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Lolita 23q

Revision as of 22:11, 30 December 2011 by CrypticTokyo (talk | contribs)
Lolita 23q promoting "I'z" (2011)
Left to Right: Ryuto, Ryosuke, Soshi, BAN, Yu-ki

Lolita 23q (少女-ロリヰタ-23区, pronounced Lolita Nijuusanku) is a five member Japanese rock band of the visual variety. They are also known as Lolita23 and erroneously as Shoujo Lolita 23q; the dashes around the word "lolita" gives a forced reading for "shoujo". The last part of their name comes from the 23 special wards of Tokyo with the "ku" (区) suffix written as "q". The band describes their own music as Hybrid Visual Rock.

Members

Current Members

Former Members

Biography

2004-2005

Lolita 23q promoting HYSTERIC MEDIA ZONE VI (2005)

Lolita 23q was formed in September of 2004 as a session band with former Various☆Ray vocalist Sou, former Kublick guitarist Yu-ki, former Musashino Line. guitarist Koike Megumi, and former Yoidore members Ryosuke (bassist) and BAN (drummer). Their first live was at Takadanobaba AREA on November 18th. They would only play three more lives in 2004, all at Takadanobaba AREA. On one of those dates, December 3rd, is when "Otanoshimi Disc" was distributed.

2005 started out with a live at Shinjuku HOLIDAY on January 23rd, another live at Takadanobaba AREA on February 13th ("Suiren no Heya" was distributed here), and a live at Takadanobaba AREA on March 1st. That live was with CELLT at CELLT's first sponsored live titled "The religion race to invade -Vol.1-".

On March 18th, Lolita 23q took a part in their first event, the "HYSTERIC MEDIA ZONE VI" event. HYSTERIC MEDIA ZONE is a series of compilation albums released by the indie label SPEED DISK, which is the label the band would later sign with. Those that paid to attend the event through mail-order were given the DVD "Ishoku Othello" as a present. This DVD featured the bands first PV. The compilation album they were featured in, HYSTERIC MEDIA ZONE VI, was released on March 21st. A second pressing of the DVD was also released on this date, and would be available through mail-order and distributed in lives.

After six lives spanning March to May (two lives in each month), Lolita 23q released their first single "23-ku Kikagaku Kan." on June 21st through SPEED DISK. The single reached #9 on the indies Oricon chart. Four days prior to these releases, the band started a VS coupling tour with Soroban that hit seven stops during June and July, ending in a two-man live at Takadanobaba AREA on July 18th. After the tour, they became a part the SPEED DISK tour "Shiranbanshow TOUR'05 #2". That tour took place in July, August, and September, also hitting seven stops. A second pressing of their first single was released on August 10th. The single "Retro Me:LoW" was released as a present in August's SHOXX magazine.

August 25th was the date of Lolita 23q's first one-man concert live, "Metro Lolita Display Show", at Takadanobaba AREA. This was completely sold-out. Those attending this live were given the DVD "At Random Kata Shikaku Enban". As the title suggests, there were three different types distributed at random. This day was also when one of their guitarists, Koike Megumi, left the band. About two weeks later on September 7th, Megumi's replacement, former Saruin guitarist Ryuto joined the band.

2005-2006

With a new guitarist, the band participated in two lives during September. One at Shibuya O-EAST on the 22nd, and one at Shibuya O-WEST on the 26th. The O-WEST live was a bis sponsored live. October 19th was the release date of their second single "Tokyo Kinku Baveltower ~Aka no Yume~". It was the first part in a two month consecutive single release campaign. This was also the first release to break into the major Oricon chart, reaching #152.

There were only two lives in October, one was at Shibuya O-WEST on the 24th (which was with Ruvie and girugamesh), and the other was at Takadanobaba AREA on the 30th (which was a KuRt sponsored live). The second part of the single campaign, their third single "Tokyo Rinkai Anastasia ~Ao no Yume~", was released on November 22nd. This reached #2 on the indies Oricon chart, and #106 on the major Oricon chart. Two days later, Lolita 23q held their second one-man concert at Shibuya O-WEST. All those attending this sold-out live were given "Midori no Yume".

Lolita 23q planned their first event with magazine company h'evn at Takadanobaba AREA on December 9th. It was free and had two different parts. The first part was called "Hangedman no Nawa" (ハングドマンの縄; Hangedman's Rope), and the second part was called "The World". For two days in December the band had instore events. At Ikebukuro Brand-X on the 10th, and at Tokyo Like an Edison on the 11th which was an X'mas Party. The year finished with six lives (all still in December), of two which were special lives. A SPEED DISK presents live on the 19th, and an UNDER CODE PRODUCTION special event live on the 23rd.

