OBLIVION DUST was created in 1996, but the only member from the original line up to last until the end was the vocalist, Ken Lloyd. The band played its first live at the Tokyo NK Hall at the end of 1996.
In January 1997 they released their first single, Sucker. March witnessed the release of their second single, Numb, and in April of that same year the group toured the West Coast of the US with a series of ten concerts. Before 1997 was over, they managed to release another single and their first full album, Looking for Elvis. They also went back to play another ten concerts in the US and toured their native Japan twice.
With the arrival of 1998 came two new members: guitarist K.A.Z, who had previously played with hide with Spread Beaver, and RIKIJI, who replaced their earlier bassist, Mark Garrett, the brother of J's drummer Scott Garrett. In that same year, OBLIVION DUST played in front of a crowd of 10,000 fans as a support band for the Prodigy's gig in Tokyo, released a few singles and their second album, Misery Days. In November Furuton, formerly of Space Cowboys, replaced Taka, the band's original drummer.
In 1999 OBLIVION DUST released five new singles, another new album and their first video, Overdose. They also toured all year long, playing with popular bands such as Marilyn Manson and zilch.
The band begun the year 2000 with a nationwide tour entitled Reborn. In February their fan club, “embryo,” was officially opened, and in May their new song, S.O.S., appeared on the Japanese version of the “Mission: Impossible 2” soundtrack. That year, they went on to play numerous gigs—some of which even sold out—performed at the Summer Sonic festival and released a plethora of new material. Their performance on December 23 at the Tokyo NK Hall turned out to be RIKIJI's last, as he decided to quit the band soon afterwards.
In January 2001, their support guitarist of two years, Masaru, or “May,” was welcomed as an official member, and the band was joined by a new support bassist, Ju-ken. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to enjoy their new roles for long because only a few months later, in June 2001, OBLIVION DUST officially disbanded. The last release signed with the name “OBLIVION DUST” was a best-of album called Radio Songs, which came out two months after they disbanded.
In the years that followed, several of the members would go on to form successful projects. Most notably, K.A.Z joined up with pop star Anna Tsuchiya in a duo called Spin Aqua from 2002 to 2004 and began working with HYDE of L’Arc~en~Ciel on his solo albums. Ken, on the other hand, formed FAKE? with INORAN of LUNA SEA in 2001, and while INORAN left the band in 2005, Ken has continued to use the name for his solo work. RIKIJI also revived his old band, MEGA8BALL.
In 2007, six years after their disbandment, OBLIVION DUST announced that they would reunite for a pair of concerts titled Resurrection, which were held on September 8th and 9th. The reunited band’s line-up consisted of Ken, K.A.Z and RIKIJI, accompanied by a support drummer and guitarist.
However, OBLIVION DUST’s revival ended up rather short-lived, as the band took another break soon after to allow the members to focus on their other projects. Around this time, K.A.Z formed the chart-topping duo VAMPS with HYDE and Ken began to shift his focus back to FAKE?. The members of OBLIVION DUST would not produce any more new material together until three years later, with the release of the digital single Tune in December 2011.
2011 also saw the opening of OBLIVION DUST’s new official fan club, “Club OVERDOSE” and two tours. Ken also found time to become a part of yet another project, an electro-rock supergroup called ATOM ON SPHERE, which features members of Dragon Ash, BEAT CRUSADERS and The Samos.
Despite their vocalist now juggling three bands and the tremendous success of VAMPS, 2012 was another productive year for OBLIVION DUST. It brought the band’s sixth album, 9 Gates For Bipolar and a label change to Universal Music. A nationwide tour called Static Sound Tour 2012 quickly followed and saw them perform twelve shows in seven cities.
OBLIVION DUST are back, and as Ken continues to make strides to engage fans of all his projects through English posts on social media websites, they are more accessible to their international following than ever before.
