Sugizo

Sugizo (2011)

Sugizo (born July 8, 1969 as Yuune Sugihara, Japanese 杉原 有 音 ) is a Japanese rock guitarist and violinist and became known with the band Luna Sea . But he also works as a freelance artist and has been a member of the band X Japan since 2009 .

Life

Sugizo was encouraged to play the violin at the age of three by his parents, who are concert musicians. It appears from interviews that he did not appreciate this very much and that he had a rather rebellious childhood and youth. He is said to have been an outsider even in school because he did not want to adapt. His fascination for science fiction as well as his love for rock music began in his youth.

It wasn't until 1989 that he joined the band Lunacy , which received early support from hide from the then better-known band X Japan . That's how X Japan's band leader Yoshiki became aware of her and brought her to his self-founded label. At that time the band renamed themselves Luna Sea and played at the two Extasy Summits , large concert events that Yoshiki hosted so that unknown bands could introduce themselves. So the success of the band was unstoppable.

In 1996 Sugizo's daughter Luna Artemis was born and his first solo album " Truth " was released in 1997. But that had little in common with Luna Sea . As in all later albums, Sugizo experiments a lot with the music. He links a wide variety of genres, uses different languages ​​and instruments to express himself. You can find pieces that are more trance , psychedelic rock , Goa , punk rock , funk , alternative rock , metal , power metal , progressive rock , jazz elements and even avant-garde . He not only masters the guitar and violin, but also bass and trumpet and sings himself.

From 1997 onwards he began to campaign more for environmental protection and to take part in initiatives such as Earth Day in Tokyo . Even Greenpeace has reported on him.

After Luna Sea's break from the band at the end of 2000, he increasingly worked on his solo projects and with various other musicians, including Ryūichi Sakamoto , his daughter Miu, Vivian Hsu , Coldfeet and later (from 2007) with Juno Reactor , who wrote the soundtrack participated in the well-known Matrix films.

In 2002 he played the leading role in the Japanese film production company Soundtrack , for which he also composed the soundtrack.

In 2003 his second solo album " C: LEAR " was released, which, like his first, is a mix of styles. Some remix albums and other singles were also released.

From 2004 he worked with the singer Yuna in the band The FLARE , which tried to express a lot of positive things with their music. The project was limited in time and ended in 2006. They released an album and 4 singles. It was noticeable that Sugizo's outfit was much more colorful at that time than at all appearances with Luna Sea or as a soloist, which matched the statement made by The FLARE.

He reached another milestone in his career in 2007 when he joined the super band SKIN, where he plays guitar with Yoshiki , Gackt and Miyavi . So far, however, they have only had one appearance in the USA. In addition, a remix album of some of his songs was released and he was on stage with Miyavi at the J Rock Revolution in Los Angeles. However, in his spare time that weekend he was more at the Star Wars Convention than the music event Yoshiki had planned.

In 2008 he played with them as support guitarist at X Japan's reunification and although his style is very different from that of X Japan guitarist hide, who died in 1998 , the band was happy with his stage presence. According to their own statements, when X JAPAN reunited it was planned to let various guitarists play different parts with great respect for hide. Among the selected musicians were u. a. also Richard Fortus from Guns N 'Roses and Wes Borland from LIMP BIZKIT , but also the guitarists from Dir en gray and Miyavi . At the Reunion Lives 2008, however, only SUGIZO was available as a Japanese guitarist.

In addition, his first best-of album " Cosmoscape " was released that year . For this he chose the songs that - in his opinion - best represented him. He also went on tour with Juno Reactor , played other appearances with X Japan and held a solo concert at the end of the year under the title " RISE TO COSMIC DANCE ".

Sugizo (2016)

In 2009 he finally became an official sixth member of X Japan on May 1st for as long as they needed him. Many fans are critical of this, but Sugizo repeatedly emphasizes that he does not replace hide , but only plays for him. A few days after the announcement, he played two lives with X JAPAN in the Tokyo Dome, where he played a classic duet with Yoshiki for the first time. Yoshiki on piano and Sugizo on violin. He also toured Europe for six concerts with Juno Reactor towards the end of the year and has released two singles, in addition to a live on December 23 in Tokyo and two lives on December 25 and 26 in Taipei .

On February 24th 2010, SUGIZO and the other members of X JAPAN will take part as a special guest in Toshi’s last solo concert.

He was also on tour with X JAPAN in the United States in the middle of the year and on a world tour with LUNA SEA at the end of the year. They gave their first concert in Bochum.

In 2011, a few singles and two new albums were released because he said he had too many songs for just one. He was also on tour with X JAPAN in Europe and South America and helped out as a volunteer in his spare time in northern Japan, which was hit by the tsunami. In addition, there was a tour at the end of the year where he played in several other Asian countries.

In 2012 he played King Bluebeard in a theatrical performance " 7DOORS 青 ひ げ 公 の 城 " (Bluebeard's Castle of 7 Doors), for which he also worked as a music producer.

