Saturday, November 30, 2013

Written by: Mari - MasaKarasu
Edited by: Cynthia and Ku - MasaKarasu


Everyone has to start somewhere, so where did miyavi start? In the spring of 1999, miyavi moved from Osaka to Tokyo and joined the indies band known as Dué le quartz. Back then, he was more commonly known as “Miyabi.” After a fairly successful four years of performing and recording their music, Dué le quartz disbanded in September 2002. Their disbandment was not without a few perks though, as being in Dué le quartz gave miyavi the perfect kick-start to his career as a solo guitarist and musician and helped to shape him into the artist that we all know and love today.


History
Dué le quartz (also written as デュールクォーツ) was formed in December 1998 by vocalist Sakito and guitarist Ken, and was signed to PS Company as an indies band. They played their first live together on Valentine’s Day in 1999. Bassist Kikasa and drummer KAZUKI were added to the band shortly afterwards and Dué le quartz began touring around Japan for a few months, playing at live houses mostly between the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya areas. They even made their first television appearance in April of that same year. Things weren’t quite right though, and in May of that same year, Ken left Dué le quartz due to what was officially announced as musical differences. During the following month after Ken’s departure, the band ran into Miyabi at a live house. He told them that he was amazing at the guitar and they quickly took a liking to his personallity. Add all that to the fact that they desperately needed a new guitarist, it was practically a match made in heaven.

Miyabi joined Dué le quartz at the age of 17, making him the youngest member of the group, but being young didn’t mean he didn’t know what he was doing. Sakito wrote a fair amount of lyrics for Dué le quartz’s songs, but Miyabi composed and wrote the vast majority of music and lyrics for Dué le quartz’s songs, including ones that he covered later on during his solo career like “Dear… from xxx” and “Requiem.”

The newly formed band took flight immediately, playing spectacular shows and gaining a large fanbase. In November, they witnessed the release of their very first mini-album entitled Mikansei no Jekyll to Hyde. Their second mini-album was released in May of 2000, and their first VHS came out in July. The following month, the band opened their very own fanclub called “Baby Merry.”

The year 2001 had a lot in store for Dué le quartz. They released several singles, a demo tape, a couple of VHS tapes and were published in several magazines such as SHOXX and EXPECT RUSH, all within the first half of the year. Dué le quartz also kicked off “259046930439141,” which was the title of their very first one-man tour, in May. They then joined bands Kagrra, and Ash for their tour “TRIBAL ARIVALL WARNING!!” in August. Dué le quartz also had their second one-man tour, “Ame to Muchi wo…”, in December.

In the year 2002, Dué le quartz finished off their second one-man tour, were published in a few more issues of SHOXX, and released one single, one album, and four VHS tapes (mostly footage of their tour shows). Sadly, as we all know, some things must come to an end. Kikasa announced that he was leaving Dué le quartz and this led to the complete disbandment of Dué le quartz. On September 22, 2002, Dué le quartz played one last live: “6419461049162791″-69 LAST LIVE @ Shibuya AX.

As for Miyabi, we all know what happened next. Though the disbandment of Dué le quartz was hard on him, he still had his undying love for music and that would never change. During 2002, Miyabi changed his stage name to “雅-miyavi-” and began his career as a solo artist under the PS Company.


Sources


Primary Lineup
Sakito
Position: Vocals
Current Status: Retired from the music industry; Teacher

雅/Miyabi
Position: Guitar
Official Site: http://myv382tokyo.com/
Official MySpace & Blog: http://www.myspace.com/miyavi
Current Status: Solo Artist

Kikasa/キカサ
Position: Bass
Current Status: Bassist for the band Unzu and Representative of TUXEDO PRODUCTION[1]

KAZUKI
Position: Drums
Current Status: Unknown


Former Member
Ken
Position: Guitar
Current Status: Retired from the music industry; Competitive Eater


For more information about Dué le quartz band members and everything else there is to know about Dué le quartz, please visit Kohitsuji or visit them over at their LiveJournal Community.


[1] TUXEDO PRODUCTION is an indies label that manages bands such as DIS★Marionette, 0801弐209336 and SectMa.

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