Phantasmagoria (band)

Phantasmagoria promoting actuality (2010)
Left to Right - Top to Bottom: Matoi, Iori, JUN, KISAKI, Riku

Phantasmagoria (ファンタスマゴリア) was a Japanese rock band in the visual-kei scene. The band formed on November 1st, 2004 under the independent label UNDER CODE PRODUCTION by KISAKI, the executive producer of the label. Initially being active for three years KISAKI, after being a musician of 15 years, decided to retire and Phantasmagoria was "sealed" on August 31st, 2007. The seal was lifted in May of 2008 and they were briefly active until August 31st, 2008 where Phantasmagoria disbanded. They re-emerged and performed in the 2009/10 New Year's countdown live and announced that they would again be active. This activity proved to be temporary and they disbanded again on April 5th, 2010.

JUN and Iori have created their own group, spiv states, in November of 2009. As of September 22nd, 2010 Iori withdrew from the act, citing his progressing abdominal problems. Riku and KISAKI have since formed a new band in May of 2010 called Lin. Matoi, on the other hand, hasn't lately been active in the music scene.

Members

Riku (戮) - Vocals
JUN - Guitar
Iori (伊織) - Guitar
KISAKI - Bass
Matoi (纏) - Drums

Former Members

Shion (熾苑) - Drums

Biography

2004-2005

Phantasmagoria with Shion (Nov.'04-Feb.'05)

Phantasmagoria started on November 1st, 2004 under UNDER CODE PRODUCTION by bassist KISAKI (ex-La:Sadie's, MIRAGE, Syndrome, KISAKI PROJECT), the executive producer of the label. The rest of the original line-up was vocalist Riku (ex-HISKAREA), guitarist JUN (ex-Mar'derayla), guitarist Iori (ex-Mar'derayla), and drummer Shion (ex-Mist of Rouge). The band was announced a month prior and advertised as KISAKI FINAL BAND "Phantasmagoria".

Their first live was on December 7th at Y2K ROPPONGI and was a part of their debut tour, the 2004~2005 "with Moonlight Revival" tour. The other three dates of the 2004 leg was on the 14th, 16th, and 18th, and ended with the release of their first single "Moonlight Revival" on the 22nd. It reached #167 on the major Oricon chart, where it charted for a week. On the 21st, the single "Material pain" was released as a present in the February 2005 issue of SHOXX magazine. 2004 ended with a string of lives, from the 25th and ending with an all night live on the 31st.

2005 began with two events titled "REMAIN OF THE 10TH YEARS HISTORY", one on January 7th at Shibuya O-WEST and the other on the 8th at Shinjuku LOFT/PLUS ONE. The second one was an all night live, and the other bands that participated included: Vidoll, D'espairsRay, D, MASK, 12012, and Shelly Trip Realize. The 2005 leg of the "with Moonlight Revival" tour was a three date tour, being the 10th, 17th, and 18th.

Phantasmagoria with Matoi promoting "NEVER REBELLION" (2005)

On February 1st Shion left the band because of a foot injury, and a support drummer, Matoi (ex-HISKAREA), joined as his live replacement. Phantasmagoria would play a string of 19 lives, from February 8th at OSAKA MUSE to March 21st at OSAKA MUSE, with the live at Tokyo Kinema Club on March 12th being the date where Matoi became an official member. They released their first PV DVD, Gen'eizou I ~after the Moonlight Revival~, on April 6th. This reached #206 on the Oricon chart, where it charted for a week. This is aslo the last release to feature Shion.

April 10th started off their EVENT TOUR #2 "NEO ARK" at Yokohama BLITZ. It had four other dates, ending on May 17th at Shibuya O-WEST. The band released their second single "NEVER REBELLION" on June 1st. It reached #83 on the major Oricon chart, where it charted for two weeks. A CD only edition of the single was released a month later as "NEVER REBELLION -FOOL'S MATE edition-", it included a bonus track.

