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Vidoll

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Vidoll promoting BEST (2011)
Left to Right: Giru, Rame, Jui, Tero, Shun

Vidoll (ヴィドール) was a Japanese rock band of the visual-kei variety. Rame and Tero, the band's rhythm section, formed Vidoll in February 2002. They then became a part of KISAKI's indies label Matina, and in 2003 switched to his then newly founded label UNDER CODE PRODUCTION. After some line-up chnages, years of releases, lives, and increasing popularity, Vidoll graduated from the label along with 12012 in February of 2007. Vidoll transitioned to SWORD-RECORDS for almost two years, and then to the major label CROWN RECORDS. Their music style covers and blends ballads, jazz, pop rock, and rock.

On June 10th, 2010 it was announced that after their September 18th performance Vidoll will go into an activity pause. The reason for this is Jui will be getting treatment for a large blood clot in his throat, and thus it will affect his vocal chords. The band will release a single on September 15th, "Crescent gazer", and have one more tour titled Reset. During their hiatus, in January of 2011, Vidoll announced that they will disband after their final live in May of 2011.

Members (At The Time of Disbandment)

  • Jui (ジュイ) - Vocals
  • Shun (シュン) - Guitar
  • Giru (ギル) - Guitar
  • Rame (ラメ) - Bass, Leader
  • Tero (テロ) - Drums, Piano

Former Members

  • Ayano (アヤノ) - Guitar
  • HIDE (ヒデ) - Guitar
  • Yukine (ユキネ) - Guitar

Biography

The Early Days

Vidoll promoting "Occult Proposal" (2002)

Vidoll was created in February of 2002 by Rame (ex-Eze:quL) and Tero. The other members would be vocalist Jui (ex-Luinspear), and guitarists Ayano (ex-Miserable) and Yukine (ex-Kar'MariA rodie). The band would start their activities in March, playing many secret lives in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka. They played a small string of lives: one in April, two in May, and two in June. They also signed onto KISAKI's indies label Matina, at its branch in Osaka under the concept "The band which stimulates an intuition through sight, hearing in a concept in occult romance".

Vidoll's first releases were issued on July 21st, with the mini-albums Face↓Mayura and Face↑Pisaroto. On the 22nd and the 27th, they held two CD release events at Meguro Rockmaykan and Sendai MACANA titled "Katachi no Nai Katachi". December started with another "Katachi no Nai Katachi" event at Meguro Rockmaykan on the 8th. Vidoll's first single, "Occult Proposal", was released on December 25th. The single was both the band's and Matina's last original Matina release, as the label stopped production on the 31st. The band would also be one of the head-liners at the "Matina PRESENTS Final Event ~FINAL PRELUDE~" event that also took place on the 31st.

2003 began in February for Vidoll with the fourth volume of the "Katachi no Nai Katachi" event, being held at Esaka BOOMIN HALL on the 9th. On March 1st, signed onto KISAKI's newly founded indies label UNDER CODE PRODUCTION. They were the only Matina band to transfer to the new label. The first releases on the new label were issued on March 14th with the singles "if... Levotomin (Y LV25 25) 475mg" and "if... Torikabuto (Shikibetsu Code Nashi) 120mg". The singles were also Vidoll's first charting releases; with if... Levotomin reaching #18 on the indies Oricon chart and #85 on the major chart, and if... Torikabuto reaching #17 on the indies chart and #84 on the major chart. March 17th was when the fifth "Katachi no Nai Katachi" event was held, and it's when they started their first tour. It was a CD release tour titled "IF ~Kousakusuru Misshitsu Osoi Yamai to Meditation~" which hit 14 stops. The tour final was at Meguro Rockmaykan on April 26th.

April 29th was when the if... singles were re-released, condensed as their third mini-album If... (Yakubutsuranyou Bokumetsu Campaign). It reached #209 on the major Oricon chart. May started with Vidoll and other bands having a Visunavi sponsored live concert at Kawasaki CLUB CITTA' on the 3rd. After six lives spanning June to July, Vidoll booked both Meguro Rockmaykan and Osaka club vijon on the 26th for one-man lives titled "Biningyou Sentou Kaishi ~Normal Ki x Gai-gata Dandou Missile Tokyo Osaka Touka~".

