Speed-iD | en

The band SPEED-iD is inspired by music such as gothic, punk, house and shoegazer. They have always created their own style, which they call "REAL GOTHIC ROCK N' ROLL." This ideal illustrates SPEED-iD's music of dark and energetic, impulsive sounds, in connection with H.L.EURO's low, deep, almost hypnotic voice, which will satisfy many fastidious listeners.

In October of 1992, after THE OTHERSIDE disbanded, vocalist H.L.EURO and drummer J.P.HAL.J created SPEED-iD. Their starting line-up included guitarist IPPEI (ex. HYSTERIA) and bassist MAC (ex. The HAREM Q, DIE-KÜSSE). Their first concert, which was a one-man gig, took place on the 29th of January 1993 in Shinjuku LOFT and was sold out. This date is considered the official beginning of SPEED-iD.

In March they played an event in Shibuya Kokaido with bands like Gilles de Rais and L'Arc~en~Ciel. Between April and May they had their first tour, during which they distributed a free single, THE NIGHT OF THE SPEED MANIA. The band started as if shooting from a catapult, and the pace didn't slow down, because in the same year they released their first album INNER DIMENSION, and their first VHS, INNER DIMENSION =MOVIES=. In addition they played a few concerts and took part in the FREE-WILL label birthday omnibus, FREE-WILL ANNIVERSARY.

The year 1994 brought more releases, gigs and tours, including a coupling tour with the band COLOR. Following July's tour, IPPEI left the band, and was replaced by CAPTAIN MARQUEE (ex. The HAREM Q). This change had no effect on SPEED-iD's activity and on January 29, 1995 they played their secret birthday gig, and in the following months they continued playing many concerts. Unfortunately after the three day event SCREAM! MY ECHOS! in Shinjuku LOFT, bassist MAC left the group, and was replaced by former Coaltar of the Deepers member TSUYOSHI HIMAWARI.

In March 1996, during a concert, the band distributed the free maxi-single, THIS IS HEAVY TRIP DISK. In the summer SPEED-iD started a national tour, which included twelve concerts. In October they took part in a two day event KEY PARTY. In the same year, TSUYOSHI left SPEED-iD, which hailed a pause in their activity.

Fortunately fans didn't have to wait long, because the band reactivated on April 21st, releasing two albums at the same time on a major label, iD THE M・A・S EDITION and iD THE D・O・S EDITION. At the end of the year after joining the label J.i.t Syndicate (which in later years released works by visual kei bands under the label KEY PARTY), SPEED-iD went back to indies, and in November H.L.EURO released his first solo album, UNHOLY. Throughout the year the band played many gigs; they started a tour and participated in an event where they performed with AUTO-MOD. The year's gigs concluded with a secret live on December 25th. On the same day, their official fan club,iNDEEP, was created.

The years 1998 and 1999 abounded with concerts, including KEY PARTY events, with bands such as Aliene Ma'riage, Eliphas Levi, Missalina Rei, NéiL, NOi'X, and the like (some of these concerts were released on VHS). In May 1999 SPEED-iD joined the KEY PARTY label, which surprised some fans, because SPEED-iD wasn't a visual kei band. Without a doubt their contemporary music could be classified as gothic rock, but in the '90s the gothic scene in Japan was barely extant. H.L.EURO eventually became the producer of the mentioned bands.

In November 1998, SPEED-iD was featured on an omnibus which was a tribute album for British gothic rock band Bauhaus. Meanwhile H.L.EURO released his next two solo albums. Another very important occurrence in these years was the European release of their first English album, UNHOLY NIGHT.

This development, in part, led to SPEED-iD's first oversea tour in Germany in the year 2000, where they performed with THE ANGINA PECTORIS. A curious fact was that their support bassist on this tour was KENGO, a member of the KEY PARTY label band Noir fleurir. A few months later the band released a limited live album and VHS with material recorded during the aforementioned tour. In the same year, SPEED-iD started creating music in an American, hard rock n' roll style, which they later mixed with gothic music and created their definitive style "REAL GOTHIC ROCK N' ROLL."

On February 3rd and 4th, 2001, they played two one-man concerts in Tokyo and Shibuya, after which SPEED-iD again stopped their activities. Unfortunately this time fans waited a long time for reactivation. In 2004 their official website was opened, but their first gig after the pause took place one year later.

The year 2005 saw the formation of a new band, function code();, whose vocalist became le;ka (previously a solo singer), and other members included H.L.EURO on guitar and J.P.HAL.J on drums. This band worked simultaneously with SPEED-iD, which le;ka started to support with her voice.

In 2007, H.L.EURO started new label DOLLMETHOD, which released the new band's CD, the mini-album iNDEEP. SPEED-iD also appeared on the gothic omnibus, TOKYO DARK CASTLE.

In April of the next year, for the fifteenth anniversary, the band released the album iNDEEP LP "15Th Anniversary Edition", and its first, limited press was sold out almost immediately. A few days later they played a birthday concert, during which everyone received special T-shirts, and the band played songs from new as well old albums. Moreover, in October their bassist became HIKO (ex. nuvɔ:gu, SPIN, support of LM.C).

The year 2009 has been full of concerts. le;ka became a regular member, and in November, SPEED-iD announced they will release two digital albums, including a live one: GOOD EVENING, EVILIAN.

For over fifteen years SPEED-iD's music has conquered the hearts and minds of fans around the world, and as wee can see, they won't be stopping any time soon. We wait with impatience for more news from them.

author: Krzysztof "Setsuna" Figlerowicz (2009-11-29)

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