Les Rallizes Dénudés

Les Rallizes Dénudés (裸のラリーズ, Hadaka no rariizu) were a Japanese rock band formed in 1967 at Kyoto's Doshisha University. They were initially active between 1967 and 1988, and then again briefly between 1993 and 1996 before permanently disbanding. It's thought that the band's name comes from a corruption of French: valises dénudées (literally translating as naked suitcases) which was derived from fake French slang invented with the theatrical group Gendai Gekijo. The band's style is typified by simple, repetitious instrumental passages, shrieking, cacophonous guitar feedback and folk arrangement. Their discography is made up mostly of live bootlegs, soundboard archives, and even a few rare aborted studio recording attempts as they have never officially released any of their material, although there are archive releases on independent labels such as Univive, Rivista, Phoenix, and Bamboo.[5]

Les Rallizes Dénudés
Les Rallizes Dénudés in 1974. Pictured (left to right): Mikio Nagata, Takashi Mizutani, Shunichiro Shoda, Takeshi Nakamura.
Background information
Also known as	裸のラリーズ
Origin	Kyoto, Japan
Genres	Psychedelic rock[1] noise rock[2]
Years active	1967–1988, 1993–1996
Associated acts	Fujio Yamaguchi, Taj Mahal Travellers, Acid Seven, Masato Minami, Arthur Doyle, Shizuka, Suishou no Fune[3]
Past members	Takashi Mizutani Takashi Kato Takashi Tada Moriaki Wakabayashi Takeda Kiyohiro Tsutomu Matsumoto Takeshi Nakamura Shunichiro Shoda Hiroshi Nar Fujio Yamaguchi Toshirou Mimaki Makoto Kubota Doronco Mikio Nagata Noma Yukimichi Maki Miura[4]

In 1970, original bassist Moriaki Wakabayashi assisted in the hijacking of Japan Airlines Flight 351 orchestrated by the Japan's "Red Army Faction."[5][6]

Very little is known about the band's frontman Takashi Mizutani, aside from his supposed ties to the Japanese Red Army and involvement early on in theater at Doshisha University. The last public appearances of Takashi Mizutani were two live performances in 1997 with jazz saxophonist Arthur Doyle and drummer Sabu Toyozumi.

In October 2021, an official website was launched for the band by The Last One Musique label, claiming to be a collaborative effort by former band members and associates of Mizutani. It announced its intention to release official Rallizes recordings with "more alive and striking sound than the bootlegs that have been circulating over twenty years".[7] The website states on its homepage that Mizutani passed away in 2019, [8] and this is further supported by statements from Aquilha Mochizuki, a photographer very close to Mizutani. In a 2020 interview, former member Makoto Kubota (who is himself credited on the official website) stated that he had recently had a phone call with Mizutani, in which he told him "this is how it is in America right now," referring to the popularity of the band in that country, and that it's even possible for the band to play a large concert there. The article was updated on 28 October 2021 to state that the phone calls had taken place in late 2019.[9]