Alice Nine
Alice Nine
Main page
1864375

Alice Nine

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Alice Nine

Alice Nine (アリス九號.; also known as A9 from 2015 to 2019) was a Japanese visual kei rock band formed in Tokyo in 2004. They were a part of PS Company until 2014. The band had King Records as its record label until 2010, when they joined Tokuma Japan. Then, in 2013, the band joined Universal Music Group's Nayutawave Records. They shortened their name to A9 in 2015, but switched back to Alice Nine in 2019. In 2023, Alice Nine announced that they would be going on a indefinite hiatus from September 3, following a last tour that began in May.

Alice Nine has released six full-length records, some of which were distributed in Europe by CLJ Records, along with several EPs, singles, and DVDs.

In August 2004, Alice Nine formed after the disbandment of the band Givuss, and the band's vocalist, Shou, and guitarist Tora continued on to search for members to form a new band. Saga, the bassist for the band Delta Ark, and Nao, drummer for the bands Fatima and RusH, were also seeking bandmates as well, and the four members eventually joined. Hiroto was the last member to join after Shou, Tora, Saga, and Nao spotted him at a performance with his band at the time, Baquepia. Shou explains that the "Alice" in the band's name was something that they believed sounded "very visual kei" to them, while the "Nine" is written in kanji and represents their origins as a Japanese band.

Their first concert was held at the Ikebukuro Cyber on May 11, 2004, and soon after they released their first single, Namae wa, Mada Nai in July, and they soon toured with fellow PS Company band BIS. In November, their first EP, Gion Shouja no Kane ga Naru, was released, and later that month, they did a nationwide tour with the band Karen from Under Code Productions.

In 2005, the pace of CD releases increased; the band released the singles "Gin no Tsuki Kuroi Hoshi", "Yami ni Chiru Sakura", and "Yuri wa Aoku Saite" consecutively for three months. These singles were eventually compiled onto their first major EP, Kasou Musou Shi, through a joint deal with PS Company and King Records. Alice Nine also went on tour with several bands throughout the year, including Ayabie, Kra, and Kagrra,. Following these events, the band had its first solo tour, Alice in Wonder Tour, in August that year. They released their first album Zekkeishoku in April 2006.

A turning point for the band came when the single "Jewels" was released in March 2007. The single allowed the band to land their first magazine cover and feature article with volume 171 of Shoxx Magazine. Later that month on April 28, the band released Dive into the Sun, a photobook that included an exclusive CD containing the song "Gekkou Yoku". Another landmark was Alice Nine's first performance outside Japan at the JRock Revolution festival in Los Angeles, California on May 25, 2007. They joined with several other Japanese bands and became the closing performance of the Friday that weekend.[citation needed]

The release of the "White Prayer" single in June marked another milestone for the band's development; vocalist Shou explained in an interview with Shoxx Magazine that the song defined the style that the band was aiming for and hoped to maintain in the future. The process of the song's creation also came about more naturally than usual, as many songs until then were made through trial and error. Later that year, on October 24, the group's single "Tsubasa" was released and peaked at number six on the Oricon charts, making it one of their successful singles to date and landing the band a guest appearance on the Fuji Television variety show Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ and on NHK music show Music Japan.

On November 28, 2007, their second full-length album, Alpha, was released. The title for the album originated as a means to describe the band's return to their roots and beginning anew. The uppercase first letter of the Greek alphabet, Α, was chosen to symbolize this idea. Aside from the singles to be compiled onto the album, recording for songs began in September and lasted for approximately one month. The album reached the ninth position on the Oricon weekly chart, selling over 17,000 copies in its first week.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.