LAB. THE BASEMENT

After cali≠gari announced a break back in 2003, each of the former band members decided that they would start working on other various projects.

So it happened that the guitarist Ao changed his name to KUON and founded the band lab.. His cali≠gari bandmate Makoto joined him, and he also decided to change his name to Kjun. KUON then made the decision to take the position of frontman of the band. Ex-Dororo guitarist Kirihito and bassist Kanan also joined, completing the band lineup.

The band's first official show was held on 29th October 2003 at the Shinjuku Live Freaks and was called 30min EYES ONLY. During the show their three-song demo tape Dub Note 30min.EYES ONLY ver. was made available for purchase, and one week later their first single Dub Note was put on sale. Soon after, Kanan left the band and was replaced by ex. P∽L member Till.

In December, KUON revived the idea of his Tokyo Basement festival. He first started the festival back in 1997 when he was playing with cali≠gari and continued with a new event on 26th December 2003 at CLUB CITTA' KAWASAKI. The band then went on to perform at the Beauti-fool's Fest 03 just two days later.

In March 2004, lab. pleased their fans with three new three-track releases which were released over a two week period. Meanwhile, KUON's prior activities as an organizer of several festivals, and his friendship with several well-known artists, became obvious again through the band's involvement in a number of events. On 22nd January 2004 lab. was the secret opening act for MUCC at Meguro Rock May Kan. Following that they appeared at the SARUNOTE event which was organized by Ya-foo! before contributing to the 10th anniversary of LA VIE EN ROSE.

In April 2004, the band took to the road for their first tour. During N-S PRACTICE, they had the opportunity to introduce even more fans to the sound of lab. In August lab. released two albums entitled Pied and Piper respectively. The albums contained songs from previous single releases coupled with a selection of new songs. Soon after, Kjun left the band to join Cyanotype. He was replaced by Hal of SPEED-ID.

Except for the release of their EP End of the World, 2005 was a quiet year for the band.

In February 2006 lab. changed their name to LAB.THE BASEMENT and released the single TOWN OF SIREN which was followed by a tour. They released two more singles that year, Ningen bokujou in May and the DVD single Kurui semi ga sakenda asa which was released in December and then again on New Year’s Day with a special edition.

KUON changed his name back to Ao and HAL started going by the name of Tadashi Harumaki, but it wouldn’t be long before Harumaki left the band altogether.

In recent years LAB.THE BASEMENT has predominately been on hiatus, releasing only their best-of album Archives 2003-2008 on June 12, 2008 and playing several shows here and there. One of the leading factors for this lack of activity was the reunion of cali≠gari. However, this has not sealed the fate of the band for sure, so fans can only wait for LAB.THE BASEMENT to be moved from the back burner.