Upon the release of Life Cycle, Sakerock performed a tour in western Japan and held shows at the Club Quattro live house, which was compiled onto the DVD Gūzen no Kiroku in November 2005.

Sakerock was formed in October 2000 by students of the Jiyu no Mori Gakuen Junior and Senior High School [ja] in Hannō, Saitama, at the initiative of frontman and guitarist Gen Hoshino.

[1][2] It initially consisted of Hoshino, drummer Daichi Itō, bassist Kei Tanaka, and keyboardist Takuji Nomura, who would gather at a classical music cafe in Nakano, Tokyo.

[4][5] Before performing live, Sakerock produced one hundred copies of an eponymous demo album in 2002 in collaboration with Mihoko Kamimura of the band Momonashi [ja] for vocals, which were placed over melodies based on keyboards and the traditional Japanese kokyū.

[13][14] Hiro Murao, editing an interview with Sakerock for Bounce magazine, described the album as "foot-worked funk beats" and "drunken jazz", with feelings of punk and pop.

[16][17] Life Cycle did not appear on the Oricon Albums Chart dated within its week of release, indicating having sold less than the 647 copies of 300th place's Atarashiki Nihongo Rock no Michi to Hikari (2003) by Sambomaster.

[18] Despite the lack of commercial success, the album received warm reviews from Japanese music critics, who complimented its style and noted the mixture of genres.

The staff of CDJournal called it a high quality sound encompassing jazz, funk, exotica, mondo (Italian for "world"), and American roots.

Summarizing the band's atmosphere as "four drunkards", they described the album as pleasant jazz and Latin grooves, mixed with comical scatting and dull horns.

[13] Writing for Bounce, reviewer Takao Kito praised the album as showcasing a range of musicality, whilst remaining true to the instrumental genre at its core.

[8] In the site's profile of the band, the staff of Natalie.mu wrote that Sakerock's appearances in media rose with the album's release and audience for their live performances grew.