xTRiPx

xTRiPx (“trip”) formed on July 8th, 2003, with vocalist Yoshito (who later changed the spelling of his name to Yo-shiT) drummer ena and guitarist K as its core members. They held their first live that October. In June 2005, xTRiPx released their first official mini-album, Toumei. The following April, bassist Rucchi left the band. The band’s name was originally written in katakana, but after guitarist Shougo and replacement bassist Yukine joined as official members, the band decided to change their name to xTRiPx in English letters.

xTRiPx’s next official release, snow white butterfly, did not come out until March 2007, however this was followed by several consecutive single releases: Red drug stranger in April, Sadistic purple lies in May, [re:birth in the stripe] in June and finally Blue well in the air in July. Unfortunately, that year bassist Yukine announced his departure from the band due to musical differences, though he continued to perform with them until September 21st.

The band’s original bassist, now spelling his name "ruchi", rejoined xTRiPx on October 1st, and later that month they contributed their song Rem. to the compilation Shock Edge’07. Soon after, the band released their single raspberry on the Lips. Haru iro Plastic arrived in March 2008, followed by their second mini-album, siesta.

On New Year’s Eve xTRiPx held a one-man live where they sold the first demo created with their new line-up, Dreamcatcher, which was limited to 100 copies. Their next single, [-Re:evolutioN-], was released on March 25th, 2009 and followed by Digital'a Nature in August. xTRiPx released the single Innovation[re]isM on February 3rd, 2010, which reached number seven on the Oricon Indies Singles Charts.

Unfortunately, ruchi left the band again after their live on April 8th. However, soon after, a new bassist named Chobi joined and xTRiPx soldiered on, releasing a single called [double] on June 9th.

This line-up didn’t work out either, sadly, and both Shougo and Chobi announced in May 2011 that they would depart from the band due to musical differences. They would go on to form the visual kei band DIV in 2012.

xTRiPx played a final live with Shougo and Chobi at Takadanobaba AREA on July 21, 2011 and went on hiatus. Luckily, the fans didn’t have to wait too long to see the remaining members again. The band announced that they would hold a one-day revival the next year, playing their Promised Future concert at Takadanobaba AREA on July 20th. At the show, they released two singles: Rest in Peace and Re;lily. After a few more months of adapting, xTRiPx officially restarted activities on March 2, 2013 at Ikebukuro EDGE.

Now a trio, xTRiPx came back with a new fire, sporting a heavier sound and a slightly darker look. After a decade together, they finally released their first full-length album, Any verse, on July 10, 2013. It was followed by three singles: RIDE-HAZARD, Life iz addition and Loud[&]round.

Sadly, this surge of activity would not last for long. At the end of 2014, after a remarkable eleven years together, xTRiPx announced that their journey was coming to an end. In a blog post, ena explained that the members felt that they were finally at their limit as a band. They said goodbye with two final one-man lives, good trip and 1 as there…, where they released a final venue-only single, also titled good trip, as a thank you to the fans in attendance. 1 as there…, their last live, was held on February 13th in their hometown of Fukuoka.

While xTRiPx struggled with line-up changes for much of their career and never quite managed to break out of the indie scene, their diverse sound, striking visuals and incredible persistence will ensure that they’re remembered fondly by oshare kei fans for years to come.

Luckily, it seems like all three members intend to remain active in the scene. In March 2015, ena began performing as the support drummer for visual kei band D=OUT under the name Naoto, and it was announced in the summer that he had been welcomed into the band as an official member. In July, he held a birthday session event featuring not just his former bandmates, but also members of D=OUT, R-shitei and Belle, the latter of which features his and Yo-shiT’s younger brother, Masato, on drums.

So far, with the exception of a few other sessions lives and a special performance in honour of xTRiPx's longtime label SPEED DISK on January 29th, 2016, Yo-shiT has mainly been active behind the scenes. He was the sound producer and manipulator for visual kei band SCAPEGOAT’s single Kimi no shinzou ni koi shiteru and he also added some finishing touches to a track from Yeti’s Honne to tatemae. K has taken part in a few session lives as well, but it is currently unknown whether he or Yo-shiT plan to return with new bands or projects of their own.