Girugamesh
Encyclopedia
is a Japanese visual kei
rock band, formed in 2003. The name is derived from the ancient king Gilgamesh
, and is sometimes typeset with a metal umlaut as girugämesh.
, Shuu and Nii had been friends since elementary school, the earliest incarnation of the band made its first performance while the members were still in high school. Girugamesh began playing gigs with their current lineup in 2004, until they were signed to record label Gaina-Japan. Their first single, "Kaisen Sengen" was ranked #10 on the Oricon
Indies chart.
In 2005, Girugamesh embarked on a nation-wide tour, after which they released their first live DVD, featuring footage from the tour, and after more touring, released an EP
, Goku -Shohankei Enban-.
In 2007, Girugamesh was signed to the European label Gan-Shin
. The band then was part of a 9-band Japanese rock festival in Los Angeles, California
called "J-Rock Revolution". They were part of the second night alongside Merry, D'espairsRay, and Mucc
. Around the time of J-Rock Revolution, some of the performing bands released material on the iTunes Music Store, including Girugamesh. On this, Ryo has commented that "if you really like the band after the initial listen, you will buy the original CD."
entitled Reason of Crying
, and in December released their eponymous album, Girugamesh
.
In 2008, in support of Girugamesh, the band toured in both Japan and Europe, under the tour title "Stupid Tour '08". The Japanese leg had Girugamesh performing throughout Japan, and later in January, the band toured Europe
for the first time, visiting Germany
, France
, the United Kingdom
, Sweden
and Finland
. Following their European tour, Girugamesh continued the "Stupid Tour '08 in Japan". In March, Girugamesh returned to touring visiting venues all over Japan including Okinawa.
Following a performance at Wacken Open Air
, a support tour for Girugamesh will occur, entitled "Shining Tour '08". The first performances will endure through July, visiting Osaka
and Nagoya, with one finale performance in August at the Liquidroom in Tokyo
. Concerts in July will feature second acts, including Gelugugu, Tr. Dan, Sel'm, Dogma, and Deathgaze
, while the tour finale show will be a one-man performance, with only Girugamesh.
In July 2008, an English version of their website was activated; shortly after this, the band announced they would release their debut American album, with Girugamesh being sold exclusively through Hot Topic
stores.
The band's third full-length album, titled Music
, was released on November 5, 2008. After a lengthy Japan tour throughout the first quarter of 2009, the band made its second appearance in the United States, showcased at Sakura Con in Seattle, Washington
.
Not long after the end of "Crazy Tour 2009" they released the live DVD "Crazy Crazy Crazy" on June 3. Another release was announced to be out on July 10 but this time it was a single named "Alive" which they had been playing for the audiences during the end of their "Crazy Tour". Just a month later on August 5 the single "Border" came out along with "Crying Rain" on October 7.
On December 16 they released the fourth album with the name Now
and this will be the name of their tour in 2010.
The band had a live entitled New Album Release "Premium Oneman Show 2010" on January 31, 2010 at Shinkiba Studio Coast, and at the same time, the members tweet
ed in real time through musicJAPANplus before the live began.
Girugamesh released the single "Color" on July 6, 2010. On October 7 they released the single "Inochi no Ki". On September 19, 2010, the band performed at D'erlanger
's "Abstinence's Door #005" with Head Phones President
and Defspiral
. The concert was streamed worldwide live on Ustream.tv.
On January 26, 2011, Girugamesh released their album Go
which includes their recent singles, "Color" and "Inochi no Ki", one of the songs, "Destiny", leaked out a few days before.
Go will be released in Europe on February 2, 2012. On April 22, 2011, Girugamesh played a concert at Anime Boston 2011.
after a 2009 Sakura-Con
commercial, wherein several people discussing their love of Japan-related material are interrupted by a man who shouts "Girugamesh!" This image-and-text macro soon became a meme on the imageboard 4chan
.
