Biography

Tourbillon were an offshoot of the visual kei legends Luna Sea; created several years after the initial group's demise, the band updated Luna Sea's hard rock approach with a bigger dose of pop sensibilities. The project was created after Inoran, Luna Sea's guitarist, appeared as a guest at a show by his former bandmate, the vocalist Ryuichi Kawamura. The two men gelled and decided to collaborate again, snatching the keyboard player Hiroaki Hayama (aka H. Hayama), an ex-member of D-Loop who wrote songs for Namie Amuro, W-inds, and Hiro, to complete the lineup. The new project, which was said to aim for a more mature sound than any previous band of its members, debuted live in 2005 by packing the Budokan. After the show, Inoran quit Fake?, his other project, and Tourbillon hit the studio, releasing three singles and the debut album Heaven before the end of 2005. Another album, A Tide of New Era, followed in 2006, but after some touring all three members returned to solo work, and Tourbillon were effectively put on hiatus (without announcing the disbandment). The band returned to the spotlight briefly when its 2008 single "Break the Chain" was featured in the TV action drama Kamen Rider Kiva and broke into the Oricon Top Three. ~ Alexey Eremenko, Rovi