Members: vocal: hyde guitar (+ piano and backing vocals): ken bass and chorus: tetsu drums and percussion: yukihiro

L'Arc~en Ciel is one of the two most popular bands in Japan right now (the other one's Glay). L'Arc has always done fairly well in sales and popularity, but it wasn't until they released "Niji" that they skyrocketed to the A-list of J-rockers. Most of L'Arc's songs are very rhythmic and easy to listen to. You can play any one of L'Arc's albums on a loop all day and not be bored because all their songs are good!! (Even my least favoite L'Arc songs are really superior to other songs I can think of by any other artists...) Each member has a different personality that they mix into their songs, making each one a masterpiece. The main reason L'Arc may be popular with teenage girls is hyde (pronouced "haido"), the very very bishounen vocalist...... hyde is sooo cute!!! (^___^) But each member is an accomplished musician and they each have mobs of fans. (:D)

hyde waaaaaa!!! so cute!!!!! (^_____^) hyde stuffing his face with subway!!!!!

Haido is probably best known for his deep, often agressive singing in very haido-ish songs like "HONEY" and "LOVE FLIES". To non-L'Arc fans he is usually referred to as "the really short guy". ^^;; Yeah. Haido's really short. When L'Arc started out, haido had long curly hair and wore floor-length flowing white dresses, making him look like a girl. (^o^;;) His face is a bit feminine, characterized by big eyes, arched brows, smooth light skin and his adorable trademark 500-watt smile!! Like most Japanese people, haido's teeth are more crooked than the branches on a bonsai tree (the bottom ones at least) and smokes a lot of cigarettes even though he knows he should stop. Haido says he's rarely in a really good mood, but always acts kind of innocent and funny on music programs on TV and the radio. (he usually has kind of a dumb looking grin on his face while saying something like "I like curry..." hyde acts like an ojiisan...) Haido grew up listening to a lot of David Sylvian (hey! like Sugizo!), the ex-vocal of the UK band "Japan". He really likes old-time love ballads by musicans like Oda Kazumasa (haido loves the song "sayonara" by Off Course) and Kaguya Hime. Before he moved to Tokyo, haido listened to the song "Kandagawa" which has beautiful lyrics describing the Kanda river. The first place he lived in Tokyo was located right next to the real Kanda river, which made him happy until he saw it... (^^;;;;) The river is really muddy and polluted... but when he saw koi (carp) swimming it he thought "Wow... it's amazing that there are such pretty things still living in here" and was a little impressed. Then he told this story to his mom and she replied "Well that's because koi can live anywhere, even in the muckiest places in the river..." From that day on, haido couldn't stand koi... Haido's live performances are never consistent. You can see him on TV one day singing better than you've ever heard him, and the next day you hear him singing the same song and it's just awful. (like "niji"...) I mean, I admit L'Arc's songs are really hard to sing, but sometimes his voice is straining so much that you're afraid his vocal chords are going to snap!! His other specialties are playing the guitar and saxaphone. Sorry this is so long but haido is the person in L'Arc I know the most about.. I really like haido too... (^__^) he's so cool...

ken

Ken is L'Arc's very hentai guitarist.... He makes really weird perverted comments sometimes... (^^;;;)Ken has changed his image a few times over the years but his personality has pretty much stayed the same. (I think now he has this whole big "rock star" image of himself but I think it's the same for haido and tetsu too...) Ken is a really talented musician. His guitar skills are really excellent and can play a number of very different songs (from my favorite mysterious "Wind of Gold" to "Shout at the Devil") on acoustic and electric guitar. He also plays the piano in songs like "and She Said" and "Caress of Venus". Usually he'll sing backing vocals with tetsu but it's harder to hear him sometimes. Ken has a pretty high voice and talks with his lips puckered a lot.. (XD) I think ken's really funny in a stupid way. However, there's a serious side to ken also.. if you've seen "Wind of Gold" in heavenly films you know what I mean. He is also rumored to have been married for a number of years but divorced his wife in the summer of '98. (Actually they had an article in a tabloid about this.. I saw the pic of ken dragging out his belongings early in the morning leaving his wife... >_< sugoku iya na mono michatta...) Ken usually looks kinda dirty but he says he likes to take baths a lot and stays in for at least 1 hour twice a day... his recent trademark is that he's always smokimg a cigarette while playing. (He had to tap the ashes off once right in the middle of the song because they were gonna fall on his guitar!!)

tetsu

If someone asked me who my favorite laruku member was, I'd say it's tet-chan. (^_^) He's so adorable!!!! The first thing you might think when you see him is that either he looks like a model or he looks really weird. (^^;;) Tet-chan changes his image sometimes... he's a lot like me in tastes and stuff. Sometimes he'll look like the most gorgeous Donna Karan runway model (there's been a time when I was watching a runway video in the DKNY store and I REALLY thought the model whas tet-chan!!!!!) or sometimes he'll go total Harajuku freestyle (Japanese designer candy-colored cute funky clothes made for small people ^^;;). Tetsu is an EXTREMELY skilled bass player so watch out when he shows his skills!!! (^o^) He makes up impossibly well planned out basslines for songs that require a lot of thought to unravel when you're on the other side of the band score... (believe me, forbidden lover is an excellent piece, but it's so hard to remember all the licks and stuff...) Tet-chan is the supposed "leader" of L'Arc. He's so sweeeet!!! I reccommend ALL tetsu fans to watch "heavenly films" because he'll just melt your heart.... "isshoni ii yume wo mimashou"... ("let's have a wonderdul dream together".. nante KAKKOIIIIII!!!) Tet-chan can be a goofball too though. (^_^) he's just so darn cute!!! Especially with his old long hair.... MAN he looked fine during Tierra and heavenly!! Tet-chan, like haido, is stick-thin and really short. (I wouldn't say he's over 5' 4".) He usually wears these huge huge huge huge shoes during concerts... If you ever go to a big city in Japan, you'll realize that you've reached the land of enormous platforms.... I'm seriously talking about 10 inches and over here!!!! It's a wonder that he hasn't broken any bones running around in those things.... (ah.. but ken-chan fell down at **budoukan** and he was only wearing normal shoes so... ^^;;;)

yukihiro

Yukihiro is the newest member of L'Arc. He's been playing with them since fall '97 and became an official member in 1998. (Yukihiro took the place of the nearly irreplaceable Sakura who was vital to the band but quit after his infamous drug trial... I really think Yukkie was the only person who could have brought L'Arc this far without Sakura.) Yukkie's the ex-drummer of popular bands Die in Cries and Zi:Kill (pronounced "jikiru"- Jekyll). Yukkie probably met L'Arc through their record company Danger Crue (I think Kyo if DIC is still signed on too). Die in Cries disbanded in the early '90s and Yukkie spent some time DJing before joining L'Arc. Like Hyde and Ken, he smokes a lot... (U_U;;;) Yukkie is seriously one of the top 5 musicians in the entire J-rock band scene. I think that this feel for the music and the remixes he does, not to mention his amazing percussion sense are all unparallelled. His style's quite different from drummers like Shinya, but he's one musician that doesn't have to rely on looks or popularity to be the living definition of cool. (^___^)