Post by Matsudayo on Mar 16, 2006 6:54:41 GMT -5
Since not everyone who makes it here makes it to the main site not everyone gets to see the lovely informative articles there. And since I can't make updates at this time I'm posting the various articles in thier sections AND to those who have pending articles I'll make forums for your artists and I'll post those articles that you have so nicely submitted in those forums too. Once I get access to my server again I'll make the updates on the site and hopefully add those new articles too. Thank you for your patience.
Cali+Gari By: Lex
Cali+gari is one of J-rock's greatest, yet internationally ignored bands. Their music is anything but ordinary! Cali+gari’s lyrics are insane patterns of non-sense (but in a GOOD way!) and their visual style consists of flashy make up and retro thrift-store clothes. Their musical style is hard to explain because it is so diverse. Cali+gari’s style shifts from alternative, to prog-rock, to metal, to blues, to electronic, and to just plain insanity that can't be categorized. They are simply geniuses, in my humble opinion.
Their story is a long and complicated one which starts in 1989, when guitarist Sakurai Ao and drummer Katsumi meet and form a band. It isn't until a 1993 that Keiji joins on bass and Kureiju on vocal and this nameless band becomes "Cali gari" (named after the silent 1920's German horror film "Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari." Rent it!). Kureiju did not stick around very long and was replaced by Shin a year later. No recordings were released with Kureiju. Finally in 1994 their first demo tape, Dai 1 Jikkenshitsu, went on sale and their other demo tape, Sennou, was distributed at their live performances. After this, Shin leaves the group and was replaced twice. Fed up, Cali gari paused activates but this is far from the end of our little tale. After a failed attempt to start different bands Ao, Katsumi, and Mitsuo restart Cali+gari.
That marks a new era in Cali+gari history. Shuuji joins as vocalist and the + in their name making it “Cali+gari”. After having to replace members AGAIN the next two and a half years went smoothly with the release of Dai 3 jikkenshitsu, Dai 4 jikkenshitsu, and Dai 5 jikkenshitsu (notice a nice little pattern?). Katsumi, one of the band's founders, announces his leave soon after at the first Yaneura Dai Circus (a yearly concert held by Ao where many of today's popular J-rock bands like MUCC, Plastic Tree, Velvet Eden, Guruguru Eigakan, Ya-foo!, ect., got their start). These guys don't play around. Katsumi is replaced by Makoto in late '99 and Cali+gari resumed activities. They went on releasing tons of stuff until mid-2000 when Shuuji suddenly left the group. Not even 2 weeks later, Shuuji Ishii (ex-SAKRUN, ex-float) joins as their new vocalist. Many of Cali+gari's fans were infuriated by this (some still are to this day) and some embraced the new vocalist. Shuuji Ishii's first release with the band was a full-length album, ‘Blue Film’ (yes, named after the porno film) and comes complete with a complimentary Cali+gari condom and a pamphlet on safe sex.
From 2000 to 2003, Cali+gari was prosperous with many albums, singles, videos, condoms (yes condoms), re-releases, and other fun things until March 2003 when it was announced that Cali+gari would stop activities but Sakurai Ao assures "we're not braking up" in his online diary. Their amazing last live DVD, ‘Kyuu’, was released September 21st, 2003. Since then, each member went on to many side projects and bands. Ao has made FIGURE'71 and his more popular band, lab who have toured with popular bands like Metronome, Vidoll, and Phantasmagoria. Shuuji Ishii is successful in his solo band ‘goatbed’ who recently went major on Sony. Makoto's new band is called ‘Cyanotype’ and he's also helped with goatbed. Makoto even played drums for Miyavi on tour.
Cali+gari's unique visual and lyrical style has made it hard to categorize them. They are not visual-kei, and defiantly not non-visual. Cali+gari have been considered the fathers of the eroguro genre (often associated with angura-kei), which is a sub-genre of visual-kei for more visually traditional bands with darker lyrics. If you did the math, you could easily trace a lot of the eroguro and angura-kei's bands to Cali+gari. They also played a big role in the Misshitsu Neurose/misshitsu-kei movement.
Despite what they've achieved, there is no denying that many people seem to gravitate away from Cali+gari. I think it is because it's so hard to find any information on them and their discography is so big that people give up trying to keep up. Even if you do not like them, you have to respect them because with them many of today's popular J-rock bands wouldn't be here. For those who do put an effort into this band, I guarantee it will pay off with a ton of great music and maybe even make you question your sexuality.
