Hyde - artist

Hyde (Pronounced in Japanese: Hai-do, or in English as "Hide", b. January 29, 1968, in Wakayama, Japan) is the singer for the Japanese rock band L'Arc~en~Ciel. Since Hyde keeps his personal information secret, much about him is either unknown or unofficial (including his real name, which is rumored to be Hideto Takarai) He confirmed his birthdate in an interview for the 2002 March issue of Rockin On Japan. He joined L'Arc~en~Ciel in 1991 after leaving another band called Jerusalem's Rod where he was the guitarist.

In addition to being the lead singer and main lyricist of L'Arc~en~Ciel, Hyde has solo projects, as well as his own record label under Sony Japan called Haunted Records.

In 2000, Hyde married model Megumi Oishi; they have one son together.

History

Solo history

After L'Arc~en~Ciel released the single, "Spirit dreams inside" in 2000, the band went on an unofficial hiatus as each of the members began work on solo careers. This was Hyde's debut as a solo artist. 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.

After the expressive, artistic ballads of Roentgen, Hyde's next two singles, "Hello" and "Horizon," released June and November 2003 respectively, returned to his rock roots. Hyde's second solo album, 666, was released on December 3, 2003. It provided a dramatic contrast to Roentgen and the two albums became viewed as counterparts.

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/下弦の月 (Last Quarter), a movie based on the popular manga by Ai Yazawa. The movie's theme song, "The Cape of Storms", came from Roentgen.

L'Arc~en~Ciel revival

After a three-year hiatus, L'Arc~en~Ciel astonished their fans with a series of seven concerts titled "Shibuya Seven Days" in June and July 2003. At the conclusion, they announced a new album, Smile, which was released in March, 2004.

In the summer of 2004, L'Arc~en~Ciel had their North American debut (as part of their Smile tour) in Baltimore, Maryland, at Otakon. The concert was viewed as a triumphant success, with a crowd of 12,000 fans.

L'Arc~en~Ciel's next album, Awake, was released in June 2005. It was accompanied by a Japanese Awake tour in August the same year. During this tour, Hyde created controversy with his costumes, which were obvious social commentaries. A second, larger tour titled Asia Live 2005 was held shortly thereafter. The single "Link" was released in July 2005.

Return to solo work

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 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 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.

International career

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 astonishing three minutes. The second round of sales was held April 9, also online, and also sold out quickly.

Soon afterward, rumors began circulating in the fan community of a second concert, to be held at House of Blues in Anaheim, California, on July 2. The rumors remained unconfirmed for a week before the event was announced officially. Like the San Francisco venue, the second concert also sold out, as did 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, this is known for Kurt Cobain influences to Hyde's career; contrary to 666 album version- Hyde 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.

HYDE is currently back with L'Arc~en~Ciel which on 31st May 2007 released their first single in two years, Seventh Heaven.

2008

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. It has been announced that Hyde and K.A.Z will be performing together during the concert and they would be called V.A.M.P.S. He is also having a concert in Shanghai, China, on Apr. 19th.

Hyde's support band

Guitar: K.A.Z (Oblivion Dust)
Drums: Furuton (ex.Oblivion Dust, ex.Nil)
Bass: Hiroki (ex.media youth, KILLERS)
Keyboard: JIN