Completing facts about Dir en grey members with fun facts

Completing the description of Dir en grey members with more fun facts


Each member got a color caused by their hair color during their Visual Kei time. Kyo got yellow, cuz he, and still today uses to dy his hair blond. Kaoru got pink, Die red, Toshiya blue and Shinya brown or bright orange.


Kyo:

One time Kyo was fighting with his father (over his grades, like I mentioned in an other category, he didn´t like school) and at one point Kyo said he’d leave home, the father replied, “Take off those clothes because I bought them for you” and so Kyo stood outside naked for 3 or 4 hours until his parents came out to apologize to him.

He has been heard saying “Shut up bitch, I’m not talking to you” to the fans that have interrupted him (strike! Some are not paying ettention enough…I also hate it when “fans” ruin his acappella).

It is known that the name of Kyo’s younger brother is Kazuma, and that Kazuma has appeared one time with him during the SHOXX column while he took photos with Kyo. It is said that both look very alike.

Kyo’s sister doesn’t consider him a real musician, much less him to musicians belonging to the J-Pop scene, type “Kinky Kids”. She thinks that the image and the way of acts of Dir en grey is frightening. He doesn’t blame her.

Kyo is the only member of Dir en grey, who is farsighted.

Kyo doesn’t have any problem with watching himself bleed, but he hates movies that have too much blood or gore, because it sickens him.

Kyo was chosen to play the role of Yoshitoki Kuninobu on the live action version of the “Battle Royale” movie, but his manager didn’t let him.

In the days when the band was more indie, and money was scarce, Toshiya and Kyo shared an apartment.

He lived with a girl in the apartment on top of his parent’s garage. His relationship with her is unknown.

He doesn’t like milk.

His parents had a bakery, it didn’t interest him much, much less bread.

He got hit by a girl in school, and by one guy in the rugby team

The first time he dyed his hair was PINK!

Kyo has had lots of accidents. He’s had a fire extingusher swung into his head (by a friend no less), he almost got alcohol poisoning the first time he drank, he got into a motorcycle accident, a car accident (almost cuz of Die, see below later), his ear problem, he seems to constantly be getting sick, and oddly enough, actually tripped over one of the crew guys when they were cleaning up his white spittle crap.

He has always known what he wanted to be, when he started liking music.He hated doing his school work because he thought he’d never use it. In fact during the entrance exam for high school he turned in a blank sheet of paper, and never even went!

Kyo can play guitar and bass to some extent. He tried many different instruments to figure out which he liked. At first, he never even considered being a singer.

Kyo hasn’t been having the best of luck with eyebrow piercings. During the Macabre era he had one, but it got infected and was very sore, so he let it heal over, recently, he got another eyebrow piercing on the opposite side, but the same thing happened, so he let it heal over too.

Kyo once walked out on stage wearing one of the Child Prey mouse heads.

Though he pretends to be the scary, evil and bad ass guy, he has also funny moments and jokes around…sadly it seems that some are forgetting that…

Random: I love it, that he is an honest person and totally hates betray and superficial friendship.


Kaoru:

Kaoru is afraid to go on rollarcoasters, and doesn’t like scary movies either.

Kaoru has hide’s autograph (you lucky one you^^).

Kaoru cannot swim, but when he wanted to dye his hair when he was younger and his mother didn´t allow him, he just did it secretly and pretended it´s caused by the water in swimming pool.

When Kaoru was a very young child, he had the bad habit of peeing on things when he was mad. He once pissed on his neighbor (by accident) and once in some kid’s hat (on purpose).

Kaoru loves getting underwear as a present. Mostly because he says he never has time to buy it himself.

Everyone was afraid of Kaoru when they first met him. Even Kyo.

Kaoru enjoyed picking up the other band members. He picked up Kyo during the Osaka-Jo hall live, and Die at another, and Shinya at yet another. He has yet to pick up Toshiya.


Die:

Die once almost got into a head-collision when he “fell asleep” at the wheel when driving everyone somewhere. note : Die says he wasn’t really asleep, but he was so drowsy he said it was like sleeping with your eyes open. He was exhausted.

When he was drunk, he was recorded and said “I´m a fuckin´rockstar, bitch~!” in a very funny way, that made every fan laugh hard. He´ll NEVER get rid of it xD

Die was the representative of his class when he graduated.

One time when there was a fire in Die’s apartment, he grabbed the fire extinguisher with the intent of fighting it himself, but instead just sprayed around his feet and ran outside.He was quoted of saying “That was so uncool!”

Die is the eldest of all his four brothers (but and dis is no fun: one of his brothers died when he was born because he had a weak heart. Die himself was too young to understand).


Toshiya:

The very first time Toshiya took a girl out on a date, he took her to go see Gremlins 2. He was so embarassed, he and his girlfriend met secretly so no one would catch them.

Toshiya has/had a red bedroom. He wanted red because it was one of his favorite colors and red was an exciting color, so he wanted it so that he could remain excited and energetic even when he comes home after work. To compensate for the excitement of his bedroom color, his bathroom is done all in blue, where he feels the most relaxed anyway, because he loves baths.

Toshiya’s huge blue and purple bass is named “the Haunted” He has designs for it in his house.


Shinya:

Even though Shinya never really talks much of girls and dating, he once said that he thought it was good to be married suddenly, and that he wiouldn’t consider himself to be truly “grown up” until he becomes a Dad.

Shinya has Domoto Koichi’s (of the Kinki Kids) autograph.

Shinya has 2 dogs: Miyu and Yuyu. Miyu is his older dog and kinda like his baby. In his parent’s home, there is another dog (that I think Shinya named), called Puppy, but Puppy doesn’t like Shinya anymore and tries to bite him when he tries to pet it.

Shinya has actually smoked once. He was with friends and they were playing with one of those bubble sets, and blowing smoke into the bubbles. Shinya thought it looked so cool he wanted to try. That was the first and last time he smoked.

