Versailles - A Vampire Chronicle

In autumn 2006, vocalist KAMIJO (ex-LAREINE) and guitarist HIZAKI (HIZAKI grace project, ex-SULFURIC ACID) developed the concept for Versailles and spent six months finding the appropriate members to express it.

On March 29th 2007, the names of the band members were revealed. In addition to the aforementioned two musicians, the band consisted of three more instrumentalists. First was bassist Jasmine You, who had also been part of HIZAKI grace project. The band was completed by guitarist TERU (ex-Aikaryu) and drummer YUKI (ex-Sugar Trip), who were strongly recommended by the long established live venue Rockmaykan.

On the following day, the name of the band was announced, and later that spring in May, the band presented their introduction in a unique way by posting a trailer for Versailles on YouTube. They quickly garnered a lot of attention, and even proposals for tours and interviews from overseas. Around this time, they only had interviews with international media.

At the end of May, a German documentary TV crew came to Japan to interview the band. By June, the interviews with the German TV crews were in Sankei Newspaper (one of Japan's domestic newspapers) and Versailles was featured in the article. Because of the large amount of exposure, "Versailles Band" was ranked in Yahoo's top five keyword searches. In magazines and on TV, they were promoted as one of the hottest bands to keep an eye on.

Versailles made their first appearance with a showcase on June 23rd, followed by their first performance on the 24th. On these dates they also distributed their very first single and DVD single, The Revenant Choir.

On October 31, 2007, hardly half a year after their start, Versailles released their first mini-album, Lyrical Sympathy, both in Japan and Europe. Following was the release of their Aesthetic Violence DVD, which was available in five different versions, one for each member. As a bonus, it also included a perfume specific to the respective members.

In 2008, the band answered the calls from overseas. Immediately after the release of their second single A Noble was Born in Chaos, they embarked on a European tour alongside visual kei indie band MATENROU OPERA. After these six concerts that took place in March and April, the band returned to Japan for two exciting shows in May. The first one was the unique opportunity to perform at the hide memorial summit, and the second big happening for Versailles was their first one-man concert on May 6th.

Versailles never forgot about their US fans, appearing at the anime convention A-kon in Texas at the end of May, and performed in California a few days later. As if they weren’t busy enough, in July they released their first full length album, NOBLE. The album was also released in both Europe and the USA.

Shortly after, the band announced on their homepage that they had to undergo a name change due to trademark issues with an artist in the USA that used the same name. Fans had the opportunity to send in their suggestions, and the name Versailles -Philharmonic Quintet- was chosen to be used for their US activities in order to avoid legal problems.

In October, the band returned to the USA, this time for a performance at the anime convention Anime USA in Virginia. Unfortunately during that trip, Versailles met with many problems which left the fans, convention, and band disappointed. This disappointment however was made up with a successful show in New York City soon after.

PRINCE & PRINCESS, their third single, was released in December. Again, the single was available in several versions, this time a regular edition and five individual band member versions.

After so much hard work and many big achievements in such a short time, it was inevitable that a major label would express an interest in Versailles. So, it didn’t really come as a big surprise when it was announced in December that Versailles would be going major.

The first part of 2009 brought the band many new performances, such as their last indies tour, which started in March and ended in June. In May, the band released two DVDs on their own label Sherow Artist Society. In June, they had their first major release, the single ASCENDEAD MASTER on the Warner Music Japan label. Shortly after the single came out, they announced the release of a second full album for September.

Although things seemed to be looking up for the band, sad news came for the fans as it was announced in August that bassist Jasmine You was to take a break from all of the band’s activities due to his poor physical condition. He would refrain from participating in the upcoming album’s recording sessions and on August 3rd, Versailles performed as a quartet instead. While the fans were hoping for a speedy recovery for Jasmine You, things took a turn for the worse. The J-rock fan base was shocked deeply as only days later, the message that the talented bassist had passed away on August 9th appeared on their website. With the members trying to absorb the news, all upcoming activities, including the new album, were postponed indefinitely. Jasmine You was cremated in one of his stage costumes and buried according to Japanese custom, with only his friends and family present. The fans were able to say their farewell in September at a memorial event organised by Versailles und Warner Music. Apart from a performance at the two-day long V-Rock Festival in October, the band continued to keep a low profile for the rest of the year.

