We are starting off this week with yet another round of disbandments starting with the young band, LOUD GRAPE.  The band will be calling it quits after their one-man at Shinjuku RENY on March 6, just a month after celebrating their second anniversary.  It seems creative differences have driven this group apart.  While we are always sad to see things not work out, we can only hope this means bigger and better things for the future of the individual members.

LAGNA will also be calling it quits in March after a two-year run.  No reasoning has been given, but all the members express their sadness about the breakup.  Their final show will be held at Takadanobaba AREA on March 21.

March is going to be one bummer of a month as electro-pop group LOG will also be disbanding after their one-man at Takadanobaba AREA on March 27.  Citing differing views about the band’s future, the group has decided it is best to go their separate ways.

After the departure of guitarists Setsuki and Mello, RoNo☆Cro has announced they will be disbanding after their final show at Tsutaya O-West on May 21.  They will have one final release, RoNo☆Cro, kaisansurette yo, a concept single commemorating their disbandment.  They will be performing their final lives as a two-member band so make sure to support them until the end.

If you follow us on Facebook, then you’ve probably already heard MERRY has postponed their European tour until next year.  The terrorist attacks on Bataclan in Paris still has everyone reeling and their promoter, B7Klan, is no exception as they lost members of their team in the attack.  They feel they haven’t been able to give the tour the attention it needs, and so have postponed it in order to give it the proper promotion it deserves.  If you have purchased tickets, please contact the venue in order to be reimbursed.

An interesting bit of controversy has surfaces around R-Shitei.  The group will soon be embarking on a huge 88 stop tour in commemoration of their newest single and it seems they wanted to hold the tour final at Nippon Budoukan, but were refused.  The reasoning:  the dark nature of their name and music.  R-Shitei translates to R-Rated in English and the subject matter of their music often turns to sex and violence.  Apparently, the powers that be find this inappropriate and so are barring the group from performing.  Many fans are outraged, pointing out the hypocrisy as other bands with equally dark music have played the prestigious venue on multiple occasions and R-Shitei themselves even played as part of an event hosted by SID.  What do you guys think?  Is the venue’s decision justified or does it reek of political rubbish?

Good news for CLOWD fans.  The group has announced they will be joining DangerCrue Records (in case you didn’t know…DangerCrue has awesome bands) and will release their first single under this new label on April 27.  There are no further details regarding the single at this point, but this can only be a positive move for the group and I look forward to what they bring us in the future.

One of my favorite new bands to watch, The Black Swan, has also announced new label affiliation.  The group has joined Terakoya Records along with bands like Ensoku and Jin Machine and will be releasing their first full-length album.  OUSIA releases April 27.  I’ve already heard the title track and it is AMAZING, so mark your calendars, folks.  This is a must-have release.

I’ll finish up with a New Band Alert that will have fans of ViViD jumping for joy.  Guitarist Ryoga, now going by Nakamura Sadamu, has formed a new unit with fellow guitarist Yoshida Keiichi called ReFrain ReFrain.  There are a couple of music clips up on their OHP and it sounds pretty good, so make sure to check it out.

And, that’s the Quickie.  Peace.