When Shinya was in school, he once played trumpet for the brass band. Die and Toshiya immediately started teasing by saying that playing the trumpet makes your lips swollen (although, Shinya DOES have very full lips).

One time when tossing out his drumsticks, Shinya accidently threw it behind him. It took him a moment to realize it too.

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Dir en grey – member facts

Stage name:= Kyo (also the name you have to call him with)

Real name: Nishimura Tooru ( there are much discussions over his real name. Some say Tooru Nishimura, but a lot say Tooru Niimura.!!!But he signed“西 村 亨“in his Poem Book. A translation program got Nishimura Tooru.Correct me, if you know more, please.)

Position: Vocal and lyricist

Born: 16th February 1976

Blood: B

Hometown: Kyoto, which is also his favorite town

Cigaretts: he quit, but used to smoke JPS, Phillip Morris

Ex bands: Gesshoku (stagename was known to be Yoma), Visun (from Yoma to Hotoma), MASQUERADE, Haijin Kurobarazoku (finally stage name Kyo), La:Sadies

Star Sign: Aquarius
Zodiac: Dragon
Height: 5’2″-5’3″
Weight: 96
Shoe Size: 5
Likes: Video games, Anime, Sleeping
Dislikes: People and violence
Favorite Foods: Scorpion, Muffins, Sausage, Pens (take it as a joke! maybe the muffs are no joke…)
Disliked Foods: Liver, Carrots
Favorite Sports: Terrorising the others (once said, he doesn´t like sports; at school he signed in for Shogi (chess) club, but actually never shown up. He also tried fishing…for a few minutes and quit *haha*)

Favorite Color[s]: “Homo” (Black and White)
Collects: Doraemon & Warumono figurines
Favorite Music: X-Japan, The Stalin, Buck-Tick, Shiina Ringo

Favorite Movies: Holy Mountain, OldBoy, Fetish, Star Wars etc.

-states that he´s a negative person: “I´m a very negative person. So if something good is happening, I always think, that it can´t be permanent. It will disappear.” (same to me btw…)

-and this made me feel touched, cuz these could be sentences of mine too: “I´ve never met anyone who I can be really close friends with. A lot of people might think, they´re friends with me, but I´ve never met anyone whose personality can fit with mine. There are a lot of people I can get on with on a superficial level, but I can never go deeper with anyone. On my cell phone, if someone hasn´t been in touch for half a year, I´ll delete them, so that I don´t have to remember who they are!”

-Lies, Betray and superficial friendship are the things, that make him angry and cry at the same time

-meeting a person who has things in common with him makes him laugh

-he´s most close to Shinya in Dir en grey

-he was asked what he would do, if someone told him, that the world´s going under the next day. He said “I would laugh.”

-he doesn´t want to meet someone, who can´t understand his being

-he describes his honesty as a good and also as a bad thing about his character

-he once was in a situation where he “saw the death” but he didn´t want to explain it

-though he rarely shows up in public, he´s the centre on stage. Not just because of his unique and flexible voice, but also because of his expression for his feelings (scratching over the body til it rly bleeds, has a “no future” scar on his chest, uses fake blood too, slaps himself in the face or the mic against his chest) and his emotions. The most important fact is, that it isn´t show and it isn´t funny or cool at all! I become angry when I read that someone thinks the blood is cool to see or whatever…

-“It marked a point, where I really wanted to push myself to try to convey on my own self more in my lyrics. Now everything just happens as it happens on stage. It doesn´t frighten me, but I lose control a lot.”

-Hates his birth name

-Stage name comes from birthplace (Kyoto)

-His nickname is Warumono

-Writes all lyrics

-Writes sad and twisted lyrics which never end happy, but doesn´t state, if they are his own experiences or of a friend´s (I read in a forum times ago, that they are his feelings, coming up, when he writes or listens to others when they are talking about what happened to them)

-“I don´t want to talk about it, I´d rather people have their own interpretations. I want people to listen to the music and lyrics as a package – it´s not about picking out meanings, particularly, it´s the same as when I listen to an American album. I don´t understand what the lyrics mean, but I listen to the sound the singer makes and put that together with the music as a package. That´s how I want people to listen to our music.”

-Kyo composed the music for three songs: “The Domestic Fucker Family”, “Hades” and “S”

-in 2001, Kyo released his first poem book titled “Jigyaku, Rensou Furan Shinema”, accompanied with a CD with 4 songs that were inspired by some of the poems. Its popularity was so great, that Kyo released a secong poem book titled: “Zenryaku, Ogenki Desu ka? Saihate no Chi Yori Namonaki Kimi ni Ai wo Komete…” which is also accompanied by a CD. This CD has only one song inspired by one of the poems. A lot of his poems are much like his lyrics

-on July 2006 Kyo was hospitalized because of edema of larynx, which caused cancellation of two tour dates, to be reprogrammed once completed the Family Values Tour

-during a Texas concert, Kyo collapsed on Shinya’s drum set because of heat shock. And it is believed that because of effects from his stay at the hospital for his vocal chords

-one of his idols is Kiyoharu from Kuroyume, the band he was working as a roadie before his career started

-was also a roadie for “Albatross”

-he also was never interested in music, til he heard of X-Japan, Kuroyume and BUCK-TICK

-once it was stated, that he never reads fan-mails/-letters, cuz he doesn´t want any influence…now it´s statet he “barely” reads them 😉

-(I don´t know it that is true) he doesn’t read mails or messages from his fans, according to the rumour, for that occasion that he received a letter from a fan asking him how to end his life. Kyo didn’t take the letter seriously and ignored it. The boy ended up killing himself, and when Kyo found out, he felt guilty for not having pay attention to the letter, and wrote “Higeki Ha Mabuta Wo Oroshita Yasashiki no Utsu”. He wishes to prevent an incident like this, and by his reasoning he wishes not to read any letters from his fans.

