Vocalist Ryo and guitarist Kei had known each other before kannivalism; they had both been roadies of Kagerou and had formed their first band, Clarity, together in 2000. In 2001, they created kannivalism along with bassist 8342 whose name was changed to Yuchi later, and drummer Kiri. Their activities officially began on 20 June 2001 with a concert at Meguro Rock May Kan, a popular livehouse for visual bands. kannivalism were quite different for the time. They dressed down for a visual band, wearing fashionable outfits with minimal makeup and glasses just for show. Their appearance as such was quite fresh in the scene. However a mere two months after the release of their only single, kannivalism ittekimasu., the group suddenly disbanded.
Ryo and Kei stuck together to join baroque, the infamous pioneer of oshare kei, in June of 2001. 8342 joined K@mikaze and also worked as a support member for MIYAVI's solo project. Kiri initially joined Porori but can currently be found in the visual kei band heidi..
After baroque's disbandment at the end of 2004, Ryo and Kei went rather quiet with no obvious sign of them in the scene and no news of their future plans. Then in late 2005, after nearly a year of silence, the two announced that kannivalism would live again. Yuchi rejoined them and the band finished off 2005 with a few shows before kicking off the next year with their first release since 2001, the mini-album Soukou humority. The mini-album was extremely successful and brought in a large number of new fans, along with some who had previously been fans of baroque. It also brought the band to the attention of record company avex and the trio soon signed with the major label.
Their major debut was the upbeat Ritori, which has since been followed by their first full album, Nu age, which was released in early 2007. Around the same time, kannivalism began to court some drama over their choice of band name. It was reported in Nikkan Sports that kannivalism had had a confrontation with their label avex over the fact that their name meant "cannibalism." It was argued that the name would be unsuitable for radio and television appearances as part of their major label career. There was even a chance that appearances could be cancelled or they would not be able to advance to major status. In their rebuttal, the band said that agreed that the meaning of "kannivalism" and "cannibalism" were the same but it was the band name and if it meant they couldn't sell, "well, that was just a fact of life." Their will stood firm and the name stayed. That year also saw two more single releases from kannivalism and they also appeared on the LUNA SEA MEMORIAL COVER ALBUM –Re:birth-, covering LOVE SONG.
2008 started off on a high note for the band with the release of their first live DVD, APPLE CHING★PO-PO EPISODE II SHIBUYA-AX FINAL as well as an announcement of a new album and nationwide tour following this release. Unfortunately, right after this announcement, it was revealed Ryo had been hospitalized with severe depression, putting kannivalism on hiatus for an undetermined time.
It was for over a year that the band was on hiatus with no word on their comeback. As Ryo fought his illness, Kei embarked on a solo career that explored the field of more experimental music with the beautifully ambient album, Silk Tree. In August 2009, however, kannivalism announced their return. The first of the series of announcements was that with their return came a new drummer, mitsuya from BLACK JACK. The first new single of the new kannivalism offered a different, more introspective and ambient sound, heavily influenced by both Kei's solo work and, interestingly, the sound of nutty a hermit from latter day baroque. The comeback concert was held on December 26 at ZEPP Tokyo, enjoying great success.
Sadly mitsuya left the band shortly after this, but Yuchi returned to play bass. Then in early 2010 came the release of helios, a stunning and mature album that bore a multitude of influences from trip-hop to sixties. It was coupled with a concert at the Nakano Sun Plaza. The live took its name from a line from the album song, helio, "She said under the helios" and encapsulated stylishly the variant themes of the album.
Since this concert, the stream of releases has been steady, with split recollection in August 2010, then rememorari in November. Around the time kannivalism toured nationwide with the "reincarnation of helios" tour, showing their fans the vision of the helio album and hopefully a brighter future for the band.
The comeback year ended on a high note at least, as kannivalism joined the New Year's Eve music festival presented by rockin'on magazine, COUNTDOWN JAPAN 10/11 alongside artists such as 9mm Parabellum Bullet, SEAMO, ONE OK ROCK, BUCK-TICK, MUCC and Quruli. It firmly put kannivalism back on the musical map, and they have continued in strong form in 2011 too with the release of single Yurikago ga yureteiru in March. While activity has gone quiet since, the members are very active in their Twitter accounts and have taken part in side projects with other musicians from the scene, such as Daisuke's final memorial album. We can only anticipate what will come next.
