ELM

While ELM was technically founded in June 2008, their activities did not start in earnest until a performance at Holiday Shinjuku, together with a few other newcomer visual bands, like Lad and Vesuvio, on February 19, 2009.

As for the band members, ELM was formed by a few familiar musicians hiding behind new stage names. The band's "Dream Master" JEKYLL was formerly known as Tetora, the vocalist of Kamikaze Boyz, and drummer neku, then known as Hiroki, played in the band k@mikaze. Guitarist Rua and bassist 27-NINA- had also both played in a few short-lived visual kei bands before joining.

ELM began promoting their music by uploading videos onto YouTube, which, while rather commonplace now, was a rather new strategy among indie visual kei bands at the time. Their very first single, sold only at concerts, was released in September.

ELM’s first mini-album, DREAM THEATER was released in April 2010. The next year brought a number of singles, and then finally, in March 2012, the band released their first full-length album MALICE IN WONDERLAND. Unfortunately, neku would depart from the band that same year after their one-man live at Ikebukuro EDGE on July 24th.

On February 19, 2013, at an event celebrating their fourth anniversary, the band welcomed two new members: guitarist Kei (ex-nine) and drummer Boogie, turning ELM into a quintet. That day also brought a new live-limited single, Beautiful Monster~barairo no kaibutsu~, which would be formally released as a B-side on their single Ryouki henai shoujo sado A that June.

2015 was an especially busy year for ELM. They released a mini-album with the ludicrously long title: R18 shitei na umaretsuki psychopath de ijou na sadism o kakaeta boku to, gyaku saisei de nagareru neglect no trauma to, dogura magura na kanojo no serial killer pandemic in March, followed by two singles: Itoshi no midori-chan, which was distributed for free both at the band’s shows and at various music stores in Japan, and Binzume no Taiyou ～Ano Hi no Tsumi to Batsu to Tsugunai o~. They also opened an official webstore.

With a busy live schedule and a new full-length album already planned for 2016, it seems safe to say that ELM will be welcoming fans into their colourful, yet macabre dream world for years to come.