After participating in the 12012 second anniversary live "ebjulizm -OSAKA-" at Osaka BIGCAT on June 3rd, Phantasmagoria joined RENTRER EN SOI for a coupling tour titled "Konketsu -PR ASSOCIATION-". It started on June 4th at Osaka ESAKA MUSE, and ended with a two-man concert live on July 14th at Shibuya O-WEST, hitting seven stops. Five lives, leading off on June 22nd and concluding on July 16th, preceded a LAREINE memorial event titled "Anamorphosis". It was produced by UNDER CODE PRODUCTION and Like an Edison. A live on July 24th came before the release of their second PV DVD Gen'eizou II ~SIN SCREEN FILM~. This lead off the EVENT TOUR #3 "SIN SCREEN FILM", which started on July 25th at Shibuya-AX. It ended on September 23rd at Kawasaki CLUB CITTA', the entire tour hit 18 stops.

Their third single "Mikansei to Guilt", was released on October 19th. This reached #22 on the major Oricon chart, where it charted for two weeks. A few days later, Phantasmagoria held their first one-man concert and overseas appearance in Houston, Texas at the Park Plaza Hotel Reliant Center. The two days one-man lives happened on the 21st and 22nd, a press conference was also held on the 22nd. The band's stay overseas ended on the 23rd with photograph and autograph sessions. Their first album, the compilation album Splendor of Sanctuary, was sold only during the two days one-man concert lives. The lives were also filmed and released on June 21st, 2006 as SURVIVOR'S GUILT -2005,10.21&22 USA Houston,Texas Park Plaza Hotel Reliant-. The DVD reached #213 on the Oricon chart, where it charted for a week.

The month of November was Phantasmagoria's first anniversary and CD release EVENT TOUR #4 "SURVIVOR'S GUILT". It began on the 2nd at Wakayama OLDTIME and concluded on the 30th at Tokyo LIQUID ROOM ebisu, hitting 12 stops. A second anniversary and CD release tour titled EVET TOUR #5 "for degradation crowd" was only three dates, December 7th, 9th, and 12th. The 14th was the relese date for their third PV DVD Gen'eizou III ~for degradation crowd~.

The end of the year was met with four lives, the first being a live with D'espairsRay titled "Degrade to Maniac". This was on December 27th at OSAKA MUSE. The second one was the next day at Nagoya DIAMOND HALL, while second third and fourth were both on the 31st. The third was an all night live at Osaka HOLIDAY UMEDA and the fourth was at HOLIDAY NAGOYA.

2006-2007

Phantasmagoria promoting "Kousoukyoku", "Kyousoukyoku", and "Gensoukyoku" (2006)

The year began with the first entry in a three consecutive month single release plan, their fourth single "Kousoukyoku ~Variant Jihad~". It reached #80 on the major Oricon chart, where it charted for a week. Phantasmagoria participated in four events before the release of the third entry. The first one was the "SHOCK WAVE 2006 ~1st Stage~" live on February 5th at Shinkiba STUDIO COAST with Nightmare, D'espairsRay, Ayabie, and D. The second was the "Mad tea party Vol.10" live on the 22nd at Nagoya E.L.L. with D, Lynx, lynch., and Doremidan. The third was the "Shinrabanshow-DX ~Shimensoka~" live on the 23rd also at Nagoya E.L.L. with Ayabie, Vidoll, and KuRt. Finally, the last was the "SHOCK WAVE ~CROSS GATE 2006~" live on the 24th at Osaka BANANA HALL with Everlasting-K, ISABELLE, MASK, Doremidan, Himitsu Kessha Codomo A, and Lolita 23q.

On February 22nd the second entry in the single release plan, their fifth single "Kyousoukyoku ~Cruel Crucible~" was released. A month later the last entry in the single release plan, their sixth single "Gensoukyoku ~Eternal Silence~" was released. "Kyousoukyoku" reached #90 on the major Oricon chart and charted for a week. while "Gensoukyoku" reached #75 on the major chart and charted for a week.

Also on March 22nd, Phantasmagoria joined Vidoll in a two-man concert titled "Gen'ei Bijinkan" at Osaka BIGCAT. The day after the band, along with Vidoll, bis, and RENTRER EN SOI, participated in the "Owari Gekitotsu ~FREE WILL VS UNDER CODE~" live at HOLIDAY NAGOYA. On the 27th, they had their first one-man concert live in Japan titled "Territory of Divine" at Shibuya-AX. That live was filmed and released on July 26th as Territory of Divine ~2006.3.27 SHIBUYA-AX~. The DVD reached #242 on the Oricon chart, where it charted for a week. April 30th was when they teamed up with 12012 for one of the "Above under suspicion 3days" lives at ESAKA MUSE.

