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Regular "serious" activities only began in 2002. Following more live shows, the band created their own independent label Gekiyaku records and released their first maxi-single titled Haikarasan ga tooru in February. There were three versions of this single - gold, silver and bronze - each one limited to 1000 copies. Gold and bronze versions were only available through mail order through the rock magazine FOOL'S MATE, while the silver version was available in stores. All were sold out at pre-order. In March, the band had their first one-man live at Meguro Rockmaykan. A second press of Haikarasan ga tooru, which included a new song "Tokyo telephone", was then later released in May.

In mid to late 2002, a pair of maxi-singles were released, Koseiha blend ~tasogare-hen~ and Koseiha blend ~junjou jounetsu-hen~, containing three new tracks each and packaged in LP-sized sleeves illustrated by infamous EroGuro comic artist Suehiro Maruo. Both were limited to 3000 copies and were once again sold out at pre-order. The band also contributed to two Omnibus CDs. These releases were accompanied by numerous live events.

In March 2003 the band released their first full album Gendai stoic on Kiyoharu's (founder and lead singer of SADS, previously Kuroyume) Fullface records, selling over 10,000 copies on the day of its release. In June Merry opened for SADS at Zepp Tokyo, and in August released a third press of Haikarasan ga tooru entitled Haikarasan ga toorisugita ato..., which contained re-recordings of the original songs and a secret track. In the same month the band were working on their first promotional video (PV) of "Violet harenchi", which was then released on a DVD limited to the oneman live at Shibuya Koukaidou on 29 August. The closing months of 2003 saw a live tour and the band's participation in Beautifool's fest '03, a live event organised by Fool's Mate.

2004 began with the release of a pair of maxi-singles in February before the band went into a brief hiatus, working on their second full album. Modern garde was finally released on 30 June, accompanied by a live tour "New standard renaissance." In September Merry participated in a large-scale event, Kingdom Rock Show 2004, held at the Nippon Budokan, performing beside major bands like Psycho le Cemu, Janne Da Arc and Sex Machineguns.

March 2005 saw the release of Sakashima end roll ~the phantom of the gallery~, a brand new maxi-single and DVD on reverse sides of single disc - it was to be one of Japan's first titles on the new DualDisc. First press was sold out at preorder, and the release itself quickly made it to the 2nd spot on the Oricon indies chart.

The sold-out and highly successful one-man live at Shibuya Koukaidou on 31 March saw the long-awaited announcement of the band's major contract with JVC's Victor Entertainment - home to artists such as Buck-Tick, Boøwy, Cali≠Gari, THE BACK HORN and Love Psychedelico - much to the tearful elation of loyal fans. It is also worth noting that the record company was the one to offer a proposal to the band first and not the reverse.

The transition to a major label prompted the release of a best-of album - Koseiha blend classic ~Oldies Tracks~ - which contained re-recorded and remastered tracks off the older releases, together with two new songs; first press came with a new PV of "Tick-tock" and second press with the rare "Violet harenchi" video previously released only at a live show. Fool's Mate published a pair of history books documenting the band's appearances in the magazine, coupled with long interviews and a special CD and DVD. From July to August, Merry set out on their Last Indies Tour, which finally culminated at the Hibiya outdoors music hall on 10 September - their first major oneman show.

The band's major debut album, Nu chemical rhetoric, made it to the 10th spot on the Oricon daily album chart a day before its official release. Concert footage of the Hibiya live was later released on a DVD entitled SCI-FI nu chemical rhetoric ~first cut~, which similarly made it to the top of the charts.

A pair of DVDs documenting the Last Indies Tour were released at the beginning of 2006. Nu chemical rhetoric has also been recently released all over Europe, specifically Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Scandinavia and Italy. In the meantime, Merry have filmed two promotional videos while working on their upcoming album; the first major single Sayonara rain successfully made it to the 24th spot on the Oricon weekly top 30 singles chart (5 June) while the second one titled Ringo to uso, released a month later, was #25.

Merry once again played at the Hibiya outdoors music hall on 30 July, following the release of their 2nd major album Peep Show on 19 July. A nationwide oneman tour is set take place in August and September. Furthermore, in commemoration of the band's 5th anniversary, there will be a special countdown live on New Year's Eve held at the Shibuya Koukaidou.

