It’s been one year since they honored us with their participation in our first Jrock Revolution Festival. So what have they been up to? Let’s check in with our Day One artists.

Kagrra,

Kagrra, has been keeping up with their activities since our festival. After the festival, they swept Japan and Europe with many live events, such as the organization AREA’s 10th Anniversary held in Zepp Tokyo, followed by a fanclub event, and their December concert in Koln, Germany along with other PSCompany acts such as Kra, alice nine., SuG, and ScreW. They began this year following a release with another album, titled CORE, that grabbed attention by many for using an English word as a CD title for the very first time. Their purpose for titling it CORE was to showcase that the material in the CD was the "Core of Kagrra,." Following the release of their album, they had a spring tour, Kakushin ~ To inside of the Core Tour 2008. As far as future activites are concerned, they will be releasing two songs that will be the theme for a 2-part horror drama (part one titled “Buun” and part two, “Gii”). They have an upcoming fanclub event on June 3rd, so it looks like Kagrra, won’t be resting anytime soon!

DuelJewel

After the festival, they were hard at work with many releases! They released the single “Es” in July, followed by an album titled BULLET which was released in December. They also performed at the AREA 10th Anniversary alongside with Kagrra,, Miyavi, and other PSCompany bands like Kra and ScreW. They will be having three special releases this coming June: a single titled “Iolite” with two versions: a regular CD version, and another with a DVD containing the promotional video clip for the song "Iolite.” They will also be releasing a DVD, titled Jewelry Box, which contains a compilation of promotional video clips, as well as live footage. All will be released on June 11th. Talk about a busy day for DuelJewel and their fans! They are currently in their KING OF BATTLE ROYAL tour, joined by another JRR veteran, Vidoll, which began May 26th. And they’ll then head off for another tour, LOLITE NIGHT, following the release of “Iolite” and Jewelry Box. Looks like DuelJewel has a lot of touring ahead of them!

Miyavi

The first of our artists to come back to the States, Miyavi joined his sempai bandmates, YOSHIKI, Gackt, and SUGIZO in S.K.I.N.‘s debut (or only?) concert at Anime Expo. He returned to Japan for a summer tour, The Beginning of NEO VISUALIZM, and the AREA 10th Anniversary, as well as released two singles, “Sakihokoru hana no you ni” in June, then “Subarashiki kana, kono sekai” in November. Miyavi jumped back onto the radar of fans worldwide when he announced his World Tour from his Christmas Eve live in Tokyo at C.C. Lemon Hall. His partnership with SUGIZO in S.K.I.N. led to a featured guest appearance on January’s single “You no hikari sae todokanai kono basho de.” Before heading off for the open skies, he dropped the new album THIS IZ THE JAPANESE KABUKI ROCK in March, following his current direction of visual rock meets hip-hop style, and released in early May the DVD of The Beginning of NEO VISUALIZM‘s tour final. Miyavi recently transformed California into a kabuki rock party with four stops close to Jrock Revolution home turf, then delivered landmark performances in Chile and Brazil, brought to you by JaME Brazil with help from our very own poll. South American fans should be proud for voting like there was no tomorrow! The World Tour continues towards Europe and Asia: if he hasn’t already, maybe he’ll stop at a venue near you.

Vidoll

What has Vidoll done since JRev 1? Having graduated from UNDERCODE Productions and joined the major label SWORD Records a couple months earlier, they released their first two major singles, “INNOCENT TEENS” and “CLOUD,” both featuring a ballad as the A-side and a heavier track as the B-side, and their first major album, “BASTARD,” which was also their second full album as a band. They have also had several tours around Japan and have continued to participate in live events. This past March, they released their first major live DVD ~The game of buster~, and recently ended their Yes, I’m a Bastard tour a couple weeks ago on May 10. Coming up for the guys are more live performances, including the ESP Musical Academy’s COLORS 2008 event on May 24th followed by the KING OF BATTLE ROYAL tour which they will join starting May 26th alongside fellow festival artist DuelJewel, as well as Shoujo Lolita 23Q, Sugar, and others. And watch out for the release of their new single “Blue star” to drop on July 2nd!

alice nine.

What has alice nine. done since their first overseas performance? They released their “WHITE PRAYER” maxi single of which the title song was the ending theme for the Japanese variety show Itadaki Muscle!, a national Japan tour, and fanclub tour, released their “TSUBASA” maxi single, released their second full album Alpha, and ended 2007 with a European tour. They then began 2008 with another national Japanese tour and some other scattered lives and events before they filmed their latest song “MIRRORBALL” for the movie Aquarian Age, and then released the “MIRRORBALL” single this past March. They weathered a health scare for guitarist Tora and came back strong. Coming up for the band in July is the release of alice in pictures I and alice in pictures II which are compilation DVDs of all their PVs to date, followed by a fanclub tour. What’s in store for August is the release of their new single “RAINBOWS” on the 6th and their tour, DISCOTHEQUE play like “A” RAINBOWS, to begin two days after the release. Don’t miss a beat!

To be continued in Part 2: Merry, girugamesh, D’espairsRay, MUCC

Written by Krystal, Reiko, Misha

Edited by Misha, Kuri