Biography
BAISER was a visual-kei band from Tokyo, Japan, formed in May 1991. Very influential, the band played an important role in the 90s visual-kei scene.
BAISER was created by the vocalist and leader of the band, Yukari. The original line-up was the following: Yukari on vocals, Hiderou on guitar, Akane on synth guitar, Haiji on bass guitar and Gaz (former MALICE MIZER member) on drums (support). Gaz was replaced with Akihiro in 1993.
In 1993, they released their first demo-tape "Daraku", limited to 100. They participated in some compilation albums and their second demo-tape, "Fleurs des Fleurs" was released a year later. Around this time, their image and music was very dark. They gained some more fans and in 1994, the band managed to sign a contract to the indies label, "Monster EP", releasing their first album, "Seppun Kuchizuke" in June.
There was another change in the line-up, Akihiro left the band. He was replaced by Toshimi in 1995, and together with their new drummer they recorded their next album, "ASH", which ranked #2 on the ORICON indies album chart.
In January 1996, all of the band members apart Yukari and Akane left the band (musical differences). BAISER was put on hiatus, while Yukari and Akane searched for new members. Unfortunately, Akane was forced to leave the band due to his father's illness.
The band was finally reformed by Yukari again in September 1997. The new members were: Mizuki and Rei (both guitarists and former members of the band I'ris), Shaisuke (former PENICILLIN member) on bass guitar and Katsura (former SHAZNA member) on drums. They had their first live in December, and were supported by TEARS MUSIC.
The new line-up had a lighter style and played more pop/rock oriented songs, but at times their music could even be considered electronic/darkwave. Two new albums, "Terre" and "La luna" were both released in 1998. BAISER caught the attention of "FOR-TUNE RECORDS" (branch of Sony Music Entertainment) and their major debut was scheduled for May 1998, with the release of the debut single, "Prism". This song was chosen as the opening theme of the anime series Gokudo and was produced by HAKUEI of PENICILLIN.
In 1999, the band released two more maxi-singles, "Angel" and "Doku". In November, they released their final album, "Hana", which was well received by fans. In May 2000, they released their last maxi-single, "Pegasus". After this release, BAISER went on a hiatus for several months.
During the hiatus, Yukari announced that he would be temporarily working on his solo project, and released two solo mini-albums in June and December of that year. Sadly, BAISER announced that they were officially disbanding on January 5th, 2001.
After BAISER: Yukari & Mizuki formed the band Endorphine with two other members, but the band disbanded after only three releases in 2001, this was when Mizuki retired.
Yukari then became a music producer for the band Rentrer en Soi. He produced them from 2003 till 2005. Since then he became a music producer under Resistar Records, producing bands such as: BugLug, DOG inTheパラレルワールドオーケストラ and Blu-BiLLioN.
Rei, Shaisuke and Katsura decided to stay together as well, forming the band Swallowtail. Rei changed his name to SIN and became the vocalist, sadly the band didn't last long and SIN also left the music scene. On July 16th, 2001, Shaisuke passed away, he had been checked into the hospital 3 or 4 days prior to the date of his death. The cause of his death was never released to the public.
Katsura was the most active member, he played drums in Cannival Method, Vinett and was most recently a support drummer for ∀NTI FEMINISM , he supported them from 2002 till 2007, but has now left the band and the music scene. All of the BAISER members have retired from the music scene, except for Yukari.
Members:
Vocal: 紫-YUKARI- (→BAISER→yukari from BAISER→Endorphine→)
Guitar: 水月-MIZUKI- (→I'ris→BAISER→Endorphine→)
Guitar: 零-REI- (→I'ris→BAISER→Swallowtail→)
Bass: 泰祐-SHAISUKE- (→Blanche→PENICILLIN→Deshabillz→BAISER→Swallowtail→)
Drums: 桂-KATSURA- (→SHAZNA→BAISER→Swallowtail→vinett→∀NTI FEMINISM (Support Member)→Cannival Method→∀NTI FEMINISM (Support Member)→)
Former members:
Support Programming: KEN (→BAISER→PLUG→PLUG+NOID→)
Support Drums: GAZ (→YOUTHQUAKE→ローディ→DATURA→MALICE MIZER→BAISER→Kneuklid Romance→the Night Breeze Zinnia→ドーベルマン、BUZZ BONE→)
Drums: (AKIHIRO→BAISER→)
Drums: 俊美 (Toshimi) (→BAISER→)
Guitar: 秀楼 (Hiderō) (→BAISER→Jagged Little Pill→KIL-LER→Swallowtail (Support Member)→)
Synth Guitar: 茜 (Akane) (→BAISER→)
Bass: 灰二 (Haiji) (→BAISER→Jagged Little Pill→KIL-LER→LOW-PLUGS→)
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