One of Japan’s biggest rock stars, Yoshiki, has directed his first music video, which he opted to shoot in 3D using a handheld camera provided by Panasonic.
Yoshiki It’s but one of the many new creative endeavors the multi-talented artist is undertaking, most of which are aimed at broadening his profile in Hollywood. That endeavor landed him prominently in the pages of the Los Angeles Times with a profile of the artist in July.
Twenty-eight years after co-founding X Japan, which would become one of the most popular rock bands in Japan in the 1990s with sales of more than 30 million records and videos, 44-year old Yoshiki Hayashi would like American audiences to discover the band.
That is why X Japan, which reunited in 2007 after a ten-year hiatus and played the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago last month, is launching a seven-city North American tour today in Los Angeles that will include stops in Oakland, Seattle, Vancouver, Chicago, and Toronto before winding up in New York on Oct. 10.
“Debuting in the U.S. was always our plan, so finally we can start doing it,” the artist known simply as Yoshiki told HollywoodInHiDef.com / 3DHollywood.net Friday in a telephone interview.
But Yoshiki is also interested in directing and composing Hollywood film scores for movies such as his favorite “Twilight” franchise. “Completely, that’s my goal,” he said. “I don’t always want to be known as somebody with crazy hair; I want the music to become popular.”
In July he undertook the challenge of helming the video of a new song called “Born to be Free” from the band’s upcoming album slated for early 2011, and then intensified the first-time experience with the added complications of 3D production for the video in which he was also performing. “It was difficult; I was trying not to make people too dizzy,” he said. Even more virgin territory lies ahead for Yoshiki when he begins editing the video in 3D after the tour ends in October. “I like challenge,” he concluded. He is unsure where or when the 3D video will premiere, saying it may depend on how many homes have 3D TVs by the time it is finished and ready for release to help promote next year’s album.
The band, including co-founding vocalist Toshimitsu “Toshi” Deyama, is used to massive audiences in Japan, where they played to 65,000 fans two nights in a row last month at giant Nissan stadium.
Yoshiki, who plays drums and piano and does most of the song writing, said Friday he is expecting about 2,000 people at the Wiltern Theatre tonight. “We have not played to a crowd that size in many years,” he said, “but it will be fun because it will be more intimate.”
Having collaborated with other artists such as Queen drummer Roger Taylor and Beatles producer George Martin, and having produced several bands through his Extasy Records, Yoshiki is anxious to tackle some new frontiers, such as expanding on his experience composing a movie score for the little-seen 2007 horror film “Catacombs,” by writing for a major Hollywood production.
“Completely, that’s part of my goal. I would love to do that for the future,” he said, citing Hans Zimmer as one of his favorite movie composers. “Doesn’t he do everything?” Yoshiki said of the composer of more than 125 scores, including prominent and diverse movies ranging from “Rain Man,” “Black Rain,” “Driving Miss Daisy,” “Days of Thunder,” and “The Lion King” to “Gladiator,” “Pearl Harbor” “The Last Samurai,” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “The Dark Knight,” and “Inception.”
X Japan’s single “I.V.” produced in 2007 for “Saw IV,” only whet Yoshiki’s appetite even further, as did a multi-million dollar live performance of the X Japan song “Jade” in January high atop the Kodak Theater in the Hollywood & Highland complex with more than seven thousand screaming fans on Hollywood Boulevard below.
“It was very exciting but at the same time I was kind of nervous,” Yoshiki said in reference to the plexiglas stage that jutted out over the street and through which he could see the street and throngs of fans immediately below him.
His plans for directing and composing are on hold for the moment. For the next 2 ½ weeks, Yoshiki’s focus is on the North American tour. But will there come a time, perhaps in his 50s, when he will want to solely focus on film scores and his more classical oriented piano music?
“I do not want to give up rock music,” he said. “I enjoy doing a combination of many things.” But after a slight pause and a chuckle, he added, “When I become 70, I may become only a classical composer.”
Saturday night, X Japan will play live at The Wiltern. It will be the band's first full concert in Los Angeles ever. This is despite the fact that the band initially formed in the early 1980s and went on to become one of Japan's greatest rock acts, launching the visual kei movement in the process.
Though Saturday's gig is the first date of X Japan's North American tour, the band made their official Stateside live debut earlier this summer at Lollapalooza. (Jonathan McNamara of our sister paper Phoenix New Times was at Lollapalooza and wrote brilliantly about it in "X Japan Is the Biggest Rock Band in Their Homeland -- Can They Finally Break Through in the States?")
"That gave us confidence to keep going," said founding member Yoshiki, who plays drums and piano as well as writes much of the band's music, of the festival performance when we spoke on the phone last week. "Towards the end, the people tripled or quadrupled."
Though easily described as a metal band, probably the best way to get an idea of X Japan's sound and performance style is to hear Yoshiki talk about his early influences.
"I like KISS when I was a kid," he said. "David Bowie. There was a band called Japan from England. I liked those bands, musically and how they looked as well. Also, I liked some punk."
He continued, "I think the combination of those things inspired us."
X Japan may have a lot of hard-edged guitar riffs, but the band is also melodic with orchestral elements. They are visually arresting with a gothic-inspired appearance. That Yoshiki has collaborated on a clothing line with popular Japanese designer H. Naoto and has his own jewelry line should come as no surprise. The band is well-known not just for its sound, but for its on stage style, and the visual kei groups that followed owe a lot to X Japan for bring such dramatic looks to hard rock arena stages.
X Japan broke up in the late 1990s, after years of success in their native county, and the surviving members (guitarist Hide died in 1998) reunited a decade later. Still, it took another few years for them to launch a tour of the U.S. and Canada.
