997 and currently signed to Firewall Div., a sub-division of Free-Will. With a consistent lineup of guitari ...
called Androgynos on July 7 and 8 at
Yokohama Arena is an indoor arena located in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The capacity of the arena is 17,000 and was opened in 1989. The arena was modeled after US sports venue Madison Square Garden in New York City. It is a five-minute walk from the ...
. Seven years later, the two bands are scheduled to play another two-day performance titled Androgynos - The Final War -. They will be held at
Yoyogi National Gymnasium Yoyogi National Gymnasium, officially is an indoor arena located at Yoyogi Park in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, which is famous for its Suspended structure, suspension roof design. The arena holds 13,291 people (9,079 stand seats, 4,124 arena sea ...
's First Gymnasium on October 11 and 12, 2024.


Members

; *Role:
vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...
/leader (originally guitar) *Real Name: Shinya Murata *Birthday: February 24, 1972 *Birthplace: Sapporo, Hokkaido *Now part of the band Angelo together with Kohta and Takeo, and has his own solo career. ; *Role:
guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
*Real name: Shinji Mizui *Birthday: November 17, 1974 *Birthplace: Nagano, Japan *Now part of the band LM.C with
Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...
(formerly
Miyavi , better known by his stage name MIYAVI (雅, ''Miyabi'', stylized in all caps), is a Japanese guitarist, singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor known for his finger- slapping style of playing a guitar. He has been active since 1999, f ...
's support guitarist). ; *Role: guitar/ synth guitar *Real name: Junichi Yamaura *Birthday: May 4, 1973 *Birthplace: Nagano, Japan *Now part of the band ALvino with Koji (ex- La'cryma Christi) and Shouta. ;Kohta *Role:
bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...
/chorus *Real name: Kohta Murata *Birthday: June 3, 1975 *Birthplace: Sapporo, Hokkaido *Now part of the band Angelo together with Kirito and Takeo. ;Takeo *Role:
drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
/percussion *Real name: Takeo Ishikawa *Birthday: July 11,1972 *Birthplace: Koriyama, Fukushima *Now part of the band Angelo together with Kirito and Kohta. ;Former members *Hidelow – vocals *Luka – drums **Went on to join D≒sire and later Jils, as Hide Hommure -Hideyoshi-.


Discography


Studio albums

* * *''Celluloid'' (September 3, 1997, mini-album)
Oricon Albums Chart The Oricon Albums Chart is the Japanese music industry standard albums popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Oricon originally published LP, CT, Cartridge and CD charts prior to the establishment of the Oricon A ...
Peak Position: 63 *'' Finale'' (July 7, 1999) 5 *''Private Enemy'' (November 22, 2000) 14 *''Heaven: The Customized Landscape'' (May 24, 2002) 7 *''ID Attack'' (July 23, 2003) 6 *''Freeze'' (December 1, 2004) 12


Singles

*"Haken Kreuz" (October 20, 1996) *"Screen" (April 22, 1998)
Oricon Singles Chart The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard Single (music), singles popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Chart rankings are based on physical singles' sales. Until 2017, Oricon did not track down ...
Peak Position: 36 * 6 * 5 * 10 **1st ending theme to the ''
Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Arina Tanemura. The story is about the adventures of a high school girl, Maron Kusakabe, who is the reincarnation of Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc) and transforms into a phantom thief magica ...
'' anime * 5 *"Creatures" (December 22, 1999) 7 *"Agitator" (June 7, 2000) 5 * 10 *"Paradox" (May 6, 2001) *"Dramatic Neo Anniversary" (August 29, 2001) 5 *"Cocoon" (November 21, 2001) 10 * 5 *Psychedelic Lover" (August 28, 2002) 7 * 9 * 4 **"A Rose-Colored World" was the 2nd opening theme to the ''
Getbackers is a Japanese manga series written by Yuya Aoki and illustrated by Rando Ayamine. It was serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' from March 1999 to February 2007, with its chapters collected in 39 volumes. Th ...
'' anime * 16 *"Smiley Skeleton" (June 30, 2004) 8 *"Mycloud" (October 20, 2004) 7 *"Hello" (June 21, 2006) 8


Other albums

* 16 *''Dictators Circus: A Variant Bud'' (April 6, 2005, singles compilation) 6 *''Dictators Circus: A Deformed Bud'' (June 8, 2005, singles' B-side compilation) 15 *''Hello Complete Singles and PV Collection'' (March 2009, 2 CD and 1 DVD compilation) *''Dictators Circus Final'' (April 1, 2015, live album)


Demo tapes

*''Famme'' (1994) *''Homme'' (1994) *


Home videos

*''Prototype'' (December 20, 1998) *''"Film" Rising a Mad Sky at Nippon Budokan'' (September 8, 1999) *''Tour 1999 Foreteller's Mutation Final: The Genome Control'' (March 15, 2000) *''Dictators Circus V'' (December 20, 2000) *''Dictators Circus V Vol. 1'' (December 20, 2000) *''Dictators Circus V Vol. 2'' (December 20, 2000) *''Prototype II'' (December 20, 2000) *''Prototype III'' (December 19, 2001) 47 *''Prototype I+II'' (December 19, 2001) *''Tour Paradoxical Genesis "Anniversary" 2001.9.23 Yokohama Arena'' (April 23, 2003) *''Dictators Circus VI at Saitama Super Arena'' (April 23, 2003) 86 *''Attack othe Freedom'' (2004, fanclub only) *''Dictators Circus VII: A Variant Bud/A Deformed Bud: aitama Super Arena' (2005, fanclub only) *''Prototype IV'' (December 14, 2005) 46 *''Dictators Circus Final 2014. 10. 24 - I Said 「Hello」 - Saitama Super Arena'' (November 25, 2014) *''Dictators Circus Final 2014. 10. 25 - Birthday - Saitama Super Arena'' (November 25, 2014) *''Androgynos'' (December 12, 2017, split home video with
Dir En Grey Dir En Grey (stylized as DIR EN GREY and previously as Dir en grey) is a Japanese Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in February 1997 and currently signed to Firewall Div., a sub-division of Free-Will. With a consistent lineup of guitari ...
)


References


External links


Official websiteLM.CALvino
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pierrot Visual kei musical groups Japanese alternative rock groups Japanese hard rock musical groups Musical groups established in 1994 Musical groups disestablished in 2006 Musical groups from Nagano Prefecture Japanese gothic rock groups