Pierrot was a Japanese visual keirock band formed in 1994 in Nagano. After changing their name from Dizy-Lizy to Pierrot and several member changes, the final lineup was completed in 1995 with Kirito on vocals, Jun and Aiji on guitar, Kohta on bass and Takeo on drums. After roughly ten years together, Pierrot disbanded in 2006. Their final single was named "Hello", an apt title for a band who started their major career with an album called Finale. Vocalist Kirito embarked on a solo career in 2005, before reuniting with Kohta and Takeo to start a new band called Angelo. Aiji officially joined maya, formerly of Ishihara Gundan and Sinners, in LM.C in 2006. Jun joined guitarist Koji and vocalist Shouta in creating a new band called sometime in 2006. Pierrot reunited for two shows in 2014, and another two in 2017.
History
In 1994, guitarists Kirito and Jun formed a rock band named Dizy-Lizy in Nagano. They recruited Hidelow on vocals, Kirito's younger brother Kohta on bass, and Luka on drums. After changing their name to Pierrot, Luka left in November and Takeo joined. Their debut album, Mad Piero, was released in December, having already been recorded with Luka. Then in February 1995, Hidelow also left the band while Aiji joined, completing the final line up of Kirito on vocals, Jun and Aiji on guitar, Kohta on bass and Takeo on drums. After releasing their second albumPandora's Box in July, they signed with Sweet Child Management. This album was named one of the top albums from 1989-1998 in a 2004 issue of the music magazine Band Yarouze. In 1998 they signed to Toshiba-EMI and released their major debut, the single "Clear Sky", which surprisingly reached number 6 on the Oricon music chart. The album Finale was released in July of the following year, and in April they sold out the Nippon Budokan, which was unheard of for a band just making their debut. Pierrot left Toshiba-EMI and signed with Universal in 2001. In December 2003, they released their best-selling album Dictators Circus: Magical Melody. Following the release of two compilation albums in 2005, Dictators Circus: A Vairant Bud and Dictators Circus: A Deformed Bud, Pierrot announced they were disbanding. They officially disbanded on April 12, 2006, their last release was a single in June 2006, titled "Hello". Pierrot's song "Kumo no Ito" was covered by Hana Shounen Baddies on the compilation Crush! 2 -90's V-Rock Best Hit Cover Songs-, which was released on November 23, 2011 and features current visual kei bands covering songs from bands that were important to the '90s visual kei movement. "Haruka..." was covered by -OZ- for the similar album Counteraction - V-Rock covered Visual Anime songs Compilation-, which was released on May 23, 2012 and features covers of songs by visual kei bands that were used in anime. Pierrot announced on April 12, 2014, exactly 8 years since their disbandment, that they would reunite for two shows. The concerts were held at the Saitama Super Arena on October 24 and 25. In 2017, Pierrot reunited again to play a two-day performance with Dir en grey called Androgynos on July 7 and 8 at Yokohama Arena.