-shortest of the group the only member of Dir en Grey, who is farsighted

-his favorite month is April, when the Cherry Blossoms bloom. But though in some interviews he said that he has no favorite season because every one has a bad memory

-Hates to be called cute, he likes to be called Kyo, Kyo-san (back then even “evil”)

-he can be very moody

-he doesn´t like to get candies as gifts from fans, cuz they´re melting and leave a mess…he prefers cigaretts^^

-said that when he was a child, he didn´t want to learn Kanji

-when he was 15, he just stopped going to school and worked on his music career= he became a rodie for Kuroyume

-he likes plums

-He owns/owned a pair of adorable Kangaroo Rats named Buchi and Puchi

-Knows how to play bass and guitar a bit, he gave up on it and became a singer

-He has lots of piercings and tattoos

-allergic to flower pollen

-Liked to lie in interviews when the career startet; it made what he says hard to believe most of the time, but this has definetly layed down. And it also became rare to get him into one (proof for no more lying is for example the interview, some years ago in ROCKOON! #8 2007, where he stated, that the most important things for himself are: 1. going his own way, 2. be honest and 3. don´t lie

-Kikaider01 was his hero when he was a child

-he likes UFOs and aliens

– he also designed ties and other such clothes under the BA-TSU and ID-JAPAN labels. Has modeled these clothes along with the clothes of other labels during lives and for magazines

-Can fall asleep just about anywhere, anytime EVEN IN INTERVIEWS *haha* but that belongs to the past

-Partially deaf in his left ear due to an Acute Acoustic Trauma.The cause is theorized to be a live version of Rasetsu Koku.While he was in the hospital, Kyo was not worried about delaying the tour or if these complications would cause problems with the band. He was just worried that he was going to get fat from the medicine.He also complained that the nurse giving him saline injections took the needle out of his arm very slowly, and he wanted her to do it fast

-when he left the hospital, Dir en grey threw a party with champagner for him

-when he was asked to say something to all of his bandmates, he just said „Minna-san work hard“

-when he was asked to list his 3 most precious things, Kyo responded with: „1. Dir en grey, 2. my voice and 3. my 800-10000 CDs at home“

-seems to like classical music, he listens to Brahms and Dir en grey also borrowed a tune from this composer for „Deity“

-at a concert in Osaka, Toshiya handed his bass over to Kyo. „The look on his face is assumed to be the same face he would make if someone handed him a large, dead, smelly fish.”

-Kyo likes girls in Kimonos. He also wears furisodes often.

-He once said about women: “They can bring such wonderful happiness, yet are utterly terrifying”

-it is said, that he had a girlfriend in his past, for who he had almost given up in music. They were even engaged, but then she betrayed him and broke his inner

-he prefers strong women to passive women

-he has stated that he would like to get married and settle down someday

-Kyo wears glasses

-he once stated that it is okay for people to wear normal clothes at weddings, but the bride should war a blue fish

-he once stated in an interview that people kept calling him Miyavi. Since then, Die kept also calling him “Miya-chan”

-it is said, that he stated that he has auditioned for some movies years ago

Though Kyo doesn´t talk much about himself, there sure are facts you can trust.

Past: He disliked music til a classmate gave him the chance to listen to some Rock. That was the point when he got interested and started to listen to bands like X-Japan. With 15 he stopped going to school. He says, that he was never good at school, which was caused by his missing interest. He also rarely did his homework, he prefered to play videogames or watching anime, reading manga. He also gave the teacher a blank paper for the high school entrance exam. In an interview he also stated, that he hadn´t really friends at school. There were the cool kids, who thought that they could do e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g…also everything to everybody. And there were the manga-anime-nerd-kids, he also used to hang out a bit. But he disliked both groups, because each one used a kind of violence. The cool ones bashed or sweared at otheres; the not so cool“ kids were vindictive. Like when they were bashed, they would put drawing pins onto the chair of the one who bashed them. Kyo always disliked every kind of violence and he states to have not that many friends, but he has friends he can trust.

Well, when he quit school, he started to work as a roadie for the band Kuroyume. The singer of this band, Kiyoharu, became his idol. With 17, he joined his first independent band Gesshoku“ in Kyoto and used the stage name Yoma. This band only existed for about half a year. Then he moved into Visun“ and changed his name to Hotoma. And from Visun“ he moved to MASQUERADE“ and from there to „Haijin Kurobarazoku”, where Shinya (drums) and Kisaki (bass) also joined in and where he also changed his name to Kyo. After Haijin Kurobarazoku“ also disbanded, the three and Die and Shio (both guitar) formed the band La:Sadies“. 1996 Shion left the band and was replaced with Kaoru. 1997 Kisaki left the band, was replaced with Toshiya and together they finally formed Dir en grey (their past is written detailed in category Dir en grey- band).


Stage Name: Kaoru
Real Name: [ 新倉 薰 ] Kaoru Niikura
Position: Lead Guitar and band leader

Born: February 17th, 1974
Blood: A
Hometown: Hyougo, Japan
Cigarettes: Mild Seven Light; he didn´t quit yet, but maybe he will do as the rest of the band…eeeey, we smokers have to stick together >_<*haha*

Ex Bands: CHARM ۰ La:Sadies

Star Sign: Aquarius
Zodiac: Tiger
Height: 5’6″
Weight: 115
Shoe Size: 5 1/2
Likes: Shopping, Gundam
Dislikes: Prawns
Favorite Foods: Curry, Potato Salad, Hamburger, Chocolate, Sushi, Double Cheeseburger, Chinese Food, Ramen, Okonomiyaki, Takoyaki, Akaihan flavored onigiri, Gyudon, Gyudon Curry, Gyudon Kimechi
Disliked Foods: Prawns
Favorite Sports: Soccor, Baseball
-his favorite colours used to be Purple, Pink and Black

-his favorite music include hide, X-Japan, Shiina Ringo, Nine Inch Nails

-Prefered Instrument Brand: ESP (he calls them “Japanese Zombie Guitars”)

-has also nicknames: the God of Death, God of Guitars and Japanese Zombie Hero(which was written on his guitar in a performance years ago.)

