Phantasmagoria

Formed in November of 2004 after KISAKI PROJECT paused activities, the original line up of Phantasmagoria consisted of members from recently disbanded bands linked to the popular Osaka indies visual kei label UNDER CODE PRODUCTION: Riku (formerly Kenji of HISKAREA), Jun and Iori (both ex-Mar'derayla) on guitar, and Shion (ex-Mist of Rouge) on drums. There have been rumors that Mao (ex-Selfush, now in Sadie) was chosen by KISAKI to be the vocalist, but these rumors are not confirmed.

Their first performance was on December 7th in 2004 and was swiftly followed by a promotional CD release in Shoxx magazine of Material Pain with their first maxi-single, Moonlight Revival being released the day after. This intense start continued when, two days later, they took part in the Fool's Mate festival, Beauti-fool's Fest 2004 alongside other bands such as Plastic Tree and MUCC. They were one of the fastest rising indies bands at the time, cemented when they made an appearance on the cover of Cure for January 2005.

In early 2005, drummer Shion unfortunately had to leave the group for medical reasons and was replaced by Matoi (ex-HISKAREA). Afterwards the group began a steady releasing schedule with numerous tracks on various omnibus CDs, multiple singles and DVDs, a mini-album, a CD that was released only in America (Splendor of Sanctuary), and numerous photo books, including a series entitled Artistic in Black, which featured only KISAKI.

In July, Riku and KISAKI dropped in on some of their American fans at Anime Expo for an autograph and photo session. This was only a minor prelude, however, to the band's first American performance that same year in October at the Oni-con convention in Texas. They were well received by their fans there who made an effort to keep up with and copy the furitsuke/hand movements of Riku during their songs while they watched the performance.

2006 was another busy year for Phantasmagoria, including the release of multiple singles and a mini-album released in September called Synthesis Songs. August of 2006 also brought a surprising announcement from KISAKI; Phantasmagoria would be graduating alongside fellow UNDER CODE PRODUCTION bands, Vidoll and 12012, from their label on Valentine's Day in 2007. It was repeatedly stressed that these groups would not be breaking up and Phantasmagoria kept going strong up into November when they took part in a two-man live with Vidoll and released another single, under the veil, in mid-December. One week later, two mini-albums were released, entitled subjective or ideal and signs of fragment, both of which contained remastered and rerecorded versions of previously released tracks.

Unfortunately, the end of the year into the following year was not as kind. At Phantasmagoria's one-man in mid-December, which commemorated the release of under the veil, the band announced that Iori and Matoi would be leaving at the end February. Despite the fact that Phantasmagoria would graduate from UNDER CODE PRODUCTION in the middle of February, KISAKI announced in the early hours of the morning following their one-man that after the members' departure, Phantasmagoria would pause activities. A few days before the highly anticipated KISAKI PROJECT one day revival, news broke that KISAKI had been accused of tax evasion. Media reports caused fans to fear that KISAKI had been arrested and the end of the year concerts which had been planned would need to be canceled, but KISAKI reassured everyone that he had not been taken into custody and his scheduled performances would continue as scheduled. The band reassured fans that they would return with new members and continue on with their final single release before their activity pause, entitled at the ends of the rest period...

Shortly before the band's pause, JUN announced that he would be releasing a solo single and Riku announced that he would be taking part in a session band with Frypan (now ex-the Pumpkin Head) to pass the time. Fans were reassured that all of this meant that Phantasmagoria would simply be taking a break as the band announced plans for participating in multiband events and more releases. When KISAKI announced that he had something to tell everyone which would surprise them, many continued to hope that despite his legal troubles and the hiatus of the band that everything would work itself out and KISAKI's final band would be back on track. Sadly, in April, KISAKI announced that he would be retiring from the stage and Phantasmagoria would be "sealing." Iori and Matoi returned to Phantasmagoria for their final activities: a final single, a re-recording of Kami Uta, released on July 18th and the final lives, Crystal Finale at Shibuya AX in Tokyo on August 27th and the Last Stage Eclipse of Myth event in Osaka on August 31st.

Despite the announcement of the band's activity suspension, Phantasmagoria refused to go quietly with a number of posthumous releases, including a series of tribute events at Holiday Shinjuku and Holiday Osaka, along with an accompanying album and DVDs of the last lives. Around this time too, KISAKI's final solo work, Memory of Tears, hit the shops together with No Imagination, a collection of instrumental tracks used during Phantasmagoria lives.

The members went their separate ways after, concentrating on their own projects and forming new bands. JUN moved to Tokyo with Iori and started his own solo project, named after himself, and joined TOSHI with T-EARTH, while Iori continues to play occasional session shows, sometimes alongside JUN. Riku started a new band, chariots, with former members of the Pumpkin Head and Pashya, while Matoi went on to join JILL CHRIST with the former vocalist of Karen.

This separation did not last long though. On Christmas day, KISAKI announced that due to the fans' wishes for a revival live, Phantasmagoria would hold their revival and disbandment concert on August 31, 2008, exactly one year after their activity pause. In April 2008, KISAKI announced that in response to YOSHIKI's request, Phantasmagoria would officially unpause activities and participate in the hide memorial summit in May 2008. Shortly thereafter, Phantasmagoria announced that they would play a free show in Osaka the day after the naniwa ga taihen event, and they would be taking part in another event live on August 30 alongside Vidoll and 12012. August brought yet another Tribute to Phantasmagoria tour and the Tribute to Phantasmagoria CD which had been released the year before was rereleased, but this time it included tracks from chariots. On August 30th, Phantasmagoria released their final single, entitled Vanish... and on August 31, Phantasmagoria officially disbanded. The following day, KISAKI's session band, KISAKI and kansai kizoku, disbanded as well.

As a Christmas present to the fans, a memorial set entitled History of Phantasmagoria was released on December 24, 2008. The release spans four discs and details the band's activity from start to finish.

Despite KISAKI's constant insistence that he has retired from the stage, he has made several appearances since his announcement of retirement, with the most recent being the KISAKI Secret Party on January 10, 2009. Since August 2007, he has taken part in many different activities, from composing songs to actually playing guest bass on releases.