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-OZ-

From generasia
Revision as of 00:49, 25 July 2010 by CrypticTokyo (talk | contribs)
-OZ- promoting "wisteria" and "viridian" (2010)

-OZ- is a five member Japanese rock band from the Kanto region of Japan. They are an indies visual-kei band that formed in late 2004, and are currently signed with LOOP ASH RECORDS. Unlike the rest of the bands on that label, -OZ- has darker visuals and a heavy rock sound. The band released their debut album VERSUS five years after their formation on September 16th, 2009.

Members

Biography

2004~2006

-OZ- formed in October of 2004 with the line-up of vocalist Natsuki and guitarist Aki (both ex-Scare Crow members), and guitarist Tama and bassist Nao (both ex-Gypsy members). They formed with the concept of "Bi to Taihai" (美と退廃; Beauty and Decadence). Drummer Zukki (ex-Usagi) would soon join, and the band played their first live on December 10th at Niigata CLUB JUNK BOX. Their last live of 2004 was on December 27th at Niigata Z-1.

In 2005 they played a total of 20 lives over seven months. The first live was on January 10th at Ikebukuro CYBER and the last one was on July 8th at Motoyawata ROUTE 14. On July 24th the band did two things consecutively, they performed a live at Ikebukuro CYBER, and they released their debut single "Decay...". -OZ- at this time was an unsigned band and the single was self-published and was availiable only through mail-order and at the lives.

For the rest of the summer they played a total of six lives, stretching from July 28th at Takadanobaba AREA to August 20th at Urawa NARCISS. Similar to their last single, on September 27th the band did two things. There was their first instore event at Shinjuku HOLIDAY and the release of their second single "and to the End". Two days later they played at live at Takadanobaba AREA, and for the rest of 2005 they performed a total of eight lives (one of them being a free-live on October 5th at Ikebukuro CYBER).

On March 5th, 2006 -OZ-'s third and last self-published single "Scene in the misereal" was released. This led into a string of 13 lives, beginning on March 29th at Ikebukuro CYBER and concluding on July 15th at HOLIDAY NAGOYA (one of those lives being another free-live on April 24th at Ikebukuro CYBER). During those lives the band participated in Takadanobaba AREA's ninth anniversary event on June 7th and a Visunavi sponsored event at HEAVEN'S ROCK Saitama Shintoshin VJ-3 on July 2nd.

-OZ- promoting "Eve's apple" and "Adam's apple" (2006)

For three dates in July they took part a concert organised by LOOP ASH RECORDS, the label they would later sign with. The concerts were titled "SUMMER GAME 2006" and the dates participated were at/on: HEAVEN'S ROCK Saitama Shintoshin VJ-3 on the 19th, Niigata CLUB JUNK BOX on the 20th, and Sendai HOOK on the 22nd.

In the rest of the summer and autumn -OZ- performed a string of 12 lives, starting on August 3rd at Takadanobaba AREA and ending on November 4th at HOLIDAY NAGOYA. In that string they took part in the "CLUB CYBER CIRCUIT 2006 Niigata-hen" event at Niigata Z-1 on October 12th.

During the autumn months the band had signed with independent label LOOP ASH RECORDS and announced the release of their fourth and fifth singles in two consecutive months. "Eve's apple", their first single with label support, was released on November 22nd. The last of the campaign, "Adam's apple", was released on December 27th. Both of the efforts contained two songs and were limited to 1,000 copies. Between the singles they played a live at Shinsaibashi CLUB QUATTRO on December 4th.

To commemorate their first releases with a label, -OZ- held their first sponsored event on December 28th. Their first events would have the collective name of "_ AGITATION", with the number filling in the blank. This event was at Shibuya CHELSEA HOTEL and was called 1st AGITATION "Entice territory". The last activity of 2006 was the "Akai Kitsune to Midori no Inoshishi" marsa and LOOP ASH countdown event at Zepp Tokyo on December 31st through till January 1st, 2007.