Like many others, the members themselves were influenced by Japanese pioneer rock bands of the 80s and early 90s such as X Japan, Luna Sea, Buck-Tick and Boøwy. The main songwriters are the two guitarists Yuu and Kenichi, the former writing majority of the slower, groovier songs and the latter composing faster, catchier melodies. Not afraid to experiment with their musical ability, Merry delivers a full spectrum of brand new tunes with the release of every anticipated album, all the while remaining true to their own unique sound.

The band's music and lyrical imagery are likely influenced by the liberal Taisho and early Showa era, a period of significant artistic and musical movement when Japan shifted further towards Western concepts. It was the time of avant-garde; industrialisation saw the introduction of jazz and blues to Japanese culture, bringing about the rise of music cafes, bars and clubs. Similarly Merry fuse the these genres with modern rock music to create a whole new style - a "modern-garde", or rather "modern avant-garde" as their second album is named.

Lyrics-wise, vocalist Gara writes on a broad variety of topics, ranging from themes of war & patriotism (Rest in peace, Japanese modernist, 愛国行進曲 "Patriot march"), politics & society (迷彩ノ紳士 "Gentlemen in disguise", ニセモノ天国 "Fake heaven", Lost generation) to those of dreams, life, love and hate (窓 "Window", 恋愛交差点 "Intersection of love"). Some of these carry a retro feel in their imagery (黄昏レストラン "Sunset restaurant", 薔薇と片隅のブルース "Blues of the rose and corner", 東京テレホン "Tokyo telephone" and R-246), once again attributed to the influence of Taisho era romanticism.

A term that Merry coined and have been using in recent years is レトロック "retrock" - a clever play on the words レトロ "retro" and ロック "rock" to succinctly describe the band's musical style; that is, retro elements incorporated into rock music.

• Gara — Mamurasaki (真紫, Mamurasaki^?)
• Yuu — Zaku (ザク, Zaku^?)
• Kenichi — Serpico (セルピコ, Serpico^?)
• Tetsu — Shadow (シャドウ, Shadow^?)
• Nero — Fukurokouji Kaname (袋小路　要, Fukurokouji Kaname^?)

Very little is known about them as they have only appeared in a few live shows and a special feature in Fool's Mate. They seem to be currently defunct, though there's no telling when they may spring up again.

HYDE (Pronounced in Japanese: hai-do, or in English as "Hide", b. January 29, 1969, in Osaka, Japan, real name Hideto Takarai) is a Japanese singer in the rock band L'Arc~en~Ciel. Since Hyde keeps his personal information secret, much about him is either unknown or unofficial. He has been in the music industry for more than 10 years.

In addition to being lead singer and main lyricist of L'Arc~en~Ciel, Hyde has worked on a self-titled solo project as well, and even has his own record label, Haunted Records.

In 2003, Hyde starred alongside Gackt (another popular figure in Japanese music), in the Japanese film Moon Child. In a duet as part of the project, Hyde and Gackt sang "オレンジの太陽" ("Orenji no Taiyou", or "Orange Sun"). The song was also released on Gackt's fourth full-length album, Crescent. In December of 2003, Hyde's song "Shining Over You" from his 666 album was used as the commercial song for Namco's Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean.

2004; Hyde took on the role of the guitarist Adam in the movie 下弦の月 (kagen no tsuki), a movie based on the popular manga by Ai Yazawa. The movie's theme song, THE CAPE OF STORMS, came from his first album Roentgen.

In the summer of 2005, Hyde composed the music for the song GLAMOROUS SKY, used in the movie NANA, another film based on a popular manga by Ai Yazawa. The song was sung by fellow Japanese artist Mika Nakashima and the lyrics were written by Ai Yazawa. In August, Hyde (and his solo band) performed the song on Music Station with Mika Nakashima, Hyde being on guitar.

The single COUNTDOWN was released on October 5th 2005, with a tracklisting including Japanese & English versions of the song COUNTDOWN made for the Japanese release of the movie Stealth and also a special rock version of EVERGREEN (originally from Roentgen).