In the beginning of 2010, it had become obvious that X Japan would be making a play for a larger U.S. audience than the already diehard one they had acquired over the decades. Back in January, they filmed four music videos between downtown Los Angeles and Hollywood. Photographer Shannon Cottrell and I were invited to step behind-the-scenes at the Los Angeles Theatre. (See "Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Peek of X Japan's Video Shoot for 'Jade'" and "Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Photos of X Japan's Video Shoot".) The response from fans on the blog post was incredible, just one of many signs that people wanted to see more of X Japan.
For X Japan, though, the wave of recent promotion hasn't simply been through music outlets. Last May, the film Yoshiki History Through X Japan screened at Anime Central in Illinois. Later in the summer, members of the band appeared at Otakon, a major U.S. anime convention held annually in Baltimore,
On July 1, The Yoshiki Foundation America, which raises funds to bring music to ailing children, held an event adjacent to Anime Expo that featured a fashion show from Yoshiki's line with H. Naoto as well as a brief acoustic set from the band. We were at the event and it was packed largely with people who had attended the anime convention earlier that day.
In the U.S., the connection between X Japan and anime fans is undeniable.
"We have the same fan base," says Yoshiki of his band and anime cons. "[Anime fans] are very special. They are very passionate and enthusiastic. So, we would love to have more of those fans."
Yoshiki also noted that he is "working on several animation projects," though he can't reveal what those are yet.
(Trivia: In our interview, Yoshiki said he watches series like One Piece, Naruto and Bleach.)
X Japan is by no means a band whose biggest appeal is to anime fans, though. Like many other Japanese musicians, they've been able to make inroads through the convention scene, where thousands (and, in many cases, tens of thousands) of young people are gathered. The crowd already has an established interest in Japanese pop culture. They're also as tech-savvy as they are passionate. For X Japan, it was the fans who ultimately helped spread the word through blogs, social networking sites and online forums. In mixing convention appearances with a major festival show and now a tour, the band has sparked a cross-fandom buzz that has made tomorrow night's show one of the most anticipated music events of the year.
Japanese power-metal titans X Japan have long reigned as one of the most important hard-rock acts in Asia, selling more than 30 million albums over the last 22 years and filling the 50,000-seated Tokyo Dome 18 times. But the veteran rockers aren’t satisfied. On September 25, X Japan will embark on their first North American tour. The band will also release their first album in North America early in 2011. X Japan drummer Yoshiki sits down with Revolver to fill us in about the tour.
REVOLVER X Japan have seen huge success in Asia. Is it frustrating to come to a country where you have to play much smaller venues? YOSHIKI Actually, it's very exciting. When we first started, we had to go through that process to become a big artist and we can do that again. Not many artists can do that twice! Also, we can't play places this small, with this kind of intimate vibe, anymore in Japan without creating some sort of security craziness but we get that again here, and that's great. So we are looking forward to doing that.
Other Japanese bands, like Dir En Grey, have tried to make the jump to American audiences. Why are you confident that X Japan can succeed in America? You know, I produced the debut album for Dir En Grey. They are very good friends of mine and they came to our show in Japan about a month ago. OK, why am I confident? It's a combination of a lot of different reasons. First of all, I have been living here [in Los Angeles] for more than 10 years. I didn't just come from Japan to go into a new market. I wouldn't say I know completely but I kind of know what's going on here. Also, it's the same thing, when we debuted in Japan. We are very different. Now it's called Visual-Kei, but back then, with our look, we were like an unknown monster. Back then the Japanese scene was very 'poppy.' There weren't many heavy, hard rock bands; maybe a total of three. The biggest rock band at that time was called Loudness, who sold maybe 50,000, but I said, "I want to sell a million copies, I want to sell out the Tokyo Dome with 50,000 seats." People thought I was crazy. People asked me, "Why do you think you can make it?" There was no reason. I just think we can do it.
Can you learn anything from the other bands that have tried? Yes. I would not say anything bad about any other band but I would say that the look and hype is secondary. The most important thing is the music. And we do have a strong music background. We are very confident about our music. Of course, all of those other things help, but even though X Japan has had tons of hype, that might be helping, but X Japan is all about music.
How do you think your musical style fits in with the current American rock scene? Our musical style never fits anywhere, anytime, so it doesn't matter. In the Japanese scene or the American scene, our style doesn't fit, and at the same time, fits anywhere.
What do you think American audiences can gain the most from your live performances? Our passion for music, something you have never seen or heard.
You’ve lived in Los Angeles and speak English. What advantages do you have in your attempt to conquer America? I've been living in Los Angeles, but I don't speak English fluently. Both [vocalist] Toshi and I are still learning. It's not easy to sing in English and speak in English, but we are really trying and will get better and better, I promise. But I've been living here for a while and I listen to the radio and see the TV, so that gives us a little advantage. I know the culture better. I know In-N-Out Burger.
X Japan’s first American release is set to come out early in 2011. How did writing lyrics in English affect the creative process? In the last five or six years, I've been writing all new songs only in English. So with new songs, it's no problem. But 50 percent of the songs on the new album are some of X Japan's greatest hits, which were originally written in Japanese, so translating from Japanese to English is the hardest. For some reason, English needs more words, so I had to almost rewrite lyrics but keep the same message. That was the difficult part. The thing is, since living here, I dream in English. I had neck surgery and when I was under the anesthesia, my doctor told me I was talking. I asked him if I was talking in English or Japanese, and he said English. So even when I dream, I dream in English, so it's easier for me to write English lyrics.
Yoshiki, the drummer and pianist. Toshi, the vocalist. It seems they are now a mutant hybrid.
