Develop=Frame

A Japanese electro-rock visual kei band from Kyoto. Formed in 1994, it was originally a duo of vocalist Junpei Noguchi (野口純平) and keyboardist Shuhei Naruse (鳴瀬シュウヘイ), although guitarist Kyoichi and drummer Tetsuji later joined in 1995. In 1998, Kyoichi leaves Develop=Frame, and is then replaced by Yoshiyuki Taniguchi (谷口佳之), and shortly afterwards, the group becomes a major act and signs to Nippon Columbia. In October of 1999, after a year of being on the label, Develop=Frame finally makes their major debut with the release of their single “Realize”, which is an absolute major flop. In March of 2000, Develop=Frame release their second single on the label, “Chase”, which is used as a theme song to the popular anime series Zoids. The exposure on the anime helped give the group a bit of a commercial boost, although their following single, “Hadaka Kokoro (裸心)”, failed to keep the ball rolling. Develop=Frame were set to release their first full length album in October of 2000, “Booster”, although presumably due to the poor commercial of their singles, the album was pulled and never released. Develop=Frame were then soon after dropped from Nippon Columbia’s roster. Dropped from Nippon Columbia in 2001, Develop=Frame then signed to Zoom Republic Network, which was a sublabel of Teichiku Records, and later released their second mini-album in February of 2002, “Hub”, which was their first album release in almost five years. The album had horrendous sales, and Develop=Frame were then dropped from Zoom Republic Network’s roster as well by the end of 2002. Develop=Frame then carried on as a purely independent act, rereleasing their first two demos on CD as well as releasing a compilation album, “Terminus”, in 2003. In April of 2003, after nearly a decade of activity, Develop=Frame officially disbanded. In July of 2013, however, after over a decade apart, the group reunited, and soon after released re-recorded versions of some of their most popular singles. They are currently still semi-active as an occasional touring act today.