Later that month, Hyde hosted HALLOWEEN OF THE LIVING DEAD, a three-night event held at CLUB CITTA on October 29th, 30th & 31st. Each night featured performances by Hyde himself, a guest artist/band and JACK-O-LANTERN. Artists/bands who took part in the Halloween performances are MONORAL, UVERworld, OLIVIA, HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR, & Mika Nakashima. The group JACK-O-LANTERN consisted of Hyde and the group MONORAL playing many Halloween favorites such as ghostbusters.

Starting the new year of 2006 (January), Hyde's single Season's Call will be used as an opening theme to the anime show Blood+. This single is to be released 2006.02.22.

His new album, "FAITH," is scheduled to be released on April 4th, 2006. Hyde has mentioned the Christian faith as a source of inspiration for this album in interviews.

Facts about Hyde

• Hyde keeps much of his personal information secret, including his real name and birth date.
• When Hyde was a child, he used to wear feminine colors because his mother wanted a daughter. He wore a red backpack, which in Japan is classified as feminine as opposed to blue backpacks.
• He is the only child in his family.
• When he was younger, his father made him learn martial arts because he was rather weak and shy.
• He once took breakdancing lessons.
• He was the guitarist in the band Jelsarem's Rod before joining L'Arc as the vocalist (he also originally wanted to be guitarist of L'Arc).
• He married Megumi Oishi on December 25, 2000. He has stated that he had always admired Oishi and that she has a beautiful face. Hyde was introduced to Megumi on the Japanese music variety show Utaban. They have one child, who was recently revealed to be a boy.
• He originally wanted to become a cartoonist, but is colour blind (though only partially - he suffers from red/green colour-blindness, so he cannot distinguish subtle colors like pink and light blue).
• He has a big appetite and loves to eat curry.
• His favorite brand of cigarettes is Mild Seven.
• He likes to collect blue glass products.
• One of his trademark accessories is a Lucifer ring (silver ring with a large stone - he has red, yellow and black versions - on which is inscribed a pentagram) which he had personally crafted for him by Alex Streeter of New York.
• One of his other trademark accessories is a barbed wire necklace. He often wore it during performances and photoshoots, though in recent years he seems to have abandoned it.

Formation

In February of 1991, tetsu and hyde, along with Hiro (guitar) and Pero (drums), formed the band under the name L'Arc~en~Ciel. After a year of gaining notoriety in their hometown of Osaka, Hiro left the band on June 12, 1992. Pero soon followed on December 30 of the same year, supposedly to join up with his friend Hiro again. tetsu convinced his friend Ken Kitamura (ken) to quit his studies in architectural design and join the band. A new drummer, sakura, was recruited after tetsu saw him perform in a few shows.

Debut album and subsequent albums

On April 1, 1993, the band released their debut album Dune under the indie label Danger Crue. The album was met with plenty of success and rose to number one on the Oricon indies charts, catching the attention of some major labels. In 1994, L'arc~en~Ciel signed on with Sony's Ki/oon division, releasing their second album, Tierra (Spanish for "Earth") that same year. Heavenly followed in 1995, and True, their first platinum seller, was released in 1996.

Sakura's arrest

As they were enjoying their success, sakura was arrested for heroin possession, and officially quit the band on October 4, 1997. This was the lowest point in the band's history. When news of sakura's arrest became public, there was a decline in their popularity. Just as they had reached a peak in their career, CDs were being removed from the shelves and any of their songs that were used as theme songs were quickly replaced. There was no evidence of the band's existence, and their next single The Fourth Avenue Cafe was indefinitely postponed and has never been released. Many believe that the whole incident was blown tremendously out of proportion.

Break and comeback

L'Arc~en~Ciel took a break for a few months. They continued to be featured in magazines, but only as a trio. Then, they created their own Laruku cover band, "The Zombies", and poked fun at their own songs. They also covered artists such as Marilyn Manson and Nirvana. The return from their break was marked by the Reincarnation 97 Live in Tokyo Dome, with their new drummer, yukihiro (former drummer with Zi:Kill and Die in Cries). The first concert had an attendance of 56,000, which sold out in a world record of four minutes. Their next album was Heart, in 1998, which, like their second major album "Heavenly" is seen as a transitional album: trying to forget the past, but also trying to maintain their originality and success.

