Siam Shade (stylized as SIAM SHADE) was a five-piece Japanese rock band, formed in Tokyo in March 1991. The classic line-up of Hideki on vocals, Natchin on bass, Kazuma on guitar and vocals, Daita on lead guitar and Jun-ji on drums, was solidified in May 1994. Playing a form of melodic hard rock that features twin guitars and twin vocals, they released six studio albums and enjoyed a decade of relative popularity before disbanding in March 2002. The members have reunited several times since 2007 for one-off concerts and short tours.
Ryutaro Hokari of OK Music credited Siam Shade and their innate melodic sensibility for helping hard rock and heavy metal music penetrate the Japanese mainstream. Originally a visual kei band, they abandoned the image by the time of their second album in 1995, but the definition of the term broadened during the scene's boom in the mid-to-late 1990s, and they subsequently came to be considered a representative act of the "soft visual kei" subgenre. Outside Japan, the band is best known for "1/3 no Junjō na Kanjō", one of the ending theme songs of the Rurouni Kenshin anime.
History
1989–1995: Formation and major label debut Wanting to form a band in order to compete in a high school music contest, vocalist Hideki (then known as "Chack") recruited his junior high school friend and bassist Natchin (then spelled "Natin") to join him and drummer Kurishima. Their band Power won the Summer Grand Prix Award at the 1989 Yokohama High School Hot Wave Festival. Coming in second place was a band named Fifty50/50Fifty, which featured future Siam Shade member Kazuma. Natchin's elementary and junior high school classmate Daita, who was a spectator at Hot Wave, then joined Power as a guitarist before quickly leaving. In March 1991, Hideki and Natchin formed a new band with guitarist Ataru called . In December 1992, they recruited Kazuma, then lead singer of Love Jets, as a guitarist and vocalist. Kazuma initially joined because Hideki had asked him to take over the lead vocalist position as he was leaving to form a new band with Delinquent vocalist Angela, but Hideki ended up staying. Kazuma said he then had no choice but to play guitar because Hideki could not. Drummer A (also spelled "Ei") completed the lineup and Atæru began performing.
In May 1993, the band changed their name to Siam Shade and distributed 500 copies of a four-track demo tape. Natchin said they changed the name because they had decided to stop playing casually and become serious about the band. The members went to the Karasuyama Community Center's library in Setagaya and flipped through books until one of them saw the word "SIAM". According to journalist Yusuke Kato, the Siam Shade name means , presumably in reference to the phrase Siamese twins. The band became close with Luna Sea and their vocalist Ryuichi promoted Siam Shade by playing the demo tape on his radio show on FM NACK5's Midnight Rock City. This increased their popularity significantly. At the same time, Ataru left the band, and in July, Hideki and Natchin successfully convinced Daita to rejoin them. They later explained that it was the song "I Believe", included on the demo, that lured him back. Siam Shade held their first tour in Osaka and Nagoya in the summer of 1993, and had their first solo concert at Machida Play House on December 19. They distributed the free single "Doll" at the latter. Siam Shade contributed the song "End of Love" to the February 1994 compilation album Emergency Express 1994. The compilation also featured a song by Nerve, which featured future Siam Shade drummer Jun-ji. A was fired from the band after a three-show run at Play House in April, and replaced on drums by Jun-ji in May 1994, solidifying the group's final lineup. Hideki had been courting Jun-ji for three years, but the drummer would not agree to join because his band was fairly popular.
Siam Shade sold out all tickets to their two solo concerts at Meguro Live Station that July in just one hour, and independently released their first self-titled album on December 10. It sold 10,000 copies and reached number two on Oricon's independent albums chart. They held the 13-date between March 19 and April 27, 1995, before performing the concert at Shibuya Public Hall on August 13. Siam Shade signed to Sony Music Entertainment Japan and released the single "Rain" on October 21 as their major label debut. Kazuma said they chose Sony because they had been the first to approach them. The tour was held from October 26 to November 18. Just before their major debut, Jun-ji was riding his motorcycle at 120 km/h on the Tōmei Expressway, when he was hit by a car from behind and thrown 150 m. His speedy recovery inspired the tour's title. On November 11, they released their second album, Siam Shade II.
1996–1998: Success On February 1, 1996, the band released their second single, "Time's". It is a re-recording of a song from their second album and was used as a theme song of the NHK G music program Pop Jam. After a fan club-only concert at Meguro Live Station on February 15, where the opening act was Pierrot, Siam Shade held the tour from March 10 to April 1. Although, an additional date to the tour was performed at Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall on May 25 under the title Forever. On September 6, the band went on the tour, which ended with two concerts at Akasaka Blitz on October 8 and 9. The album Siam Shade III was released on October 2. It was at this time that vocalist Chack began using his real name "Hideki", reportedly due to onomancy. The album was mixed in Los Angeles by David Bianco. They closed the year out with one of their male-only concerts, titled gigs, at Meguro Live Station on December 9, and the concert at NHK Hall on December 15.
