Biography
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Years Active
1996 – 2003 (7 years)
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Founded In
Kochi, Japan
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Members
- YOU-YA
La’Mule came out of what seems to be nowhere and took the indies world by storm. Their look may have started off like that of your typical visual band but it eventually evolved into something that was solely theirs to claim.
They snowballed us with release after release and gained multitudes of fans almost effortlessly with their powerful, hard visual sound and fan-oriented ways.
BIOGRAPHY
La’Mule formed in January of 1996 in Shikoku. The members at the time were Kon on vocals, Yuki and Fumi on guitars, Itsuke on bass, and You-ya on drums.
In March, the band released their first demo, Lepra, with a second pressing following just 11 days after its initial release. La’Mule joined Kaiki’s (bassist of With Sexy at the time) Soleil label and released a second demo. They participated in many Soleil and multiman events throughout the year but it wasn’t until April of the following year that they held their first oneman. They had many songs in their repertoire but no CD releases yet. Instead of spending all their time in the recording studios, they preferred contact with their fans and participating in events. La'Mule's first oneman tour was held in the fall of 1997.
Finally, in April 1998, their first CD, Toki no Souretsu, was released with a second pressing out in June. Their third demo was also released at this time. In September, Yuki and Fumi decided to leave the band. La’Mule was hindered without guitarists until SIN and Nao joined. They released a maxi featuring this new lineup in October.
The band's first video was released on February 12th, 1999 and La’Mule also held a oneman in Ebisu Guilty on this day, both of which completely sold out!! Their next release was the mini-album Curse which made it as high as number 38 on the Oricon Indies Chart. The band then released the multi-version Kekkai ~Glass Shinkei to Jigakyoukai~, which made it to number 27 only two weeks after its release. To finish up this successful year, they started their first Japan-wide tour in November.
La’Mule began 2000 with many concerts and releases. At this point, their fanbase had increased exponentially and they were incredibly popular and well known. Isuke unfortunately injured his wrist and had to refrain from playing for a few weeks and some lives and appearances were cancelled. As soon as he was healed, La’Mule continued on with their tour. After that was completed, they participated in a coupling tour with S that lasted throughout the summer. Kon also took part in Vasalla’s final tour in the fall. The day after Christmas, La’Mule’s first live video was available.
2001 started off with La’Mule’s second Japan wide tour, Climax, also the same name of their second album. Then, they decided to take a break of sorts until May, after which they made up for lost time with many tours and releases. After a maxi was released in July, Kon and Kaie (now ex Vasalla) created the unit Geno and released a demo. La’Mule started touring again and participated in Soleil’s annual group events. In September, Geno held their small Savaba - Namida tour and held their first oneman and released their first album in the next month.
The next year, La’Mule decided once again to concentrate just on lives and appearances. SIN left to join Jelly berry right before La’Mule started their next Japan-wide tour. A maxi was released at the beginning of the year and the band took part in large indies events with other well-known indies bands like deadman, Fatima and Jinkaku Radio. In the meantime, the Soleil label closed down and even though the band was coming apart at the seams, they continued on. Two more maxi were released and SIN returned to the group but it was not enough to hold everything together.
Despite their huge popularity and devoted and loving fanbase, La’Mule unanimously decided to go on indefinite hiatus in 2003. Their last live was at Takadanobaba Area on August 29th and carried the title see you ~mata au hi made~.
La'Mule later revived at the end of 2011 for Kisaki's (ex Phantasmagoria, 凛 -the end of corruption world- and leader of UNDER CODE PRODUCTION) Return of Visual Monster concert series, along with many other visual-kei contemporaries of La'Mule. At this live, they released a history DVD, entitled "HISTORY OF BLOOD" that was limited to 30 copies, containing live performances of many of their popular and unreleased songs. Along with this concert, La'Mule decided to continue activities for a limited period of time. Another example of a band whose done something similar to this is DAS:VASSER. The band then announced that they are going to officially to disband after a few revival lives, ending the band's activity for good on April 5th, 2012
Since their disbanding, Kon (Fujimoto Kazuhisa) and Nao have joined NightingeiL, SIN has retired, Isuke has presumably retired after 2015, and Youya has not been active since the disbandment of U.
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