-collects hats

-Oldest and leader of the band

-because he´s the leader, he cares for the other members and their problems

-he also takes responsibility in management, concert events etc.

-he´s the one doing the most interviews

-he´s known to be a workaholic

-he needs a goal for which he has to work for, otherwise he´ll become lazy

-was the replacement for Shion who left La:Sadies

-on stage he´s like an animal focusing on his victims…and pushes them up later

-he´s calm and very mature, but he has a childish side too

-Composes almost all of their songs and has final say in everything

-he music of X-Japan and especially hide influenced him with his wish of becoming a musician

-has a hide-UFO catcher doll on his mic

-composed different songs like “cage”, “Zakuro” and “Jessica”

-has written songs like “cage”, “akuro no oka”, “taiyou no ao” and “karasu” together with Kyo

-Prone to long solos, making each concert unique

-Likes American bands such as Nine Inch Nails, Linkin Park and Rage Against the Machine

-when he was a teenager, he loved Visual Kei

-he also wanted to dy his hair to brownish, but his mother didn´t allow it, so he just did it secretly and pretended that it was because of the water of the swimming pool

-he likes anime, especially Gundam Wing

-Not too good at English

-Likes his adam’s apple, saying it’s very manly

-Dislikes his hands, thinking they are too small

-Near-sighted

-Has to be in complete dark when sleeping

-Tends to show off a mature adult-like personality but has a childish side too

-Does not like to admit it but he’s good at drawing

-Doesn’t like rollercoasters

-when asked to list 3 of his most precious things, he replied: 1. Dir en grey, 2. my hair and 3. hide-sama´s signature

-when asked to say something to each of his bandmates, he replied with: “I got so much to say! Kyo, you have lent me so many things to me, such as games. I will return them to you next time. I don´t think you even know about me borrowing some of them. Die, you also cut your hair. Now it´s only me left. I must persist. Toshiya, I will return the LD animes you lent me very soon. Shinya, you sure are manly.”

-when asked to describe a recent lucky thing, he replied with “My home is surprisingly warm. When I turn on all the electrical appliances at home, I feel truly warm. But I think I need to restrict myself a bit *laughs*”

-when he was asked to name a thing that makes him suffer, he replied that answering this question makes him suffer, cuz he dosn´t know how

-(that´s an old one, but funny) Kaoru describes an unlucky redent event with: “I tried to tidy up my home recently. I want to have it spotless. However there turned out to be a hole in the garbage bag and the oil inside practically got all over the floor of my home. I´ve already finished cleaning, but I ended up in a mess.”

-he´s confident with his “super coaxing skills”. He often uses these on their manager, when he wants them to do something for him

-Kaoru always liked the name Audrey. That´s because the song was titled like that.

-In school Kaoru was good at sports and art, but he hated to study. Every day he went home, he played videogames, read mangas, mada models (like Kyo^^)

-he considered joining the art club 3 times, but never made it to the interview, cuz he got bored while waiting. So he “caught some grasshoppers and let them fight each other”

-he joined soccer team, though. He liked the hat. He never practiced but played in the games. He´s proud to have a talent for soccer.

-Kaoru´s first love was his kindergarten teacher, who was „a kind and gentle woman“

-he doesn´t want to get married yet

-he thinks if music isn´t in the heart, it isn´t able to change the world

-he doesn´t like it, when bands are making songs about war and hunger: „for speaking out lout my view, I first have to say, that I don´t care, what others are doing with their music. If I think about it for a 2nd time, it´s really easy to sing about those political themes. Everyone can switch on the news, remember the information and make it to a song. I think, I can´t acceppt this, because music should come from the very deep inside of us and show what´s going on there. Nobody wants something like war, everybody wants peace. I don´t think it´s right to sing about this, when we all are sharing the same opinion.“

-he thinks that only one song isn´t enough to represent the whole band


Stage Name: Die

Real Name: [ 安滕 大助 ] Daisuke Andou ( Andō )

Position: Rhythm and Acoustic Guitar
Born: December 20th, 1974

Blood: B
Hometown: Mie, Japan

Cigarettes: he also quit….he used to smoke Salm Light

EX Bands: ka – ra – zi ٠ La:Sadies
Star Sign: Sagittarius
Zodiac: Tiger
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 136lbs
Shoe Size: 8
Likes: Teasing Shinya
Dislikes: Raw things, Rain
Favorite Foods: Tofu, Potatoes, Bacon, Cheese omlette, Milk, Cheese, Spaghetti, Roasted meat, Okonomiyaki, Curry, Pizza, Hamburger, Ramen, Pastries…hn…western food, huh?
Disliked Foods: Seafood, Sashimi, Thorny animals, Raw foods
Favorite Sports: Soccer, Baseball, Gym

Prefered Instrument Brand: The Morris ESP

-his favorite colours used to be Red (in the past he died his hair mostly red and also had a red guitar), brown

-his favorite music include Sakai Noriko, hide

-his nickname by fans is “DaiDai”

-he the most laid back member of Dir en grey, and also the most talkative

-like Kaoru he takes responsibility and also takes part in interviews

-he competes with Kyo of being the “scary-one” but he´s a too cute smile for being that (oh true…and so Kyo also has…but that´s just my stupid opinion, please don´t bash me^^)

-it is said that “every girl needs a Die”

-fans are very important for him

-All acoustic heard in songs are performed by him

-He does back-up vocals

-in the past his style and personality was influenced mostly by German History (like military clothing…or do you remember THE flag on his arm? BUT!!!! It was just for provoking, not because of political thoughts)

-Has four sisters

-Very playful, considered the joker- but I´m sure he´s also hiding his serious emotins

-he makes the bandmates laugh and used to tease Shinya mercilessly

-Near-sighted

-his idol is Takigawa Ichiro, guitarist of Craze

-Supposedly had eat and weight problems, once taking fans complaints of him being “too fat” to heart and becoming underweighted (btw…for me this weren´t fans…he wasn´t fat at all, he was pretty tho…he now still is it, but I´m worrying)

