The Japanese band Dir en grey was formed on Feb.02.1997. in Osaka. Formerly Kyo (singer), Kaoru, Die (guitars) and Shinya (drums) was in the indies band La:Sadie's, with Kisaki on the bass. When La:Sadie's was on a tour in Nagano, they met Toshiya, and became close friends. Later, when Kyo, Kaoru, Die and Shinya had a clash with Kisaki, and La:Sadie's broke up (Jan.05.1997.); they decided to play together again, but they were without a bassist. Then they remembered that they have a good friend and bassist in Nagano, so they went to kidnap him - as Toshiya likes to say - from his former band, D+L. Thus, Dir en grey formed.

Yoshiki (X Japan - drummer) produced lots of their songs - for example, Cage and Yokan. But from the Macabre era, the songs were produced by Dir en grey. As Kaoru said "I don't want this to sound bad but looking at what the producers did, we felt we could manage ourselves. We kept changing producers so the producer didn't know what we wanted, so it would take a quite a lot of time. By doing it ourselves it was quicker."

There are a few explanations concerning the meaning of "Dir en grey". Most likely, the name originated from the german world "dir" (you, yours), the french "en", and the english "grey"; meaning "grey coin" [Source: Kaoru & Shinya interview in Newgrave magazine Issue #3] . Their newsletter is called 灰色の銀貨 "Haiiro no Ginka", which basically means "grey coin" in Japanese.
But Kaoru also stated in Steven's Untitled Rock Show (Fuse TV), the name was chosen because 'it sounded right', and includes words from several languages, so no specific meaning would be attached to it other than the band's name itself.
As aarontheartiste pointed out, the Japanese pronounciation of Dir en grey (ディルアングレイ [diruangurii]) resembles of ドリアングレイ [doriangurii], Dorian Gray, which came from the book 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde. This book is considered one of the last works of classic gothic horror fiction with a strong Faustian theme.

When they began to make their music, they were strongly influenced by Visual Kei, Due to unmistakable American and European influences, J-Rock fell into step with artists like David Bowie, Marilyn Manson, Iggy Pop, and Rammstein. Bands like Malice Mazer, Pierrot, and Dir en grey are known for their stage shows which are inspired by David Bowie's style, with gender-bending costumes and theatrical stage-shows. Another strong influence on Visual Kei is the older forms of entertainment in Japan. The traditional Bunraku, Noh and Kabuki have their place in this music style as well.
Visual Kei is a term usually related to Japanese rock music, referring to bands whose primary point of interest for their fans is their costume and appearance. Inside Japan, their fans are almost exclusively teenage girls and as such they could be considered a uniquely Japanese version of a boy band. A notable difference between Visual Kei and boy bands is that boy bands are usually prefabricated by an external music producer and start with a strong marketing campaign, while there are a lot of indie, Visual Kei bands that won't get promoted unless they first gain popularity and sign with a major label (except for Lucifer). Another notable difference is that most boy bands do not compose their own songs, while Visual Kei bands usually do.
Members of Visual Kei bands often wear striking makeup (on photoshoots), style their hair in dramatic shapes with meticulously done colour dyes, and wear elaborate costumes. Although the costumes can sometimes appear feminine, the great majority of bands have an entirely male lineup.
Western observers sometimes confuse Visual Kei bands with Goth bands because of the occasionally similar makeup and clothing, but most Japanese goths do not consider Visual Kei to be gothic, and there is very little cultural crossover between Japanese Visual Kei fans and Japanese goths. their clothes and make-up were feminine. But as their music and style developed, this effect wore on.

When they started, they designed the clothes for themselves, did their own hair and make-up.

Since they formed, they released 5 full albums, lots of singles, and an indies mini-album, Missa. Since the album Vulgar, the band begun to gradually severe the ties with the Visual Kei style, and their sound became harder and heavier as the time progressed. Their music and style evolved continously, resulting their albums differ to each other like they were not made by the same band. But all of them wear the strong and definite style of Dir en grey.

The most interesting matter in them is their multiple talents: every member of the band helps making their music, this can be the cause of the difference in their songs.
Kyo writes their complex, dark, explicit and diverse lyrics not many dare to follow suit. He writes words not only in Japanese, but in other languages too, mainly in English. He states these words are based on the rhytm or the melody of the song; also sometimes it's easier to relay connotations or ideas in English. Most Dir en grey songs tell a story; but they don't think it's a problem foreign listeners rarely understand their lyrics. Though all the songs have different messages, but they are equals in one content: the pain and the suffering.
Altough Dir en grey's lyrics convey despair and sorrow, they don't make music about a certain form of pain: they are not direct, because even though everyone suffers somehow, everyone's pain is different. They want their fans to feel something while listening to their music. This feeling remained more or less the same since the band formed; but as the time progressed, their reason and method to show it had changed.

Their music is dark, they often convey abuse, death and the lament of lost love in their lyrics. In fact, there are no Dir en grey song that describe any form of happiness, but... there are many happy music in the world aren't there? Kyo's lyrics are always dark, they never have a happy ending.

They make their music only for themselves, not for the industry, not even for the fans. They can't live up to everyone's expectations, and even if they'd try it, that'd lead only to indeciveness: they'd have to consider so many options, and thus, their music would lose it's initial purpose. They don't want to make music only to reach success, they want it to somehow reflect them. Altough they strive for progress, and their music is indeed changing constantly, to them, changing or progress is not a destionation - it's merely a result. They believe it's important not to neglect their origins; but since they've experienced so many amazing challanges and new impressions, it was only natural to see their music evolve.