– guitar
– bass
– drums
, primary songwriter
Former members
EPs
Singles
Demos
Live DVD
Visual Kei
is a movement among Japanese musicians, that is characterized by the use of make-up, elaborate hair styles and flamboyant costumes, often, but not always, coupled with androgynous aesthetics. Some sources state that visual kei refers to a music genre, or to a sub-genre of Japanese rock, with its...
rock band, formed in 2003. The name is derived from the ancient king Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh was the fifth king of Uruk, modern day Iraq , placing his reign ca. 2500 BC. According to the Sumerian king list he reigned for 126 years. In the Tummal Inscription, Gilgamesh, and his son Urlugal, rebuilt the sanctuary of the goddess Ninlil, in Tummal, a sacred quarter in her city of...
, and is sometimes typeset with a metal umlaut as girugämesh.
2004-2006: Formation
Formed in 2004 in ChibaChiba Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region and the Greater Tokyo Area. Its capital is Chiba City.- History :Chiba Prefecture was established on June 15, 1873 with the merger of Kisarazu Prefecture and Inba Prefecture...
, Shuu and Nii had been friends since elementary school, the earliest incarnation of the band made its first performance while the members were still in high school. Girugamesh began playing gigs with their current lineup in 2004, until they were signed to record label Gaina-Japan. Their first single, "Kaisen Sengen" was ranked #10 on the Oricon
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...
Indies chart.
In 2005, Girugamesh embarked on a nation-wide tour, after which they released their first live DVD, featuring footage from the tour, and after more touring, released an EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
, Goku -Shohankei Enban-.
In 2007, Girugamesh was signed to the European label Gan-Shin
Gan-Shin
is an independent European rock music record label. It was formed in 2004 by Deville Schober. The label, active in Germany, France and the United Kingdom, exclusively signs bands from Japan...
. The band then was part of a 9-band Japanese rock festival in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
called "J-Rock Revolution". They were part of the second night alongside Merry, D'espairsRay, and Mucc
Mucc
is a Japanese visual kei rock band formed in 1997. Named after a character from the Japanese children's TV show Hirake! Ponkikki, the band is also known by the nickname 69 since "six nine" can be pronounced "muku" in Japanese...
. Around the time of J-Rock Revolution, some of the performing bands released material on the iTunes Music Store, including Girugamesh. On this, Ryo has commented that "if you really like the band after the initial listen, you will buy the original CD."
2007-present: Girugamesh and international success
In the summer of 2007, Girugamesh released an EPExtended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
entitled Reason of Crying
Reason of Crying
- Personnel :*Satoshi – all vocals*Shuu – guitar*Nii – bass*Яyo – drums...
, and in December released their eponymous album, Girugamesh
Girugamesh (album)
Girugamesh is the self-titled second album from the band Girugamesh, released on December 26, 2007. A limited and a regular edition were released, with different contents, as well as a European release featuring three extra tracks from the band's previous EP, Reason of Crying...
.
In 2008, in support of Girugamesh, the band toured in both Japan and Europe, under the tour title "Stupid Tour '08". The Japanese leg had Girugamesh performing throughout Japan, and later in January, the band toured Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
for the first time, visiting Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
. Following their European tour, Girugamesh continued the "Stupid Tour '08 in Japan". In March, Girugamesh returned to touring visiting venues all over Japan including Okinawa.
Following a performance at Wacken Open Air
Wacken Open Air
Wacken Open Air is a summer open air heavy metal music festival. It takes place annually in the small town of Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany...
, a support tour for Girugamesh will occur, entitled "Shining Tour '08". The first performances will endure through July, visiting Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
and Nagoya, with one finale performance in August at the Liquidroom in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
. Concerts in July will feature second acts, including Gelugugu, Tr. Dan, Sel'm, Dogma, and Deathgaze
Deathgaze
is a Japanese Nagoya kei metal band. Their sound is alternative metal, though more recently they have stepped into metalcore territory.- History :Deathgaze was formed in the summer of 2003 by Hazuki, Ai, Naoki, and Kanna. After releasing their first single, "294036224052", vocalist, Hazuki, left in...
