Formed in ’96 and signed after just one club show, Oblivion Dust released their first album “Looking For Elvis” in ’97 and quickly established themselves as one of the top live rock acts in Japan.
With an English born singer and a sound style unlike that of any other band, Oblivion Dust were considered by many in the Japanese music industry as the first truly international band to come out of Japan.
During the recording of their first album (recorded in L.A.), Oblivion Dust became one of the first Japanese bands to regularly play live both in the U.S. and Japan. A string of changes at the bass player position followed as original member Derek Forbes (formerly of Scottish band Simple Minds) departed to make way for Matt Garrett (previously in Ian Astbury’s Holy Barbarians). The line up finally settled down with Rikiji taking over the bass player position. The new Oblivion Dust were unveiled in front of a crowd of 10,000 as the band opened for The Prodigy in Tokyo, Japan.
With the release of their second album “Misery Days” (also recorded in L.A.), the band continued to grow momentum and captured the eye of Hide (X Japan). K.A.Z would later join Hide’s solo outfit Hide with Spread Beaver while continuing Oblivion Dust duties.
By the time their third album “Reborn” was released, Oblivion Dust had built up a devoted following, thanks in part to heavy air time on MTV Japan with the single “You” – A “Fuck you” scratch ridden single featuring DJ Swamp. While doing numerous headline tours of Japan, Oblivion Dust also played festivals, sharing bills with Marilyn Manson, The Wildhearts, Buck-Tick, Rage against the Machine, Muse among others.
After recording a track for the Mission Impossible 2 soundtrack, Oblivion Dust released their fourth album “Butterfly Head” in late 2000. The album was critically hailed as a break through album for Japanese bands at the time, but in 2001, Oblivion Dust shocked fans and critics alike by announcing they were splitting up. The sudden break up was popularly compared to the break up of Jane’s Addiction, who disbanded in ’91, right on the verge of major success.
After two final sold out shows, each member branched out to pursue separate projects.
Ken Lloyd went on to team up with Inoran (LUNA SEA) to start FAKE?, K.A.Z formed Spin Aqua with Anna Tsuchiya and later went on to produce and play guitar for Hyde (L'Arc～en～Ciel). Rikiji returned to his mixture rock outfit Mega Eight Ball.
Once touted as the band least likely to get back together, Oblivion Dust once again shocked many by announcing they were officially reuniting in the summer of 2007.
They have just released their first album in 7 years.
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