From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
L'arc~en~Ciel, also known as Laruku (ラルク) or L'arc to their fans, is a popular Japanese rock band consisting of four members. The name means "Arc in the Sky", or "rainbow" in French. Laraku's front man is hyde, Ken is the lead guitar player and the band's composer, Tetsu plays bass and Yukihiro is the drummer.
In 1992, Tetsu and Hyde, along with Hiro and Pero formed the band based on a movie that Tetsu had seen. After a year of gaining notoriety in their hometown of Osaka, Hiro and Pero quit the band. Tetsu convinced his friend Ken to quit his studies in architectural design and join the band. A new drummer, Sakura, was recruited after Tetsu saw him play. In 1993, the band released their debut album, Dune.
In 1997, Sakura was arrested for heroin possession and quit the band. Their popularity was growing too rapidly to quit, so a new tour was organized and Yukihiro joined the band. The first concert date of the new tour in Tokyo Dome had an attendance of 56,000 and sold out in four minutes, a testament to their popularity.
L'arc~en~Ciel released three more albums of new material during the next few years: Ark and Ray which were released simultaneously in 1999, followed by Real in 2000, which, for the longest time, was the last CD of new material, although many more compilation and remix albums would follow. L'arc~en~Ciel also composed several theme songs for various anime series, including DNA², Rurouni Kenshin, Great Teacher Onizuka and Full Metal Alchemist. They also created the ending theme song to the movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.
After a while, however, the various members began working on various solo projects. Hyde released several solo albums, Ken founded Sons of all Pussy, Tetsu started Tetsu69 and Yukihiro played with Acid Android. The band seemed close to calling it quits.
However, in June 2003, Laruku came back to play a series of concerts in Tokyo and announced a new album for release in early 2004.
