The GazettE is a Japanese visual kei-based rock band formed early in 2002, currently signed to Sony Music Japan's VVV Records.
Biography
The foundations of the band began with Ruki (vocals), Reita (bass), and Uruha (guitar). After being involved with other bands in the visual scene, the trio decided that the GazettE would be their last band. They recruited Aoi (guitar) and Yune (drums) from disbanded visual band Artia and so began the GazettE in January 2002.
Originally signed to Matina, they released their first single, "Wakaremichi", and a video release on April 30, 2002. They re-released Wakaremichi and the video release in June of the same year. By September, they had released "Kichiku Kyoushi (32sai Dokushin) no Nousatsu Kouza" and their second PV release. In October they played their first one-man live. On Christmas, the 5-song compilation including the Gazette's song "Yougenkyou" was released.
2003: New drummer and Cockayne SoupIn early 2003, Yune decided to leave the band, and he was replaced by Kai. Shortly after, they signed with the PS Company label and in May, released their first EP, Cockayne Soup. They started their first tour, with the band Hanamuke, and along with the tour, the bands collaborated on two songs. A second tour followed with the band Vidoll, and the bands were featured together on the November issue of Cure, a magazine focusing on Visual Kei bands.
In early December, they played a co-headlining show with Deadman. On December 28 they performed at Fool's Mate magazine's Beauti-fool's Fest which was later released on DVD.
2004: Disorder
On January 16, 2004 they recorded a solo performance at the Shibuya-AX, which was released on DVD as Tokyo Saihan -Judgment Day.On March 30, 2004 they released their Madara mini-album, which reached #2 on the Oricon Indie Charts. Madara was followed in May by a companion DVD, which included six music videos and an in-the-studio documentary. The same month, the GazettE was featured in Shoxx magazine's Expect Rush III, a catalogue of independent Visual Kei artists. A second live DVD, Heisei Banka, was released in August. During September and October they toured with fellow PS Company bands Kra and BIS. Their debut album, Disorder, was released in October and made it to the top 5 of the indies Oricon Daily Charts.
The band spent the remainder of 2004 and 2005 touring extensively, releasing Gama, another mini-album, in August.
2005-2006: Nil and Nameless Liberty Six Guns
Starting 2006 with a name change—from Japanese characters to a romanized script—they released Nil, their second full-length album, on February 8, 2006,and embarked on another Japanese tour, ending at the venue Nippon Budokan. That July, the GazettE performed at the Beethovenhalle in Bonn, Germany, their first show outside of Asia. The concerts were arranged in conjunction with the AnimagiC anime and manga convention.
Gazette - Cassie
2007-2009: Stacked Rubbish and DIM
Three more singles were released followed by another studio album, Stacked Rubbish on July 4, 2007. It reached #2 on the Oricon charts within a day from the release. The album debut was followed by a promotional tour from July through September. In October, the GazettE embarked on their first European tour, performing in England, Finland, France, and Germany.
A single named "Guren" was released on February 13, 2008, which landed a #1 spot on the Oricon Charts. It was announced that a new DVD would be released in August, and a new single Leech in Autumn 2008, which also landed a #1 spot on the Oricon daily charts.
The GazettE accomplished a one man tour through all of October called "From the Distorted City," referencing to the song "Distorted Daytime" in their single "Leech," which portrays Tokyo as a "distorted city," in terms of the society and political crisis sweeping over Japan.
On November 15, 2008, the GazettE hosted their first secret show in Shinjuku Station. Originally, around two-hundred fifty people were to be anticipated, but instead, over seven thousand attended, the most in the band's history. Due to the amount of people on the streets, the police were forced to shut it down after two songs.
On January 3, 2009, the GazettE performed alongside their fellow bands signed to the PS Company label to celebrate the record label's tenth anniversary, where they announced they would release a new single called "Distress and Coma", which was preceded by a seventh-anniversary performance on March 10 at Makuhari Messe Convention Hall.
The band released their next full-length studio album, "DIM" in the summer, followed by another Japan-wide summer tour starting in July, for which the tour's final show was held at Saitama Super Arena.
On October 7, 2009, they released their new single called "BEFORE I DECAY". On December 24, the GazettE held a Christmas Eve live to close out the year called "A HYMN OF THE CRUXIFIXION".
Gazette - Before I Decay
2010: Transfer to Sony Music Records
On March 2010, the band embarked on "THE END OF STILLNESS" fan club only tour.
After the fanclub tour, the band then announced another single and a live tour, which is named "TOUR10 NAMELESS LIBERTY SIX BULLETS" starting in July with two consecutive nights at the Nippon Budokan. On August 4, 2010, they released a DVD of the band's ten promotional videos (aptly titled FILM BUG II). Among all of these events, the band has announced that they would be transferring from King Records to Sony Music Records, with the release of their seventeenth single "SHIVER", which was also selected as the opening theme song to the Sony anime series Kuroshitsuji II, was released on July 21, 2010.
Gazette - Shiver PV
Right after the release of "SHIVER", the band announced the location for the final of the tour for "TOUR10 NAMELESS LIBERTY SIX BULLETS" which would be Tokyo Dome, and two new singles "RED" and "PLEDGE". "RED" will be released on September 22nd and "PLEDGE" will be released in December.
Gazette - The Invisible Wall
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