The Piass

History

The Piass got their start in 1990 with Chihiro on vocals, Takayuki on guitar, Yoshio on bass, and Hiroshi on drums. Chihiro stepped away for a bit, and Takashi filled in long enough to sing on their very first release before Chihiro came back, and that settled lineup started turning heads. Their first appearance on a compilation came in February 1993 with Braintrash, which also featured a track by Malice Mizer. More songs followed on various compilations put out by Anarchist Records, the label that became their first home. Two years later, they dropped their debut album, Ryouki Kousatsu Chissoku-Shi, which came close to cracking the top ten on the Oricon indies charts. Things were looking up until October 25, 1995, when Chihiro and Hiroshi died during a PV shoot after falling from a bridge twenty meters high. The circumstances of their deaths sparked a lot of talk, with some people thinking it was a suicide pact since the two were tied together, but most chalk it up to an accident related to the stunt they were trying to pull. While the band was on hold in 1996, Anarchist Records put out two more Piass songs. Then in 1997, Yoshio took his own life, leaving Takayuki as the only surviving member, and the reasons behind it remain unclear, adding to the rumors. On October 25, 1998, exactly three years after the first tragedy, Takayuki started rebuilding the group. He brought in Kirala, formerly of Slum Junkie, on vocals, Ruiji from Mazohysteria on bass, and Shizuki on drums. In 1999, they released a second demo tape and changed how they spelled the band's name, writing it in Japanese with a final character that means "resurrection." That same year, they put out a self-titled second album that marked a big shift from their earlier hard rock style to a frantic punk rock sound. An EP called Gekka Kyoushou came out in 2000, and they followed it with a single in 2001 titled "Akinazuna: Akina Zuna."