Vamps

Vamps emerged as the joint venture of Hyde, frontman for visual kei icons L'Arc-en-Ciel, and guitarist K.A.Z., the driving force behind industrial/alternative rock act Oblivion Dust who had earlier collaborated with Hide of X-Japan. Their creative alliance began in 2003, and K.A.Z. supplied songwriting for Hyde's third solo album Faith in 2006, yet the pair waited until 2008 to establish Vamps as an official band releasing through its own imprint, Vamprose. With L'Arc-en-Ciel entering a scheduled three-year hiatus and Oblivion Dust resuming after its six-year layoff that concluded in 2007, K.A.Z. prepared to divide his schedule between the two groups. The project surfaced in 2008 via the single "Love Addict," which led into a 46-date "Zepp" trek across Japan and the issue of two further singles the next year, setting up the self-titled debut album targeted for summer 2009 release once the band's second tour concluded.