Lolita 23q promoting ~Murasaki no Yume~ (2006)

2006 started with a h'evn new year festival live at Y2K ROPPONGI on January 9th, and a guest appearance at Takadanobaba AREA on February 8th. Later on in February, on the 22nd, was the release date of their first mini-album ~Murasaki no Yume~. This included a story penned by Ryosuke. It reached #157 on the major Oricon chart, and it is their highest charting mini-album. For two back-to-back days (February 23rd and 24th), Lolita 23q participated in another h'evn live at Nagoya Bottom Line and the "SHOCK WAVE ~CROSS GATE 2006~" live at Osaka Banana Hall. This led into the bands first self produced event at LIQUID ROOM ebisu on March 1st. The other bands featured were: KuRt, bis, ISABELLE, Phantasmagoria, and Charlotte.

The band then was on the "Shiranbanshow TOUR'06 #1" tour, which hit seven stops and covered March and April. A month after the tour ended, they had their first filmed one-man conert live at LIQUID ROOM ebisu on May 19th. It was titled "[BEAUTIFUL GENESIS OF "la Re:volutionA"]" and was later released on DVD as ""Kakumeigo Yomatsuri" ~THE FILM [BEAUTIFUL GENESIS OF "la Re:volutionA"]~" on July 12th. At this live a special edition of their second mini-album Kyuuyaku:Media Lolita was sold. The normal edition was released later on in the month, on the 24th as Shinyaku:Media Lolita. This only reached #288 on the major Oricon chart.

After another UNDER CODE PRODUCTION special event on June 11th, Lolita 23q competed in a two part "Match Up Battle" event. The first part was at Takadanobaba AREA on June 22nd and the other "fighters" were: DuelJewel, Shelly Trip Realize, and Himitsu Kessha Codomo A. The second part was at Shibuya O-WEST on July 3rd and the others were: Soroban, Vidoll, 176BIZ and bis. They then became a part of the second "Shiranbanshow TOUR'06" tour, it hit five stops this time; starting in mid July and ending in mid August. In the tail-end of this tour, they joined in on S'CUBE's production "SCUBER DIVE ~Shibuya ga Taihen~" on August 2nd. And released their fourth single "REAL Monitor Naibu no Digital Maid". It reached #2 on the indies Oricon chart, #60 on the major Oricon chart, and it is their first release to rank in the major top 100.

To support the single, the band ran a three date one-man concert tour. It started at Nagoya E.L.L FITS ALL on August 22nd and ended on August 28th at Shibuya CLUB QUATTRO. September was only three lives, as Lolita 23q participated in a h'evn sponsored tour. October 12th was the date of a SPEED DISK presents "Shiranbanshow" live. And a back-to-back, two days one-man concert tour at Takadanobaba AREA titled "Risou Kakuu Toshi" on October 23rd and 24th all prefaced the release of their third mini-album Risou Kakuu Toshi. It reached #180 on the major Oricon chart. This is also their last release through SPEED DISK. A seven stop tour was held from October 27th to November 11th. The tour final was at Shibuya AX on December 4th, it was titled "Zettai Teito", and the single "SWEETEST OCEAN" was distributed to everyone attending. Two more lives concluded the year; one at Takadanobaba AREA on December 26th, and the other at Yokohama Akarenga Souko on December 31st.

2007-2008

Lolita 23q promoting "Jenosense" (2007)

2007 started out slowly, first being a part of Zy.'s "Stylish wave ILLUSION'07 vol.1" at Shibuya C.C.Lemon Hall on February 9th. They were alongside D'espairsRay, DuelJewel, Doremidan, PENICILLIN, and R*A*P. The second bout of activity was on April 23rd and 29th where Lolita 23q participated in the "SHOCK WAVE ~Aporo~ vol.1" at Takadanobaba AREA, and "Rockin' Mama Festival '07 Shibuya Splash" at Shibuya O-EAST respectively. The year's first wave of lives ended at Shibuya O-EAST on May 15th at a h'evn organized live.

Since they weren't signed to SPEED DISK anymore, Lolita 23q made their own label called "Brand New Ward". The label's first releases were to come on May 16th and May 30th. Those are both part of a series of Brand new singles in one month. [ONE], "Jenosense" (fifth single), was released on the 16th and reached #88 on the major Oricon chart. While [TWO], "reimei" (sixth single), was released on the 30th and reached #81 on the major Oricon chart. A special live titled "-LIMITED WARD-" at Meguro Rock-may-kan on June 27th was played to commemorate those releases. Between June 20th and August 5th the band took part in a string of 13 lives. Some notable ones include the "Stylish wave ILLUSION'07 vol.4" at Hibiya Yagai Daiongakudou on July 16th, and the "Stylish wave'07 MAX FINAL" at Kawasaki CLUB CITTA' on August 5th.