In 1997, the first single they released since Sakura had left was 「虹」 (Niji — Rainbow). yukihiro was the drummer for this release, but was only listed as a supporting member. However, the band members were quickly impressed with his drumming skills and made him the official drummer not long after Niji's release.

1999–2000 projects

L'Arc~en~Ciel released three more albums of new material during the next few years. Ark and Ray which were released simultaneously on July 1, 1999, and were the first Japanese albums to be released the same day in many different Asian countries. Both were on the Oricon music charts, with Ark at number one and Ray at number two. The release of Ark and Ray marked the high point of their career, with each selling over two million copies (no other release from the band managed to reach two million). Real followed in 2000, which was the last CD of new material for some time, although many more compilation and remix albums would follow. L'Arc~en~Ciel also composed several theme songs for various anime series, including DNA², Rurouni Kenshin, and Great Teacher Onizuka. They also created the closing theme song to the movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Dreams Inside.

Solo projects

After a while, however, the various members began working on various solo projects. hyde released several solo albums (as HYDE), ken founded Sons of All Pussys (including sakura as the drummer), tetsu started TETSU69 and yukihiro sang with Acid Android. The band solo projects seemed to have been fueling speculation that L'Arc~en~Ciel was going to quit.

Second comeback

In June 2003, L'Arc~en~Ciel came back to play a series of seven concerts in Tokyo called the "Shibuya Seven Days", and announced a new album for release in the following year. So, in February 2004, "Ready Steady Go", their first single in more than three years came out, followed by another one in early March. Finally, their long-awaited new album, SMILE, was released on March 31. "Ready Steady Go" was also used as an opening for the Fullmetal Alchemist anime series.

Shortly afterwards, on June 2, 2004, the single 自由への招待　 ("Jiyuu e no Shoutai") introduced "P'unk~en~Ciel", a partial change, for the first time on CD with "Milky Way". In the past, the band also played a P'unk version of "Round and Round" live.

U.S concert debut

On July 31, 2004, L'Arc~en~Ciel made their U.S. concert debut at Otakon 2004. Approximately 12,000 people attended the concert, which was held at an outside venue for the first time in Otakon's musical guests history, the 1st Mariner Arena located near the Baltimore Convention Center.

AWAKE, 2005 release

In 2005, the band released various singles, including "Killing Me" , "New World", and "Jojoushi". These all were later featured on their latest album, AWAKE, which was released on June 22 with twelve tracks, including "Lost Heaven", the closing theme for the Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shambala movie. The band's latest single, "Link", released on July 20, 2005, was also featured in the movie as the opening theme.

Miscellaneous

In addition, the band went on their "ASIALIVE 2005" tour, and as the name suggests, the band performed in Korea and China as well as Japan. Japan's two concerts took place at the Tokyo Dome. This tour was followed by the AWAKE Tour in Japan, featuring stage design and costuming with obvious anti-war sentiments.

On May 31, 2005, Tofu Records, Sony Music Japan's U.S. label, released the DVD of the Otakon 2004 concert.

On July 20, 2005 "Link" was released; also known as the opening theme of the film Fullmetal Alchemist, it was the first Laruku single after "Awake". This single also includes a new version of "Promised Land".

Hyde also composed the music "Glamorous Sky" for the forthcoming film, NANA which stars Mika Nakashima, a j-pop singer. This song will also be sung by hyde in his next album coming this October. This was the first time that hyde had composed music for another artist. He also has a new single called "Countdown".

Line-up

Current

• hyde (vocals) (solo HYDE)
• tetsu (bass, backup vocals) (solo TETSU69, Creature Creature)
• ken (guitar) (solo S.O.A.P.)
• yukihiro (drums) (solo acid android)

Former

• sakura (drums 1992-1997)
• hiro (guitar 1991-1992)
• pero (drums 1991-1992)

D'Ark-en-Ciel

• DARK TETSU (vocal)
• HYDE Dark (guitar)
• Suck-D'Ark-La (bass)
• Ken D'Ark (drums)

P'UNK-EN-CIEL

• Tetsu P'unk (Vocal)
• Hyde P'unk (Guitar)
• Yukihiro P'unk (Bass)
• Ken P'unk (Drums)
• [P'unk Aoki (Keyboard)]