Their tour will truly be interesting.
Also, Dir en grey have changed to Dir en gray, oh the fans shall be confused.
Enjoy the sarcasm. Revolver, I love you, but check the facts before you publish things.
Phe - September 23, 2010
TOSHIKI!!
HE’S BIGGER THAN GODZILLA!
Flip - September 23, 2010
↑コイツは何が言いたいんだｗｗｗ
Toshiki!? WTH? As otherS have already stated Yoshiki is the Drummer/ Band Leader and ToshI is the vocalist! Please correct this error. X Japan is an amazing band and they deserve respect!
WE ARE X!!!!
Wakyan - September 23, 2010
Whoa, come down everyone… it’s obviously a typo mistake. Anyone notice how the T is next to the Y on a keyboard?
Great article, keep it up!
Hobo - September 23, 2010
Yoshiki is the pianist and drummer, Toshi is the vocalist! What, did you guys even check their site?
If they look like “Toshiki” rather than “Toshi and Yoshiki,” maybe you chose a bad time for your interview and would do better in the paparazzi biz. Or the Yaoi biz.
seth0et0holth - September 23, 2010 ↑Yaoi？ｗｗｗｗｗTOSHI×YOSHIKIでTOSHIKIって言いたいんかいｗｗｗ そういうのはだな、TOSHIKIと言わずだな…とｓｒｙ(自粛)
Given how many of X Japan’s spiritual offspring have already stuck their toes into the American market, it’s only fitting that the originals are finally going to follow.
The band, which has sold 30 million CDs and DVDs since its debut in 1982, kicks off its first North American tour at the Fox Theater on September 28th.
The original members of X are the godfathers of the Japanese musical scene known as visual kei. An amalgamation of power metal and hard rock with strong classical influences, and a look that’s part goth, part glam rock, and part French Baroque. It’s a quite distinctly Japanese phenomenon that has picked up followers from all over the world.
Fans from X’s early days might barely recognize drummer Yoshiki, who spoke to us in English from his home in LA, where he’s lived for a decade now. Long gone is the guy who looked like Marie Antoinette’s cross-dressing brother, rolling around on the floor in a wedding dress and sky-high hair (though his stylistic influence lives on in bands like Versailles). In fact, all of the members of X have gotten a modern update — they’re sleeker now, more streamlined, and they’re ready to relaunch for real.
“I think there’s a reason we got reunited,” Yoshiki says. “The vocalist and I, we grew up together, and then we went our separate ways about 10 years ago. A few years ago we started talking to each other again. It was also partly demand from our fans.”
Those fans never forgot about X, even during all the long years they were gone. Last month’s Tokyo shows drew a combined audience of more 100,000 people over two nights, and it wasn’t all fans from the old days either.
“I would say more than 50% of the people were a new generation,” Yoshiki says.
The band was also a big draw at Lollapalooza this year. “At the beginning there were maybe 3,000 or 5,000 people, and towards the end I’d say maybe 15,000,” Yoshiki says. “They were all jumping and screaming our band name. It seems like we attracted some people who don’t really know us, but somehow we connected.”
There’s a definite sense that X finally making its American debut is a milestone of sorts. The big question is how long it will last, given Yoshiki’s ongoing health issues (he played the Lollapalooza show in a neck brace) and the reality that the band couldn’t possibly exist without him.
“Physically I’m not in that good a condition because I had neck surgery about a year ago,” he says. He also has a herniated disk and constant numbness in his left hand to contend with, but so far it doesn’t seem to be quashing his determination.
“I knew that it would be coming”, he says. “I played very hard, banging the drum set, for a long time. I had this problem almost ten years ago. I don’t know how to feel about that to be honest with you. It may seem silly, but hopefully I’ll last for the next five years or so.”
This new revamped version of X also features guitarist Sugizo from Luna Sea and Juno Reactor, perhaps the only man brave enough to step into the shoes of former X guitarist Hide. Although there was bound to be some kickback from fans about whoever was selected for the role, given how beloved Hide was — multiple X fans in Japan committed suicide upon hearing the news of his death — they seem to have accepted Sugizo as the best possible replacement.
The only question now is how are they going to find time to get anything done? In addition to X, Yoshiki is composing tracks for two movies and working with side project Violet UK, as well as writing classical music.
“Well, we’re not doing 365 days a year,” Yoshiki says. “Also, I’m doing some things as a producer, so I have a lot of things going on as well, so it kind of works. I think it’s kind of healthy rather than doing only one thing. Think about it, there are a lot of rap artists who do collaborations featuring somebody.”
If there’s one thing you can say about Yoshiki it’s that he’s versatile. He produced the first album for metal underground sensation Dir en grey, one of the few Japanese bands to really be making inroads into the American market, and he knows just about all of the younger visual kei bands who’ve been tentatively dipping their toes into the American market.
“They’re kind of like my family,” he says. With a sweet, engaging personality and a face that’s still disconcertingly youthful, it’s easy to forget just how important this man is to the Japanese music industry, but make no mistake — in terms of the visual kei, there’s no one more influential or well respected. Anyone who’s at all interested in the status of Japanese rock in the U.S. will be paying very close attention to how this tour goes.
“We’re going to do a tour next year, so right now, in the beginning, we’re just kind of experimenting,” he says. If this initial experiment goes well you can expect to hear a lot more about X Japan, and the general public’s willingness to accept them may well provide a very interesting gauge of what the future holds for Japanese bands in America.
X Japan performs at the Fox Theater on September 28th. Tickets are $37.50 and the show starts at 8pm.