2007-2008

Beginning the new year in January was three lives in three consecutive days starting on the 25th; the venues were respectively Nagoya HEARTLAND, Yokohama Arena Sound Hall, and Motoyawata ROUTE 14. On February 6th -OZ- and Mello held a two-man concert at Shibuya O-Crest titled "50/50". The last activity of the month was a live at Niigata JUNK BOX mini the next day, and the release of the compilation album THE☆Fushigi☆Circle☆ on the 28th, which the band had contributed a track to.

The compilation's self-titled tour then started in March. They played in four dates in the tour, starting on March 2nd at Nagoya CLUB QUATTRO and ending on March 20th at Shibuya CLUB QUATTRO. Before that tour concluded the band was in another tour that ran congruently. This one was called stylish wave CIRCUIT '07 Haru no Arashi and they also played in four dates. The first one was at Mito LIGHT HOUSE on March 17th and the last date was at Takadanobaba AREA on March 31st.

-OZ- started on their first tour WARS OF AGGRESSION during April and May. It began at Urawa NARCISS on April 2nd and concluded at Takadanobaba AREA on May 6th. During the tour the band contributed a new track to the compilation album CROSS GATE 2007 ~STRAWBERRY SEEDS~, which was released on April 18th. The album itself was produced by KISAKI (UNDER CODE PRODUCTION) and Michiru (LOOP ASH RECORDS).

The 2nd AGITATION event which was called "spread territory" was held on May 25th at Ikebukuro CYBER. The cast of bands that took part are: LuLu, Nega, Pashya, Kikai Ningyou Kagekidan Karakuri, and UnsraW. Finishing off May was the release of their debut mini-album SIX on the 30th. It was released in CD+DVD only format and it's their first to be in that format. The DVD is of their first PV, "Zenith", which was originally the B-side on their fourth single "Eve's apple".

At the very start of June the band was in LuLu's organised live "Kansen Kakudai ~Shingata Virus Moui wo Furuu~" at Ikebukuro CYBER. They then were in three dates of the Time goes by TOUR '07 tour, they were at/on: Sendai HOOK on June 8th, Niigata JUNK BOX on the 9th, and Sapporo KRAPS HALL on the 11th. The end of June was a regular live at Takadanobaba AREA on the 20th.

-OZ- promoting "elf" (2007)

From July till October the band performed 17 lives, six of those being events. The lives started on July 8th at Urawa NARCISS and ended on October 26th at Niigata JUNK BOX mini. The events were either a part of the "Junpuumanpan ~Fuukou Ryoukou~" events or the "Loop Hiraki -2007-" events, which were both orangised and produced by LOOP ASH RECORDS.

Titled "elfish territory", the 3rd AGITATION event was held on October 29th at Ikebukuro CYBER. This preceded the release of their sixth single "elf" on Halloween (October 31st). It was released in CD+DVD only format and it's their first single to be in that format. The DVD is of the PV for the single's A-side song (their second music video).

November was made up of six lives, spanning from the 11th at Shibuya O-Crest to Yokohama Arena Sound Hall on the 29th. There were two one-man concerts in late December; the first was called A FACT OF LIFE ~Territory Niigata~ on the 21st at Niigata JUNK BOX mini, and the second was called A FACT OF LIFE ~Territory Tokyo~ on the 28th at Meguro Rockmaykan. At the very end of December -OZ- participated in two events. The first was the "stylish wave COUNT DOWN '07-'08" event at Yokohama Akarenga Souko 1-goukan 3F Hall, while the last event of the year was the "FINAL 2007" event at Takadanobaba AREA.

For the winter of 2008 the band was in the Romantic Fuyu Kikou -2008-☆ tour presented by ART POP ENTERTAINMENT. The five date tour began on January 22nd at OSAKA MUSE and concluded on February 2nd at Omotesando FAB. A day before the last date, -OZ- was one of the acts in one of Nega's CD release commemoration tour LooP Under the Chaos concerts at Meguro Rockmaykan.

In the meantime they contributed a new version of the song "CRY the crime" to the compilation album Shimen Soka. The album was released on March 1st and the tour to support and promote the compilation started on that date also. The eponymously titled TouNaKa based tour (東名阪; Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka) was only three dates: March 1st at Ikebukuro CYBER, the 27th at Nagoya HEARTLAND, and the next day at Namba ROCKETS. A few days after the start of the tour they released their seventh single "ATHENA" on March 5th. It is the first single in a two consecutive month single release plan, with both of those released in limited quantites. "S.I.N", the last of the campaign (and eighth single), was released on April 2nd. This reached #18 on the indies Oricon chart.

