Janne Da Arc was a Japanese visual kei^[1] rock band, formed in Hirakata, Osaka in 1991. Although inactive since 2007, they officially announced that they had disbanded on April 1, 2019.^[2] The band's name is often shortened to "Janne" (ジャンヌ) or "JDA".

Career

The band was signed to the Motorod record label, which is owned by Avex Group. They have released three indie albums, nine major-label albums (including single collections), 26 singles, and 14 DVDs.

On May 9, 2006, they celebrated their tenth anniversary, the date marking when the final member, shuji, became an official member of the band. The band was not named after historical figure Joan of Arc, despite their song "Kyuuseishu (Messiah)" being about her - yasu named the band after a character in the manga Devilman by Go Nagai. A picture of the character can be seen on the art for the band's limited edition Janne Da Arc 10th Anniversary Indies Complete Box, released March 15, 2006.

Their sound is self-described as pop rock, but they played many musical styles such as alternative rock, progressive rock, hard rock and many others. Vocalist yasu takes many musical cues from his musical idol, Motoyuki "Morrie" Ōtsuka of the heavy metal band Dead End.^[3] However, the members of Janne Da Arc have proven themselves to be very versatile as well as proficient at their chosen instruments, and are influenced by many bands and musical styles.

As of January 26, 2007, the members of Janne Da Arc are pursuing solo projects, concurrent with their work in the band.^[4][5]

On May 19, 2009, they released a 10th Anniversary Complete Box Set.

On April 1, 2019, Janne Da Arc officially disbanded due to legal matters with their bassist, ka-yu, and health problems of their vocalist, yasu. The announcement was made by agency Uprise Product and elaborated on the circumstances of ka-yu's departure. It noted that during the time the band was preparing for an announcement of a new album and a live tour last September, it had received documents addressed to ka-yu from a law firm. The announcement continued on saying that "if the contents of the document were true," then it represented "acts that went against society and what was right." As a result of these documents, the band decided to cease activity with any projects related to ka-yu.^[6]

Members

• yasu (Yasunori Hayashi), vocalist, born January 27, 1975, in Hirakata, Osaka, Japan. Favorite artists include Dead End and Boøwy. yasu also plays the guitar and keyboard, the latter of which he uses to compose most of his music. In 2007 he started his solo project, Acid Black Cherry.
• you (Yutaka Tsuda), guitarist, born July 24, 1974, in Kobe, Japan. Favorite artists include Unicorn and Nuno Bettencourt.
• ka-yu (Kazuyuki Matsumoto), bassist, born January 21, 1975, in Hirakata, Osaka, Japan. Favorite artists include Crazy Cool Joe (Dead End bassist) and Boøwy. ka-yu is characterized by his more visual kei look in comparison to the rest of the band members. In 2010 he has announced the start of a new project called DAMIJAW, starting out with an album on April 28.^[7]
• kiyo (Masanobu Kiyose), keyboardist, born June 27, 1974, in Hirakata, Osaka, Japan. Favorite artists include Earth, Wind, and Fire and Keith Emerson.
• shuji (Shuji Suematsu), drummer, born November 21, 1974, in Kobe, Japan. Favorite artists include X Japan and Loudness.

All the members, with the exception of ka-yu, graduated from Hirakata West High School in the same class. For the release of their single Furimukeba..., Janne Da Arc returned to their high school to give a special performance, which became the feature film Hirakata.

Discography

References

External links

• Official website
• Avex's Janne Da Arc website Archived 2005-04-22 at the Wayback Machine