Lolita 23q then released the first part in their second consecutive single release campaign of the year. This time they are a series of Brand new "HYBRID" singles released one month after the other. Brand new "HYBRID" vol.1 "Red Room" (seventh single), was released on August 8th and reached #128 on the major Oricon chart. While brand new "HYBRID" vol.2 "Mikansei Sapphire" (eighth single), was released on September 5th and reached #118 on the major Oricon chart. To bridge the month time gap between these releases, they played three lives, two of which was a mini h'evn tour. The rest of September was made up of five separate lives, starting on the 9th and ending on the 18th. Similar to last time, a special live titled "-LIMITED WARD II-" at Shinjuku LOFT on October 7th was played to commemorate those singles.

Lolita 23q promoting "Hoshi no Kakera" (2008)

November 7th was an important date, it was the release date of their first full-length album Brand New Ward. It reached #7 on the indies Oricon chart, and #103 on the major Oricon chart. After the "Stylish wave'07 MATRIX" live at Shibuya AX on November 28th, the band started a three date tour to support the album. It was titled "Brand New III Ward" and it started on December 5th and ended on December 17th. Those lives ended 2007 for Lolita 23q.

The new year, 2008, started with two lives. "Stylish wave ILLUSION'08 vol.1" at Zepp Tokyo on January 20th, and the "SHIBUYA Valentine Eve" at Shibuya AX on February 13th. Their ninth single, "Hoshi no Kakera", was released on March 5th. It is the band's highest overall charting release, reaching #4 on the indies Oricon chart and #56 on the major Oricon chart. Two days after the release of the single, they started the nation wide one-man tour "Ouja no Koushin '08 ~Star Piece VII Ward~"; which hit seven stops and ended on March 29th.

On April 2nd, SPEED DISK, who still owns the rights to the songs released through its label, released the compilation album MEMORIAL 2005-2006 Lolita 23q. It included all the songs starting from their first single "23-ku Kikagaku Kan.", to their second mini-album Shinyaku:Media Lolita. It also included both the PVs included in the mini-album ~Murasaki no Yume~. The only other activity in April was on the 12th, where they played a live at Shibuya CLUB QUATTRO.

May began with a h'evn organized live at Shibuya O-EAST on the 15th. May 20th started of the first "KING OF BATTLE ROYAL" tour, which the bands: DuelJewel, Billy, lynch., Sugar, JULIETTE, Vidoll, -OZ-, Serial Number, ScReW, and Modern Suite also took part in. The tour hit seven stops and ended on June 2nd. In between this tour and the second part, Lolita 23q played alongside Ruvie for their planned live titled "picure's" at LIQUID ROOM ebisu on June 24th. The band only participated in three stops on the "KING OF BATTLE ROYAL II" tour, all in mid July.

Three lives, two in Late July and one on August 1st, came before their completely sold out one-man Tokyo tour "Ouja no Koushin". The short tour was only three dates: August 10th, 11th, and 25th. That led into a longer tour, titled "Royal Party". It spanned from September 18th at Takasaki CLUB FLEEZ to October 3rd at Harajuku ASTRO HALL, hitting seven stops.

November 5th was the first item in a two month consecutive single release campaign, it was their tenth single "-garizm-". This reached #96 on the major Oricon chart. The next item was their eleventh single "CERAMIC★STAR", which was released on December 3rd and reached #99 on the major Oricon chart. December 3rd was also the date the band started the "Garizm king world "Waga Ichiban no Sekai"" tour. Like the previous one-man tour, this was also only three dates, the other two were the 5th and the 20th. The last concert was Lolita 23q's second filmed live, which was released later as the DVD "TOUR'08 Garizm king world "Waga Ichiban no Sekai"" on April 8th, 2009. December closed with the "Over The Edge 2008" live at Shibuya C.C.Lemon Hall on the 31st.

Lolita 23q promoting [Marble_Shaking_Ward] (2009)

2009

2009 commenced with the release of their second full-length album [Marble_Shaking_Ward] on March 25th. Two weeks later, an eponymously titled tour was held to support the album. It started at Osaka Shangri-La on April 8th and ended at Akasaka BLITZ on May 1st, hitting seven stops along the way.

Lolita 23q played two more lives, one at Shibuya O-WEST for "ZEAL LINK -VOL.8-" on June 24th, and another at Shibuya O-EAST for S'CUBE's "SCUBER DIVE Shibuya ga Taihen 2009" on August 3rd. In August it was also announced that Sou would be leaving the band on October 27th. The reason being his views and goals of the band have strayed from the other members.

Because of his decision, they will release their first best album, ;BeSt, on October 7th. The band has also planned one last tour with Sou titled "Carnival of III ward". As the name suggests, the tour will be hitting three stops. It will start on October 19th at Osaka MUSE and end with Sou's last performance at Shibuya AX on October 27th.

Discography

Studio Albums

Other Albums

Mini-Albums

Singles

Other Singles

DVDs

Compilations

Books / Magazines

  • [2011.08.xx] SHOXX October 2011 Issue (Feature)

External Links

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