| J | |
| Background: | solo_singer |
| Birth Date: | 12 August 1970 |
| Birth Place: | Hadano, Kanagawa, Japan |
| Genre: | Alternative rock, post-grunge, punk rock, hard rock |
| Occupation: | Musician, singer-songwriter, record producer |
| Instrument: | Vocals, bass guitar, guitar |
| Years Active: | 1986–present |
| Label: | Universal Avex Group/Blowgrow |
| Current Member Of: | Luna Sea |
| Past Member Of: | Zilch |
, better known by his stage name J, is a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He is best known as bassist and co-founder of the rock band Luna Sea since 1986. After they disbanded in 2000 he focused on his solo career, for which he performs lead vocals and bass. He rejoined Luna Sea when they reunited in August 2010.
Since 1997, J has had prominent names in the music industry playing either on his albums, as his backing band, or showing up as guests at some of his concerts including Raymond Watts (PIG), Ray McVeigh (Zilch), Takashi Fujita (Doom), Scott Garrett, Billy Duffy and Ian Astbury (all three from The Cult), Steve Jones (The Sex Pistols), Duff McKagan and Slash (both from Velvet Revolver), Franz Stahl (Scream, Foo Fighters) and Youjeen (Cherry Filter).
As a child, J was obsessed with soccer until his older sister introduced him to rock music.[1] When a record rental shop opened near his home, J said he listened to every record they had.[1] [2] He cited the Sex Pistols and U2 as bands that drew him into rock music.[3] He started going to concerts when he was in middle school, and truly started playing in bands in high school.[4] Because everyone wanted to play guitar, including himself, J casually chose bass without even knowing what the difference was.[1] [2] He practiced by reading the tablatures of various songs by different bands, often being so engrossed he did not realize morning had come.[1] As a teenager, he was a roadie for the thrash metal band Aion for about two years.[5] [6] The members of Luna Sea later provided backing vocals on Aion's 1991 album Aionism, and J played bass on five songs for the 2008 self-titled debut album of Aion leader Izumi's death metal band, The Braincase.[7]
During middle school through high school J became good friends with Inoran, and in 1986 they formed a band called Lunacy.[8] In 1991, the band changed their name to Luna Sea and released their self-titled first album. They went on to become very successful, having sold more than 10 million certified units in Japan, and are considered one of the most influential bands in the visual kei movement. In 2003, HMV Japan ranked Luna Sea at number 90 on their list of the 100 most important Japanese pop acts.[9]
In 1993, J teamed up with Inoran and X Japan guitarist hide to form the group M*A*S*S.[10] Their only material released was the song "Frozen Bug" on the sampler Dance 2 Noise 004 (the song would later be remixed by hide and put on his debut solo album Hide Your Face). When Luna Sea took a brief break in 1997, J signed with Universal Music Group and began a solo career. Because he felt the public no longer thought of Luna Sea as a rock band due to their popularity, J said that he wanted to play the music he grew up listening to in his solo career and express his own view of rock.[4] On selecting his band members, he explained that he recruited Scott Garrett on drums because he is a huge fan of The Cult, and Takashi Fujita (Doom) on guitar because he wanted to play with a guitarist who plays heavy riffs.[4] His first single, "Burn Out", was released on June 25 and contained a cover of the Blondie hit song "Call Me". J gave his first three concerts, titled Ignite, in the second week of July.[11] His first album, Pyromania, was released on July 24 and reached number 9 on the Oricon chart. It features guitarists Billy Duffy and Slash and J's Luna Sea bandmate Shinya as guests.[4] [12]
In 1999, J remixed Zilch's song "Electric Cucumber" for their remix album, Bastard Eyes. Throughout 2001, he performed and toured with Zilch as part of the Fire Wire 2001 concerts that he organized.[4] [11] The concerts also featured The Cult, Loaded and Steve Jones.[4] [11] J did some arranging, writing and composing work on Youjeen's albums and singles released 2001–2002, together with Franz Stahl. In 2002, he played bass on the track "I Hate You" for Tomoyasu Hotei's album Scorpio Rising.[11] Hotei remixed J's song "Perfect World" for the "Go Crazy" single released that same year. J's January 2003 concert at the Nippon Budokan was the first in the venue's history to be standing only, something he specifically requested and accomplished after a long negotiation period with the venue's staff.[4]