-he´s well known to count calories (ey, buddy, like I said^^)

-Assumedly  he thought Shinya was a girl the first time they met and he developed a crush

-wrote songs like “yokan”, “wake”, “drain away”, “undecided”, “Mr. NEWSMAN”, “24ko Cylinder” and “304 goushitsu, hakushi no sakura”

-when he was asked to list 3 of his most precious things, he responded with“1. Dir en grey 2. fans and 3. staff”

– when he was asked to say something to each bandmate, he responded: „Kyo, please don´t pierce any more holes. Kaoru, get a haircut. Toshiya, please fix your room. Shinya, for how long do you intend to hide yourself?“

-Die describes his most blissful moment of the day as right before he goes to sleep. He often had nightmares, so before he goes to sleep, he tells himself „I´m going to sleepnow, whatever happens after, however terrifying- they will only be nightmares.“

-those nightmares turned out that he was running for life with friends. His friends run speedily while he runs slow like he has „eaten some lard“.

-his favorite season of the year is Christmas

-he likes drinking alc and also drinking together with his younger brother

-he described himself as „baka“ (idiot)

-Audrey is his signature song

– he likes getting things from fans he can use…like underwear, which he really got once…(pffft…how come you go into the store and think of buying u-n-d-e-r-w-a-r for him….oh well…xD)

-he likes cute girls with big eyes

-when he was younger he was very shy, especially when he had to talk to girls

-he has a black belt in Kendo. He took it from elementary to high schook, then stopped when he learned to play the guitar, cuz there wasn´t enough time for both

Stage Name: Toshiya
Real Name: [ 原 敏政 ] Toshimara Hara
Position: Bassist
Blood: B
Born: March 31, 1977
Hometown: Nagano, Japan
Cigarettes: he quit….used to smoke VIRGINIA Slims LIGHT 6mg

EX Bands: D+L ٠ GO:SICK

Star Sign: Aries

Zodiac: Snake

Height: 5’10“

Weight: 126lbs
Shoe Size: 7
Likes: Drawing, Fishing, Resting at home, Anime
Dislikes: Bad things
Favorite Foods: Pretty much everything, Vegetable juices
Disliked Foods: Parsely, Broccoli
Favorite Sports: Baseball
-Instrument: Toshiya enjoys playing a variety of makes and models, but sticks to two main brands, Killer, a Japanese only company and ESP like the two guitarists. He plays mostly with a pick, but on Embryo he used his fingers. Since then he goes between pick and fingers for certain songs.

-his favorite designers are Vivienne Westwood, Masaki Matsushima, Milkboy

-his favorite colours used to be Red and Blue mostly

-he was the replacement for Kisaki

-his nickname by fans is „Totchi“

-Learned fashion design

-the “nose is ticklish”

-Has a red bedroom, because he believes the color red generates power and energy

-Embryo was the first song he ever played his bass with fingers instead of a pick, now he alternates

-Likes to say he was kidnapped by Dir en grey

-Good at drawing. Often seen making cartoons of his fellow bandmates

-Hung out mostly with girls as there were no boys in his neighborhood growing up

-he was bullied to be a crybaby

-Very open with emotions

-(don´t know if this is still actual) he likes to spend his freetime at home, where he´d drawn a lot and watched anime

-look at his clothing during the VK-time, you´ll see that he got inspired through the anime; he surely is very creative!

-he also told his fans to be creative too and to send him outlines for costumes; those outlines were published in a fanclub magazine called “Haiiro no Ginka”, where he also commented the work

-during the beginning of Dir en grey, he liked to be feminin; he wore short skirts, high heels, uniforms etc. (oh it rly looked good at him^^)

-Tends to flirt onstage with the others for the sake of the fans (the female ones, of course…)

-he and Shinya wrote “raison d´être” (ooooh random: I love it^-^ both song and MV)

-he also wrote “egnirys cimredopyh”, “+)an injection” and “bottom of the death valley”

-most of the fans say that his best solo is in “cage” (that´s true, but I could list some others too….)

-though he pretended to be the whisky and funny guy, he stated that he in fact struggeled with depression and also had thoughts of suicide (if that´s true…let´s struggle together)

-it seems that he pretends to be the bad boys now…(but oh look at his face, could you say, he´s a bad boy? ^.^)

-when he was asked to list 3 of his precious things, he responded with 1. my past, 2. everyone I´ve met and 3. this very moment

-at one of Dir en grey´s first concerts Toshiya cried all the way through „garden“, cuz his father had come to see him perform and stood during the whole concert (you surely have seen it, did you also had to cry with him, or am I the only one?xD it touched me, that he showed his emotions without being ashamed of it…)

– when he was asked to say something to his bandmates, he said „Kyo, you have to be the poisonous person forever. Kaoru, play faster. *laughs* Die, why don´t you go play a Light Band *laughs* Shinya, please count „one, two, three“ louder before you start drumming away.“

-(an older one, but entertaining) when he was asked to describe a recent unlucky thing, he replied „I live on the first floor. That day somehow water seeped up from the floor. I rose to find my carpet totally wet. At first, I thought I spilled some juice on the carpet on the previous night, but no matter how hard I mopped it up, the water keep coming through. Then I realize it is something more serious than that and I called up my landlord to handle it. Now all my wooden furniture is goina all rotten and moldy, it´s terrible even thinking of it. Oh I wanted to move aus ASAP…“

-at the Grand Cube Osaka concert, as Shinya walked off the stage, Toshiya followed behind him and gave Shinya a jumping kick in the butt just before he could get back stage.  As he ran off the stage himself, he did a very exaggerated run with his knees drawn all the way up to his chest

-he once stated jokingly, that he thinks Japan is shaped like a banana and he likes livin in Japan, cuz it is the only one shaped like a banana (^^)

-spring always made him thinking of getting new sunglasses

-in school he was in the kendo club, but he was afraid of his senior, who liked to eat protein supplements

