Siam Shade

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Siam Shade
Origin	Japan
Genre(s)	J-Rock,Hard Rock,Heavy Metal,Progressive Metal
Years active	1991 – 2002
Label(s)	Sony Music Entertainment Japan
Website	Siam Shade Official Site

Siam Shade is a popular J-rock band formed in the early nineties. They broke onto the visual kei scene alongside a multitude of other artists in the early 1990's. They enjoyed a decade of relative popularity on the Japanese music scene before disbanding in early 2002. Siam Shade is most commonly known as the band who performed "1/3 no Junjou na Kanjou", one of the many ending themes of Rurouni Kenshin, a popular anime series. For the bulk of their career, the band was comprised of Hideki Imamura on vocals, Kazuma Endo on rhythm guitar/vocals, Daita Ito on lead guitar, Yasushi Nakagawa (Natin) on bass, and Junji Sakuma (Jun-ji) on drums.

[edit] History

The band was formed in 1991 by Natin and Hideki (first known as Chack), 2 high school comrades with an affinity for music. Their aspirations started to become a reality in 1992, when they met guitarist Kazuma at a talent show. After seeing his performance, Hideki and Natin recruited the guitarist into the band, settling on "Siam Shade" as a moniker. Local drummer Ataru, nicknamed "AA", completed the lineup, and the group began touring, playing small clubs and local venues. Shortly afterwards, Hideki called on his former roommate band member Daita to fill in the lead guitar slot. Siam Shade soon caught the eye of Luna Sea vocalist Ryuichi Kawamura. Impressed with the band's self-titled demo tape and live performances, he expressed interest in touring with the group. The 2 bands embarked on a 3-month tour together at the end of 1993.

The band underwent a brief lineup change in 1994 when AA left the band and was promptly replaced by Jun-ji, solidifying the group's lineup until their disbandment. Later that year, the band re-released their demo tape to a much wider audience, leaving Japan's indies scene behind en route to major label success. Roughly one year later, the band signed with Sony Music Entertainment Japan and released their second album, Siam Shade II. The album was met with favorable reactions, and the success of the album's two singles, "Rain" and "Time's", helped to solidify the band's presence on the Japanese rock scene. The band became known by virtue of both their virtuosity and song-writing skills, citing Dream Theater and other American rock bands as their primary influences.

The band burst into the mainstream in late 1996 when "1/3 no Junjou na Kanjou", the single from their latest album, Siam Shade IV, was selected for use in the credits of the anime series Rurouni Kenshin. The song's popularity led to high ticket sales, concert DVDs, and television appearances.

The band continued to release albums and DVDs well into the next decade. In 2002, while touring in support of their recently released compilation albums, the band announced that they would be disbanding in favor of pursuing solo efforts. Siam Shade's 10-year career came to an end on March 11, 2002 in Budokan. Later that month, the band released their final album, Siam Shade X, a compilation of all the band's previous releases.

On July 5, 2007, it was announced that Siam Shade will be having a reunion concert on November 18, 2007 at Nippon Budokan, in honor of their manager who passed away last April. It has clearly been stated that the reunion will be only for one night, and will not pave the way for a new single or album release.