Inugami Circus-dan began with a simple reply to a message left in a music magazine during December 1994 asking for members to join a new band. The advertisement was posted by Kyouko. The message was replied to by Akira. Over time the guitarist Joji joined, though he was soon replaced by Joji II before the band recruited bassist Zin. This was the final line-up and is still the same to this day.
The band first performed live a year after its formation. Some of their earliest live performances took place when they played on a talent show and won three consecutive times before being beaten. The band's sound at that time was rather unstructured and more noise-based than their later more melodic creations.
A couple years after they first began performing, Inugami Circus-dan began releasing material. They also contributed songs to several compilations such as A TRIBUTE TO THE STALIN and Igyou no utage alongside Onmyo-za and Guru Guru Eigakan. After a string of album releases it was rumoured that they would sign to a major label, which turned out to be true. Inugami Circus-dan signed a contract with Zetima in October 2003.
After turning major, the band released their first major maxi-single Inochi mijikashi koi seyo jinrui!. During the following spring of 2004, Inugami Circus-dan took the opportunity to release a best-of album featuring 18 songs from their indies career. A few months later, it was followed by a DVD entitled Seppuku, which contained a selection of their PVs.
Though the band had been major for a couple of years, it wasn't until the spring of 2005 when they released their first full-length original album, Sukeban Rock. It was received with favourable reviews.
The following year, Inugami Circus-dan left their major label and returned to indie status, signing with Office Kinmedai. That's when they released their eighth original album Keijijo no Eros, an album based around the concept of death. A few more live performances followed, but were cut short by an arm injury Akira had. Though it wasn't too long until he recovered and the band began activities again, the following year he also fractured his ribs and right thumb. Though, considering the personality of the band members, Akira's injury turned more into a joke of him making fun of himself. Their humor was shown at a live when they did a cover of a song called Nagori hone, which translates to "Bone relic." Along with covering the song, they also distributed a pamphlet titled Kossetsu nikki, a journal about Akira's bone fractures.
In 2008, along with releasing a mini-album and an album, the band created a side project called Angelique, which is very different from Inugami Circus-dan. The main difference is Angelique's elegant look follows the gothic trend. As Angelique, they released three singles, two in 2008 and the last in 2009.
In early 2010, the anime convention A-Kon in Dallas, Texas announced Inugami Circus-dan as one of their musical guests for that summer, thus allowing the band to have their first overseas performance. Considering the theme of the band's lyrics, it was interesting having them perform at a family convention.
Inugami Circus-dan stands out as one of the most interesting and long lived among the visual rock bands in the Japanese underground music scene. The four-piece band is fronted by strong voiced Inugami Kyouko, who is one of the well-respected female artists in visual kei. Together, the band members make up an unusual but enigmatic group, which were named after a film by cult director Shuuji Terayama.
The band plays solid rock 'n' roll music with an enka-style twist. Their music is original, uncompromising and most of all fun. With such a vast discography, however, many other styles such as blues, techno, jazz and even hip-hop have also been added into the band's repertoire. One of the shocking factors about Inugami Circus-dan is their fearlessness to cover disturbing subject matters such as molestation, incest and genocide.
Kyouko normally dresses in a traditional kimono and has kabuki-like make-up. The other band members, who are all male, wear military-style uniforms and similar make-up as Kyouko, but not as dramatic. More often than not, the band leader Akira likes to wear a corset and plastic devil style horns on his head.