, while the tour finale show will be a one-man performance, with only Girugamesh.
In July 2008, an English version of their website was activated; shortly after this, the band announced they would release their debut American album, with Girugamesh being sold exclusively through Hot Topic
Hot Topic
Hot Topic is an American retail chain specializing in music and pop culture-related clothing and accessories, as well as licensed music on CD. The majority of the stores are located in regional shopping malls. The first Hot Topic store was opened in 1988 by Orv Madden, who retired as CEO in 2000...
stores.
The band's third full-length album, titled Music
Music (Girugamesh album)
Music is the third studio album from the band Girugamesh, released on November 5, 2008 in Japan and on 7 November in Europe...
, was released on November 5, 2008. After a lengthy Japan tour throughout the first quarter of 2009, the band made its second appearance in the United States, showcased at Sakura Con in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
.
Not long after the end of "Crazy Tour 2009" they released the live DVD "Crazy Crazy Crazy" on June 3. Another release was announced to be out on July 10 but this time it was a single named "Alive" which they had been playing for the audiences during the end of their "Crazy Tour". Just a month later on August 5 the single "Border" came out along with "Crying Rain" on October 7.
On December 16 they released the fourth album with the name Now
NOW (Girugamesh album)
NOW is the fourth studio album from the band Girugämesh, released on December 16, 2009 in Japan, January 4, 2010 in the United States and on February 12 in Europe...
and this will be the name of their tour in 2010.
The band had a live entitled New Album Release "Premium Oneman Show 2010" on January 31, 2010 at Shinkiba Studio Coast, and at the same time, the members tweet
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
ed in real time through musicJAPANplus before the live began.
Girugamesh released the single "Color" on July 6, 2010. On October 7 they released the single "Inochi no Ki". On September 19, 2010, the band performed at D'erlanger
D'erlanger
D'erlanger is a Japanese rock band considered to be important to the formation of visual kei...
's "Abstinence's Door #005" with Head Phones President
Head Phones President
Head Phones President is a Japanese metal band formed in 1999. Their sound is a mix between experimental metal, alternative metal, nu metal and hard rock...
and Defspiral
Defspiral
Defspiral is a Japanese visual kei rock band composed of most of the former members of the Underneath. When the Underneath disbanded in 2010, most of the group was signed to Avex Mode to perform songs for the Kamen Rider Series...
. The concert was streamed worldwide live on Ustream.tv.
On January 26, 2011, Girugamesh released their album Go
GO (Girugamesh album)
GO is the fifth studio album from the band Girugamesh, which was released on January 26, 2011 in Japan and on February 4 in Europe. Two editions of the album were released: a Regular Version CD and a Limited Version 2CD+DVD which includes the music videos for "COLOR [PV]" and "イノチノキ [PV]", a...
which includes their recent singles, "Color" and "Inochi no Ki", one of the songs, "Destiny", leaked out a few days before.
Go will be released in Europe on February 2, 2012. On April 22, 2011, Girugamesh played a concert at Anime Boston 2011.
Meme
The band became an internet memeMeme
A meme is "an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person to person within a culture."A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena...
after a 2009 Sakura-Con
Sakura-Con
Sakura-Con is an annual three-day anime convention held during March or April at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle, Washington.- Programming :...
commercial, wherein several people discussing their love of Japan-related material are interrupted by a man who shouts "Girugamesh!" This image-and-text macro soon became a meme on the imageboard 4chan
4chan
4chan is an English-language imageboard website. Launched on October 1, 2003, its boards were originally used for the posting of pictures and discussion of manga and anime...
.
Members
– vocals, lyricistLyricist
A lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...
– guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
– bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
– drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, primary songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
Former members
- Cyrien – vocals (2003, now with Sel'm)
- Hotaru – guitar (2003–2004)
Discography
Albums- 13's Reborn13's Reborn- Track listing :* Not on the Limited edition.- Personnel :*Satoshi – vocals*Shuu – guitar*Nii – bass guitar*Яyo – drums...
(September 27, 2006) - GirugameshGirugamesh (album)Girugamesh is the self-titled second album from the band Girugamesh, released on December 26, 2007. A limited and a regular edition were released, with different contents, as well as a European release featuring three extra tracks from the band's previous EP, Reason of Crying...
(December 26, 2007) - MusicMusic (Girugamesh album)Music is the third studio album from the band Girugamesh, released on November 5, 2008 in Japan and on 7 November in Europe...
(November 5, 2008) - NOWNOW (Girugamesh album)NOW is the fourth studio album from the band Girugämesh, released on December 16, 2009 in Japan, January 4, 2010 in the United States and on February 12 in Europe...
(December 16, 2009) - GOGO (Girugamesh album)GO is the fifth studio album from the band Girugamesh, which was released on January 26, 2011 in Japan and on February 4 in Europe. Two editions of the album were released: a Regular Version CD and a Limited Version 2CD+DVD which includes the music videos for "COLOR [PV]" and "イノチノキ [PV]", a...
(January 26, 2011)
EPs
- Goku -Shohan Gata Enban-Goku Shohan Kata Enbanis an EP released by the band Girugamesh on May 5, 2005.-Track listing:# "Having Betrayed is Why" [sic] - 4:23# "Kanaenu Yume" - 2:58# "[Gokusou]" - 3:52# "[Goku]" - 2:52# "Kosaki Uta " - 4:22-Notes:...
(May 25, 2005) - "Reason of CryingReason of Crying- Personnel :*Satoshi – all vocals*Shuu – guitar*Nii – bass*Яyo – drums...
" - EP (July 18, 2007) - "Color" - EP (July 7, 2010)
- "Inochi no KiInochi no KiInochi no Ki is the 3rd EP to be released by Japanese visual kei band, Girugamesh, on October 6, 2010.- Track listing :- Personnel :*Satoshi – all vocals*Shuu – guitar*Nii – bass*Яyo – drums- References :...
"(イノチノキ) - EP (October 6, 2010)
Singles
- "Jelato" (August 3, 2004, distributed single)
- "Midnight" (2004, distributed single)
- "Kaisen Sengen -Kikaku Kata Enban-" (August 15, 2004)
- "Mikongyaku" (August 24, 2004)
- "Kuukyo no Utsuwa -Kyosaku Gata Enban-" (December 25, 2004)
- "Kosaki Uta -Kaijou Gata Enban-" (February 8, 2005)
- "Senyuu Kyoutou Uta" (split CD with Marusa, April 20, 2005)
- "Kyozetsusareta Tsukue -Tandoku Gata Enban-" (June 17, 2005)
- "Fukai no Yami -Mayosake Gata Enban-" (September 14, 2005)
- "Honnou Kaihou -Kakusei Gata Enban-" (November 30, 2005)
- "Risei Kairan -Ranchou Gata Enban-" (November 30, 2005)
- "Rei -Zero- -Mukei Gata Enban-" (April 5, 2006)
- "Omae ni Sasageru Minikui Koe" (April 12, 2006)
- "Volcano" (DVD single, March 14, 2007)
- "Alive" (June 10, 2009)
- "Border" (August 5, 2009)
- "Crying Rain" (October 7, 2009)
- "Color"(ギルガメッシュ)(July 7, 2010)
- "Inochi no Ki" (イノチノキ)(October 6, 2010)
- "Pray" (Japanese and English versions) (April 13, 2011)
Demos
- "Dekiai -Shisaku Gata Enban-" (2003, first release with Satoshi)
- "Stupid -Kyoku Gata Enban-" (live distribution, 2007)
Live DVD
- "Crazy Crazy Crazy" June 3, 2009