Hideki quit the band for a few days in early 1997, as he struggled to find his goal in life. He said he returned once he came to the realization that he can be happy by expressing himself through music, and perhaps make many other people happy as well. Siam Shade released the single "Why Not?" on February 21, 1997. It is a remix of a song from Siam Shade III with re-recorded vocals. March 1 saw the release of their first home video, Siam Shade, and the beginning of the lengthy tour, which ended on April 13. Two more singles followed; "Risk" on May 21, the theme song of the TV drama Koi, Shita.; and "Passion" on July 30, which marked their first collaboration with arranger Masao Akashi. On July 24, Siam Shade performed at the Rock of Ages 1997 concert, which was held at the Nippon Budokan to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Shinjuku Loft live venue. It featured a multitude of other artists, such as Char, Kinniku Shōjo Tai, Shigeru Izumiya, The High-Lows and Spitz. They held the No, Way-Out tour from November 14 to December 7. Siam Shade burst into the mainstream in November 1997, when "1/3 no Junjō na Kanjō" was selected as the sixth ending theme of the Rurouni Kenshin anime series. The album Siam Shade IV - Zero was released on January 21, 1998. "1/3 no Junjō na Kanjō" and the album were certified platinum and gold by the RIAJ, respectively. Siam Shade's first concert of 1998 was Dokidoki Break Sengen! '98 on January 10 at Nissin Power Station, which celebrated the 12th anniversary of Be-Pass magazine and also featured La'cryma Christi. They held the Zero-ism tour between March 6 and April 5, the Metal Sex concert at Ariake Rainbow Stage on August 23, and the Wild Seven tour from September 9 to 22.
Before the year was out, the band released another studio album, Siam Shade 5, on December 2. It was preceded by three hit singles; "Glacial Love", the May 1998 theme of Count Down TV; "Dreams", the theme of Fuji TV's Professional Baseball News; and "Never End", the October and November 1998 theme of TBS' Rank Ōkoku. The album, "Glacial Love" and "Dreams", were each certified gold for selling over 200,000 copies. Siam Shade was approached about holding a concert at the Nippon Budokan that December, but they turned it down as they felt they were not ready. Natchin would later explain that the band members held the venue in such high regard, that they could not agree to perform there simply because they could sell the tickets.
1999–2002: Disbandment Siam Shade's lengthy Monkey Science tour began on March 26, 1999, and ended on May 26, although its finale was a concert at Yoyogi National Gymnasium on May 15 that attracted over 10,000 people. Four shows were then performed as part of the Summer Fight Series Metal Sex Again tour; two at Osaka Kōsei Nenkin Kaikan in July and two at the Tokyo International Forum in August. The band released three more hit singles that year, "Kumori Nochi Hare", "Black" and "1999". "Kumori Nochi Hare" was used as the theme song to the Fuji TV drama Oni no Sumika ~Don't Be a Cry Baby~ and earned gold certification. They also contributed a cover of "Pink Spider" to May 1999's Tribute Spirits, an album created as a tribute to Hide, who died the previous year. Siam Shade headlined the Nagoya concert of that year's Act Against AIDS events at Nagoya Congress Center on World AIDS Day. As headliners, they were able to choose the other acts, and selected Valentine D.C. and Sex Machineguns.
Siam Shade began 2000 with a New Year's Day concert at Yokohama Arena, titled Winter Fight Series Count Up 2000, and held the Kick Up the Dust tour from June 22 to July 7. They released one single that year, "Setsunasa Yori mo Tōku e" on April 19. The band performed their first international concert in South Korea at the first Busan International Rock Festival on July 16, less than a month after the country abolished its seat limit for performances of Japanese music. The double album Siam Shade VI was released ten days later on July 26. Featuring hard rock and heavy metal tracks on the first disc, and melodic pop-oriented songs on the second, it would be their last original album. The lengthy Kick Up the Dust II tour began on September 10 and ended on November 10, during which the band opened for Mötley Crüe at Tokyo Bay NK Hall on November 5. They then released the mini-album Siam Shade VII on November 29, which features re-recordings of previously released songs with new English lyrics. This allowed it to be released in South Korea, with an expanded tracklist, as it was still illegal to sell music with Japanese lyrics in the country. The mini-album was also notably released in Thailand, which was formerly known as "Siam".