Oblivion Dust are a
rock band originally introduced to the
Japanese music scene by
hide, of
X Japan fame. Oblivion Dust released five albums before disbanding in 2001 -
Looking for Elvis, Misery Days, Reborn, Butterfly Head, and
Radio Songs. Their lineup changed once, after the release of
Reborn, when the second guitar player was replaced with Masuru Yoshida, and the drummer by Souta Oofuruton. The core members were
Ken Lloyd on vocals and
Kaz Iwaike on guitar (Kaz also played as a member of hide's band,
Spread Beaver).
Oblivion Dust are unique in that Ken Lloyd is half
Japanese, half
British; therefore, most of the band's lyrics are sung in perfect English rather than the Japanese and broken '
Engrish' exhibited in the words of many other
J-rock bands. Unfortunately, this fact as well as their rather unconventional, punky sound meant that they weren't as popular as more well-known acts like
Luna Sea or
L'Arc~en~Ciel. Their highest placing single was 'Designer Fetus', which made it onto the
Oricon Charts at number 35.
In September 2001, OD held two last live shows and went their separate ways. Ken Lloyd went on to be involved in a project called
Fake? with
Inoran of
Luna Sea. They have seen some amount of success and released several albums, including
Breathe in... and
The Art of Losing Touch.