X Japan: Glam-Metal Legends Set to Conquer North America by: Angela Zimmerman
X Japan is one of the biggest bands in the world, and I mean that literally. If you aren’t familiar with X Japan, here are a few things worth knowing: They have sold 30 million units worldwide. (30 million!) They hold the attendance record for selling out the 55,000-seat Tokyo Dome 18 times. (18 times!) The founding members Toshiki Hayashi and Toshi Deyama have known each other since they were four years old. (Four years old!) In the late ’80s, they pioneered a highly influential, stylistic movement called Visual Kei. After playing a riotous set at their first-ever US show at Lollapalooza last month, X Japan is about to embark on their inaugural American tour, which will commence this Saturday, September 25th at Los Angeles’ Wiltern Theatre and and hit small venues in select cities, giving previously uninitiated fans an opportunity to see this famed glam-inflected metal-rock band play live in an intimate capacity.
Later this year, X Japan are going to release their first album in 14 years. It will also be their first album written in English. Despite the whirlwind schedule of such a high profile musician, Yoshiki found the time to talk to Crawdaddy! and offer insight into all sorts of things that make him and his band such an enduring phenomenon.
Crawdaddy!: Lollapalooza was your first ever US gig. Tell me about that experience.
Yoshiki Hayashi: We were very excited to play that festival. Also, we were a little nervous because we didn’t know what kind of reaction we would get. But appearing at Lollapalooza gave us more confidence, because… of course, there were some of X Japan’s loyal fans [in attendance], but towards the end, people in the audience doubled, tripled, quadrupled, so [for] those people who came towards the end of our show, this was the first time they had seen X Japan, and they even started singing—they might not have known what they were singing—but they started singing. And that was very moving, thinking that music really can break through barriers. And at the same time, I thought, “X Japan just might work.” So Lollapalooza gave us a lot of confidence.
Crawdaddy!: In regards to new listeners: Can you discern a difference in the American response to your music, as opposed to the reception you get in Japan?
Yoshiki: Yes and no, because people in Japan already know who X Japan is, but here in America, people say “X Japan, who’s that?” But I’ve believed from the get-go, and still believe, that music has no boundaries, that we can still touch people’s hearts.
Crawdaddy!: Is there a city or venue you are most excited to play on your forthcoming US tour?
Yoshiki: Well, every single venue! Of course, Los Angeles, because I’ve been living here more than 10 years so it’s like playing my home town. Also Chicago, because that was the first appearance we did in America, and also New York—I used to live there for a little while. Also, Canada because I have friends there, and of course San Francisco, because I did a video shoot there with Roger Taylor from Queen.
Crawdaddy!: When is the last time you’ve played to crowds of under 10,000?
Yoshiki: We did one show in Japan about two years ago where we played to about 2,000 people, but we broadcast the show to the movie theaters throughout Japan so probably 100,000 people saw the show. It was a special show… but a normal show with under 10,000 people? Maybe 15 years ago.
Crawdaddy!: What are some emotions you’re feeling in regards to adapting your set to a new, foreign audience?
Yoshiki: It’s a big challenge that at the same time makes me want to do even more. But it’s a good challenge. We did the same thing when we first started X Japan in Japan; every day was a challenge, but we did it. Now, we have more confidence than we did when we first started.
Crawdaddy!: What are some of the methods you use to manage the stress and pace of a grueling tour schedule?
Yoshiki: We didn’t manage this well at all the first time, which is part of why we broke up! So this time, I don’t know yet!
Crawdaddy!: How will the production of your show adapt to theater setups as compared to huge stadiums like you are used to in Japan?
Yoshiki: We are going to play with the same energy level, or even more, because we won’t have the help of the biggest lighting or the biggest pyrotechnics, so we’ll want to express ourselves even stronger. These shows will be more about the music than the production. It’s like going back to basics; you don’t have that much help from the production side, but we are very confident.
Crawdaddy!: You have filled a 55,000 person dome 18 times. After literally getting as big as it gets, tell me how you keep your live show fresh and dynamic.
Yoshiki: A writer once asked me, “Why don’t you do 50 shows throughout America? Why only these seven?” I said to him that we would do that if we could, but we put our entire energy into every single show. Our stage is almost suicidal; we don’t think about the next day when we are performing. It’s almost like the show we are doing is our last moment; when we play, we play like there’s no tomorrow, every single show. Also, our shows depend on the audience’s reaction; we change the menu [set list]. We did this at Lollapalooza—we had one ballad we were set to play next, but I was feeling the audience’s reaction—they wanted a harder song, so I cut the ballad and we went to the heavier song. So, I changed the menu at that moment, and the rest of the band—they are so great; and the production people, they are also so great—we changed the set just like that, during the show, and everyone knew what to do. So, at an X Japan show, we are not just performing, we are creating the show at that moment together with the audience. What we perform is based on how the audience is reacting. That’s how we keep our live shows fresh.
Crawdaddy!: What are the band’s musical influences?
Yoshiki: Everyone came from very different backgrounds… Toshi, the vocalist, liked very mellow, traditional Japanese music, or something like Simon & Garfunkel, something like that. Pata, the guitar player, he’s classic rock, like Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa. Then Sugizo, the other guitar player, he likes trance music, more British new wave, like the band called Japan. Then Heath the bass player likes Rage Against the Machine. My background is classical music and combinations of all kinds of music. That makes X Japan.
Crawdaddy!: Tell me about Visual-Kei and how you pioneered that movement.