Stage Name: Shinya

Real Name: [ 寺地 心夜 ] Shinya Terachi
Position: Drummer
Blood: B
Born: February 24th, 1978
Hometown: Hirakata (Osaka), Japan

Cigarettes: he doesn’t smoke (he tried it once but it felt “not right” for him) and pays attention to his health very much; but he drinks alcohol sometimes and participates at drinking games and he has a weak spot for ice cream

EX Bands: Jinkou Tenshi, Siva, Ruby, Haijin Kurobarazoku, La:Sadies
Star Sign: Pisces
Zodiac: Horse
Height: 5’7″
Weight: 93lbs
Shoe Size: 5
Likes: Music, Being alone
Dislikes: Stinky cigarettes
Favorite Foods: Jelly, Raw salad and cabbage, Beef, Spaghetti
Disliked Foods: Perishables, Almost all foods
Favorite Sports: Hates sports (but he does it, he was looking for sports equipment ones and I saw him doing a gym exercise)

His favorite music included Ayumi Hamasaki, Morning Musume (yes, jap. Pop-music), the music of Yoshiki

-Prefered Instrument Brand: The Ludwig Classic Maple

his nicknames from fans used to be “Shin-chan” (say hey hey..Shin-chan! Remember this series? >v<v)

-Instrument: Shinya likes to stick to two main brands of drums and that is Yamaha, Pearl and Ludwig. Pearl is one of the most popular brands in the US and in Japan. For the past couple of years he has stuck to Pearl

-he took part for writing the songs “yurameki”, “toriko”, “hotarubi” and “umbrella”

-he wanted to become a musician early; he went on a concert of a friend during school festival, which drove him into starting such a career

-after that he saw Yoshiki from X-Japan and made him to his idol

-he´s the closest to Kyo

– he is really quiet and secretive

-cuz he´s so quiet, it took around 6 months for the other members to figure out, that Shinya actually has a telephone…and it were around another 6 months to get the number

-during one of Kyo´s speeches at an Osaka concert back then, he suddenly decided that Shinya could say something. Shinya clapped his hand over his mouth and tried to become invisible. He did speak a few words and gave the mic back quickly

-but though he´s quiet and shy, the rest of the band clames that he is rather self-confident

-used to be the most feminine in the group

-he pays attention to his hair a lot (during VK time it also had been been both curly and straight and varying shades between brown and red)

-for an asian man he has big eyes and full lips

-in high school brass band, Shinya played trumpet…he got teased because of this and his full lips

-and he is/was also the most picked-on of the group

-he the youngest member

-back in the days he was allowed to do more things he wanted than the other, cuz he is the youngest…don´t know if it´s still like this

-Loves Animals, owning two dogs (his favourite being his Chihuahua Miyu; the other dog is called Yuyu), while his parents also have one (hope the dogs are ok, cuz I haven´t read something about them since months…)

-used to be taking Miyu to shoots and confiding in the dog

-he helped in writing the songs for “Toriko”, “Yurameki”, “Hotarubi” and “umbrella”

-announced once that when he hits 30 he will let all secrets be known to public, what he didn´t do in the end…

-second tallest in band and not as weak as he looks ( The others say he would be the one to survive if stranded on a snowy mountaintop; and when you see his powerful drumming, you are glad, that he is a quiet one^^)

-he modeled for “wild strawberry” and wore silver jewelery

-Ticklish all over

-Near-sighted

-has learned Kung-Fu since second grade

-Says he will not feel truly ‘grown-up’ until he is a father

-he loves riddles and reading books that can „train the brain“

-when he was asked to list 3 of his precious things he said “1. my dog, 2. my parent´s dog and 3. Dir en grey” (I think it´s still acutal for him, but he´s 2 dogs now as I mentioned before)

-when he was asked to say something to his bandmates, he said “Kyo, don´t catch a cold. Die, don´t let others beat you up. Kaoru, please be gentler. Toshiya, don´t be nosy.”

-when he was asked to describe his most blissful moment of the day he said “When I return home. Miyu barks welcome happily and I will say “I´m back” The best is sleeping in bed with him.”

-he also was asked, what the moon makes him think of…he replied just with “rabbit”

-at the Tokyo NKH Hall Concert, as Dir en grey came out for the second part of the concert, each member got on top of the box at center stage. Kaoru grabbed Shinya, picked him up and set him down on his side in front of the drums

-he got a vacuum cleaner from a fan once O_o

-Kyo says that Shinya looks like a space robot and talks like nutty professor („We made nice tea, we would say „nice tea“, wouldn´t we? But he would say „this tea is a quiet nice tea. What do you put in this tea?“)

note: There are even more fun facts in another category. I´ll also update it time by time^^ Please tell me, if there´s something wrong!

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Dir en grey – band history

First of all: please visit them, if you are interested, via:

http://www.direngrey.co.jp/

http://twitter.com/#!/Direngrey

http://www.myspace.com/direngrey

http://www.facebook.com/direngrey

ディル アン グレイ this is the Katakana-form for Dir en grey and also used the most. The band was formed on the 2nd February 1997 in Kansai region, Osaka. It consists of following members: Kyo (vocal), Kaoru (lead guitar and leader), Die (acoustic and rythm guitar), Toshiya (bass) and Shinya (drummer).

The lyrics of Dir en grey are written by the vocalist Kyo. The texts have no happy ending, because Kyo stated he dislikes them (read his facts). The lyrics are full of symbols and metaphors and very difficult to understand. I´m sure there are just a FEW ones, who get the real and correct meaning, but we´ll never know. The „stories“ in those texts are often just hinted and offer a lot room for thinking and interpretations. Kyo also uses unusual Kanji and „plays“ with the language. The same goes to his using in german (Schwein no isu), russian or english words, also with writing songs in english only (Deity, Hydra, Child Prey). Another intersting fact is, that you will notice, that he doesn´t tell you the stories of his sight of view only. For example, „mazohyst of decadence“ was written of a view for a foetus, „Jealous“ of the view of a woman.

