Alice Nine

Alice Nine's line-up is the same as it was at their inception: Shou on vocals, Tora and Hiroto (ex-BAQUEPIA) on guitar, Saga (ex-Visage) on bass and Nao (ex-Fatima) on drums. Shou and Tora had previously been in the band Givuss together. Alice Nine was originally known as alice nine. until the name change in 2009.

Shortly after forming, the band held their first live at Ikebukuro Cyber and continued to give a number of performances as well as participating in PS COMPANY presents: Tribal Arivall Vol.81 in June.

The following month they released their first maxi-single, Namae wa, imada muhi, which was limited to 1000 copies and sold out during its pre-order period. They released a second press of the single in August, this one limited to 3000 copies, which also sold out. During this time, they went on a short two-man tour with fellow indie band ayabie, with the sold-out tour finale taking place at Shibuya O-East.

In September, the young band joined PS COMPANY and released their first mini-album shortly afterward. Like alice nine.'s previous releases, this one was also limited and ranked third on the Oricon Indies chart. They also went on a second two-man tour, this time with Karen. This tour was much larger than their first with ayabie, and took them all across the country for about a dozen shows. They continued to perform and ended their first year together at an event at Holiday Shinjuku.

alice nine. kicked off 2005 by holding their first one-man live at Liquid Room Ebisu. They participated in a number of other events throughout February and March, including a live on Valentine's Day at Electric Lady Land. In the next three months they released three more singles and spent April performing as label-mate Kagrra,'s opening band during their 2005 tour. In June, they did another two-man tour with ayabie, this one much more extensive than their previous tour together, taking both bands across Japan.

When July rolled around, alice nine. had just finished their tour with ayabie and they hopped right back onto the tour bus to participate in PS COMPANY presents: Tribal Arivall Tour 2005 with Kra and bis, both PS COMPANY label-mates at the time. The band also released their second mini-album, ALICE IN WONDEЯLAND, on July 27th. After an exhausting summer, the band appeared to slow down in August and September, attending various in-store events but performing only once. However, just when the temperature began to cool alice nine. heated things back up again, performing at Shibuya O-West with Duel Jewel and Soroban in October before re-releasing several CDs, including a third press of their first single. When December came around, alice nine. took part in the massive Peace & Smile Carnival Tour, organized by PS COMPANY and featuring their artists. The band's official fan club, club ALICE, also opened that month.

In 2006, alice nine. rang in the new year with some new releases, including their first live DVD, ALICE IN WONDEЯFILM, and three new singles, one of which was featured in the anime "Meine Liebe." In April, alice nine. released their first full length album, Zekkeishoku. They took a brief rest over the summer, but fans weren't left to wait for long as the group then released their second DVD, which contained a short movie written by Tora as well as a music video and some behind-the-scenes footage. In October, they released an Internet-only single, Blue Planet, which required a Japanese credit card to access. They ended the year by performing at various events, including Beat Shuffle's anniversary show held on December 30th.

The band kicked off 2007 with a number of new releases, including a DVD, a new single and a photo book. Perhaps the most exciting news for many of their international fans, however, was their participation in the Jrock Revolution event held in Los Angeles, California. After taking part in this multi-band event at the end of May, they continued to produce plenty of new music, including their second full album, Alpha.

Early in 2008, the band made a shocking announcement via the members' blogs. Due to an injury, a cervical disk hernia, sustained by Tora, the band was forced to postpone a number of lives as pain and numbness made playing nearly impossible for the guitarist. Though the band could not provide any solid information as to when the lives would continue, they kept fans updated and resumed activities in a relatively short amount of time. Their first single of the year, MIRROR BALL, was released on March 26th, with the title track being used in the live action movie adaptation of the anime "Aquarian Age." That summer, they released two PV collection DVDs and continued their nearly non-stop pace with the release of their next single, RAINBOWS. Before the end of 2008, another single and their newest live DVD, DISCOTHEQUE play like ‘A’ RAINBOWS-enter&exit-, hit the shelves.

The year 2009 opened with PS COMPANY's Peace & Smile Carnival, which saw the band play with their fellow label mates at Nippon Budokan to celebrate the label's tenth anniversary. On January 14th, they released the album VANDALIZE, which ranked third on the Oricon Charts daily and seventh for weekly.

At the beginning of summer, they announced that the band would no longer use alice nine. or the kanji spelling officially and would use Alice Nine instead. The name change reflected the changes in the band's direction and also made it easier for the media to refer to them. Their next single, titled Hana, was released in August along with a book titled "Piece of 5ive elements "The Book" -Alice Nine 5th-," which featured interviews and photos in commemoration of the band's five years of existence.

November brought about a new live DVD titled UNTITLED VANDAL(ism) # Finale [Graced The Beautiful Day], which featured their most recent tour final.

The band’s first compilation album, Alice Nine Complete Collection 2006-2009, was released in May 2010 and featured songs from 2006 to 2009. They later released the album in the USA. Their following singles, Senkou and Stargazer, were released on August 25th and November 10th of that year, respectively.

The quintet kicked off 2011 with their new album GEMINI, which ranked third on the Oricon Charts. Later that year, on May 2nd, the band released the live DVD TOKYO GALAXY Alice Nine Live Tour 10 "FLASH LIGHT from the past" FINAL at Nippon Budokan from their most recent tour’s final concert. In June, Alice Nine took part in the multi-band event V-Love☆Live vol.1, which was broadcast online. The year 2011 also saw three new releases: BLUE FLAME, Heart of Gold and Niji no Yuki.

The following February, Alice Nine released a new album titled 9. Four months later they released a PV collection featuring a variety of music videos from RAINBOWS to Niji no Yuki.

The year 2013 started with the announcement of three singles, Daybreak, SHADOWPLAY and shooting star, released in March, April and May respectively. Prior to these releases, the band gave their worldwide fans the opportunity to help them with a new song. They asked fans to send messages or photos about any theme or topic for the members to use as inspiration. In June, the band released the live DVD Alice Nine Live 2012 Court of "9"#4 Grand Finale COUNTDOWN LIVE 12.31, which was limited to 9,999 copies. Two months later they released a best-of album with the name Alice Nine Complete Collection Ⅱ 2010-2012.

When the year started coming to a close, the band prepared a special Christmas gift for their fans; on December 6th, a Christmas Music Card was released which allowed fans to download the song Merry Christmas To U along with its instrumental version. A few days later, on December 11th, they released a special flash drive titled Alice Nine 9th Anniversary containing PVs for Daybreak, SHADOWPLAY and shooting star, as well as the songs Zankyou whiteout, Gekkou yoku and Mugen no hana which had been recorded during the band's performance at Shibuya Koukaido on August 25th.

Alice Nine have been continually gaining fans around the world with their music that varies between genres, without ever losing its essence. Although it’s been almost ten years since their debut, the members aren’t showing signs of stopping any time soon.