Yoshiki: These days, when people think of Visual-Kei, they think of how we looked in the beginning, very flamboyant, crazy make-up and androgynistic, that’s part of the Visual-Kei thing. But at the same time, Visual Kei is all about freedom in the way you describe yourself. When we started X Japan, we were in the category of speed metal, like Slayer, but it was a big no-no for bands like that to put make-up on. I didn’t like the idea that people were making all of these laws about what you could do in your band. I hated everything, so I did everything the opposite of what the “laws” were, and part of that was Visual-Kei. In terms of style, I liked Kiss, I liked David Bowie, I liked Sex Pistols, we had influences from Japan like Kabuki, so we were a combination of everything when it came to the look. When it came to the spirit, it was just us, the freedom of doing whatever you want. That’s what rock should be, but somehow, people made laws and they got stuck in those laws. I wanted to break those laws, and that’s how Visual-Kei came to be.
Crawdaddy!: What are your thoughts on ticket distribution here in the US?
Yoshiki: I don’t know, we’re just doing the first tour, so maybe I’ll know much more after several tours!
Crawdaddy!: Tell me about the process of making your forthcoming, first English language record.
Yoshiki: We’ve always wanted to make an English album, and growing up in Japan, it wasn’t easy. But making an album in English is part of our dream. We tried, before we broke up 12 years ago, but we couldn’t finish it. Now, we have a great reason to make an English album, due to the support we have from fans all over the world. I’m the only member who lives in America at this moment, and I have a studio in Los Angeles. Now with the internet, we can hook my LA studio up with our studio in Tokyo. The other members did come into Los Angeles to record, and when I was in Tokyo last month, I did some recording there, but about 80% was done in my Los Angeles studio.
Crawdaddy!: You’ve known your bandmates since you were a very young child. Tell me about the process of evolving your band together and the challenges your friendship has faced.
Yoshiki: There’s a fine line between the friendship and doing the band. Doing the band is much different… you spend more time with the band than you do with your actual family, and the band becomes as important as your actual family. Toshi and I grew up together; I met him when I was four years old in kindergarten. If I had the answer to this, we wouldn’t have broken up before. We learned things the hard way. When we broke up [in 1997] Toshi and I went our separate ways. We didn’t speak for seven years. I took for granted how great he was, because he was always beside me. After we reunited, X Japan [in 2007], I finally realized how great a vocalist he is, after seven years apart. All of us in the band are now closer than we’ve ever been before. X Japan is like a family, not just a music project.
Crawdaddy!: Which X Japan album would you recommend for the first-time listener?
Yoshiki: The upcoming album, for sure. That’s going to be the best X Japan album ever. Making X Japan albums in the past, I’d hear the same songs in the studio, over and over and over again, and I got to the point where I just didn’t want to listen to the songs ever again. But this album—even hearing the songs on it maybe 2,000 times—I’m confident this is our best album, this is the one people should hear.
Crawdaddy!: Do you have other creative projects/endeavors in the works? Film, gallery shows, graphic art, video game, etc?
Yoshiki: Pretty much everything! I’m working on a soundtrack for an animated feature that will be released next spring, there is a game project I’m working on, I’m producing a fashion show in Japan. I’m doing a lot of things.
Check out Yoshiki’s North American tour message [at youtube.com]
Before the start of X JAPAN's North American tour, JaME was able to hold an interview and received a video message from band leader YOSHIKI.
On September 25th, X JAPAN will kick off their North American tour, which will take them to seven cities in the USA and Canada. JaME was lucky to be one of the few media to be granted an intimate interview with YOSHIKI, the mastermind behind X JAPAN, for a little warm up for the tour.
We recently heard that you were having some health problems. How are you feeling today? Are you better?
YOSHIKI: I don't think I have health problems, I think I'm just exhausted. (laughs)
X JAPAN has finally performed in the USA with Lollapalooza. How do you feel about finally being able to tour the country?
YOSHIKI: It was a very special moment because it has been our dream to perform outside of Japan. Performing at the Lollapalooza festival gave us more confidence because while we were performing, the audience grew to a few thousand people. So finally touring the US, this is part of our dream, so everyone is excited. And a little bit nervous!
How do you feel about playing in smaller venues here in the US?
YOSHIKI: Actually, we like that. (laughs) When we perform in Japan, it's such a big venue, but we feel like we have to go back to the basics. Although we are having a fresh start in the US, we don't have to start from the very bottom and perform at small clubs. For a few thousand people, that's great. We won't have that much lighting or such, but we can go back to the basics.
The American audience would definitely appreciate the smaller venue because it will be a more intimate show for them.
YOSHIKI: Yes, we'll be able to see the audience's faces. (laughs)
Besides the fans reactions and concert etiquette, is playing in the US very different from Japan?
YOSHIKI: In the US, we only performed at Lollapalooza. It was great, they were very passionate and supportive. So we're going to find out more as the tour progresses. However, in the US, we won't really have the luxury we have in Japan. In Japan, we have so many people working for us that every single detail is taken care of. Of course we do as much as we can, but maybe this will be rougher. Also, come to think of it, we haven't toured in a very long time. Not even in Japan; we usually only do stadium shows in Tokyo. Yeah, it's very exciting. Since we'll be going back to the basics, we'll really be able to rock easily.
The X JAPAN tour is covering all the major cities, but you're mainly staying to the west and east coasts. Why weren't there any scheduled in between, such as in Texas?
YOSHIKI: I would love to go to Texas! You see this is our first step. If this tour is successful then we're going to go to more venues next year. It's more experimenting, like how it'll happen then we'll tour more next year.
X JAPAN is a very popular band. Considering that artists such as MIYAVI and Dir en grey have toured the USA, does that give you more confidence that this tour will be more successful?
