Duel Jewel | Profile

Duel Jewel is one of a new breed of Japanese visual-kei bands, along with Dir en grey and Psycho le Cému, who have followings both in Japan and internationally. The first stirrings of the band date back to early 1997 when guitarist Shun and drummer Baru first met and started making music together. Hayato (all the members use single names) joined up with them as vocalist in May, 1997, but quit the group in July, 1998. In August, 1998 Duel Jewel gave away a demo called “Kaze-The Winding Garden”. The group has since made a habit of giving away demos, or selling limited editions of items to their fans. The band has also appeared on a number of visual-kei compilations, including the titles Hysteric Media Zone and Spleen & Ideal. Another distinctive aspect of the band is their keen interest in perfume. Shun, the group’s leader, is said to be particularly knowledgeable and enamored with scent, and the group’s profile lists in addition to the usual questions about height, blood type and favorite food, also their favorite perfumes. Shun in facts list four of his favorites - Gucci’s Rush is top choice but he also likes Romance, Nightlight, and enjoys wearing Ultramarine when sleeping. Four of the five members also list their favorite cigarettes. Only drummer Baru (sometimes listed as “Val” on English materials) does not use perfume or smoke. The group was still in a somewhat nebulous form when Ka-non joined on bass in January 1999. The group began gelling ... Read More

Duel Jewel is one of a new breed of Japanese visual-kei bands, along with Dir en grey and Psycho le Cému, who have followings both in Japan and internationally. The first stirrings of the band date back to early 1997 when guitarist Shun and drummer Baru first met and started making music together. Hayato (all the members use single names) joined up with them as vocalist in May, 1997, but quit the group in July, 1998. In August, 1998 Duel Jewel gave away a demo called “Kaze-The Winding Garden”. The group has since made a habit of giving away demos, or selling limited editions of items to their fans. The band has also appeared on a number of visual-kei compilations, including the titles Hysteric Media Zone and Spleen & Ideal. Another distinctive aspect of the band is their keen interest in perfume. Shun, the group’s leader, is said to be particularly knowledgeable and enamored with scent, and the group’s profile lists in addition to the usual questions about height, blood type and favorite food, also their favorite perfumes. Shun in facts list four of his favorites - Gucci’s Rush is top choice but he also likes Romance, Nightlight, and enjoys wearing Ultramarine when sleeping. Four of the five members also list their favorite cigarettes. Only drummer Baru (sometimes listed as “Val” on English materials) does not use perfume or smoke. The group was still in a somewhat nebulous form when Ka-non joined on bass in January 1999. The group began gelling again when Hayato returned on vocals in May, 1999. In December of the same year, the group gave away the demo “Tsuki to Tawamure” (Flirting With the Moon), which has since become one of their signature songs. In 2000 they released two limited edition items “Kuro” (Black) and “Shiro” (White), or which just 200 were made. In October, 2000 Yuya joined on second guitar, after playing with the group for a few months as a “support member”. In December, 2000 they made that big step for an indie band, their first “one man” (headlining) show. August, 2001 saw Duel Jewel release their first album Lapidary. At the end of that year Ka-non left the group and Natsuki joined, bringing the band to its current and best known lineup. As visual-kei groups go, Duel Jewel are moderate in their appearances; they do wear leather, flash clothes, and make-up, but no French period costumes or space alien get-ups. While their stage show is theatrical, the members are all accomplished players, and compared to most visual-kei bands they tend to play in more of a hard rock style. In June, 2002 Duel Jewel made their first international performance, playing at the anime event A-kon in Dallas, Texas. Since then the group has appeared at a number of American anime festivals including Katsucon (Washington D.C.), Anime Central (Rosemont, Illinois) and Anime Expo (Anaheim, California). While at their U.S. shows they may play abbreviated sets, in Japan they play long and hard, sometimes up to three hours straight without intermission. In September, 2002 Duel Jewel released the seven song mini-album Noah. In 2003 they returned to the States to play anime conventions. In November of that year they released Vermillion. In February, 2005 they released The Birth, and in February, 2006 Visions. Duel Jewel is scheduled to appear at Anime Expo, July 1-4 in Anaheim.  Collapse