Moi dix Mois

When Malice Mizer entered its hiatus in 2001, bandleader Mana promised to create "something new and shocking" and on 19 March 2002 - his birthday - Moi dix Mois was born. "Moi" (French: me) stands for Mana, the number 1 stands for beginning, the number 0 for eternity and "dix mois" (French: 10 months) for the duration of a pregnancy (which in Japan is counted as 10 lunar months, rather than 9 months).

The original lineup, consisting of Juka on vocals, Mana on guitar, Kazuno on bass and Tohru (ex-JILS) on drums, made its debut in July 2002 on Midi:Nette's concert Dis Inferno party, together with label mates Schwarz Stein. In November of the same year, Moi dix Mois released their first single, Dialogue Symphonie, followed by their first national tour.

On 19 March 2003, their album Dix Infernal was released, followed by another national tour in July, whose final was recorded for the live DVD Scars of Sabbath. The young band also gave an interview on the TV program "Hotwave" and performed at the Stylish Wave Mega Force and Stylish Wave ILLUSION events, which were sponsored by the music magazine Zy. In December, they had their second Dis Inferno party, this time together with LAREINE, and with Schwarz Stein and members of Fatima and Brain Hacker as guests.

In May 2004, the single Shadows Temple was released and in July Mana appeared as special guest at the Japan Expo in Paris, France, where he participated in a Q&A panel. From this point forward, Moi dix Mois would also release their CDs in Europe and Mana's fanclub, Mon+amour, was opened to international fans. Later that month, their second album, Nocturnal Opera, was released, followed in October by another single, Pageant. In December, they introduced their new second guitarist K at their Dis Inferno III party .

In March 2005, their first European tour brought them to Germany and France and the sold out concert in Paris was released on the live DVD Invite to Immorality. Shortly after their return to Japan, however, vocalist Juka left the band, forcing them to pause activities.

In March 2006, they returned with a mini album, Beyond the Gate, and a new lineup: the "reborn" Moi dix Mois now consist of Seth on vocals, Mana and K on guitar, Sugiya on bass and Hayato on drums. In the same month, they played their second European tour and in June returned to Germany, where they headlined the Wave Gotik-Treffen, the world's largest Goth festival. A planned US tour had to be canceled due to problems with the organizers but in July Mana appeared as guest of honor at the Anime Expo in Anaheim, California, where he again participated in a Q&A panel. October saw the release of their fourth single, Lamentful Miss.

2007 began with an appearance at the Stylish Wave ILLUSION Vol.2 event, where they performed, among others, with Merry and Plastic Tree, and the release of their third album, DIXANADU. In August they performed together with D'espairsRay at the two man event Dark Sanctuary and in October they completed another successful European tour, which for the first time also took them to Scandinavia and Southern Europe. Finally, in December they welcomed Mix Speaker's, Inc. as guests on their Dis Inferno V party. Later, Mana was interviewed for "The Tokyo Look Book" by British anthropologist Philomena Keet and mentioned in several other books about Japanese fashion and subcultures.

2008 was a quiet year for Moi dix Mois. In January they performed at the Zy.stylish wave ILLUSION'08 Vol.1-2 event together with bands like D'espairsRay and Plastic Tree and released a live DVD of their Dixanadu -Fated "raison d'etre"- Europe Tour 2007. However, in March Mana revealed that, in addition to his work with Moi dix Mois, he would compose and produce for 19-year old vocalist and cellist Kanon Wakeshima, whose debut single, still doll, was released in May on DefSTAR Records, a sub-label of Sony. This new job kept Mana busy for most of the year, but in December he surprised and delighted fans with the announcement that Közi, the co-founder of Malice Mizer, would be this year's guest at Dis Inferno VI.

In January 2009, Moi dix Mois performed again at Zy.stylish wave ILLUSION and released their Dixanadu -Fated "raison d'etre"- Europe Tour 2007 DVD at last also in Europe. In February, Mana accompanied Kanon Wakeshima to Paris to celebrate the release of her debut album Shinshoku Dolce, which he had written and produced, on the French label Wasabi Records. Around the same time, he announced that he would step back from producing her in order to have more time for Moi dix Mois, but he would continue to compose music for her. He kept this promise with the song Toumei no kagi, which was used for the online game AVALON no kagi.