YOSHIKI: Yes and no. MIYAVI and Dir en grey are great bands, great artists. X JAPAN may be much bigger in Japan, but that doesn't mean we'll be much bigger here in the US. In the US, we have to start from zero. Well, no, we don't have to start from zero, we do have supporters, but we do have to start from the basics again. But at the same time, we'll be performing in the US, which is great!
Something we noticed is that in interviews you mostly mention ToshI, SUGIZO and HIDE. But what about PATA and HEATH? How are they doing? How are they coping with the upcoming tour?
YOSHIKI: They're very excited. I just got back from Tokyo yesterday, but I was recording with HEATH and PATA last week in Japan. They're very excited. (laughs) They have very calm personalities so... (laughs)
We know that you're going to release a new studio album. Are there any new updates about it? How will it differ from older X JAPAN releases that we all know so well?
YOSHIKI: We're still recording it, but I would say we're about 90% done. We're still finishing it. Well, 50% of it will be older X JAPAN songs, and the other 50% will be newer songs. I don't know; it might be edgier. I would say edgier.
The older X JAPAN songs, are you re-recording them?
YOSHIKI: Yes, but we're just re-recording the vocals for some of the songs.
Other than the member changes, what are some of the main differences between X JAPAN now and twenty years ago?
YOSHIKI: Hmm. We are older. (laughs) That doesn't mean we act more calm or anything like that though. We may be older, but we're still kids at heart.
X JAPAN has been regarded in a negative way by some people due to cancellations and changes of plans. How do you deal with the negative feedback?
YOSHIKI: Well, we did have a lot of problems. We had a problem with our management. Also we had problems with our health. Unfortunately, what's done is done. For some people, especially those in France, I sincerely apologize that we had to cancel our performances so many times. Also countries like South Korea. But we're going to start all over again; we hired new management. I can't guarantee our health, but we're going to try to take as much care of our health as we can. We're not going to disappoint you this time. We are looking forward to seeing our fans.
You are practically a household name to fans in Japan as well as many other various parts of the world. How will you approach the mainstream US market?
YOSHIKI: I guess there isn't a shortcut. So we're just going to do what we did in Japan. We're just going to rock hard. (laughs)
There are so many new, successful bands in Japan who also have many overseas fans. How do you compete with them?
YOSHIKI: Well... we're just going to have to compete with them. (laughs) Yeah, there are a lot of great bands.
There is a photo of you meeting with the late Michael Jackson and you were also recently compared to U2's Bono. Among such artists you've worked with or met, who has been the most influential to you?
YOSHIKI: Well, I don't know. Those are very big names. Like Michael Jackson was very inspirational. I've met a lot of great bands in Japan. It doesn't have to be a very huge name. A lot of artists I've met were very inspirational to me, not just huge names.
Looking back at X JAPAN's extensive career, do you have any regrets?
YOSHIKI: Interesting question. (thinks) I don't know. I don't actually know if I have any. I may have, but I cannot go back or I can't remember. I don't know. I wanted to come to come here, to tour outside of Japan with hide. So it's not a regret, but just sad. But at the same time I feel like we're doing this together. Actually a few weeks ago, I visited his grave to tell him that we were doing this together.
Considering you have an eclectic repertoire, here's a fun question: You were involved with the 2008 American film "Repo: The Genetic Opera." How was it working on a musical?
YOSHIKI: It was very interesting and at the same time was very hard. I had to produce every single song and some of the songs were coming from singers who didn't have a singing background. It was very hard work, but at the same time it was very interesting. The movie itself was very different. A very fun kind of movie.
Lastly, will you please give a final message to your waiting audience?
YOSHIKI: We are very excited to start touring the US. Hopefully, it will go well. To those who are in the places we can't tour this time and those in Europe and Asia, we are going to start all over again. So I'm really looking forward to performing and meeting you guys.
Yoshiki Hayashi, drummer and creative mastermind behind Japan's biggest rock band, X Japan, is calm amid the chaos in the VIP Room at L.A.'s Club Nokia, where he is both directing and starring in the video for his band's upcoming single, "Born to Be Free." He floats past a horde of extras dressed in Hot Topic Goth and stops to examine a skyscraping woman in black vinyl leggings, her face pancaked in white foundation. He says, "The corset on the vampire needs to be tighter." No sooner does a P.A. give the corset's three belts a good yank, prompting its wearer to gasp for air, than another one approaches Yoshiki with two pairs of fangs, and offers, "This one's more jagged, this one's a little sexier." The story line calls for the vampire-cum-dominatrix to track down Yoshiki in a crowded nightclub and to sink one of these into his neck. Yoshiki studies the fangs intently. "I'll take the sexy ones," he says.
Since the 1980s, X Japan has sold more than 30 million records and packed out the Tokyo Dome 18 times, comfortably eclipsing Bon Jovi. (And you know Bon Jovi is Big in Japan.) Now, with their first-ever U.S. tour kicking off this month, to be followed by an English-language album due early next year, X Japan's legendary frontman—who endorses a plethora of products, from energy drinks to a credit card bearing his likeness; who even has his very own Hello Kitty doll, the Yoshikitty—is plotting his American rawk offensive. "Born to Be Free," which blends operatic Freddie Mercury-like vocals with the propulsive force of Metallica circa ... And Justice for All, is his opening salvo.
And yet the song still needed tweaking as recently as 4 a.m. this morning, and after 18 hours of shooting at Club Nokia, Yoshiki's lack of sleep is starting to show. Wearing tight black pants, a white wife-beater, and oversized aviators, Yoshiki settles into the director's chair and calls "Action!" The vampire, seething with anger and lust, strides purposefully through the packed club, pushing people out of the way; she's bearing sexy fangs, she's looking for Yoshiki... who, though he isn't supposed to be in this shot, suddenly bounds out of his chair without saying cut, quickly getting the rapt attention of the DP. "The shove at the end needs to be more dramatic and forceful," he says. The shot is restaged. Then, when the song starts up again over the set's sound system, Yoshiki's face looks stricken. "It's the fucking wrong version!" he screams. The sound man looks on helplessly as Yoshiki cues up the right one. "This is it," he says, punctuating his words with a jab at the button.