In January 2010 Versailles, still a quartet, resumed their regular activities with their Jasmine You - Memorial Ceremony -, a concert event which featured various guests. On 20 January their first major album, Jubilee, was released and in March they kicked off their -Method of Inheritance- world tour, which took them across Japan and then onwards to South America and Europe. Their bassist on this tour was Masashi, a support member in Közi's (ex Malice Mizer) solo project.

In September, they released live versions of their indies albums Lyrical Sympathy and Noble, which had been recorded at a concert on 23 December 2008 at CC Lemon Hall in Tokyo. In the same month, Masashi was made an official member of Versailles, who were now once again a quintet. October saw the release of a new single, DESTINY-The Lovers-, which was released in three different versions.

In January 2011, they starred in the ten episodes long mini TV series "Onegai Kanaete Versailles", which showed the band trying to please the young actress Rina Koike. They also penned the title song, Philia, which in March was released as a single, once again in three different versions. Due to the devastating earthquake which hit Japan on March 11th, their spring tour, which had been scheduled to take place in March and April, had to be postponed until May. The band expressed their sympathy for the victims of the quake on their website and guitarist HIZAKI wrote a song called Prayer, which was meant to help them regain hope and strength, and published it on Youtube.

In June, the busy quintet briefly returned to Europe for performances in France, Italy and Sweden. In the same month, they published their first album since Masashi joined their ranks. Entitled Holy Grail, it was again available in three different versions. Two Songs from this album, Masquerade and Vampire, were used as theme songs for the vampire film "Vampire Stories ~BROTHERS/CHASERS", for which KAMIJO was also the musical director. Still in June, they participated in the multi band event V-Love~Live vol.1, which was broadcast live on the internet. In July "Onegai Kanaete Versailles" was released on DVD, followed by another extensive domestic tour in August. In September, HIZAKI and TERU contributed to the single Hitotsudake ~We Are The One~, whose proceeds were used to support the earthquake victims.

In the same month, Versailles embarked on their World Tour 2011-Holy Grail, which began in Asia with concerts in Hong Kong and Taiwan and continued in October in Europe. The final of the European leg of the tour took place in a castle in Orleans. Before travelling on to South America in November they found time for activities in their home country. In October, HIZAKI and KAMIJO joined Kaya at Tokyo Decadance and the following day the band performed at V-ROCK FESTIVAL'11. December saw the release of a live DVD of their World Tour 2010 - Method of Inheritance - Grand Final - Chateau de Versailles at Shibuya C.C. Lemon Hall.

In the new year, Versailles continued their world tour with a series of concerts throughout Japan, which ended in February with their Versailles World Tour 2012 -Holy Grail- Grand Final ～Chateau de Versailles～ in Shibuya. In April, they released the digital single Rhapsody of the Darkness and were guests at two of D's Mad Tea Party events. In May they embarked on a short domestic tour and performed at the rASIA festival in Moscow, Russia. In June they hosted a two day event called Tokyo Metropolis at Ebisu LIQUID ROOM to celebrate their five year anniversary with D, Moi dix Mois, Matenrou Opera, Lin, Kaya and DaizyStripper as guests and July saw the release of another single called ROSE.

Their success seemed unstoppable, but only a few weeks later, on KAMIJOs birthday, they shocked their fans with the news that Versailles would cease activities at the end of the year to allow the members to gather experiences outside the band. Their fourth and final album, simply called Versailles, was released in September, followed by a nation-wide tour which ended with a moving grande finale on 20th December at NHK Hall in Tokyo.

However, they didn't disappear for long. In the New Year, KAMIJO began a solo career, while the other members recruited a new vocalist and started the band Jupiter.