August was a busy month for the band, starting with the release of Ishoku Doumei on the 1st. This was a collaboration mini-album with Kalimero. On the 4th at Kobe STAR CLUB was the start of a 17 stop coupling tour titled "Manatsu no Chokushakou Kyozetsu Chika Senpuku Tour ~Iji Douki~". It ended with a two-man concert at Ikebukuro CYBER on the 30th. After that concert Ayano decided to leave Vidoll. Ayano's replacement, former Vanilla guitarist HIDE, joined on September 7th.

In the beginning of October, Vidoll took part in both days of a SHOXX CD special live "HIGH STYLE PARADOX" with many other bands at Meguro Rockmaykan. The 8th started off a Vidoll and Gazette coupling tour that began at Sapporo KRAPS HALL and hit 10 stops. It ended in two two-man concerts; one at Osaka MUSE on November 4th, and the other at Shibuya O-WEST on November 13th. The band would then play two one-man concerts; one at Shibuya O-WEST on December 19th, and the other at Esaka BOOMIN HALL on December 25th. 2003 ended with the release of their fourth single "Hitorikiri no Chrixxs", which was also released on the 25th. The single later reached #79 on the major Oricon chart.

Rising Popularity

Vidoll promoting "Ningyo" (2004)

The year 2004 led off with an event tour titled "Kamen Yuujou Tour ~Kantou Shuuchuu Tsutsumotase~", it started on January 10th at Takadanobaba AREA, and ended on February 22nd at Shibuya O-WEST. Vidoll had another event tour, this time titled "Kamen Aijou Kikaku ~Katachi no Nai Kataomoi~". That one lasted two dates, both at Esaka BOOMIN HALL, on February 15th and March 14th. During these tours they played three lives. They had also released their fifth single, "Wagahai wa, Korosuke Nari...", on March 10th. It reached #4 on the indies Oricon chart, and #70 on the major chart. March 19th was the date of a one-man concert at Shibuya O-EAST, it was titled "Gyaku Tsutsumotase".

A CROSS GATE special event at Shibuya O-EAST on April 6th was the only activity in that month. May 8th saw the start of their 2004 tour "Furusato Gaisen", which started at Wakayama OLDTIME and ended on May 31st at Kobe STAR CLUB, hitting six stops. Before the next tour, the band participated in a special event called "Rame-tan Matsuri VOL:1" at Esaka BOOMIN HALL on June 12th. The event was to celebrate Rame's birthday.

Their next one-man tour, "Ningyougeki", was started at Harajuku ASTRO HALL on June 26th and ended at Sendai HOOK on July 13th, hitting nine stops. During the tour on June 30th, Vidoll released their sixth single "Ningyo". The single reached #49 on the major Oricon chart. The next day they participated in the release event live at Shibuya Koukaidou. Vidoll also released a compilation album called Bijinkei. This album was only issued in Europe, through the French label Mabell. After six lives taking up all of August, Vidoll played the "Ningyougeki" tour final titled "Ningyou Enzetsu" at Tokyo LIQUID ROOM ebisu on September 11th. This day was also when they sold the advanced edition of their fourth mini-album Romanesque Gothic, and started accepting membership for their official fanclub Ningyoukan. September 29th was the date that the limited version of their mini-album Romanesque Gothic was released. The mini-album would reach #103 on the major chart, while the re-release would reach #141 on the major chart.

Vidoll had their fan club inauguration titled "Doll Kansha DAY" at Meguro Rockmaykan on November 7th. They then preceded to have a three one-man concert tour starting at Osaka MUSE on November 12th, and ending at Shibuya-AX on December 29th. In between these concerts there were two releases. They were issued on the same day, December 15th, and were the twin mini-albums Mukashi Natsukashi Ningyou Shuu ~Sono Ichi~ and Mukashi Natsukashi Ningyou Shuu ~Sono Ni~. The first mini-album reached #110 on the major Oricon chart, while the second one reached #115 on the major chart. The end of the year was met with two lives on December 31st at different venues.