It seems like everywhere you look on set, there's a rock cliché being used without irony: leather-clad band members; women dancing in elevated cages; cannons shooting off pyrotechnics. Later, while reclining in a makeup chair in his dressing room, Yoshiki acknowledges that X Japan may become critical laughingstocks. "If they want to nail us to the ground, nail us," he says with a shrug. "We were always the black sheep in Japan. No one thought we could go mainstream. But we did. And now we're ready to rock the world."
Yoshiki turns 45 in November, and if he wants to become a worldly rock god, it had better happen soon. "I feel like I'm a time bomb," he says. "Besides, I've always wanted to conquer the U.S. Why not now?"
It probably can't go any worse than his first attempt. In the early nineties, after rising to the top of the charts in their homeland with hit songs like "Stab Me in the Back," "Endless Rain" and "Sadistic Desire," X Japan set their sights on the United States—first by changing their name from "X" (they didn't want to get mixed up with the L.A. punk band), then by signing a multi-million-dollar deal with Atlantic Records and holding an elaborate press conference at the Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Center. But the high-concept album that followed, Art of Life—comprising a single track inspired by Schubert's unfinished Symphony #8—held no appeal for an American teenaged public that had just been punched in the face (and liked it) by Nirvana's Nevermind. Then there was X Japan's wild, androgynous look, which, despite having spawned the popular, equal parts cute and threatening Visual Kei movement (which in turn would help launch the anime craze), only made them seem more out of touch. "None of us spoke the language then," Yoshiki recalls. "It's one thing to cultivate mystery, but it's completely different when you're mysterious only because you can't communicate properly."
Today the barriers to translation may not be as great, as social-networking tools have made it easier for bands to communicate directly with their fanbase. (While he professes no interest in Facebook or MySpace, Yoshiki finally opened a Twitter account during the run-up to X Japan's U.S. concert debut at Lollapalooza in early August—and garnered more than 12,000 followers in less than 12 hours.) Another reason for optimism lies in a larger cultural shift, wherein Japanese artists have proved ever-more adept at appropriating bits and pieces of American culture and returning them in new and exciting forms. "We're in an age of mashups, fan sites, bit torrents and YouTube," says Roland Kelts, author of Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S. "A culture that mastered the art of imitating and copying original ideas is right in tune with the 21st century."
The Gap begets Uniqlo, Disney begets anime. And now the cycle of appropriation is starting to go in the other direction. "Japan has always been a source of great inspiration to me, and X Japan is a big part of that," says My Chemical Romance frontman and award-winning comic book writer Gerard Way. "Because of my love for manga and Japanese animation as a boy, I was able to connect with the music, the emotion, and the visual intent." And that's precisely the recipe that Marc Geiger, the band's booking agent, hopes to duplicate with fanboys across the country. The bet is that X Japan can find greater success than their J-Rock predecessors—Dir En Gray, Boredoms, the Kurt Cobain-endorsed Shonen Knife—by catapulting Yoshiki into becoming an anime superhero with the help of Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee. (The project was slated to be announced at New York Comic Con in early October, but it has since been delayed.) "For any kid under the age of 14," Geiger says, "anime is huge. It makes sense for them to come over now."
Yoshiki and his childhood friend, Toshi, were 17 years old when—covered in blood-spattered makeup with fuck-you attitudes to match—they arrived in Tokyo as self-described "cartoon monsters." But the initial seed of their rebellion—and ultimately of X Japan—was planted seven years earlier when Yoshiki came home from a music lesson to find his father, a kimono-shop owner, dead from suicide. Up to that point, he'd been listening exclusively to classical music. But in the wake of his father's death, Yoshiki's tastes took a sharp, screeching turn toward heavy metal. He wore out the grooves on Kiss' Alive! and was able to convince his mother, who'd been teaching him classical piano since he was 4, to take him to one of their concerts at Tokyo's Budokan arena. "It was shocking to me," he says, "but I loved every minute of it. My mother, however, was a little worried." Soon he'd moved on to Led Zeppelin, then the Sex Pistols, proving that rebellion through rock and roll works pretty much the same in Japan as it does in the States. "I went to a very conservative junior high school, and I started dying my hair," he remembers. "One time a teacher held me down and shaved my head. The next day I came back with a different color."
X Japan's garish looks and rebel ways struck a chord with Japanese youth. Yoshiki and Toshi didn't just trash hotel rooms, but entire hotels. Eventually, various restaurants and bars in Tokyo started posting "No Yoshiki" signs outside. The music propelled them to superstardom, but if you've ever seen "Behind the Music," you already have some idea of what led to their late-nineties flameout. In this version, Toshi leaves the band to join a cult, and the guitarist, Hide, is found hanging from a towel tied to a doorknob. And that's when Yoshiki's career really takes off.
The former rebel morphed into something more palatable—and marketable—releasing several classical solo albums to great acclaim, collaborating with Sir George Martin, and catching the ear of Emperor Akihito, who commissioned Yoshiki to write and perform a song to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his reign. "I knew there would be some controversy, and maybe years ago I wouldn't have done it—but to rebel against the rebellious was appealing," he says. It wasn't long before the endorsements started flowing, but he's adamant that they do little to dilute the Yoshiki brand. "I cut myself onstage, yet I have Hello Kitty. I like the contradiction," he says matter-of-factly. "I don't worry about it. I'm still mysterious. I don't even know who I am anyway."
