Laputa

Laputa was a Japanese visual rock band from the city of Nagoya and was formed in July of 1993 by Aki and Tomoi, high school friends who were previously in the band AI SICK FACE together. Their member lineup from 1994 to 2004 was Aki on vocals, Kouichi on guitar, Junji on bass, and Tomoi on drums.
When Laputa was originally formed in 1993, the band's lineup was Aki on vocals, Hiro on guitar, Kusuba on bass, and Tomoi on drums. With that member lineup Laputa released their first demotape "Saddist‚Ì–² (Saddist no yume)" in September. In November of 1993, Hideno, previously in AI SICK FACE, joined Laputa as an additional guitarist. Laputa then released their second demotape "“Þ—Ž‚Ì’ê (naraku no soko)" in December of '93. Hiro left Laputa shortly thereafter. Junji, formerly of visual indie band Ad de Vidar, then joined Laputa in January of 1994 as a guitarist replacing Hiro. Laputa then released their first single "Ž„‚ªÁ‚¦‚é (watashi ga kieru)" in May of 1994. Hideno left Laputa in July of 1994, later joining visual band Merry Go Round. Kouichi, formerly in popular indie visual band Silver~Rose, joined Laputa in the same month replacing Hideno. Laputa released an indie video titled "Paradoxical Reality" in September of 1994. Kusuba left Laputa on January 7th of 1995, and would later be in the bands Lucide and Kraidhearz. Junji then switched instruments and became Laputa's bassist, and Laputa then had the lineup they would keep for the rest of their career. In February of 1995 Laputa released their first indie album "῁`‚ß‚Ü‚¢`ò (memai)" which met with success in the visual indie scene. Laputa shot a music video for the song "Vertigo" from "῁`‚ß‚Ü‚¢`ò (memai)". In February of 1996 Laputa released the indie mini-album "á¿‚ß‚­”pl (kurumeku haijin)" which featured three new songs and new versions of the popular songs "Vertigo" and "Insatiable" from the "῁`‚ß‚Ü‚¢`ò (memai)" album. In July of 1996 Laputa released an indie live video titled "” ’ë (hakoniwa)" featuring performances from a concert at SHIBUYA ON AIR WEST from their Paradoxical Reality TOUR IV that year.