In early July, Moi dix Mois finally played their first concert in the USA, when they performed as guests of honor at the Anime Expo in Anaheim, California. Moreover, the collaboration with Közi developed positively and at the end of July Moi dix Mois and Közi played a two city coupling tour together. At the same time, the well-known guitar manufacturer ESP, who produces guitars for both Mana and Közi, hosted an exhibition of their guitars.

In October, Mana celebrated the ten year anniversary of his fashion brand Moi-même-Moitié with an event at the Christon Cafe in Tokyo and at the end of the month Moi dix Mois performed at the two day V-Rock Festival, together with Japanese greats such as the GazettE, La'cryma Christi and D'espairsRay, as well as international stars like Marilyn Manson. Both Moi dix Mois' performance as well as Mana's debut as catwalk model for Moi-même-Moitié were broadcast live over the internet. Only a few weeks later Moi dix Mois found themselves in the limelight again, this time as guests at Mad Tea Party, an event hosted by the band, D, before ending the year, as always, with Dis Inferno.

In 2010 the band gradually resumed their regular activities. Following the customary concert on Mana's birthday in March, they embarked in July on another six dates coupling tour with Közi called Deep Sanctuary 2. Special guest at their sold-out show at Akasaka Blitz was Yu~ki, Malice Mizer's bassist, who had been retired since 2001. Malice Mizer fans who had seized the opportunity to witness the reunion of the former band mates were treated to moving performances of Saikai no chi to bara, their comeback single following the death of drummer Kami, as well as Beast of Blood featuring Közi on vocals. December saw the release of Moi dix Mois's long awaited fifth album, D+SECT. The band commemorated the occasion by holding their first ever in-store events since starting their activities in 2002.

At their Dis Inferno party in December, Moi dix Mois had hinted at various activities for 2011, but the devastating earthquake which hit Japan on 11th March thwarted their plans. Mana's birthday concert, which had been scheduled for 19th March, was cancelled out of respect for the victims and eventually rescheduled to June. On his blog, Mana expressed his sympathy and encouraged fans to write to him if they needed someone to share their thoughts with. In August the band kicked off the celebrations for their upcoming ten year anniversary with a concert in Shibuya. They also released the photo book Philosophy, which charted the band's history from the beginning to the present day.

In 2012, the anniversary concerts continued to take place at regular intervals. At their concert in February, the band welcomed ALI PROJECT, whose vocalist Mana had met 2009 at V-Rock, as special guests. In April Moi dix Mois travelled to the US, where they performed at Sakuracon in Seattle. In June, the band played a three man together with Versailles und D at Tokyo Metropolis, an event sponsored by Versailles to commemorate their own five year anniversary, and in July they released an album with reworked versions of songs that were recorded with Moi dix Mois' original lineup. The special feature of this album, Reprise, was that the songs were selected by the fans. September saw another reunion with Közi and Yu~ki, when Moi dix Mois and Közi's new band ZIZ performed together with Malice Mizer's former bassist at Deep Sanctuary III. A South America tour, which had been planned for the end of the year had to be cancelled due to problems with the promoter, but in December Dis Inferno took place, as always.

In February 2013, Moi dix Mois played a two-man with their former label mates Schwarz Stein. In March, the ten-year anniversary celebrations concluded with a concert to commemorate Mana's birthday, featuring the band's current lineup as well as Shaura (formerly Juka), Kazuno und Tohru from their original lineup.

On Halloween, Mana and Seth will participate in the Dark Gothic Mysterious Dark Party ~Masquerade Ball~ at Shibuya AX, where they will model fashion from Moi-même-Moitié and make another, as yet unspecified "appearance". Moreover, Mana is currently writing his autobiography, but a publication date has not been set yet.