Contents show]

January

4. – La:Sadie's performs at 江坂BOOMIN HALL.

6. – La:Sadie's performs at 名古屋MUSIC FARM.

7. – La:Sadie's performs at 名古屋MUSIC FARM.

8. – La:Sadie's performs at 名古屋MUSIC FARM.

9. – La:Sadie's performs at 名古屋MUSIC FARM.

10. – La:Sadie's performs at 大阪GUILD.

12. – La:Sadie's performs at 広島NAMIKI JUNKTION.

15. – La:Sadie's performs at 大阪 a.m.HALL and disbands after the show.

23. – Kyo, Kaoru, Die and Shinya travel to Nagano and meet up with Toshiya in a parking lot. From there, they drive to his parents' place, where they spend the night.

24. – In the morning, Kyo, Kaoru, Die, Toshiya and Shinya booked two hours of studio time to practice. At the event, they covered around four songs by 黒夢 (Kuroyume) under the name "DEATHMASK". Toshiya also performed with D†L as their support guitarist, most likely for the last time.

Lives in January Date Venue Tour/Event 1997.01.24 長野LIVE HOUSE J Unknown event





February

02. – Kyo, Kaoru, Die, Toshiya and Shinya form Dir En Grey (then stylised as Dir en grey, since 2006 as DIR EN GREY).

The exact date was provided in the magazine Dir en greyやろうぜ (Dir en grey Yarōze) in 1999. The band name is a combination of the German word "dir", French "en" and English "grey" and, according to an interview in Apres Guerre #19 (March 1997), was thought to mean "Grey Silver Coin" (灰色の銀貨 (Haiiro no Ginka)). It was supposed to convey a music and an image that wasn't caught by neither black nor white, so they picked "grey".

The band took their name from a song on a demo tape released in 1995 by the visual-kei band Lareine. The song is called "Dir en gray" and opens with the line 灰色のあなたに dir en gray (Haiiro no anata ni dir en gray), which both means "To you in gray" and would actually fit the intended meaning of the words, as opposed to "Grey Silver Coin". In the aforementioned interview, Kyo mentions that he knew the phrase before and during a live from Lareine's former vocalist Kamijo in 2015, Shinya explained that they took the band name from the song name and simply changed the letter "a" to "e". This was further corroborated by Kaoru in the WOWOW Special interview in 2020, where he explained that they took the name from the song of a band that was famous at that time. Why Dir En Grey thought that "dir" means "silver coin" remains unclear, but they would later become aware of their mistake.

In turn, Lareine got the name "Dir en gray" from a band called Dir & Gray, a visual-kei band that was active around 1991. The original meaning behind the name was "dill of grey colour" (dill is usually white) and was coined by guitarist SHOW. Interestingly, their name was written with the same Katakana as Dir En Grey, ディル・アン・グレイ, even though "and" would be written as アンド (ando) in Japanese.

According to an interview in Shellruby #1 (1998), the band had around 20 possible names and decided on "Dir En Grey" at a family restaurant. At first, Kyo and Toshiya didn't like it, they thought it sounded uncool and too similar to "GLAY". According to Toshiya on the radio show Nack5 FM Triangle Super Audition, one of the other names the members had in mind was "Kisaragi". It was taken from a high school band of Toshiya. According to Kyo in the aforementioned WOWOW Special interview, they narrowed it down to two names, with three people voting for "Dir En Grey" and Kyo and one other member voting for the other name.

Lives in February Date Venue Tour/Event – – –





March

In March 1997, Dir En Grey joined their friends in 覇叉羅 on their tour. They also recorded their first demo tape, titled 業 / 蒼い月, at M4 Studio in Osaka.

Lives in March Date Venue Tour/Event 1997.03.31 名古屋CLUB QUATTRO JENOSIDE ZONE Vol.5





April

In April 1997, the tour with 覇叉羅 continued. Later, Dir En Grey performed a secret show at an event at 川崎 CLUB CITTA'. According to Kaoru in Shellruby #1 (1998), the band had created five or six songs on April 28, 1997, four or five of them being on MISSA. These songs were 「S」, Erode, 蒼い月, 秒「」深 and 業, as well as 惨劇の夜, most likely.

Lives in April Date Venue Tour/Event 1997.04.01 難波W'OHOL JENOSIDE ZONE Vol.5 1997.04.04 博多DRUM LOGOS JENOSIDE ZONE Vol.5 1997.04.24 渋谷ON AIR WEST JENOSIDE ZONE Vol.5 1997.04.27 川崎CLUB CITTA' クラブチッタ川崎主催イベント





May

In May 1997, Dir En Grey officially made their live debut. According to Kaoru in Shellruby #1 (1998), they recorded their debut EP MISSA in the first ten or so days of May and created four or five new songs until their debut live. According to Toshiya in the same magazine, they spent three nights in the studio.