Trivia

He has poor eyesight, so he needs contact lenses or glasses.

Contrary to some rumors on the net, he is really only of Japanese descent, whereby his aunt married a German.

He cannot cook, is usually awake until 5 or 6 a.m. and therefore does not have breakfast because he cannot get out of bed.

He has a residence in Hollywood.

Discography

solo

Albums

• 11/19/1997 - TRUTH?
• 11/14/2001 - Parallel Side of Soundtrack
• 02/27/2002 - SOUNDTRACK of SOUNDTRACK
• 05/09/2002 - Silent Voice “Acoustic songs of Soundtrack”
• 10/01/2003 - C: LEAR
• 05.12.2007 - Spirit aise
• 07/23/2008 - Cosmoscape
• December 14th, 2011 - Flower Of Life
• December 14th, 2011 - Tree Of Life

Singles

• 07/09/1997 - LUCIFER (CD & LP)
• 08/27/1997 - REPLICANT LUCIFER (CD & LP)
• 19.09.1997 - A PRAYER (CD&LP)
• 11/06/1997 - REPLICANT PRAYER
• 12/21/1997 - REPLICANT TRUTH?
• 08/21/2002 - SUPER LOVE
• 11/20/2002 - Dear LIFE
• 07/24/2003 - NO MORE MACHINEGUNS PLAY THE GUITAR
• December 16, 2009 - MESSIAH
• December 16, 2009 - TELL ME WHY YOU HIDE THE TRUTH?
• 01/27/2010 - FATIMA
• 01/27/2010 - DO-FUNK DANCE
• 02/24/2010 - Prana
• 03/31/2010 - Dear SPIRITUAL LIFE
• 03/13/2011 - NO MORE NUKES PLAY THE GUITAR
• 03/13/2011 - The EDGE
• 06/29/2011 - MIRANA (feat. MaZDA)
• 07/27/2011 - NEO COSMOSCAPE (remix by SYSTEM 7)
• 08/15/2011 - ENOLA GAY
• 11.09.2011 - PRAY FOR MOTHER EARTH (feat.Toshinori Kondo)

DVD

• 08/23/2002 - Soundtrack of the movie
• 11/27/2002 - AD2001 Final (abstract day)
• 25.03.2009 - RISE TO COSMIC DANCE

Other

• 06/26/1997 - A PRAYER I (book)
• 07/08/1997 - A PRAYER II (book)
• October 15, 1998 - Can I Fly?
• 03/09/2002 - Soundtrack of the film (cinema release)
• 25.03.2009 - ECTON x SUGIZO Rise to Heaven on Earth

The FLARE

• 08/25/2004 - INNER CHILD (Single)
• 12/01/2004 - ウ エ テ ィ コ ~ uetico ~ (Single)
• 06/01/2005 - Positivity (Single)
• 25.08.2005 - 真 夏 ノ 恋人 ~ manatsu no koibito ~ (single)
• 02/13/2006 - the FLARE (Album)

LUNA SEA

→ Main article: LUNA SEA

Juno Reactor

• 10/09/2008 - Gods & Monsters (Album)

Other

• 09/20/2000 - 假扮 天使 “pretend angel” by Vivian Hsu (album; 3 songs by and with Sugizo)
• 04/25/2001 - ZERO LANDMINES (single by Ryūichi Sakamoto )
• April 24th, 2002 - sleep away (single with 坂 本 美 雨 ~ Miu Sakamoto ~)

Web links

Commons : Sugizo  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website (Japanese, English)
• Sugizo at Myspace (English)
• Interview with J Rock Revolution
• Interview # 2 with J Rock Revolution
• Interview during the Juno Reactor Tour 2008
• Interview during the Juno Reactor Tour 2009

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Interview by JRR . Questions 5-7. Retrieved January 18, 2010.
2. ↑ Who is Sugizo? ( Memento of the original from January 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Greenpeace website. Retrieved January 18, 2010. 
3. ↑ Soundtrack . IMDB entry for the film. Retrieved January 18, 2010.
4. ↑ ^{a b} SUGIZO First Interview with musicJAPANplus PART 2 . Musicjapanplus. February 2, 2010. Retrieved February 2, 2010.
5. ↑ official blog entry on his joining ( memento of the original from May 4, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Sugizo on Myspace. Retrieved January 18, 2010. 
6. ↑ official blog entry about the X Japan Reunion Shows ( memento of the original from February 7th, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Sugizo on Myspace. Retrieved January 18, 2010. 
7. ^ ToshI - Jumping Together as a Member of X JAPAN. . Musicjapanplus . February 28, 2010. Retrieved April 11, 2010.
8. ↑ SUGIZO - Super Love live . Appearance at PopJam in the summer of 2002. Uploaded on Youtube, accessed on January 26, 2010
9. ↑ Interview  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved January 26, 2010  
10. ↑ Interview (PDF; 8.4 MB) Retrieved on February 1, 2010
11. ^ Music Japan plus . Retrieved February 18, 2010