Dir en grey is one of the few Japanese rock (JRock) bands that is now breaking into the international scene. The band, originally founded in 1997 after the band La:Sadie's, of which all but one of the band's members were a part of, disbanded. They released their first album entitled GAUZE in 1998. Though they remain popular in the Japanese goth / rock scene, their growing popularity in Europe and the United States has caused the band to begin making releases and tours outside of Asia.
Dir en grey was originally part of Japan's visual kei movement. As the band matured, they gravitated away from visual kei and eventually dropped it all together in favor of a more hard rock style to their music in their EP six Ugly.