Calmando Qual started in August 2001. At first, the band consisted of vocalist Hibiki, guitarist Tak, bassist Rui, keyboardist Tasc and drummer MAYA. Rui, however, didn’t stay with the band long as he left shortly after they began and took up playing in the band Alze:lier. He was replaced by Kenka.
It wasn’t long until they had they first live, which was on August 15th at Ikebukuro Cyber. More concerts followed, and they ended 2001 with a concert on December 19th. They distributed their first demo-tape Vision at that concert.
2002 started with a rather consistent number of performances. On June 17th, Calmando Qual released their second demo-tape, Kousatsu sareta risou akai heya. Their first mini-album, Killer Fiction, came in 2003. The number of performances started to increase and occasionally, a new release came out.
The year 2005 brought several interesting releases: their first DVD Inner trip, with PVs of the band, and their first album, Heretical God. At the end of the year, the album mechanical mix with unjust blood was released. The album contained remixes of their previously released songs, which had been remixed by keyboardist Tasc.
Around this time, there was a change in the line-up as MAYA left the band and Sio took his place. This wasn’t the only story worth mentioning for the band in 2006; it was a rather eventful year for the band. In May, they performed a three-man concert with Sugar and The Candy Spooky Theater. For this event, they collaborated with the two other artists and released the maxi-single Mikkai, which was distributed for free amongst the visitors.
They headed over to Europe twice: first in March for two concerts in Germany, then for a short tour in July and August. The tour took them to four European countries for a total of six concerts, amongst them a performance at the AMPHI Festival in Germany, where they got the opportunity to play for an audience of a few thousand.
During this tour, they spoke to European press such as JaME and mentioned they were thinking of a name change. At the end of 2006, this name change was revealed on their official homepage, and they took on the name Twisted Clock, inspired by Salvador Dali's painting of a melted clock. The name change was emphasized by the release of the single Twisted Clock on December 31st. However, in Europe they would continue to use the name Calmando Qual.
The year 2007 brought a few songs included on omnibus albums, namely the Darkest Labyrinth and TOKYO DARK CASTLE albums. Both were related to labels and events that Calmando Qual worked together with, such as the TOKYO DARK CASTLE event at which they performed a few times.
In March 2007, they performed in Europe again, this time for eight performances that took them to various countries. At a number of concerts, they were accompanied by the band BAAL and DJ SiSeN, often seen acts in the Japanese gothic scene. For the end of the year, more overseas performances were planned, but these were canceled.
In November, it was announced that drummer Sio would leave the band. He was replaced by female support drummer Kiri, formerly a member of the band Gazelle. After a long period without any new releases, Calmando Qual surprised eager fans with a new release in April 2008 - FATHER-MOTHER. Other than the release of the album, it was fairly quiet around the band until a new announcement for a European tour came in September 2008.
The tour was to take place in 2009 and was called Arigato - The Final Tour, which led fans to believe that the band would disband. During the tour in January 2009, the band declared that they would not disband at all, and it seemed that this had only been a promotional stunt. The name was used to indicate a new beginning for the band musically and in their line-up: keyboardist Tasc had left the band. He soon started a new band called maggot.
So far, there have not been any announcements from the band about their plans for the new direction they are taking. Needless to say, we are more than curious to see what they will come up with and will be sure to keep you updated about any new developments regarding Calmando Qual!
