A VISION OUT OF MY DREAMS

YEAR 2002 ~ L’arc En Ciel Member Solo Project

After the golden era, L’arc en Ciel member decided to be in hiatus for a while and they started to create the solo projects. These are the details..

TETSU 69 ~ Tetsuya Ogawa’s solo project

Tetsu is the first L’arc member who started the solo project, under label of Warner Music Japan.
The Discography :
1. July 18, 2001 1st single Wonderful World (c/w Tightrope)
2. August 28, 2002 2nd single Shinkirou
3. October 23, 2002 3rd single 15 ½
4. November 20, 2002 1st album, Suite November

ACID ANDROID ~ Yukihiro Awaji’s solo project (taken from jmusicamerica.com)

Member : Yukihiro (Guitar, Vocal, Programming), Antz (Guitar, support member), Tomo (Guitar, support member), Yasuo (Drums, support member), Kishi (Guitar, support member).
Acid android performed for the very first time at the Shibuya Club Asia on May 23rd, 2001, as part of the special event entitled acid android in an alcove. The band’s founder and leader, yukihiro, performed guitar and vocals. A few months later on the 27th of September, acid android's first CD, Ring the Noise, was released on the major label Ki/oon Records. After the release of the band’s first single, there was little activity on their part until the following January, when they performed a concert as a guest for the band crow.

Exactly a year after the release of Ring the Noise came the highly anticipated album acid android. The album was originally only available for order over the internet, until its full commercial release in March 2003. The self-titled album was a dark and brooding affair, that contained a heady mix of minimalist programmed drum tracks and heavy guitar blasts, electronic noise and industrial style strangled vocals. A week after the commercial release of acid android came its follow up mini-album, Faults, which featured the vocal talents of the British singer Tony Halliday. A promotional tour followed that lasted until May of '03. After the tour, Yukihiro hooked up with his fellow bandmate Ken from L’Arc~en~Ciel to work on his project Sons Of All Pussys.

SON OF ALL PUSSYS (S.O.A.P) ~ Ken Kitamura’s solo project

The project started in 2002.
Members : Ken Kitamura - Vocals and guitars; Yasunori Sakurazawa – Drums , he is ex L’arc drummer, Sakura !; Ein – Bass (a half Japanese/German model who appears in a few L'Arc PVs).
Each member contributed songs based on themes; Ken with love, Ein with Desire, and Sakura with his experiences in jail, and together they shelled out four albums; Grace, Gimme A Guitar, High! and Paradise. All S.O.A.P. activities have ceased since 2004.
On August 23, 2006, Ken released a solo album titled "Speed", referring to himself as just Ken and has taken a new, "clean" appearance similar to his early days with L'Arc~en~Ciel.

Discography :
1. Mini Album ~ Grace
2. Mini Album ~ Gimme a guitar!
3. Mini Album ~ High
Single : Paradise
DVD : Live DVD Bubble Festival 2003, PV Collection DVD ~ Ichiban Blow, Live DVD S.S.J.B.F in ?? (Japanese kanji character)

HYDE ( CURRENTLY CHANGED NAME : VAMPS) ~ Hyde’s solo project (taken from Wikipedia)

Hyde started his solo project on 2001 under the name HYDE (all in capital letters). He gets big success in solo carrier, here are the details :

HYDE's support band
Guitar: K.A.Z (Oblivion Dust)
Drums: Ali
Bass: Ju-ken

Former support members
Drums: Furuton (ex.Oblivion Dust, ex.Nil)
Bass: Hiroki (ex.media youth, KILLERS)
Keyboard: JIN

In October 2001, Hyde released his first solo single, "Evergreen" After two more singles, "Angel's Tale" and "Shallow Sleep", Hyde released his first solo album, Roentgen, on March 27, 2002. An overseas edition featuring English lyrics was released in July the same year.
Hyde's next two singles, "Hello" and "Horizon", were released June and November 2003 respectively, and second solo album, 666, was released on December 3, 2003.
In 2003, Hyde starred alongside Gackt in the Japanese film Moon Child. In a duet as part of the project, Hyde and Gackt sang "Orenji no taiyou", and when sang live, Hyde could not be there because he was on a music tour. The song was also released on Gackt's fourth full-length album, Crescent. In December 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.
In 2004, Hyde took on the role of the guitarist Adam in the movie Kagen no tsuki(Last Quarter), a movie based on the manga by Ai Yazawa. The movie's theme song, "The Cape of Storms", came from Roentgen.
In the summer of 2005, Hyde composed the music for the song "Glamorous Sky". The song was used in the movie Nana, another film based on a 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 track list 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).
A cover of the single "Countdown" was used as the "semifinal" stage in the Nintendo DS rhythm game Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2.

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-Latern. Artists/bands who took part in the Halloween performances are Monoral, UVERworld, Olivia Lufkin, HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR, Yasu (of Janne Da Arc), & Mika Nakashima. The group Jack-O-Latern consisted of Hyde and the group Monoral playing many Halloween favorites such as the Ghostbusters theme.

Starting in January 2006, Hyde's single "Season's Call" was used as the second opening theme to the anime show Blood+. This single was released on February 2, 2006. Hyde's album, Faith, was released on April 26th, 2006.
Faith was accompanied by a five-month tour with many locations in Japan, some exclusively open to members of his fanclub.

After signing on with Tofu Records as a solo artist, a US debut concert was scheduled as part of the Faith tour, which was held at Slim's in San Francisco, California on July 5, 2006. Tickets for the event went on sale online at 1 p.m. EST on April 2, 2006 and sold out in an three minutes!. The second round of sales was held April 9, also online, and also sold out.

A second concert, held at House of Blues in Anaheim, California, on July 2 was added and tickets were sold out, as were two more US concerts (the Fillmore, San Francisco and House of Blues, Hollywood).
The overseas version of Faith was released on June 27, 2006 and included a bonus DVD featuring music videos for both "Countdown" and "Season's Call". In Faith, Hyde uses a Fender Mustang as his main guitar; contrary to 666 album version, where he uses Gretsch guitars.
Hyde also made a brief appearance at the Tofu Records booth at Anime Expo 2006 in Anaheim, California on July 1 for a question and answer panel.
Following the completion of the FAITH tour, a DVD of the concerts was announced and was released November 8th, 2006.

HYDEIST, Hyde's official website announced that Hyde would be having a live tour around certain parts of Japan, which included Sendai, Sapporo and Fukuoka, starting from 1 August to 25 October 2008. It has been announced that Hyde and K.A.Z will be performing together during the concert and they would be called VAMPS.[3]They have also announced a single, titled "Love Addict" scheduled to release July 2.

Discography
DVDs
• Roentgen Stories (2004)
• FAITH Live (2006)
• Moon Child
• Kagen no tsuki (Last Quarter)
Albums
1. Roentgen, released on March 27, 2002 with 206,000 copies sold.
2. 666, released on December 2003, with 139,000 copies sold
3. Roentgen (English version), released on October 14, 2004 with 54,000 copies sold
4. Faith, released on April 6, 2006 with 130,000 copies sold
Overseas Album Releases
• Roentgen Overseas Version (2002)
• FAITH , U.S. Version (2006)
Singles
1. Evergreen, sold in 331,000 copies
2. Angel’s Tale, sold in 186,000 copies
3. Shallow Sleep, sold in 134,000 copies
4. Hello, sold in 146,000 copies
5. Horizon, sold in 74,000 copies
6. Countdown, sold in 92,000 copies
7. Season’s Call, sold in 130,000 copies
8. Love Addict ( under the name VAMPS), sold in 89,636 copies

And for the closing, the PV of Season’s Call (^-^)