June 2nd and 4th were the dates of the "PLEASURE of DESTRUCTION" lives that took place at Tokyo Meguro LIVE STATION and Osaka club vijon respectively. June 18th was the "HAUNTED HOLIDAY ~Kami Shinjuku Kourin~" live at HOLIDAY SHINJUKU. The band's next one-man concerts were on July 24th at Tokyo Nippon Seinenkan and 27th at Osaka Nakanoshima Chuuou Koukaidou, both titled "creatures in imagination". The 24th live was filmed and released on November 15th as creatures in imagination. The DVD reached #257 on the Oricon chart, where it charted for a week.

All of August was a string of six lives, from the 2nd at Shibuya O-EAST to the 28th at Yokohama BLITZ. At the live on the 28th it was announced that three bands, 12012, Phantasmagoria, and Vidoll, would all be graduating from UNDER CODE PRODUCTION on February 14th, 2007 at a three-man concert live. September 1st and 17th, at Kawasaki CLUB CITTA' and Nagoya DIAMOND HALL respecively, were two more lives. Their debut mini-album, Synthesis Songs, was released on September 20th. It included all three of the singles from the three consecutive month single release plan, and a new song. This reached #198 on the major Oricon chart, where it charted for a week. September ended with two lives, one on the 24th and the other on the 28th.

October had four events that were produced or were presented by others. On the 6th was a UNDER CODE PRODUCTION and HOLIDAY presents "STRAWBERRY SEEDS VOL:1" live at HOLIDAY OSAKA. On the 12th was a SPEED DISK presents "Shinrabanshow" live at Shibuya O-EAST. The day after was a 12012 sponsored live titled "Genba Kenshou" at Nagoya BOTTOM LINE. The day after that was a Jui (of Vidoll) sponsored event titled "Jun'ichi Matsuri" at HOLIDAY OSAKA. October 18th was the release of their fourth PV DVD Gen'eizou IV ~chronology revelation~. It reached #151 on the Oricon chart, where it charted for a week. The month ended with a KISAKI and KAMIJO produced special event Halloween Party at Harajuku RUIDO, HOLIDAY SHINJUKU, and Kawasaki CLUB CITTA'.

After the November 14th live "Captured OSAKA VOL:7" at Osaka CLUB QUATTRO, the band celebrated JUN's birthday with the event "Kyou Dake JUN ga Kami ni Naru" on the 17th at SITE KOBE. The 25th was when they partnered up with Vidoll for the two-man concert live "Gen'ei Bijinkan -TOKYO-" at Shibuya O-EAST. On December 13th, they released their seventh single "under the veil". This reached #77 on the major Oricon chart, where it charted for a week.

Two days later Phantasmagoria had their second anniversary and CD release one-man concert live titled "Black-Veil Before Christmas" at Tokyo LAFORET MUSEUM ROPPONGI. During the first encore Riku made a serious announcement that would extend their graduation, that both Iori and Matoi would be leaving the band on February 23rd, 2007, and Phantasmagoria would pause activities. Iori's reason was that he had personal conflict with the band as it grew bigger and became more popular, so it was leaving him stressed and nervous. Matoi's reason was he had ongoing foot problems, but when the graduation live came and gone, it appeared they wanted to leave because they didn't want to be in a major band. The live was filmed and released on February 21st, 2007 as "Black-Veil Before Christmas ~2006.12.17 LAFORET MUSEUM ROPPONGI~".

On December 20th, their second and third mini-albums signs of fragment and subjective or ideal were released. The first mini-album reached #274 on the major Oricon chart and charted for a week, while the second one reached #272 on the major chart and charted for a week. The 2006 leg of the 2006-2007 live tour "at the end of the rest period..." was held on December 23rd at OSAKA MUSE, the 24th at Osaka IMP HALL, and the 25th also at Osaka IMP HALL. The last two were a part of the "UNDER CODE PRODUCTION X'mas SPECIAL EVENT" two days event. The day after was a live at Nagoya DIAMOND HALL. While the 31st was the "YEAR END of HOLIDAY 2006-2007" lives at HOLIDAY SHINJUKU, HOLIDAY NAGOYA, and HOLIDAY OSAKA.

