【EN】Ep.3-How Release Hallucination Began

※This article is a revised version of one originally published on Release Hallucination’s pixivFANBOX.

We started our activities, but never managed to find a permanent drummer. In the end, we relied on programmed drums and carried on as a trio. Since I was the one composing, and far less skilled back then than I am now, the quality of our demos was nothing to boast about. We wrote a few original songs, but never made it to a live performance, and the band eventually dissolved.

The main reason was the changes that came with graduation. Our bassist had decided to go to university, but the campus was so far from our base of activity that he wasn’t sure he could continue. Kaoru chose to enroll in a music school, and at the same time told us he didn’t see a future in this band and wanted to leave. I was also preparing to enter university, but I fully intended to keep pursuing music and tried to persuade them to stay. In the end, Kaoru left. The bassist stayed, but with only vocals and bass, the band couldn’t continue and soon broke up.

What had seemed like the beginning of a shared path for the two of us in Release Hallucination quickly turned into separate journeys.

[Bonus story]
That Doutor Coffee in Sakuragaoka, Shibuya—
When I first wrote this article, Kaoru and I happened to stop by while looking at gear in Shibuya. It was still quietly open in the same spot, with the interior almost unchanged from back then. Incidentally, at that very first meeting in Doutor, our bassist gave Kaoru the nickname kaorin. Surprisingly, it stuck for quite a long time.

Now, as I re-edit this article, Sakuragaoka has been completely redeveloped, and the site where that Doutor once stood is now home to Shibuya Sakura Stage.

To be continued in the next article.

— emi