16. & 17. – Dir En Grey has photoshoots for the MISSA booklet and the GARDEN music video.

30. – Kaoru appears on the radio show PowerRockRevolution. The 業 / 蒼い月 demo tape can be heard in the background. You can listen to the interview here.

Lives in May Date Venue Tour/Event 1997.05.30 難波ROCKETS HYPER MIX 1997.05.31 難波ROCKETS 結成記念ワンマン





June

In June 1997, Dir En Grey only played three shows, one of them a secret show at an event. At each of the other two shows, they distributed a special message tape.

Lives in June Date Venue Tour/Event 1997.06.13 目黒鹿鳴館 NEO Behind the Mask 1997.06.14 目黒鹿鳴館 – 1997.06.27 大阪COWBOY WORLD –





July

In July 1997, Dir En Grey released their debut EP MISSA in Japan. They also appeared on various TV shows, at instore events and participated in the SHOCK WAVE'97 vol.2 tour.

03. – Instore Event at Osaka DEAD ONE.

04. – Instore Event at Kyoto JEUGIA Sanjo Main Store.

13. – Instore Event at Shinjuku LIKE AN EDISON.

18. – Instore Event at Shibuya INDIES HOUSE.

20. – Instore Event at Harajuku ROCK LOVE.

25. – Release of MISSA.

25. (earliest) – Kyo, Kaoru and Die appear on the TV show Jee Jee Trap. You can watch it here.

26. – Instore Event at Osaka JEEZ Shinsaibashi Store.

27. – Instore Event at Osaka Miyako Shinsaibashi Store M-Cube.

29. – Instore Event at Tokyo Shinseido Quartier 5 Shinjuku Store.

Lives in July Date Venue Tour/Event 1997.07.26 難波W'OHOL SHOCK WAVE'97 vol.2 1997.07.31 川崎CLUB CITTA' SHOCK WAVE'97 vol.2





August

01. – Kaoru and Toshiya appear on the radio show PowerRockRevolution. You can watch it here.

02. – Dir En Grey appears on the TV show ROCK STREET. It is unknown where and when the GARDEN performance was filmed. You can watch it here.

10. – Instore Event at Shinjuku Teito Radio.

15. – Kyo, Kaoru and Die appear on the radio show PowerRockRevolution. You can watch it here

Lives in August Date Venue Tour/Event 1997.08.02 大阪COWBOY WORLD ～MISSA発売記念LIVE～ 1997.08.03 大阪COWBOY WORLD ～MISSA発売記念LIVE～ 1997.08.07 新宿LOFT ～MISSA発売記念LIVE～ 1997.08.08 新宿LOFT ～MISSA発売記念LIVE～ 1997.08.21 市川CLUB GIO SHOCK WAVE'97 vol.2 1997.08.23 上野水上野外音楽堂 Neo Behind the Mask 1997.08.27 川崎CLUB CITTA' Behind the Mask 1997.08.30 心斎橋MUSE HALL Dir en grey Presents

MAZOHYST OF DECADENCE SHOW





September

In September 1997, Dir En Grey continued the tours they had begun a month earlier. They also played on the EXPERIENCE EYES'97 event. Most notable is the show on 15. September, one of the shows where they performed with and covers of other bands.

??. – Dir En Grey appears on the TV show Hot Wave. You can watch it here.

Lives in September Date Venue Tour/Event 1997.09.01 難波W'OHOL SHOCK WAVE'97 vol.2 1997.09.07 名古屋HEART LAND STUDIO Dir en grey Presents

MAZOHYST OF DECADENCE SHOW 1997.09.14 目黒鹿鳴館 Dir en grey Presents

MAZOHYST OF DECADENCE SHOW 1997.09.15 目黒鹿鳴館 Dir en grey Presents

MAZOHYST OF DECADENCE SHOW 1997.09.18 赤坂BLITZ EXPERIENCE EYES'97





October

Lives in October Date Venue Tour/Event 1997.10.28 渋谷ON AIR WEST CRUCIFY OF MARIA … TO “MISSA”

あなたの『美的・発情・香』を呼び起こす 1997.10.30 心斎橋MUSE HALL CRUCIFY OF MARIA … TO “MISSA”

あなたの『美的・発情・香』を呼び起こす





November

??. – The band had a meeting in the morning and an interview in the afternoon. Later, Shinya and Kyo went to Toshima-en, an amusement park in Tokyo.

25. – Release of the omnibus album Behind the Mask vol.2 1997 -SOL'FINSTERRE-. Dir En Grey participates with Ash.

Lives in November Date Venue Tour/Event – – –





December

15. – Release of the mail-order version of 「楓」～if trans…～ CRYSTAL VIDEO BOX.