The songs of Dir en grey are dedicated to themes like death, murder, suicide, rape, abuse of children, suffering etc. Those themes, humans are troubled with. „The dark themes…the taboo-themes.“ He builts no shining walls around the centre of the problems and wakes up the emotional side in us; doesn´t matter if it´s sorrow, anger, fear….depends on our interpretation.

A lot MVs also got cencored because of the voilent or too exactly showing of the situations. But, as a lot of other fans, I think, Dir en grey wants to wake us up and to make us thinking about the deeper meaning of the songs and also about today´s society and daily life.

Well, please let me lead you into the existence of Dir en grey:

Kyo and Shinya know each other since they were young. Together with Kisaki (bass) they were in a band called „Haijin Kurobarazoku.“  1995 the three left this band later and formed together with Die and Shio (both guitar) “La:Sadies”. 1996 Shio left the Band and was replaced with Kaoru. The music La:Sadies played was identificated to the Visual Kei scene and inspired by the music of “Kuroyume”, a band, Kyo once was a roadie for (he also found his idol in Kuroyume´s singer Kiyoharu). During La:Sadies´s carrier, they released some demo tapes, several CDs and played a few lives. 1997 Kisaki made a decision for himself and left the band. There are a few rumors about that: 1st Kisaki didn´t want to be a part of a major label, while the rest wanted to be, 2nd Kisaki and Kyo had been in a very worse dispute because they didn´t have the same opinion about the future of La:Sadies and 3rd rumor says that Kaoru and Kisaki weren´t able to go along together and always argued with each other. Well, they hadn´t a bassist anymore, but didn´t stop the music. It is said that they performed as “DEAD ONE”, but there are no facts revealed about this. Nevertheless, they needed a bassist. They remembered, that they were interested in the skills of a bassist of “GO:SICK”, on whose live appearance they took a break during their own live in Nagano. They rememberd no other than Toshiya. Like he jokingly says, he was kidnapped and forced to play in La:Sadies. They changed the band name (ex-Kuroyume, then DEAD ONE like rumors say) to “DEATH MASK”. 1997 they finally decided on the name Dir en grey. Some fans even wrote them in different ways: Dir En Grey and Dir en Grey, but on older albums definetly stood Dir en grey (just had to say). Today it is written as DIR EN GREY.

The beginning and carreer of Dir en grey:

After Dir en grey already released the mini-album “MISSA” (under the label FREE-WILL) in 1997 and the following singles “JEALOUS” and “-I´ll-“ (which made it on place 7 of the japanese Oricon Charts and broke the record as the highest ranking title from an independent label at that time) in 1998, the drummer, pianist, producer and leader of X-Japan, Yoshiki Hayashi (idol of Shinya btw.) was interested in the music they played and offered his help for releasing a few things.

On the 20th January 1999 they produced “akuro no oka”, “yurameki” and “-ZAN-“ via “east west japan” (sublabel of warner music group). With success. All three were in top 10 of the Oricon Chars (places 5,6 and 7). They were also one of the first independent bamds, who broke into the mainstream charts. The singles “cage” and “yokan” were following and finally on the 28th Juli 1999 their first album “GAUZE” (published half on Dir en grey´s own in Japan and half on Yoshiki´s own in Los Angeles- based for the realeased singles of GAUZE; they also say, that a video with songs of GAUZE exitst, but I´m not sure about that). Their first album also reached place 5 of the charts. The next step was their first tour through Japan, which final appearance was held in the hall of Osaka´s castle.

In 2000 Dir en grey released a DVD (Osaka-jo Hall) about that. Once they were well-known, they broke away from Yoshiki, starting “their own thing” (that does NOT mean, that the friendship between them broke up). After this decision, they released the singles “MIYAKU”, “[KR]cube” and “taiyou no ao”. They also changed to Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) and got their own sublable FIREWALL DIV. for producing themselves on their own. They published their second album “MACABRE” which made it to place 4 of the Oricon Charts.

Though the singles “ain´t afraid to die” (which was written during MACABRE but not published with this album), “filth”, “Yessica”, “Embryo” and the album “Kai” were released, they mainly performed live shows in 2001.

In January 2002 they released their third album “KISOU” and the singles “child prey” & the EP “six Ugly” . Btw, “KISOU” made it on place 3 of the charts. In 2002 they also toured through Asia (China, Taiwan and Korea) for the first time, under the name RETTOU GEKISHIN ANGYA 2002 -ASIA- The Japanese Fxxker Family” (in January of the following year, this tour was selled on DVD, too). In Shanghai, security officals had to be called in to calm down fanatic fans. This incident became a theme in the newspapers later.

In January 2003 Dir en grey begun the year with a live at Yokohama Arena. In summer they toured under 5 DAYS live at Akasaka Blitz“. Meanwhile they released the singles drain away“ and Kasumi.“ In September 2003 their fourth album VULGAR“ was born. Through these past years they already changed in their music style. They were no longer a Visual Kei band, but changed into J-Rock category.They became even more aggressive, which the later following singles the final“ and Saku“ proved. With their unique style, their fanbase became bigger and bigger. But therefore they were also critizised by their older fans, who were missing their VK past.

In 2004 they continue to tour. The career became even more popular, not longer just in asian regions. But let´s not forget, that they also released the singles “The Final” and “Saku”.

In March 2005 Dir en grey released the 5th album Withering to death“. On 28th May they performed in Germany (Columbia Halle in Berlin) the first time (*yey* cuz I´m a German). But not only „first time in Germany“ also first time in Europe! Right after that they performed at „Rock am Ring“and „Rock im Park“. On 24th July they performed at Olympia Hall in Paris and two days later they appeared on „Octupus Rock Festival” in Belgien. In November they went on Japan´s Taste of Chaos Tour Japan 2005“ (with other bands). September 2005 was the month, when their next single Clever Sleazoid“ was selled.In the same month, they signed a record contract for Germany (label Gan-Shin, focused on japanese rock music; Gan-Shin released the 5th and then the 4th album in Germany).