At the very start of 2005, Vidoll's fan club Ningyoukan opened. In February and March they went on an event tour titled "Yojigen Yuukou Jouyaku", which started at Osaka BIG CAT on the 19th (Feb.) and ended at Tokyo Kinema Club on the 12th (Mar.). The aforementioned one-man tour, "Daini Jun Zenkoku Ningyougeki Rurou", went on from March 5th (at Shinsaibashi FAN-J twice) to April 1st (at Hakata DRUM SON), hitting eight stops. There were two finales two days apart; one at Osaka BIG CAT on the 22nd and the other at Nippon Seinenkan on the 26th. At the last finale, Vidoll announced that both their guitarists, HIDE and Yukine, were leaving the band on June 26th on their next tour.

Before the lives, the band released their first best of album Mukashi Natsukashi Soushuuhen + Omake Tsuki on June 8th. It reached #107 on the major Oricon chart. Vidoll's last tour with their guitarists was called "Toumei Hanzai". It began on June 12th at Daikanyama UNIT and concluded on the 26th at Osaka MUSE, hitting six stops.

Graduation

After the depature of HIDE and Yukine, Vidoll held another "Katachi no Nai Katachi" event. It was at Kawasaki CLUB CITTA' on July 13th, and that was when the band introduced their new guitarists Shun (ex-gossip, CalorZe) and Giru (ex-Lilith). With new guitarists, the band played eight lives spanning July and August. In September they joined in on a three date h'evn sponsored live tour. On September 28th, Vidoll released their seventh single "Shutdown", as well as played a live at Urawa NARCISS. It reached #33 on the major Oricon chart. The single was a part of a consecutive release plan. Between the CDs, they played three lives in October and a "Shutdown" release event. The second part of the releases was their eighth single "Chocoripeyes". That single also reached #33 on the major chart. October ended with two more lives. For November and a bit of December, they participated in an UNDER CODE PRODUCTION tour titled "Nihon Seiatsu 2005". The label tour started at Osaka BAYSIDE JENNY on the 3rd (Nov.) and ended at Kawasaki CLUB CITTA' on the 12th (Dec.), hitting 13 stops. The rest of December was filled with nine lives, three of them were on the 31st at different venues.

Vidoll promoting Deathmate (2006)

January 1st, 2006 was the date for the release of their seventh mini-album Deathmate. The mini-album reached #83 on the major Oricon chart and charted for three weeks, making it their highest and longest charting mini-album. A one-man tour was played to support the release, it was called "Reload to living doll" and lasted all of January. Starting on the 7th at Meguro Rock-my-kan and ending at HEAVEN'S ROCK Saitama Shintoshin VJ-3 on the 28th, hitting 10 stops. The finale was two months later on March 28th at Shibuya CLUB QUATTRO. Before the tour finale, during February, they played three lives. After the finale they played two lives, one in April and the other in May.

Those sparsely played lives led up to the relese of their ninth single "SinAI ~Migite no Cutter to Hidarite no Drug to Kusuriyubi no Fukai Ai to~" on May 24th. It reached #43 on the major Oricon chart. They played two lives on consecutive days starting on May 25th, one at Esaka MUSE and the other at Umeda amHALL. The live on the 26th started a one-man tour titled "RoiD TV 1ch", that ran until June 14th at Shibuya O-EAST, hitting 15 stops. In between this one-man tour and the second leg, Vidoll played a live on July 3rd and released their 10th single "Nectar" on August 2nd. This single reached #55 on the major chart.