"I'm very scared of myself," he continues. "Suicide has crossed my mind. I can't sleep and I can't relax. I'm very fragile when I'm alone. But when I leave my house, I feel stronger and nothing can stop me."
For the last twelve years, Yoshiki has lived in Encino—the pinnacle of L.A. suburbia—on the street where Michael Jackson once resided. When he's in Japan, he has a 24-hour bodyguard detail, but here he's remarkably lax about security. He moved to L.A. to escape the incessant hounding. "I enjoy going to the grocery store and buying ice cream," he tells me while relaxing on a hotel-room couch the day after the video shoot. Dressed in a white linen shirt with black pants and winklepicker boots, his wavy hair tickling his shoulders, Yoshiki's still working the androgynous angle pretty hard. Yet if he's incredibly thin, almost to the point of being frail, it isn't entirely a matter of style: Yoshiki suffers from chronic tendonitis, and last July he had to have major neck surgery to relieve bulging discs—the result of too much head banging. Afterwards he spent two weeks in the hospital undergoing a battery of tests, and his doctor warned him that his neck "may only hold out for two years. He told me not to play the drums. Fuck that. I may become paralyzed—so what?" Yoshiki has always been the screaming, stick-twirling sort who likes to bash out his demons on the kit—but these days he has to gut out shows in a neck brace.
Yoshiki spends most of his time either at home in the company of the 20 people he employs, or in the studio he bought in 1993—the one where Metallica recorded their eponymous album, popularly known as Black Album. (Metallica producer Bob Rock had the space booked for his next project, but Yoshiki dropped a few million, renamed it Extasy Recording Studio, and kicked Rock out.) He says when he drinks, he drinks, though he's careful not to make a public display of it like he did during the glory years. Now he ventures out only once a week for business dinners at, say, Matsuhisa, before unwinding at clubs like Bar Sinister, a Hollywood Goth nightspot, with one of his four assistants. "One of us is always with him," says primary assistant Lauren, a skinny doe-eyed beauty dressed in short shorts and black thigh-high socks. "He doesn't talk to too many people." He used to have a girlfriend, Julia Voth, an up-and-coming Canadian model/actress, but he broke up with her in June after six years together. "I was too busy," he says without emotion, waving his hand dismissively like a petulant teenager. "I mean, I want to get married. I think. I guess. I don't know."
"When he says he doesn't have any good friends, I honestly believe him," says Phil Quartararo, Yoshiki and X Japan's manager, who, as then president of Warner Bros. Records, signed Yoshiki to a solo deal in 2000. "He lives for the mystery and cultivating that myth." Yoshiki might like to walk the aisles of Ralph's in anonymity, but when the ego needs a shot, he likes to make an appearance where he's sure to get recognized, including the occasional movie premiere. (This is It, most recently). But when X Japan goes out on the road, will Yoshiki be able to keep the adoration at arms length? (Will he even want to?) Either way, the prospect of widespread success in the U.S. remains an iffy proposition. Anime might have a massive following among 12 year-olds and the downtown hipster class, but that doesn't necessarily translate into fondness for an unironic brand of bombastic arena rock that can sometimes sound about 20 years behind the curve. For every Rush (Canada) and Phoenix (France) there are hundreds of Tragically Hips and Noir Désirs—bands you've never heard of for a reason.
Yoshiki is well aware of the obstacles that face any foreign rock outfit trying to make it in rock's birthplace. Still, X Japan's 50-minute, five-song blast at Lollapalooza was lauded as one of the weekend highlights by both fans and critics, and Yoshiki plans to keep that momentum going. "We played heavy songs—I didn't want to lose people with the ballads," he tells me on the phone a couple weeks later, following two enormous stadium shows outside of Tokyo. "I know what I'm doing. And now, after Lollapalooza, I want success in the U.S. more than I ever did. It's a long, winding road. But we're going to run, not walk."
Written by JORDAN BRANDES Tuesday, 14 September 2010
Every so often you get lucky enough to witness history. This year's Lollapalooza set the stage for a lot of comeback痴 and, in the case of X Japan, a new beginning. X Japan, Asia痴 most popular rock band, made their U.S. debut during the final day of the weekend long music festival. Founded in 1982 by Toshimitsu 典oshi・Deyama and Yoshiki Hayashi the band has been on the road to superstardom since they first hit the airwaves 28 years ago. A little bit metal, a little bit classic rock and a little bit just plain classical the genre bending band has been conquering the ears of people all over the world for over two decades.
And yet they have never toured America. Not until now that is. Their performance mid-day Sunday at Lollapalooza attracted not just the long time superfans but those that were hearing the band for the first time. The result was surprising. Not only did the band make a successful debut to an American audience they also created a very stable fan base in the process.
After the show Lumino was lucky enough to sit down with Yoshiki, the drummer and pianist for X Japan.
This is your first tour in America. What do you think of America and what do you think of Chicago?
Chicago rocks!
How long have you guys been in town?
We just arrived yesterday. Or, maybe it was last night. No it was yesterday. We haven稚 had time to look around but we love it here.
What did you think of playing for an American audience?
I had a great time it was amazing! I was so excited to finally be playing in America. We were all excited.
What was your favorite part of the set?
Everything kept building and building and we all felt it. That痴 how I like it. You could see the excitement in the audience near the end. That was my favorite.
If you weren稚 the lucky ones to be in Chicago that day never fear, the band is finally starting a full fledge tour of the states starting at the end of the month. Click the link to find a city near you ・ www.xjapan.de/main.htm