Dir en grey always changes: the album Macabre is not like Missa, and Kisou is far off from Six Ugly. The best thing about them is their works are always unique, they never repeat anything (not like other - not necessarily Japanese - bands).

Most fans (fangirls ^_^) realize the effect of the disbanded X Japan on the members of Dir en grey. For example, Kaoru greatly adores Hide (Hideto Matsumoto), the guitarist, and Shinya is great fan of Yoshiki (Yoshiki Hayashi), the drummer.

Grappler Baki anime: Dir en grey performed an opening theme (Child Prey) for グラップラー刃牙 (Grappler Baki) [Sept.2005].
"Fans can thank FUNimation for their chance to see Dir en grey live - the company has been working to sponsor such a tour since the band's song "Child Prey" was used as the opening theme for FUNimation's Baki the Grappler anime. Baki animation will also be featured during the concert dates. (...) With the first dates of the band's first American tour, Dir en grey and FUNimation are making sure that fans all over America will have a chance to see them play. (...)" [Original source got deleted] .

Why does Dir en grey do the opening song for the series?
Freewill, Dir en grey's music label, produces Baki the Grappler. A lot of labels utilize anime to promote their bands. Since Freewill produced Baki, Dir en grey was the natural choice. And the Song ROCKS! More Grappler Baki info here

Their song, The Final is on the Taste Of Chaos compilation album, which features 40 tracks on 2 discs. The promotion tour is called Taste Of Chaos Tour Japan 2005, started from November.

In March 2005 they've finally released their long-awaited album, Withering to Death, which caused a wide variety of reactions from their fans old and new alike. The album later became known as the band's first album to be officially released in both Europe and North America. These 2 albums were modified versions, made especially for release outside of Japan: containing translations in French, German and English, and a DVD bonus PV (depending on country release - either "The Final", "Saku" or "Kudou").

In May 2005, they performed in Europe for the first time. As a part of their "It Withers and Withers" tour, their lives in Berlin and Paris sold out without any promotion (it was mentioned only in a few newsletters by import record stores and the rumours spread fast through the internet). They've performed at Germany's most famous rock festivals, Rock im Park and Rock am Ring; and also successfully sold out 3.500 tickets to Columbiahalle in May.

In March 2006 Dir en grey moved to tour in the United States. First they've performed in REDRUM ANNEX (Austin, Texas). They continued a few days later in New York City and Los Angeles. All these shows sold out within days. (A year after their first appearence in Germany, they've come back to play in Columbiahalle again.)

Altough Kyo's throat weren't in a good state when they came back, and they had to delay the recording the vocal parts of the songs, the band found new motivation during the tour, and it showed in the album too. They even had a few songs written on the tour bus!
Even though they had a few difficulties in the beginning, they got a great response from the fans and ejoyed the lives throughly. They were shocked to see so many people who wanted to see them. Kaoru says they were informed from different companies, but never expected something big like that.
As Kaoru said, American people were very friendly towards them, and even though he could only speak Japanese, people still kept trying to talk to him, try to communicate and try to find a language both speakers can understand. His least favourite thing about America was the food ^_^. They've already toured in Europe, the US and - of course - their home country, Japan; they have yet to go in Australia, which Kaoru thinks would be a 'great place to go in the future'

Sadly, because of Kyo's laryngitis he was again hospitalized again in July, and the band had to postpone a concerts in Japan. He sent a cellphone message to his fans when he was in the hospital: 'You were worried about me, right? I'm almost healed. Thank you.' Fortunately he got better and a few weeks later in early August the band were able to join Korn, Deftones and other bands during the Family Values Tour 2006 across the US.
Not long before that, they've released the 凌辱の雨 (Ryoujoku no Ame) single (their first release in over 9 months).

Before the release of the single Agitated Screams of Maggots, the band performed at Loudpark Festival (Saitama Super Arena, Japan) in October, along with Slayer, Megadeth, Napalm Death, Backyard Babies and Within Temptation. The PV for their song "Saku" was named the number 1 video of 2006 by MTV2's Headbanger's Ball.

The cover art and the animated video for Agitated Screams of Maggots was done by director Keita Kurosaka [Fuyu no Hi, Winter Days]. In Japan, it was rejected, and didn't appear on TV. Despite that, it was among the entries of the 2007 International Film Festival in Rotterdam.

They made their much-anticipated return to America as part of their 07-INWARD SCREAM tour. The 17 shows took place over the course of February. Their shows introduced two new bands, Bleed the Dream and Fair to Midland. After Dir en grey's sixth album The Marrow of a Bone was released in February 7, they went touring in Japan in March and April; to the US with Deftones in June and early July; and to Europe in August including Wacken Open Air- (Germany), Ankkarock- (Finland), M'era Luna- (Germany) and Metal Hammer (Poland) festivals.

The group began another tour, named after their newest single, Dozing Green. Started in September from Japan, and continuing in Europe: UK, Finland, France, along with their first performance in the Netherlands and Switzerland. At the end of November, they performed two shows with Linking Park in the Saitama Super Arena; in December, they began their TOUR07 THE MARROW OF A BONE with "10 Years" as a support act. On December 19th, two compilation albums, Decade 1998-2002 and Decade 2003-2007 were released to commemorate Dir en grey's tenth anniversary as a band.

In the first half of 2008, the band worked on their new album, and continued on DEATH OVER BLINDNESS tour in May. They performed on the Hide Memorial Summit on May 4, along with other long-known Japanese bands like X-Japan, Luna Sea, MUCC, D'espairsRay and many others.