Dear Rouge - Knife (1998)

"BreakOut Matsuri (祭) '98 Niigata (新潟) Omnibus", 1998.


Dear Rouge formed in 1996. In September of 1997, the group released its first demo, "-With Love-", which was released for one night only, and later released their second demo that December, "Sacrifice", which would be limited to 700 copies. The demo soon sold out and Dear Rouge released three more demos throughout 1998 and also became a part of the BreakOut series/label, with the group appearing on a few BreakOut omnibuses and VHS's throughout the year as well. Due to the exposure, Dear Rouge were on a steady incline in popularity, although in November of 1998, the group had its first lineup change when frontman Atsushi left. He was quickly replaced by Satoru, with a second guitarist, Yu-ya, joining as well, and Dear Rouge went on to tour a bit under this lineup before eventually folding by the summer of 1999. Atsushi would reunite with the other guitarist of Dear Rouge, Taka, as well as bassist Daisuke to form the cult indies visual group Ta-rot, although in early 2001, Taka left and then retired from the visual scene. Atsushi and Daisuke, however, both remained active in Ta-rot until its eventual official disbandment in 2002, and afterwards, Daisuke also retired from the visual scene, while Atsushi joined the visual supergroup Mu:tation, which folded as well after less than a year of activity, and Atsushi would then retire from the visual scene as well. In 2024, after over 2 decades apart, Ta-rot surprisingly reunited with Atsushi and Daisuke returning from their retirements as members, although Taka did not. Both Atsushi and Daisuke remain somewhat active in Ta-rot today.