With SOMATIC GUARDIAN -OZ- had a two-man concert called Senjou no Territory Tokyo on April 4th at Ikebukuro CYBER. An additional tour for the release of the previous compilation album, presented by LOOP ASH RECORDS, was performed in April. Their part in the NEO ROMANTIC, LOVER'S NIGHT tour was three dates, that each took place at different CLUB JUNK BOX locations. The concerts were at/on: Nagano on the 9th, Niigata on the 10th, and Sendai on the 12th.

-OZ- promoting "Bulk" and "Spiral" (2008)

The band's second two-man concert of the year, The Chaotic Territory Tokyo, was with Nega at Ikebukuro CYBER on May 5th. Because of the limited quantities of their two previously released singles, they were combined together as a normal edition. The aptly named "ATHENA & S.I.N" was released on May 7th. Completing the month was their participation in the "KING OF BATTLE ROYAL" series of events, the ones -OZ- were in were at Kanazawa AZ on the 26th and at Niigata CLUB JUNK BOX on the 28th.

The lone activity in June was a one-man concert titled A FACT OF LIFE ~Territory Tokyo~ on the 6th at Meguro Rockmaykan. For two consecutive days in July, starting on the 7th, they played in the Shimen Soka tour '08 finals at Shibuya RUIDO K2. Two thing congruently happened on July 30th; the first was the release of their 10th single "Bulk", and the second was the "stylish wave '08 MAX" event at Niigata CLUB JUNK BOX. The single reached #7 on the indies Oricon chart and #142 on the major charts, where it charted for a week.

In August -OZ- teamed up with SKULL for their six date coupling tour Shoutotsu, with half of those lives being two-man concerts. They started on the 3rd at Sendai HOOK and ended on the 22nd at Meguro Rockmaykan. On September 2nd the band took part in Kiteru! BAND's "Kiteru! Akimatsuri '08" event at Shibuya O-WEST. The next day their 11th single "Spiral" was released. It reached #12 on the indies Oricon chart.

On the same day as their 11th single's release, they had also participated in the "Kiteru! Kouyasai '08" (presented by Kiteru! BAND) event at Meguro LIVE STATION. This led into their one-man concert tour, collectively called A FACT OF LIFE -Spiral ZONE-, for three dates in September. The concerts were individually titled and was at/on: "-Territory NIIGATA-" at Niigata JUNK BOX mini on the 12th, "-Territory OSAKA-" at Osaka America-mura CLAPPER on the 15th, and "-Territory TOKYO-" at Meguro Rockmaykan on the 20th.

Five lives, beginning on September 27th at Takadanobaba AREA and concluding on November 19th at Sendai HOOK, happened before their next tour. This time the band coupled with SIVA for a two-man tour called Psychedelic territory for three dates in November. The first date was at Nagya ell.SIZE on the 24th, the second was at Shinsaibashi FANJ-twice on the 25th, while the last was at Ikebukuro CYBER on the 28th.

On December 2nd they were the opening act in girugamesh's concert at Kanazawa AZ. -OZ- then were in two birthday events; the first was hixro's (v[NEU]) "Brand NEU day" at Meguro LIVE STATION on the 3rd, and the second was Aki's "FUN TO FAN" at Niigata JUNK BOX mini on the 8th. The band held their premium one-man concert A FACT OF LIFE ~Second Wind~ on the 28th at Shibuya RUIDO K2. It was during this live that "RAZE" was sold. Similar to last year, -OZ- participated in two events. The first was the "stylish wave COUNT DOWN '08-'09" event at Yokohama Akarenga Souko 1-goukan 3F Hall, while the other was the "FINAL 2008" event at Takadanobaba AREA.

Discography

Albums

  • [2009.09.16] VERSUS
  • [2010.11.??] TBA
  • [2010.12.??] TBA (Best Album)

Mini-Albums

  • [2007.05.30] SIX

Singles

Other Singles

DVDs

Compilations

External Links

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