Ayabie

Ayabie is an indie Japanese rock band of the visual kei variety. Dressed in a kinky combination of traditional Japanese garb with psychedelic colours and patterns, Ayabie makes a mind-boggling and unforgettable statement. Their music is lively and upbeat with a unique mix of punk, piano ballads and pop-rock, similar to Ryohei's recent band; Megamasso. Kinky, electronic, psychedelic, bizarre call them what you want, Ayabie has burst onto the rock music scene and is performing to sell-out crowds in Japan and fast-gathering audiences in Europe. Meanwhile, their current outfits were designed by H. Naoto.

Ayabie is currently signed to the Speed Disk label.

Ayabie was formed in the spring of 2004, made up of mostly ex-Hinawana members; Ryohei and Takehito on guitar and Intetsu on bass. Vocalist Aoi was the only one not from this former band, instead having left MASK. They began without a drummer and continued to use support drummers until 2005.

The group held their first concert, an one-man, at the Takadanobaba AREA on May 8th. The concert was free and they sold the maxi-single, " Kagen no sakura, ame", at this show only and released another single, " Romancer", limited to 1000 copies. Ayabie seemed unstoppable right from the start as they almost immediately launched into touring, including a short joint tour with Alice Nine. Their next maxi-single, “Chousoi sou yori san rin”, made it into the 10 top of the Oricon Indies chart and this accomplishment was soon followed by " Gothic"Party" breaking into the Oricon Major charts top 100.

In December, they released a third press of " Romancer" (the second having been released in July) as well as their first DVD, “Daikei/Misery in the dusk”, containing four PVs. Ayabie ended their first year together with a performance in the Takedanobaba area and the Yokohama aka renga souko on December 31st.

After such an eventful first year, one would expect most bands to slow down and take a bit of a breather but this group of four did no such thing. Ayabie released a mini-album in January, followed by a maxi-single in February, and then their first full album, "Ayabie sokukan ongenshuu", in March. The band then launched into a new tour and on April 1st, they held a sold-out one-man live at Shibuya O-East. They released a single that same month and instead of slowing down after their blitz of releases and tours, Ayabie announced that they would be releasing a new single on the 10th of each month over the summer; "~Igyou no sou no doujisha~ taikanshiki zenya" in June, "~Kakoyakasuresakebishi~ tsukikoi" in July, and "~Manatsuyukitorokerushyougen~ kiss me snow" in August. In October, they released their second mini album, "EquAL pRayer 2 aLL" and began another tour, "EquAL pRayer 2 U". However, their biggest news perhaps, came at the start of that month as after of having nothing but support drummers, Ayabie announced that Kenzo would be joining them as their official drummer and fifth member.

In 2006 promised to be another eventful year for Ayabie; an official fanclub, ' The impulse of "M" ', was opened and they immediately kicked off the year with a two new singles. They continued to tour in March and then announced in April that they would be making their first overseas appearance in Finland, followed by lives in France and Germany, in June. They were well-recieved by their international fans (their Finnish concert sold-out) and seemed to enjoy themselves as well.

The band then returned to Japan and resumed their usual insane pace, releasing "FAINT/Topaz" at the end of June. When July came, however, it brought a shock to Ayabie's fans; guitarist and band leader, Ryohei, announced he would be leaving Ayabie. Despite that news hanging over the band, they released their third mini-album, "Tetsu no shima", at the end of July and went on another tour which would be their final with Ryohei as a member. His last live with the group was at the Shibuya AX on August 30th.

Ryohei went on to form a new band, Megamasso, and after falling briefly quiet for a time ( the first time seemingly since the start of the band ), Ayabie announced to the delight of their fans that they would be releasing a new single and new full-length album in November as well as a new tour taking them all over Japan titled "Virgin Snow Color". Also in November, Yumehito (ex Soroban) initially played as a support guitarist after Ryohei's leave, but was made the fifth & official member of Ayabie.

In 2007, Ayabie returned to Europe again and released the mini-album Ecumenical along with many singles.