Dir en grey

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.

Band Members

• Kyo (vocalist, lyrics, composer, producer)
• Shinya (drums, composer, producer)
• Kaoru (guitar /lead, composer, producer)
• Die (guitar /rhytm; acoustic, composer, producer)
• Toshiya (bass, composer, producer)

Album Discography

• MISSA - 25 July 1997 (FREE-WILL Co,Ltd.)
• GAUZE - 28 July 1999 (FREE-WILL Co,Ltd.)
• MACABRE - 20 September 2000 (FREE-WILL Co.Ltd.)
• Kisou - 30 January 2002 (FIREWALL DIV. / Sony Music Distribution (Japan) Inc.)
• six Ugly - 31 July 2002 (FIREWALL DIV. / Sony Music Distribution (Japan) Inc.)
• VULGAR - 10 September 2003 (FIREWALL DIV. / Sony Music Distribution (Japan) Inc.)
• Withering to death. - 9 March 2005 (FIREWALL DIV. / Sony Music Distribution (Japan) Inc.)
• THE MARROW OF A BONE - 7 February 2007 (FIREWALL DIV. / Sony Music Distribution (Japan) Inc.)
• UROBOROS-11 November 2008 (in the United States by The End Records, followed on November 12 by a Japan release through Firewall and European releases by Gan-Shin.)

External Links

• Dir en grey Official Site (Japanese/English)
• invalid black rose family - Finnish Fan Site (Finnish)
• Free Will America - Official US site (English)