Phantasmagoria promoting "Vain" (2007)

The year started with the band's first produced event, titled "At the Sacrifice vol:1", at Shinagawa Stellar Ball on January 24th. They had also took part in the Vidoll special planned project "Gen'ei Bijinkan -Tokubetsuya-" on the 27th at Kawasaki CLUB CITTA'. The three date tour "Shinki ~Graduation & Departure~", was held on February 11th, 12th, and 14th. The first date was at Nagoya DIAMOND HALL, the second was at Zepp Osaka, and the finale was at Shibuya Koukaidou. The finale was filmed and released on May 30th as Shinki ~Graduation & Departure~ 2007.2.14 Shibuya Koukaidou. During the tour the special single "Shinki" was sold and the DVD Graduation & Departure was distributed to all attending the finale.

After the tour, both 12012 and Vidoll graduated from UNDER CODE PRODUCTION. 12012 would sign with major label NAYUTAWAVE RECORDS, a sub-label of Universal Music. Vidoll would first sign with indies label SWORD-RECORDS and then sign with major label CROWN RECORDS in early 2009.

They started a three consecutive release plan with their eighth single "Vain". It was released on February 14th and it reached #125 on the major Oricon chart, where it charted for a week. The second entry was the aforementioned "Black-Veil Before Christmas" DVD on February 21st. The last entry was their fifth PV DVD Gen'eizou V ~under the veil~ released on February 28th. Their then last tour, the 2007 leg of the 2006-2007 live tour "at the end of the rest period...", was also a three date tour. The first date was on February 18th at Nanba HATCH, the second was on the 22nd at Nagoya ElectricLadyLand, and the final was on the 23rd at Shibuya-AX. The final was filmed and released on April 25th as at the ends of the rest period... ~2007.2.23 SHIBUYA-AX~. During this tour Iori's solo debut single "surely" was sold. After the final both Iori and Matoi left and the band went into a hiatus.

In the time of the pause, Riku paired up with Flypan of the Pumpkin Head to make Bloodly-clown, a special band. They released a joint mini-album with Houkago Club, Figure 4 Leg Rock, on March 7th. JUN started his solo works under the moniker of attic with the release of the single "ATOMIC SMILE", also on March 7th. All members rejoined and participated in celebrating KISAKI's birthday event at HOLIDAY OSAKA on March 9th, and took part in session bands at OSAKA MUSE the next day. On April 5th it was announced by KISAKI that he would retire and Phantasmagoria would end activity or "seal" on August 31st. Iori and Matoi would rejoin the band for the final touring. KISAKI also said he would retire from the stage, meaning he would still produce music for UNDER CODE PRODUCTION.

Their first activity together again was the "Rockin'Mama Festival SHIBUYA SPLASH" event at Shibuya O-EAST on April 29th with Dacco, Lolita 23q, Vidoll, and Jinkaku Radio. They also took part in the "STRAWBERRY SEEDS Vol.5" event at HOLIDAY OSAKA on May 7th with 12012, Kibou-YA Honpo, Siva, Arc, Dali, hurts, Nega, and GLADZ J.B. Their last EVENT TOUR, titled "LAST LETTERS" initially went from May 19th at Harajuku LAFORET MUSUEM to June 24th at Shibuya O-EAST, hitting nine stops. The day after they took part in a Wizard sponsored event titled "Real Yokunen Vol.5" at Nagoya EletricLadyLand, and the "OPERATION METEOR 20" live at HOLIDAY NAGOYA. The day after that the band held their produced "At the Sacrifice FINAL" event at Osaka BIGCAT. Ending off the month was an Arc sponsored event titled "Waru Gaki-tachi no Saturday Night Fever☆!!" on June 30th at HOLIDAY OSAKA.

July 7th and 8th were the dates for the fan tour part of "LAST LETTERS". They were both held at Niigata Naeba Prince. On the 13th at T's salon 1F Event Hall Phantasmagoria had memorial perfume press conference and events. The next day was the final of the "LAST LETTERS" event tour, it was at Tokyo Nakano Sunplaza. The 14th was also the release date of their ninth single "Kami Uta". This was supposed to be their debut major single, but because of the circumstances around the activity pause, retirement, and sealing, its their last single. It reached #32 on the major Oricon chart, where it charted for two weeks.