J participated in the making of South Korean musician Seo Taiji's 2004 album 7th Issue, by playing bass.[11] Since November 9, 2005, starting with the "Break" single, J has been signed to Blowgrow a division of Avex Group. J covered Buck-Tick's song "Iconoclasm" for their tribute album, Parade -Respective Tracks of Buck-Tick-, which was released on December 21, 2005. Later on September 8, 2007, he performed at Buck-Tick Fest 2007 on Parade, the finale of the tour for the album.[11]
In 2006, J founded the record label Inferno Records, which released a single by the band Rottengraffty.[13] [14] He also played bass on "Pursuit" as part of Aggressive Dogs / Death Note Allstars "N-Crew", a collaboration with other musicians for the album Death Note Tribute.[11] [15] On December 24, 2007, J reunited with Luna Sea for their concert God Bless You ~One Night Dejavu~ at the Tokyo Dome.[16] The band would reunite and perform again at the hide memorial summit on May 4, 2008, along with X Japan, Oblivion Dust, Takanori Nishikawa, and many more. In April 2009, J made the announcement, in his fan club issued Pyro Magazine Vol.21, that he had gotten married.
In August 2010, he appeared with the other members of Luna Sea at a press conference in Hong Kong, where they officially announced their reunion and their 20th Anniversary World Tour Reboot -to the New Moon-.[17] To celebrate his 14-year anniversary as a solo artist, J released the self cover album Fourteen -The Best of Ignitions- in January 2011. March 8, was the debut of Pink Spider, a musical based on and featuring hide's music, which J performed a supporting role in.[18] The production ran from March 8 to the 27 at the Tokyo Globe Theater and was then brought to Fukuoka, Kobe, Nagoya, Niigata, Sendai, and Sapporo in April.[19] From May 5 to 9, J held five consecutive concerts at Shibuya-AX titled J 14th Anniversary Special Live Set Fire Get Higher -Fire Higher 2011-, each day with different bands such as Mass of the Fermenting Dregs, Nothing's Carved in Stone, Avengers in Sci-Fi, Pay Money to My Pain and The Hiatus.[20]
On August 10, 2013, J began a series of concerts titled Tokyo 10 Days!! - 5 Months a Blaze -, which had him performing two consecutive nights in five locations, in five months.[21] This is in addition to his nationwide tour J Live Tour 2013 - Believe in Yourself - from August 24 to October 27, 2013, which included 11 shows in 10 different cities. The band also participated at the year's Rock in Japan Festival and Monster Bash.[21] J released his ninth studio album, Freedom No.9. on October 23.[22] His former support guitarist masasucks appears on the album, as does drummer Masuo Arimatsu from Back Drop Bomb.[22] The album was released on vinyl on April 19, 2014, for Record Store Day.[23] Takashi Fujita, J's backing guitarist since he launched his solo career in 1997, retired at the end of the year and masasucks officially returned in his place.[24] In spring 2015, J held a short tour and announced a new album was nearly completed.[24] Eternal Flames was released on September 2, 2015.[25]
J's eleventh studio album, Limitless, was released on July 24, 2019.[26] He collaborated with Takanori Nishikawa on the songs "Real×Eyez", the theme song he composed for the Kamen Rider Zero-One TV series,[27] and "Another Daybreak", the theme song he composed for the film. Both tracks were released as a single on January 22, 2020.[28] The two musicians collaborated again on "A.I. ∴ All Imagination" for 2020's .[29] J released the album Lightning on November 3, 2021. A national tour was initially planned to support the album, but this was changed to a four-date tour with reserved seating only due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.[30] In 2022, J celebrated the 25th anniversary of his solo career and the 20th anniversary of his fan club with special concerts.[31] For the former, Pyromania is Back which took place on July 24, he recreated his setlist from 1997.[32]