The next leg of the one-man tour, called "RoiD TV 2ch", began on August 8th at Yokohama CLUB24 and ended on Umeda amHALL, this time hitting 10 stops. Before the finale they played three concerts in late August. The finale for both legs was at Shibuya-AX on August 29th and was titled "3°C Storm TV ~Sunaarashi Housou~". In September Vidoll participated in two company sponsored events, one by Visuanvi on the 24th and the other by h'evn on the 28th. October will filled with eight lives, three of which were fan club one-man concerts. November 11th was the release date of their debut album V.I.D ~Very Important Doll~. The album would reach #56 on the major Oricon chart. The one-man tour to support their debut album was called "V.I.D Room". It began on November 29th at Hataka DRUM Be-1 and concluded at Morioka CLUB CHANGE WAVE on December 12th, hitting nine stops. Then they played three consecutive lives in late December (23rd to the 25th), the last two being UNDER CODE PRODUCTION X'mas special event lives. The one-man tour final concert on the 29th finished the year. It was titled "V.I.D seat for Last lovers" and was played at Shibuya Koukaidou.

Vidoll promoting Proposal ~Sotsugyou Kokuhaku~ (2007)

The first couple months of 2007 were busy for the band, as they were soon to graduate from UNDER CODE PRODUCTION completely and transition to a new label. The process started with an UCP produced event at Shinagawa STELLAR BALL on January 24th, another live at Kawasaki CLUB CITTA' on the 27th titled "Gen'ei Bijinkan -Tokubetsuya-" with Phantasmagoria, and another live at Daikanyama UNIT on February 5th with Megamasso. February 11th started a three date UCP special event live tour called "Shinki ~Graduation & Departure~". The tour was to be the last lives for Vidoll, 12012, and Phantasmagoria, who were all going to graduate from the label. The other two dates were the 12th and the 14th.

February 28th was a special day as it was Vidoll's graduation day, there was also a release and a fan club only graduation live at HOLIDAY SHINJUKU. The release was their second best of album Proposal ~Sotsugyou Kokuhaku~. The best album would reach #84 on the major Oricon chart. On March 1st, the band changed labels and management to SWORD-RECORDS.

Becoming Major

The band only played two lives before their new single. They were on April 29th and May 10th. Their 11th single "INNOCENT TEENS" was released ton June 13th. This single like "Shutdown" and "Chocoripeyes", was also a part of consecutive release plan. Between this and the next release, Vidoll participated in an ID JAPAN sponsored event at HOLIDAY SHINJUKU on June 16th, and had their first stand-alone tour of 2007 titled "Meld Park". It went from June 30th at Sendai HOOK to July 17th at Osaka MUSE, hitting 10 stops. Their 12th singlce "CLOUD" was released on July 18th. INNOCENT TEENS reached #39 on the major Oricon chart, while CLOUD only reached #57 on the major chart.

In the months of July to October, the band played a total of 10 lives, many of them being events with other bands. November 21st was met with the release of their second album Bastard. The next day Vidoll participated in another ID JAPAN sponsored event at HOLIDAY SHINJKU. Bastard reached #4 on the indies Oricon chart and #69 on the major chart. Their second stand-alone tour of 2007, "The game of buster", started at Shibuya C.C.Lemon Hall on December 2nd and lasted until December 21st at Nagoya BOTTOM LINE, this time hitting eight stops. The year's end was met with the "Over the Edge '07" event at Shibuya C.C.Lemon Hall on the 31st.

Vidoll promoting "Blue star" (2008)

2008 began with the Zy. sponsored event "stylish wave ILLUSION '08 Vol.1" at Zepp Tokyo on January 19th. Vidoll celebrated Shun's birthday (February 15th) with a live at Shibuya BOXX. The only live in March was in a Versailles planned live called "Versailles Presents Tokyo Metropolis" at Shibuya-AX on the 19th. The band started April with being a part of the "Sakura Mai Chiru Haru no Kyouen~April-fool's Fest 08" at Shinkiba STUDIO COAST.

April 14th was the beginning of their first 2008 tour. It started with a fan club only live titled "Yes, I'm a doll" at Harajuku ASTRO HALL. The second part was called "Yes, I'm a bastard" which spanned from April 16th (at Sapporo KRAPS HALL) to May 10th (at Akasaka BLITZ), hitting seven stops. Vidoll entered into the "KING OF BATTLE ROYAL" tour, but only four dates out of the seven. It went from May 26th to June 2nd. They then took part in Like an Edison's fifth anniversary special live mini-tour. It was three dates; June 13th, 16th, and the 18th.

