Arc-en-ciel...

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L'Arc~en~Ciel (??? ?? ???, L'Arc~en~Ciel?), also known as L'Arc or Laruku (???, Laruku?) to their fans, is a popular J-Rock quartet. L'Arc en Ciel translates from French as the rainbow. They have sold over 25 million copies of singles and albums in Japan alone. In February of 1991, bassist Tetsuya Ogawa (tetsu), later band leader, recruited vocalist hyde (his real name has never been disclosed officially, however, fans have rumoured it to be Hideto Takarai) along with guitarist hiro and drummer pero, and formed a band under the name of L'Arc~en~Ciel, inspired by a French movie of the same name. 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. To replace the two, tetsu convinced his friend Ken Kitamura (ken) to quit his university studies in architectural design and join the band as the guitarist. Later, a new drummer, Yasunori Sakurazawa (sakura), was recruited after tetsu saw him perform in a few shows. 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 selling album, was released in 1996. Despite their blistering climb to superstardom, the band would face yet another loss that threatened its demise. In early 1997, drummer sakura was arrested for heroin possession, and officially quit the band on October 4, 1997. This proved to be the lowest point in the band's history. When news of sakura's arrest became public, there was an immediate decline in their popularity. CDs were being removed from the shelves and any of their songs that were used as theme songs were quickly replaced such as the Fourth Avenue Cafe for Rurouni Kenshin which was immediately replaced with former theme Heart of Sword after only 6 episodes of running time. There was no evidence of the band's existence, and their next single the Fourth Avenue Cafe was postponed. Many believe that the whole incident was blown tremendously out of proportion. The next few months were an extremely uncertain time, with doubts as to whether the band would recover. They continued to be featured in magazines, but only as a trio. They created their own cover band, "The Zombies", and poked fun at their own songs. They also covered artists such as Marilyn Manson and Nirvana. The return from the break was marked by the appropriately named 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 still-standing Tokyo Dome record of four minutes. They released HEART, in 1998, which, like their second major album "heavenly" is seen as a transitional: moving away from the bad memories of the past, but also maintaining their originality and success. In 1997, ??? (Niji — Rainbow), the first single since sakura's departure, was released with yukihiro listed as a supporting member. Not long after the release of the single, yukihiro was signed on as the official drummer for L'Arc~en~Ciel and the band was finally whole again. L'Arc~en~Ciel released three more albums of new material during the next few years. ark and ray were released simultaneously on July 1, 1999, and became the first Japanese albums to be released simultaneously in many other Asian countries. Both topped the Oricon music charts, with ark occupying number one and ray at number two. The release of ark and ray marked the high point of the band's career, with each selling over two million copies. 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's last new song before their hiatus, "Spirit dreams inside", was the closing theme song to the movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. In June 2003, L'Arc~en~Ciel surprised the world with a series of seven concerts in Tokyo called the "Shibuya Seven Days", during which they announced a new album for release the following year. The band came out with "READY STEADY GO" In February 2004, its first single in more than three years. It topped Oricon charts and was used as an opening for popular anime series, Fullmetal Alchemist. The single was followed by another chart-topper, "????" ("Hitomi no Juunin"), in early March. Finally, the long-awaited new album, SMILE, was released on March 31. Shortly afterwards, on June 2, 2004, the single ?????? ("Jiyuu e no Shoutai") introduced "P'UNK~EN~CIEL" ,a partial change (much like the former gag, D'ARK~EN~CIEL), 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. Late 2005 and 2006 Following the AWAKE and ASIALIVE tours, L'Arc~en~Ciel's members turned their attentions back to their solo projects. tetsu began recording with a new band Creature Creature. yukihiro rejoined acid android, which released their newest single "Let's Dance" on 2006/04/05. acid android joins MUCC, another Japanese rock band, to perform two concerts in China (Shanghai) in April of 2006. HYDE composed the music for "Glamorous Sky", theme song to the much anticipated, manga-adapted film, NANA which stars Mika Nakashima, a j-pop singer (released 2005/08/31), a landmark step for the vocalist, being the first time that he has composed music for another artist. His most recent solo singles are "COUNTDOWN", the ending song for the Japanese release of American movie Stealth (released 2005/10/05), and "SEASON'S CALL", the opening song of new hit anime Blood+ (released 2006/02/22). Both singles topped at #1 on the Oricon chart. HYDE's next solo album "FAITH" was released in Japan 2006/04/26 accompanied by a five month tour throughout Japan between April and August, 2006. After signing on with Tofu Records, four small concerts were scheduled in San Francisco and Anaheim, California in the United States. HYDE will make his U.S. debut in July of 2006, the first of L'Arc~en~Ciel's solo projects to extend internationally. In November 2006, L'Arc~en~Ciel will play the Tokyo Dome to celebrate their 15th Anniversary. A poll has been created on the official website to allow fans to pick which songs they would like to hear at the event. Laruku!*-* Who listen to them??