With their increasing popularity in the visual indie scene, Laputa caught the attention of big record companies and signed to the major label Toshiba-EMI in August of 1996. Laputa released their first major single "ÉŽq‚̏ёœ / GARASU NO SHOUZOU" in September of 1994, which peaked at #34 on the Oricon singles chart. In October Laputa's first major album "劁`‚©‚°‚낤`å / KAGEROU" was released, peaking at #24 on the Oricon albums chart. Laputa released their second major single "eve ~Last night for you~" in May of 1997, peaking at #33 on the Oricon singles chart. Laputa's second major album "ŠG`ƒGƒ}ƒ_ƒ‰`”Á / e.m.a.d.a.r.a" was released in June of 1997, peaking at #24 on the Oricon albums chart. In July of 1997 Laputa released a live video called "MOV(i)E ON DARKNESS" featuring performances from a concert at SHINJUKU LIQUID ROOM in April of that year. In November of 1997 Laputa released their third major single "meet again", peaking at #20 on the Oricon singles chart. In February of 1998 Laputa released their fourth major single "—h‚ê‚È‚ª‚çc (yurenagara)", peaking at #25 on the Oricon singles chart. Laputa's third major album "êl`ƒWƒƒƒRƒE` / Jakou" was released in February of 1998, peaking at #10 on the Oricon albums chart. On the same day of Jakou's release, the video "CLIPS OF CRUNCH LOOP" was released, featuring Laputa's music videos for their first four major singles and one for the song "êl (Jakou)". From September of 1998 to May of 1999 Laputa released the four major singles "Feelin' the sky", "Breath", "Chimes", and "Virgin cry", which peaked on the Oricon singles chart at #15, #29, #25, and #23 respectively. Laputa's fourth major album "ãā`ƒJƒPƒ‰`—‡ / c.a.k.e.r.a" was released in June of 1999, peaking at #10 on the Oricon albums chart. On the same day of its release, the video "CLIPS OF CRUNCH LOOP II" was released, featuring Laputa's music videos for the four singles from the "ãā`ƒJƒPƒ‰`—‡ / c.a.k.e.r.a" album along with bonus videos for the songs "WITH the WIND" and "Pink animals". In February of 2000, Laputa released the album "Coupling Collection + xxxk [1996-1999 singles]", a collection of the c/w songs (B-sides) from their eight major singles, along with the new song "xxxk animals" and a new version of the song "BUZZ" which was originally featured as a hidden song on their "—h‚ê‚È‚ª‚çc (yurenagara)" single from 1998. "Coupling Collection..." peaked at #43 on the Oricon albums chart. In October of 2000, Laputa released the three-disc best-of album "3DISC BEST ~1995-1999 except Coupling Collection~", which featured 32 songs in all including Laputa's eight major singles and 24 other songs ranging from their first indie album "῁`‚ß‚Ü‚¢`ò (memai)" from 1995 to their "ãā`ƒJƒPƒ‰`—‡ / c.a.k.e.r.a" album from 1999. "3DISC BEST..." peaked at #41 on the Oricon albums chart. That was their last release for the Toshiba-EMI label which the band left, then signing to the smaller major label Nippon-Crown. Laputa released their ninth major single and their first single on Nippon-Crown, "Shape ~in the shape of wing~" in October of 2000, peaking at #26 on the Oricon singles chart. In December of 2000 Laputa released the video "CLIPS OF CRUNCH LOOP III", featuring music videos for all three songs on the "Shape ~in the shape of wing~" single and a Director's Cut version of the music video for "Shape ~in the shape of wing~". In February of 2001 Laputa released their tenth major single "Silent on-looker", peaking at #43 on the Oricon singles chart. In March of 2001 Laputa released their fiifth major album "Šy`ƒwƒuƒ“`‰€ / Heaven", peaking at #50 on the Oricon albums chart. In November of 2001 Laputa released the live video "Heaven to Perfection [Tour001 Programized-Heaven final-mission]", which featured performances from their tour that year. In March of 2002 Laputa released the mini-album "glitter", surprising many by showing the band changing styles and moving in a more electronic-oriented direction. "glitter" peaked at #66 on the Oricon albums chart. A music video for the song "POPular UPrising" from "glitter" was released. In June of 2002 the band released the dance single "[ŠC (shinkai) / Brand-new color", peaking at #58 on the Oricon singles chart. A music video for the song "[ŠC (shinkai)" was released. In July of 2002 the band released the album "—U`New Temptation`˜f", peaking at #50 on the Oricon albums chart. Kouichi, who had been Laputa's lead songwriter since the "劁`‚©‚°‚낤`å / KAGEROU" album writing about 80% of the band's music, was reportedly in a hospital or clinic for much of this time in 2002. Because of this, he wrote only two songs on the "—U`New Temptation`˜f" album, and Laputa's tour for the album consisted of less than ten concert dates. Junji wrote more of the songs on "—U`New Temptation`˜f" than any other member, and would remain Laputa's lead songwriter for the rest of their career. Tomoi even wrote his first vocal songs for Laputa on the "—U`New Temptation`˜f" album, the music and lyrics for the song "Dummy", and the lyrics for the song "Last". Up until then Tomoi had only co-written the instrumental song "BUZZ" with Junji. In April of 2003, Laputa released the mini-album "Sparks Monkey", peaking at #75 on the Oricon albums chart. After a year of on-and-off touring, Laputa released the mini-album "Material Pleasures" in March of 2004, peaking at #89 on the Oricon albums chart. In May of 2004 Laputa announced through their fanclub that they were disbanding, citing a desire for each of them to evolve. They released a best-of CD+DVD of their material from their years on the Nippon-Crown label titled "BEST AL+CLIPS 2000~2004" on July 28th, 2004, toured from August to September, and played their last live on September 5th, 2004 at Shibuya Koukaido. A DVD of the last live titled "ALL BURST" was released on December 15th, 2004.

Since Laputa's disbandment, Aki opened an official site at akiakiaki.com, and has written in his site's diary about writing music for an upcoming solo-project. Kouichi has a solo-project called Everlasting-K which will release its first CD on March 30th, a five-track mini-album titled "voulez-vouz". Junji has an upcoming solo-project called HALATION with a website at halation.jp. Tomoi has a website called Tomoi's Room #34, though his future activities remain unclear.



(from http://lasteve.lovelessineden.com/laputa.html)