Please feel free to add on to this article by placing VALID information below. Further discussion of this band should take place within the forum and NOT in this topic. Thank you
-MH
Cali+Gari By: Lex
Cali+gari is one of J-rock's greatest, yet internationally ignored bands. Their music is anything but ordinary! Cali+gari’s lyrics are insane patterns of non-sense (but in a GOOD way!) and their visual style consists of flashy make up and retro thrift-store clothes. Their musical style is hard to explain because it is so diverse. Cali+gari’s style shifts from alternative, to prog-rock, to metal, to blues, to electronic, and to just plain insanity that can't be categorized. They are simply geniuses, in my humble opinion.
Their story is a long and complicated one which starts in 1989, when guitarist Sakurai Ao and drummer Katsumi meet and form a band. It isn't until a 1993 that Keiji joins on bass and Kureiju on vocal and this nameless band becomes "Cali gari" (named after the silent 1920's German horror film "Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari." Rent it!). Kureiju did not stick around very long and was replaced by Shin a year later. No recordings were released with Kureiju. Finally in 1994 their first demo tape, Dai 1 Jikkenshitsu, went on sale and their other demo tape, Sennou, was distributed at their live performances. After this, Shin leaves the group and was replaced twice. Fed up, Cali gari paused activates but this is far from the end of our little tale. After a failed attempt to start different bands Ao, Katsumi, and Mitsuo restart Cali+gari.
That marks a new era in Cali+gari history. Shuuji joins as vocalist and the + in their name making it “Cali+gari”. After having to replace members AGAIN the next two and a half years went smoothly with the release of Dai 3 jikkenshitsu, Dai 4 jikkenshitsu, and Dai 5 jikkenshitsu (notice a nice little pattern?). Katsumi, one of the band's founders, announces his leave soon after at the first Yaneura Dai Circus (a yearly concert held by Ao where many of today's popular J-rock bands like MUCC, Plastic Tree, Velvet Eden, Guruguru Eigakan, Ya-foo!, ect., got their start). These guys don't play around. Katsumi is replaced by Makoto in late '99 and Cali+gari resumed activities. They went on releasing tons of stuff until mid-2000 when Shuuji suddenly left the group. Not even 2 weeks later, Shuuji Ishii (ex-SAKRUN, ex-float) joins as their new vocalist. Many of Cali+gari's fans were infuriated by this (some still are to this day) and some embraced the new vocalist. Shuuji Ishii's first release with the band was a full-length album, ‘Blue Film’ (yes, named after the porno film) and comes complete with a complimentary Cali+gari condom and a pamphlet on safe sex.
From 2000 to 2003, Cali+gari was prosperous with many albums, singles, videos, condoms (yes condoms), re-releases, and other fun things until March 2003 when it was announced that Cali+gari would stop activities but Sakurai Ao assures "we're not braking up" in his online diary. Their amazing last live DVD, ‘Kyuu’, was released September 21st, 2003. Since then, each member went on to many side projects and bands. Ao has made FIGURE'71 and his more popular band, lab who have toured with popular bands like Metronome, Vidoll, and Phantasmagoria. Shuuji Ishii is successful in his solo band ‘goatbed’ who recently went major on Sony. Makoto's new band is called ‘Cyanotype’ and he's also helped with goatbed. Makoto even played drums for Miyavi on tour.
Cali+gari's unique visual and lyrical style has made it hard to categorize them. They are not visual-kei, and defiantly not non-visual. Cali+gari have been considered the fathers of the eroguro genre (often associated with angura-kei), which is a sub-genre of visual-kei for more visually traditional bands with darker lyrics. If you did the math, you could easily trace a lot of the eroguro and angura-kei's bands to Cali+gari. They also played a big role in the Misshitsu Neurose/misshitsu-kei movement.
Despite what they've achieved, there is no denying that many people seem to gravitate away from Cali+gari. I think it is because it's so hard to find any information on them and their discography is so big that people give up trying to keep up. Even if you do not like them, you have to respect them because with them many of today's popular J-rock bands wouldn't be here. For those who do put an effort into this band, I guarantee it will pay off with a ton of great music and maybe even make you question your sexuality.
Please feel free to add on to this article by placing VALID information below. Further discussion of this band should take place within the forum and NOT in this topic. Thank you
-MH
