LAREINE was a Japanese visual-kei rock band that existed from November 1994 to February 17, 2007.
On these pages, you will find a full biography of LAREINE and the related bands.
Chapter II: 1994-1995: Laliene
As said in the first chapter, “LAREINE” was born when “KAMIJO” (Then known as “Shoki”) and “MAYU” (Then known as “mayu”) met each other as both roadies (Techincal staff) for the legendary band “MALICE MIZER”, in late 1994. As they noticed they shared the same musical vision, they decided to form a band together in november of 1994. The name of this band was “Laliene”, the very first name of “LAREINE”.
Laliene’s first logo, taken from a sticker.
After some time of rehearsing and composing songs, Laliene was ready to start performing live. But somewhere in early 1995, Mayu left the band. It is said that this was because of musical differences with their other guitarist, Sakureu, but this is unconfirmed. To replace Mayu, they recruited a new guitarist, Hirono.
The band was now ready to play their first lives with the following lineup:
Vocals: Shoki
Guitar: Sakureu
Guitar: Hirono
Bass: Emiru
Drums: 鏡 花 (Kyouka)
Somewhere in early 1995, they also went in the studio to record their first demo tape, more about it later.
This lineup played a total of five lives from 1995.03.25 to 1995.04.27, as advertised on their second flyer. The band concept at the time appears to be “～葬送行進曲～”, which means “funeral march”, since this phrase appeared on their first flyer, and a poster sold at these first few lives.
On the second concert of this short tour: 1995.03.29 目黑鹿鳴館 (Meguro Rockmaykan), they freely distributed their first demo tape, limited to only 100 copies. This release was completely self-released, under their self-made “Lucheri” record label. It was also self-titled, which means it was just called “Laliene“. It is said that the composer of the one song on it, “DETEST OFF DOLL” is Sakureu, but this is unconfirmed.
This song is reminiscent of early “黒夢 (Kuroyume)”, a very popular band at that time, which is a musical genre very different than all later releases of LAREINE, so the previous theory that Sakereu and Mayu’s musical visions were just too different to work together sounds more probable if you look at it this way, from a musical perspective.
After these lives, in late april of 1995, or early may, Sakureu left the band, which caused Mayu to return, and take Sakureu’s place.
The band went on to perform only one live in may, and two lives in june of that year, according to their third flyer. This would be the last live under “Laliene” and their first logo, before changing to “LALIENE” (In all-capital letters) and using a new logo.
Things were going slow in the first half of 1995… So it was time to grow the band! Somewhere in between late april and early july, they went in the studio to record their second demo tape, simply titled “2ND DEMO“, containing two songs. The songs were better produced, recorded, composed and performed than the first song, and their style was starting to develop closer to the LAREINE we all know, especially with the second song, “Féerie“.
To promote the song, LALIENE did their first big concert tour, starting on the 27th of July 1995, and ending on the August the 29th. During the tour, they sold their second demo tape during all dates. The tour was very succesful and they had to repress the 2nd demo two times during the live tour. Additionally, there was another version of the second demo that was sold via mail-order and in stores, with 1000 copies pressed in total. Things were going well for LALIENE.
Sadly, instability struck yet again, as only two lives after the tour, both Hirono and 鏡 花 (Kyouka) both left the band. They would quickly find their replacement in MACHI, which debuted his first live in november of that year, which was also LALIENE’s second-last live of the year.
The first known image of Laliene, taken from their first flyer, released in either late 1994, or beginning 1995. From left to right: mayu (MAYU), Shoki (KAMIJO), 鏡 花 (Kyouka) and Sakureu.
Laliene’s second flyer, advertising the beginning of their live activities, and a demo tape to be distributed on the second date of that small tour.
Final flyer containing Hirono and 鏡 花 (Kyouka), introducing the “LAST OF NOW MEMBER’s” concert, but also the first live with MACHI, who wasn’t yet announced on the flyer.
Note: The names “Laliene”/”LALIENE” and “LAREINE” are both French. Western languages use more letters than the Japanese language, for example, “L” and “R” are different in Western languages are the same in Japanese. This means that both “Laliene” and “LAREINE” are pronounced “Rarenu”, or “ラレーヌ” in Japanese. So for the Japanese, changing “Laliene” to “LAREINE” is not a big change.