The band then had a two days one-man concert lives on July 23rd and 24th titled "Orei Mairi 2DAYS". They were at Shinsaibashi FANJ-twice and Nishikujo BRAND NEW respecively, and are the start of their "LAST TOUR2007 -CRYSTAL FINALE-" tour. The aforementioned one-man concert tour began on July 30th at Osaka BIGCAT and concluded on August 27th at Shibuya-AX, hitting 11 stops. The next day they held the 60 minutes guerrilla missa "TOKYO REQUIEM" at Tokyo Yoyogi Kouen Yagai Stage. On the 30th and 31st, Phantasmagoria and KISAKI had their LAST STAGE ECLIPSE OF MYTH lives at Wakayama-kenmin Bunka Koukan Hall and Osaka Osaka Kokusaikouryuu Center. After the last LAST STAGE live, Phantasmagoria sealed.

On September 5th, the best of albums REQUIEM ~FLORAL EDITION~, REQUIEM ~FUNERAL EDITION~, and the best of PV DVD REINCARNATION ~Gen'eizou Kanzen Ban~ were all released. The first album reached #179 on the major Oricon chart, while the second album reached #156 on the major chart. The DVD reached #178 on the major chart. October 17th was the release date of the special tribute cover album Tribute to Phantasmagoria. On October 31st, the live DVDs -CRYSTAL FINALE- ~2007.8.27 Tokyo SHIBUYA-AX~, -ECLIPSE OF MYTH- ~2007.8.31 Osaka Kokusaikouryuu Center~, and the another collections album No Imagination were all released. The first DVD reached #284 on the Oricon chart, while the second DVD reached #227 on the Oricon chart. All previously mentioned charting releases charted only for a week. Also released on the 31st was the FOOL'S MATE special book "BEYOND THE KINGDOM", which included a history DVD. The last release before 2008 was the SHOXX magazine mail-order only book "KISAKI CHRONICLE ~Eien Naru Gen'ei no Kanzen Kiroku~", which included a CD single.

2008~2010

Phantasmagoria promoting "Vanish..." (2008)

Phantasmagoria unsealed and had brief activity in 2008, leading up to their first one day revival one-man live. It started on May 3rd for the "hide memorial summit" at Ajinomoto Stadium. Other musicians performing included: hide with Spread Beaver, T.M.Revolution, DJ OZMA, RIZE, MAXIMUM THE HORMONE, Hurdy Gurdy, Versailles, MarBell, and DaizyStripper.

On August 19th a new version of Tribute to Phantasmagoria titled Past New Phase was released. The 19th also started the "Tribute to Phantasmagoria 2008" tour at Shibuya O-WEST, Phantasmagoria didn't perform but all songs played were theirs. It ended on the 24th at OSAKA MUSE, altogether hitting five stops. On August 20th the memorial best of album and photobook Dejavu ~Sanctuary of Revival~ was released. August 30th was when they took part in the "SHOCKWAVE in Osaka-jou Yaon" live at Osaka-jou Yagai Ongakudou.

August 31st was Phanatsamagoria's one-day revival live at Shibuya-AX titled "Shinki ~forbidden -INSANITY of the UNDERWORLD-~". At this live the single "Vanish..." was sold. The concert also had live performances by 12012, Vidoll, Nega, and appearances by KAMIJO (of Versailles) and Michiru (ex-MASK). December 24th was the release date of the live DVD forbidden -INSANITY of the UNDERWORLD-, and the advanced orders of the history DVD HISTORY OF Phantasmagoria 2004~2008. It became available through regular retailers on January 14th, 2009.

In October of 2009 it was announced that Phantasmagoria, along with 27 other bands, would be taking part in the "Shuto Seiatsu 2009~2010" live on December 31st through to January 1st. In December it was also announced that the band would be expanding in activity, participating in two more events and releasing their 10th single "Diamond Dust" and fourth mini-album Seeds of Brain, both on March 10th, 2010. "Diamond Dust" was going to be the B-side song to their major debut single "Kami Uta", but due to circumstances didn't happen. Seeds of Brain includes three new songs that were recorded in 2006~2007 and a bonus track. This activity expansion was only a limited time, as it ended on April 5th.