J said that although the vocalist or guitarist is typically considered "the star" of a band, he wanted to change that idea. Rather than try to imitate another bass player, "I was desperately trying to find my own style. Bassline, stance, that sort of thing, and appearance too."[2] J has no interest in music where the bass is loud and stands out, or in playing meaningless solos to grab attention.[33] Instead, he wants to play phrases that anyone can play, but in a way that is cooler than everyone else; "even if it is simple, it is absolutely useless unless there is something cool in it."[33] Gota Nishidera wrote that the biggest difference between Luna Sea and their contemporaries was their rhythm section, who created a "rhythm revolution" in Japanese rock with their exquisite control and ability to freely manipulate silence and explosion.[34] J uses guitar picks and previously hated fingerpicking. But in 2018, the musician said he is now able to find the tone he wants for medium and slow songs with his fingers.[35] When composing songs, he said the bass is the last thing he thinks about.[33] J said a key aspect in his songs is balance; "I don't like it when only the thoughts and words are heavy, or when only the sound becomes excessively heavy. [...] I want a song where everything is in absolute balance."[33] Many of his song and album titles and lyrics evoke fire or flames. Because such words are associated with heat, he finds them perfect for the expressions he wants to convey.[36] This originated with the first song[37] J also often uses religious imagery in his work. This has nothing to do with his own beliefs, he is simply interested in religious illustrations and books and the culture surrounding it.[37] [39] For example, his frequent use of images of Maria stems from his love of automobiles, as she is frequently seen in the lowrider car scene.[37]
Musicians that have cited J as an influence include, Ni~ya of Nightmare,[40] Natsuki of DuelJewel,[41] Totalfat bassist Shun,[42] Xaa-Xaa's Reiya,[43] and Yu-ki of Noisemaker.[44] Reita of The Gazette, RxYxO of Coldrain, and Nob of My First Story have all listed J as one of their favorite bassists.[45] [46] [47] Back Number's Kazuya Kojima started playing bass because of J.[35]
J was endorsed by ESP Guitars for 28 years until May 2019.[26] His many signature model bass guitars with the brand, most of which had his trademark phrase "WAKE UP! MOTHER FUCKER" painted on them, have sold over 50,000 copies.[48] J explained that he originally handwrote the English words on one of his bass guitars to "encourage myself and to encourage everyone who came to my concerts, but at some point it became like my catchphrase."[37] The abbreviation "W.U.M.F." is also used in relation to the bassist, such as in the title of his 2017 compilation album.[37] Before his contract with ESP expired, the special event "J × ESP 28 Years Trajectory ~28 Toshi no Kiseki~" followed J's spring tour displaying his signature models and other goods.[49] At the end of May 2019, it was announced that he had signed an endorsement contract with Fender. They gave him a custom model built to his specifications based on the Fender Precision Bass.[50] Based on that specific custom model that he had been using, J's signature model was released on August 12, 2020 as part of their Heavy Relic line, which gives an aged and heavily played look. It has a reverse headstock, a 1.65 inch nut width, a one-piece maple neck, and an ash body.[51] Its Black Gold paint job was modeled after a 1970s motorcycle helmet he owns.[51] [52] On November 25, 2002, Fender released a J signature model through their Made in Japan line.[52] In addition to the Black Gold color, a limited Champagne Gold color was only available online and was named after J's song "Champagne Gold Super Market".[52] Very similar to the previous model, it does not have the worn appearance and has a neck plate with Maria engraved on it.[53] J has used images of Maria on the cabinets of his guitar amplifiers for decades.[37] Regardless of endorsements, he uses various different brands of bass guitars when recording.
See main article: Luna Sea discography.