Karen

Karen (カレン) - Vector (2003)

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• published: 19 Jan 2016
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"High Style Paradox 1 Omnibus", 2003. Karen (カレン) formed in 2001. By the spring of 2002, original frontman Hisana (尚華) left, and was then replaced by Nao (直). In August of 2002, Karen released its first demo, "Solve", although shortly after its release, one of the group's original guitarists, Hiroshi (博), left. He was immediately replaced by Setsuki (雪希), and in December of 2002, Karen released its first single, "Flow~". The group went on to appear on two omnibuses throughout 2003, and also released their first mini-album, "Reincarnation", that July. By the fall of 2003, Karen already developed a core following in the underground visual scene, and went on to tour quite extensively for the remainder of 2003. In January of 2004, Karen released its full length album, "Reset ~A Revolving Lantern~", and also released their second single, "Tomadoi (とまどい)", a month later. Both the album and single had tremendous sales, with the single almost instantly selling out its original pressing. It was later repressed for another 1000 copies, and Karen also released their second mini-album, "Actually", in June of 2004. All of this activity, with Karen releasing their third single "Writings" that August, and also appearing on two more omnibuses throughout 2004, propelled the group to the top of the indies scene, and by the time 2005 started, Karen became one of the most popular underground visual bands of the mid 2000's. By the end of 2004, however, Karen had yet another lineup change when original bassist, Noa (乃雅), left. He was quickly replaced by Takaya, thus finally solidifying Karen's lineup. 2005 became an even busier year for the ambitious indies band, as they released four singles, appeared on four omnibuses and also released their third mini-album, "Niraikanai (ニライカナイ)", that March. Despite their highly prolific nature and huge cult following, Karen shocked the underground scene when they announced their official disbandment by the end of 2005. Karen played a few more gigs, before playing their final one in February of 2006, and officially split up afterwards. Setsuki went on to concentrate on his other project, Betty (ベティ), which was later renamed to 176Biz. 176Biz had immense popularity, arguably more-so than Karen, although they too split in 2009. Setsuki then formed the indies band The Riotts, which had a short run and folded as well in 2011. He then joined one last visual band, Hoshi no House (★NOハウス), until that disintegrated as well in 2016. He has yet to join another visual band. Takaya went on to form the indies band Hannah with Nao and one of the group's guitarists Erize (えりぜ). Erize left Hannah in 2007, however, and Hannah as a whole folded in late 2008. Takaya and Nao both went on to focus on their other project Jill Christ, which folded shortly after Hannah's split. Nao then retired from the visual scene, while Takaya joined one last visual band, Dlocy. When Dlocy also mysteriously disintegrated by 2012, Takaya then focused his attention to his well known visual label Livqueur Records, which he is still active in doing today. Erize, on the other hand, went on to join the visual band Kelli, until its split in 2010, in which he then joined All Dirty. All Dirty was only active for a few months, and Erize then went on to join a few more short lived visual bands. In 2012, Erize joined one last visual band, RoNo☆Cro, under the name of Mero (メロ). Unfortunately, RoNo☆Cro also plans to disband in May of 2016, and it is currently unknown whether or not Mero will continue in the visual scene or not. The drummer of Karen, Shunna (旬奈), went on to join one last visual band, which was the extremely popular group Dali (ダリ). When Dali also folded in 2012, Shunna then retired from the visual scene.