In 2006 Dir en grey toured 3 major cities in America, before „Withering to deah“ finally gets released there. It was also Dir en grey´s first time for America, where they now have a contract with „US Label Warcon Records”. In May to June they toured through Europe for 2 years under the name It withers and withers“ (they returned to Columbia Halle and the day after they went to Kölner E-Werk) and performed at „Rock am Ring“ again. They were the first japanese band which performed on the main stage! In July the single ryouyoku no ame“ was released –during- their tour. On 31sth July and 1st August they performed at NIPPON BUDOKAN; each day under an other name. The shows were sold out, of course. Starting on the 4th August they went on an other tour for 2 months. This tour was presented by „KORN“, called The family values tour“ together with bands like „Deftones“ and „Flyleaf“. During the whole time in Europe, Dir en grey didn´t need to advertise their coming, because they were popular enough among their fans and rock-fans. The speech barrier between them and the audience also didn´t matter! The „family values tour“,with 32 live appearances, took time from August til the end of September through whole USA and Canada . And the touring doesn´t end: In October they performed at Japan´s Rock festival Loud Park“ on the main stage. November 2006: Aggitated screams of maggots“ was born. The most agressive til 2006 with (out of the view of my opinion) a heartbraking lyric. In the end of 2006 they won „2006 best music video“ at MTV´s program „Headbangers Ball“.

In February 2007 they perfomed 18 shows again, including many sold-out shows in one month at their North American Headliner Tour. LA Times quoted on 22.02.2007 From NY to LA, the band causes a media frenzy.“ (cool, right :D) On the 7th February 2007 they release their 6th album the marrow of a bone“ in Japan (yes, during the tour). All 26 titles which were released after their debut, hit the Top 10 of the Oricon Charts. At this time, the 6th album also was released in 11 other countries (Germany and America included). „KERRANG!“, an english major rock magazine, gave the album a review. In March they continued their performances with the 21 Show Japan Tour at Makuhari Messe´s Event Hall and ended this tour in April. In June they went on a tour as special guests with the band „Deftones“. Startin from August the performed their first live show in England and headed over to Germany´s rock festival „Wacken Open Air“ and also played with „Nine Inch Nails“ at other festivals (I think it was in Ankkarock (Finland) and M’era Luna).

In October 2007 the single “Dozing Green” was released (featuring a new version of the song “Hydra”, named with “Hydra666”) and is also featured on “Uroboros” album, which came out in November 2008. For the “Dozing Green” MV, horror-mangaka Umezu Kazuo supported Dir en grey with drawing them scenes. In the end of November 2007, Dir en grey opened two shows for Linking Park, during their “Linking Park Japan Tour”. The December was dedicated for 2 albums called “best of- Decade 1998-2002” and “Decade 2003-2007.” To be honest my heart stopped when I heard about a best of, cuz it could mean, they´ll stop their music. But then I got the chance for Kaoru´s interview, where he statet, that it´s just a chance for someone who wants to get to know Dir en grey´s whole music.

While they started 2008 with working on their new album, they started in May another Japan Tour, called Tour08 Death over Blindness“. This tour actually ended on 30th May- on the 28th-30th they appeared on three shows in Shinkiba Sudio Coast. But for the 4th May they interrupted the tour for the memorial day of hide– the famous and still beloved guitarist from X-Japan and who had the most successful solo during the break up of X-Japan, who gathered  again for continuing music. But not only Dir en grey appeared on the memorial, of course also X-Japan, Luna Sea, D´espairsRay, MUCC, heidi and some other bands. In September 2008 Dir en grey gave us the single “Glass Skin” which is also recorded in an english version on their album “Uroboros” that said “hello” to the world in November 2008. With another and whole new music style and with an oriental touch. The September was also the month for their 2nd Japan tour of 2008 (“The Rose Trims Again”). It started with 2 shows in Shibuya AK, Tokyo, which only [a knot] members were allowed to go to. “The Rose Trims Again” ended with –again- 2 shows in Zepp Sapporo, on 10th and 12th October 2008 (“open for every one”). During the 3 christmas days in 2008, Dir en grey appeared live again in Yokohama; the shows were given under the name “-BAJRA-“. The 29th December surely have been emotional touching for our boys, because they gave a show in Osaka-Jo Hall, where they had given their very first concert. But the stressful year still wasn´t over: On 31st December, they gave a silvester-concert, which had started at 23:55 in Namba Hatch, Osaka.

In January 2009 Dir en grey participated in “Kerrang! Relentless Tour 2009” in Ireland and Great Britain. In February they started the “Tour 09 Feast of V Senses”. Besides the “normal” concerts, they also had done some “male-only” in smaller towns and clubs of Japan. In summer, they also returned to Europe again, also in Germany.2nd December 2009: the single “Hageshisa to kono mune no naka de karamitsuita shakunetsu no yami” was published, featuring new versions of the songs “shokubeni” and “ZAN”. This single also is a music theme for “SAW 3D”.After two days tickets for the upcoming Nippon Budokan show were sold out. Dir en grey also stated to travel to foreign countries again, but before they leaved Japan, they gave us a photo collection of the Budokan show and video material of these concerts.

9th January 2010 the DVD “Uroboros- with the proof in the name of living-“ was released. Almost whole 2010 was for concerts and tours only, like the “unwavering fact of tomorrow tour 2010”, “Pentaport Rock Festival” or “Sonisphere Festival.” The 2010 tour goes til the 6th January 2011. They already stated that they will release a new single titled “LOTUS” on the 26th January 2011. We all can become exited for the new stuff…maybe with a radical change again?

note: If there is ANY mistake above, please, tell me. I don´t want to give wrong informations and also don´t want to think, that something which is actually wrong is true.

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my drawings

This gallery contains 22 photos.

Acutally, the size of the picures are all the same….just the upload didn´t work as I want, cuz I used to copy some of my drawings from my old homepage. Kyo – vocalist of DIR EN GREY. (you´ll notice, that … Continue reading

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