lareine

lareine is a j-panese visual kei band. they became very successful in the indie scene in the late ’90s and had several lineup changes, eventually settling down with vocalist kamijo, guitarist mayu, b-ssist emiru, and drummer machi. on march 26th, 1996, they marked their first anniversary of band activity with a concert at shinjuku loft. on that same anniversary in 1999, lareine left the indie scene with the promotional event “romance kak-mei” (romance revolution) and their last indie concert in shibuya, which was filmed for the live video “chantons l’amour.” that anniversary was such a happy memory for them that they continued to schedule commemorative concerts in the latter stage of their career. lareine made their official major-label debut with sony musical entertainment in may 1999 with the single “fiancailles.”

in 2000, 3 members decided to leave. emiru wished to leave due to musical differences; after his decision, machi also decided to leave for the same reason. mayu, feeling that lareine would not be the same without them, also withdrew from lareine. after their last concerts together, the “miss carmila” tour in 8/2000, kamijo continued alone, still using the band name “lareine.” he released 1 single (“grand pain”) and 2 alb-ms (“scream” and the fan club-only version “vampire scream”). after a concert at shinjuku liquid room in 12/00, kamijo took some time off and joined the band new sodmy for a year and a half.

on march 26 2003, lareine officially resumed activities with a concert at shibuya ax. emiru rejoined, and ex-ribbon drummer kazumi became a member. former new sodmy roadie motoki (later of d’air) played support guitar. that same day, lareine released a new version of “saikai no hana” and the 2-cd compilation of their indie work “reine de fleur.” mayu rejoined lareine in may 2003. they released a series of 3 mini-alb-ms — “majesty,” “knight,” and “princess” — in the following year. as a present to fans, lareine recorded some music box versions of their songs which were sent as a free cd to fans who sent in the coupons from those 3 mini-alb-ms. in march 2004, the music box versions received general release as the cd “crystal letos.”

on march 1st 2006, kazumi left lareine. the band noted in an e-mail message to fans about his departure that he’d wanted to leave on march 26th when they usually played their “romance kak-mei” anniversary concert, but that the others decided to change the concert to a different day that year because they didn’t want that happy anniversary to become a sad one. lareine’s concerts for the rest of 2006 were with kazami (ex-clavier) on support drums. there has been no news of machi in several years. in may 2006, kamijo made a solo appearance at the american convention “fanime”. lareine as a band never performed outside of j-pan.

lareine officially stopped activies on october 31st, 2006. for several months, mayu had not been in contact with kamijo and emiru, and the band was unable to continue with neither a drummer nor guitarist. lareine played their last concert with kazami on support drums and hizaki (ex-sulfuric acid) on support guitar.
lareine is a concept band and their “chantons l’amour” performance was a continuation of their ongoing rock opera saga. the blonde girl who appears in the song “tsukiyo no kageki” represents the character “lillie charlotte,” who first appeared in the 1998 mini-alb-m/photo book set of the same name. lillie charlotte is the love interest of jeremie florence de jarger, played by kamijo. the alb-m “fierte no umi to tomo ni kiyu ~the last of romance~” is a concept alb-m telling the story of the lovers reincarnated in the modern era, as justicia and asphodel, and contains a booklet with diagrams and character descriptions to help fans understand the story line. lareine later continued their stories in the even more complex “majesty” saga, which has two romantic storylines woven through it as drummer kazumi joined the cast playing the romantic hero “sion.” these operatic stories should not be confused with the band’s real life, which the members do not discuss in interviews. the new sodmy song “audrey” was inspired by the actress audrey hepburn, not a wife or girlfriend.
kamijo is the vocalist of a popular j-panese visual-kei band called lareine. along with guitarist mayu, b-ssist emiru and drummer machi kamijo has turned lareine into a great success. releasing 12 alb-ms (blue romance, lillie charlotte, the last of romance, scream, reine de fleur, etude, crystal letos, never cage, reincarnation, winter romantic, deep forest and imperial concerto) 22 singles (i’ll not list them due to the fact the list is far too long) and 2 live dvds (chantons l’amour tour 1999 and scarlet majesty tour 2003) the band has gained an overwhelming amount of popularity. the band has now begun touring outside j-pan.

in the year 2000 lareine suffered a horrible breakup. with the departure of drummer machi soon followed guitarist mayu and b-ssist emiru. kamijo tried to carry on as a soloist releasing the alb-m scream with his own work but still under the band’s name as the music was played by the former members. after the release of already scheduled for release alb-ms reine de fleur and etude kamijo released the alb-m crystal letos as a message for the other members (mayu, emiru, machi). he succeeded in getting mayu and emiru back. machi however did not wish to return.

in early 2001 larine was put on hold. kamijo and mayu joined the band new sodmy later in the year. emiru went off and formed his band ribbon. machi had gone off to form his own band called chantons l’amour (not to be mistaken by the band’s legendary tour of 1999). after new sodmy’s first concert mayu left the group after an arguement with one of the members (although which one has never been mentioned a large amount of fans point to kamijo).

after the disbandment of new sodmy in late 2002 kamijo was contacted by emiru who stated he had felt a longing for lareine recently. inviting both b-ssist emiru and guitarist mayu to his home kamijo managed to convince them to join him and set lareine back in motion.
in 2003 lareine started up again with the lineup of kamijo on vocals, mayu on guitar, emiru on b-ss and new member kazumi on drums.

on march 1st of 2006 kazumi left the group. lareine has since searched for another drummer and contacted machi. as of september 16th of 2006 lareine will be starting again with its original lineup. kamijo(vocals), mayu(guitar), emiru(b-ss), and machi(drums).

on the date of the chantons l’amour concert kamijo lost his wife audrey to leukemia. during the performance of the song tsukiyo no kageki (opera of the moonlight) kamijo can be seen holding a doll made in the liking of his wife. he’d previously received a call of her death the night before and had asked for the creation of the doll four months prior when audrey had informed him of her unfortunate fate. during the performance of tsukiyo no kageki kamijo can be seen on brink of tears caressing the doll as though it were his beloved audrey and mayu, emiru and machi are all bowing their heads (for emiru this is unusual as he usually puts forth a tremendous amount of energy on stage). mayu’s fingers seem to move faster on his guitar and the only times he actually looks up his eyes are clouded with unshed tears. machi’s drumming is softer than in other songs. the alb-m “the last of romance” was released with a dedication to audrey and last words from each member for her, kamijo’s being an astounding full page long. to this day kamijo has not been able to forget audrey as he has stated in interviews. at two particular interviews he was unable to contain himself and cried when asked about his love life. he was asked if had a girlfriend and he had quickly said no but then could not catch himself as memories of audrey flooded his mind.