Au Pairs | tl

D'espairsRay (formerly typeset as DéspairsRay and +DéspairsRay+) was an electro-industrial metal/rock band hailing from Japan formed on September 9, 1999 by HIZUMI (vocals/lyricist, ex-Le'veil), Karyu (guitar/main composer, ex-Dieur Mind, currently in Angelo), ZERO (bass, currently in THE MICRO HEAD 4N'S) and TSUKASA (drums/co-composer, ex-Le'veil, currently in THE MICRO HEAD 4N'S). They have maintained a consistent line-up since their inception. The band’s foundation is built upon the expression of despair and hope. They describe their own music as “hard, electronic rock”, which incoporates and is influenced by several genres including but not limited to: industrial, metal, electronic, gothic rock, punk, and...

The Au Pairs were a post-punk band who formed in Birmingham, UK in 1979. Musically they were very similar to bands such as Ludus, Gang of Four and Delta 5. That is, the rhythm section was tight and funky (obvious influences were James Brown and Funkadelic), but the guitars were light and "scratchy" (like Subway Sect). All these bands shared a strongly left wing social outlook, but the Au Pairs stood out due to their frontwoman, Lesley Woods, being an outspoken feminist and lesbian: the band were greatly influential in this respect on the riot grrrl movement a decade later....