alice nine. is a visual rock band with a sound that easily covers multiple genres. From hard-hitting, edgy rock songs to sentimental pop-influenced ballads, alice nine.‘s style is one that is constantly evolving. The band formed in 2004 and got off to a quick start as both the first and second presses of their debut single quickly sold out. Over the years, this five member group has shown no sign of slowing down.
alice nine.‘s line-up is the same as it was at their inception: Shou (ex Givuss) on vocals, Tora (ex Givuss) and Hiroto (ex BAQUEPIA) on guitar, Saga (ex Visage) on bass and Nao (ex Fatima) on drums. Shortly after forming, the band held their first live at Ikebukuro Cyber and continued to perform, including their participation in PS Company presents: Tribal Arivall Vol.81 in June.
The next month, they released their first maxi-single, Namae wa madanai, which was limited to 1000 copies and sold out during its pre-order period. They released a second press of the single in August, this one limited to 3000 copies, which also sold out. During this time, they went on a short two-man tour with fellow indies band, ayabie, with the sold-out tour finale taking place at Shibuya O-East.
In September, this young band joined the PS Company label and released their first mini-album shortly afterwards. Like alice nine.‘s previous releases, this one was also limited and did well, ranking third on the Oricon Indies chart. They also went on a second two-man tour, this time with Karen. This tour was much larger than their first with ayabie and took them all across the country for about a dozen shows. They continued to perform and ended their first year together at an event at Holiday Shinjuku.
alice nine. kicked off 2005 by holding their first one-man live at Liquid Room-Ebisu. They participated in a number of other events throughout February and March, including a live on Valentine’s Day at Electric Lady Land. In the next three months, they released three more singles and spent April by playing as label-mate Kagrra,‘s opening band during their 2005 tour. In June, they did another two-man tour with ayabie, this one much more extensive than their previous tour together, taking both bands across Japan.
When July rolled around, alice nine. had just finished up their tour with ayabie and they hopped right back into the tour buses to participate in PS Company presents: Tribal Arivall Tour 2005 with Kra and bis, both PS Company label-mates at the time. The band also released their second mini-album, ALICE IN WONDEЯLAND, on July 27th to the delight of their fans. After an exhaustive summer, the band seemed to take a bit of a break in August and September, performing only once and doing various in-store events. As the temperature began to cool, however, alice nine. heated back up, performing at Shibuya O-West with Duel Jewel and Soroban in October before re-releasing several CDs, including a third press of their first single. When December came around, fans found alice nine. taking part in the massive Peace & Smile Carnival Tour, organized, naturally, by the PS Company label and featuring their artists. The band’s official fan club, club ALICE, also opened that month.
In 2006, alice nine. rang in the new year with some new releases, including their first live DVD, ALICE IN WONDEЯ FILM, and three new singles, one of which was featured in an animated series. In April, alice nine. released their first full length album, Zekkeishoku. alice nine. took a brief rest over the summer but fans weren’t left waiting long as the group released their second DVD which contained a short movie written by Tora as well as a music video and some behind-the-scenes footage. In October, they released an internet-only single, Blue Planet, which required a Japanese credit card to access. They ended the year by performing at various events, including Beat Shuffle’s anniversary show held on December 30th.
The band kicked off 2007 with a number of new releases, including a DVD, new single and photo book. Perhaps the most exciting news for their many international fans, however, was their participation in the Jrock Revolution event held in Los Angeles, California. After taking part in this multi-band event at the end of May, they continued to produce plenty of new music, including their second full album, Alpha.
Early in 2008, the band made a shocking announcement via the members’ blogs. Due to an injury, a cervical disk hernia, sustained by Tora, the band was forced to postpone a number of lives as pain and numbness made playing nearly impossible for the guitarist. Though the band could not provide any solid information as to when the lives would continue, they kept fans updated and resumed activities in a relatively short amount of time. Their first single of the year, MIRROR BALL was released on March 26th with the title track being used in the movie adaptation of the anime “Aquarian Age.” That summer, they released two PV collection DVDs and continued their nearly non-stop pace with the release of their next single, RAINBOWS, on August 6th. Before the end of 2008, another single and their newest live DVD, DISCOTHEQUE play like “A” RAINBOWS-enter&exit- hit shelves.
2009 opened with PS Company’s Peace & Smile Carnival, which had the band playing with their fellow label mates, at Nippon Budokan to celebrate the label’s tenth anniversary. On January 14th, they released their newest album, VANDALIZE and will surely see continued success as the year progresses.
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