DaizyStripper

Launching their career with a bang with their 2007 debut show at one of Tokyo’s hippest and most popular venues, this visual kei quintet went on to become one of the most prolific bands in the scene, releasing a staggering five full-length albums in a year-and-a-half without any noticeable deterioration in quality. Their boy band good looks and slick fusion of pop ballads with punk and metal elements made them one of the hottest acts in town and saw their fame spread across Japan and around the world, despite only a handful of their songs seeing international release.

DaizyStripper was formed in March 2007 by three former members of the popular indie band Clavier: guitarist Mayu, bassist Rei, and drummer/pianist Kazami. Recruiting guitarist Nao and vocalist Yuugiri from the short-lived bands Trick and Altema, they locked themselves away for several months, composing and rehearsing before playing their very first show at the über-hip, 600-capacity Shibuya O-West. Their immediate popularity led to a string of live performances which kept them busy until the end of the year, and they released their debut single "Dandelion" in February 2008 through the indie label Beyond-Max. Both the first and second pressings of the single sold out, earning the band a number one spot on the Oricon indie charts. Over the course of the next two years they continued to grow in popularity, playing numerous gigs, releasing a number of singles, and a mini-album, The Beauty. In 2009, three of their songs appeared on a compilation album which was released in Europe and the United States. They also formed an "alter-ego" band called Frantic Emiry, in which they all took different stage names, dressed in Gothic Lolita fashions, and played a kind of dark, Baroque pop-metal. This band released one single, "World’s End."

In August 2010, DaizyStripper finally released not one, but two debut albums, Birth and Love, on the same day. The albums were the perfect distillation of their sound to that date, holding a mixture of anthemic, punky pop/rock and beautiful acoustic ballads. They then "graduated" to the successful indie label Plug Records, once home to VK legends Psycho le Cému. Just ten months later they released a new single, "Kiss You," swiftly followed by their third album, Bless, which had more of an alternative rock feel. Fans were blown away when just four months after that, in October 2011, they had another full-length album ready to go. Siren took a much darker turn, heavily influenced by metal, and was similar to the music they had peddled as Frantic Emiry. A few short months later, in January 2012, having changed labels once again — to Marvelous AQL, home of fellow visual band Vistlip — they released yet another new album, Air, which saw them returning to a lighter, poppier sound. ~ John D. Buchanan, Rovi