Chapter III: The Voyage Era: 1995-1996

MALICE MIZER was quiet for a while after Tetsu left. Occasionally, some of the members still appeared in small independent magazines called “minikomi”, but live activities and recordings stopped for some months. Somewhere in 1995, one of the members came into contact with Camui Gackt, which was a member of the very obsucre band CAINS:FEEL at the time, and it was then decided that he would become the new vocalist of MALICE MIZER.

MALICE MIZER held one live before Gackt’s official debut live, called “第五夜 悲劇の晩餐 Vol.5” (Dai Goya Higeki no Bansan Vol.5), but right after that they announced Gackt’s first live, called “華麗なる復活劇～新たなる悪意と悲劇の物語が始まる～” (Karei naru Fukkatsugeki ~Aratanaru Akui to Higeki no Monogatari ga Hajimaru~), which sold out, and was held on the 10th of October, 1995, and also had their first tour with Gackt, called “Sans retour Voyage 1995”, which had 9 dates in november and december.

On the 10th of December, 1995, MALICE MIZER’s first single released, “麗しき仮面の招待状” (Uruwashiki Kamen no Shoutaijou). This single was quite succesful, and landed them on TV for an interview with SHOCK WAVE. The sound and visuals of this single was noticably different than the songs before during Tetsu’s time with the band. The outfits were more colourful, the music was more upbeat and lighter, and there was even more french inspiration than in the beginning. This is a trend that would continue during Gackt’s entire time with the band.

During the first half of 1996, they had a moderate amount of live performances, but were mainly focused on recording their debut full-length album, which held a similar name to their first tour. On the 9th of June, 1996. It was called “Voyage sans retour“, and was very succesful in the visual indies scene. In March, they toured Tokyo, Aichi, and Osaka, participated in events, and in the summer, they performed a nationwide tour called “Sans retour Voyage deux 1996”.

On the 1st of October 1996, the omnibus (various artists) album “SHOCK WAVE ’96” released, which MALICE MIZER contributed to, recording an English version of the song APRÈS-MIDI, which was the B-side (second song) of “麗しき仮面の招待状” (Uruwashiki Kamen no Shoutaijou).

They returned to the studio again to record their next release, a single called “ma chérie～愛しい君へ～“, which was actually composed in either 1993 or 1994 during Tetsu’s time, but never recorded with him. They released it on the 10th of October, 1996, to commemorate the one year anniversary of Gackt’s 1st official live with the band. Around that time, they opened the official MALICE MIZER fan club, also named “ma chérie”, which went on right until the end of the band in 2001. The rest of 1996 was filled with events, lives and interviews.

This rapid independent growth of MALICE MIZER attracted the attention of major record labels. Different record labels were interested in MALICE MIZER around the ending of 1996 and beginning of 1997. But before going major, they wanted to end the independent period with a few big, theatrical concerts, Sans retour Voyage “derniere”, which had two additional performances with the same name after it.

With a beautiful album, a succesful single, a talented, charismatic new singer, and a bunch of amazing concerts under their belt, it was time to elevate it all to the next level. And they didn’t even have to search for a major record label! Things were about to get crazy…