On July 2nd, the band's 13th single "Blue star" was released. It reached #2 on the indies Oricon chart, and #21 on the major chart where it charted for three weeks. Making this single curently Vidoll's highest charting single and one of their longest charting. July 6th was second volume of their fan club only live. In the midst of the next tour, Vidoll played a live at Shibuya ga Taihen on August 8th.

The aforementioned tour, called "Relieve your Blue scar", started at Shizuoka SUNASH on July 11th and ended at Shibuya-AX on August 21st, hitting 15 stops. The last days of August, and one day each of September, October, and November, were when Vidoll took part in events.

December 10th was the release date of their 14th single "Mime". It was advertised as the their last indies single because they were going to change labels to CROWN RECORDS, which is a major label. Vidoll would still stay with SWORD-RECORDS for management. The single reached #27 on the major Oricon chart. 2008 concluded with the "Last Indies One-man Live Tokyo Mime" at Shibuya C.C.Lemon Hall on the 16th, and the "Over the Edge '08" live concert event also at Shibuya C.C.Lemon Hall on the 31st.

Vidoll promoting Esoteric Romance (2009)

2009 started for Vidoll with the band's major debut single "Puzzle ring", which was released on February 18th. Their 15th single reached #33 on the major Oricon chart. That release was just a lead into their major debut album Esoteric Romance, which was released on March 25th. Their third album reached #44 on the major chart, making it currently the band's highest charting album. The tour to support the album came in two parts: first there was a fan club only tour called "For esoteric dolls" and then a stand-alone tour titled "Cryptic Japan". The fan club tour was three dates, March 24th, 25th, and 31st. The stand-alone tour started at SUNPHONIX HALL in YOKOHAMA ARENA on April 24th and ended at Akasaka BLITZ on May 17th, hitting 11 stops.

The band's 16th single "Focus" was released on July 8th. It reached #22 on the major Oricon chart, almost beating "Blue star". In the interim of the next tour they played in three lives, one on July 24th, and the others on August 3rd and 5th. Vidoll's longest tour as of late, "20 flight of stairs", began on August 7th at SUNPHONIX HALL in YOKOHAMA ARENA and concluded on September 11th at Shibuya-AX, and as the title says it hit 20 stops. September ended with little HEART's 1st anniversary celebration live at Zepp Sendai on the 22nd.

October was filled with lives, starting with a Seven produced event called "Visual Dai Fever" at Shibuya C.C.Lemon Hall on the 3rd. The next two were D sponsored lives called "Mad tea party" on the 13th and 14th (at Nagoya DIAMOND HALL and Osaka BIG CAT respectively). Then there was the mega-festival live event "V-ROCK FESTIVAL '09" on the 24th and 25th which had many different bands participating in the two days. The month ended with the "VISUAL ROCK BATTLE 2009" concert on the 27th. November was only the "DIG UP NEW STAR Live Series Stage.1" live at Meguro Rockmaykan on the 2nd.

One month after that live, Vidoll released their 17th single "EVE". December would then only be two Sadie presents "THE UNITED KILLERS" lives on the 28th and 29th (at Osaka BIG CAT and Nagoya E.L.L respectively), and the years' "Over the Edge" concert at Shibuya C.C.Lemon Hall on the 31st. 2010 will begin with the release of their fourth album Monad on January 20th. The band will have a live to support the album at Shibuya C.C.Lemon Hall on the 23rd titled "Monadism".

Discography

Studio Albums

Best Albums

Mini-Albums

Singles

Other Singles

Video Releases

Other Video Releases

Publications

Books

Back of Ai Lids.jpg

  • [2005.12.15] Back of「AI」lids

Magazines

  • [2008.07.xx] Zy.[zi:] No.41 (Feature)
  • [2011.02.xx] FOOL'S MATE April 2011 Issue (Feature)

External Links

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