don't know if this was posted b4 but what the heck!!!:
L'Arc~en~Ciel, also known as Laruku (ƒ‰ƒ‹ƒN) or L'Arc to their fans, is a popular Japanese rock band consisting of four members. The name means "Arc in the Sky", or "rainbow" in French. Laruku's front man is hyde, ken is the lead guitar player and the band's composer, tetsu plays bass and yukihiro is the drummer.
In 1992, Tetsu and Hyde, along with Hiro and Pero formed the band based on a movie that tetsu had seen. After a year of gaining notoriety in their hometown of Osaka, Hiro and Pero quit the band. Tetsu convinced his friend Ken to quit his studies in architectural design and join the band. A new drummer, Sakura, was recruited after Tetsu saw him play. In 1993, the band released their debut album, DUNE, still in a small independent label, but reaching plenty of success, managing to be #1 at the indies charts.
This caught the attention of some major labels, so in 1994, they signed for Sony, releasing their 2nd album, Tierra, that same year. heavenly followed, in 1995 and True, their first million seller, in 1996.
In 1997, Sakura was arrested for heroin possession and quit the band. Their popularity was growing too rapidly to quit, so a new tour was organized and Yukihiro joined the band. The first concert date of the new tour in Tokyo Dome had an attendance of 56,000 and sold out in four minutes, a testament to their popularity. Their next album was HEART, in 1998.
L'Arc~en~Ciel released three more albums of new material during the next few years: ark and ray which were released simultaneously in 1999, followed by REAL in 2000, which, for the longest time, was the last CD of new material, although many more compilation and remix albums would follow. L'Arc~en~Ciel also composed several theme songs for various anime series, including DNA², Rurouni Kenshin, Great Teacher Onizuka and Fullmetal Alchemist. They also created the ending theme song to the movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.
After a while, however, the various members began working on various solo projects. Hyde released several solo albums, ken founded Sons of all Pussy, tetsu started Tetsu69 and yukihiro played with Acid Android. The band seemed close to calling it quits.
In June 2003, Laruku came back to play a series of seven concerts in Tokyo and announced a new album for release in the following year. So, in February 2004, their first single in more than three years came out, followed by another one in early March. Finally their long-awaited new album, SMILE, was released the 31st March.
On July 31st, 2004, L'Arc~En~Ciel made their first U.S. concert debut at Otakon 2004. Approximately 12,000 Otakon attendees attended the concert which was held at a outside venue for the first time in Otakon's musical guests history, the 1st Mariner Arena located near the Baltimore Convention Center.
![[image]](http://www.flix.co.jp/N0/00/53/N0005350.jpg){kind=link}