Tuesday, February 19, 2008

   Hide

konnichwia! Long time no update! Sorry about that! I've been really busy! Here are some wonder pictures of Hide! I love you hide!!! Looking at these images it's hard to believe such and an amazing person is gone and no longer here. But I am sure he still to this day lives in hearts of millions all over Japan and even America and everywhere else! I know I cherish this an amazing musicain. He truly is a legend. I look up to hide. He's one of my idols. I want to be a famous musicain and up hold Hide's leagousy! Well I must be off ~Kyoko i will forever love you Hide!! ~Kyoko~

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HID ~Kyoko~

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Hideto Matsumoto (Ëɱ¾ ÐãÈË, Matsumoto Hideto?, December 13, 1964¨CMay 2, 1998), was a popular Japanese musician. More commonly known by his stage name hide (pronounced /hi.de/, given in all-lowercase letters by the artist), he is primarily known for his work as lead guitarist of the popular heavy metal band X Japan. He was also a successful solo artist and co-founder of the United States based band Zilch. Contents [hide] 1 Biography 1.1 Early years (1964¨C1984) 1.2 X Japan (1987¨C1997) 1.3 Solo career (1993¨C1998) 1.4 Death 2 Songwriting 3 Spread Beaver 4 Discography 4.1 Solo/with Spread Beaver 4.2 With X Japan 4.3 With Zilch 5 References 6 External links [edit] Biography [edit] Early years (1964¨C1984) Hideto Matsumoto was born in St Joseph's Hospital, Midorigaoka, Yokosuka, on December 13, 1964. He entered kindergarten in 1968, studying English for three years, followed by an enrollment in Yokosuka Tokiwa Junior High School. He was first exposed to rock and roll music at the age of fifteen, through the album Alive! by Kiss. In the same year his grandmother bought him his first electric guitar, a Gibson Les Paul Deluxe.[1] On March 11, 1980, Matsumoto graduated from Tokiwa Junior High School. He then entered Zushi Kaisei Senior High School in Zushi, Kanagawa, where he entered the school's brass band as a club activity. He quit the band soon though, because he was assigned the clarinet, while he wanted to play the trumpet. After this, he concentrated on guitar playing and in 1981, formed the independent band Saver Tiger. A year after their founding, they started playing shows at live houses in Yokosuka, such as Rock City.[1] In April 1983 he started attending cosmetology and fashion school at the Hollywood Beauty Salon in present-day Roppongi Hills, from which he graduated with outstanding results in 1984. Later that year he took a nationwide examination and successfully obtained a beautician license. In July 1985 Saver Tiger released the self-titled EP. In November, the band contributed to the Heavy Metal Force sampler series, which would also include songs by X Japan later on.[1] In 1986 the group changed its name to Yokosuka Saver Tiger to avoid confusion with a similarly-named band from Sapporo. Their first appearance with the new name was on the sampler Devil Must Be Driven out with Devil. They continued to perform in live houses and night clubs such as Meguro Rokumeikan, Omiya Freaks and Meguro Live Station.[1] Shortly after Yokosuka Saver Tiger disbanded, hide had a conversation over the phone with X band leader Yoshiki who expressed an interest to revive X Japan which had taken a hiatus after band members Jun and Hikaru had left. [edit] X Japan (1987¨C1997) Main article: X Japan hide joined X Japan (then called X) in 1987.[2] He became the band's lead guitarist and occasional songwriter, composing songs like "Celebration", "Joker" and the single "Scars". Shortly after the release of the album Art of Life, the members of X Japan took a break, to start solo projects. Around that time, the group also dropped most of its original visual kei aesthetics, the exception being Matsumoto, who would still perform in wildly colorful outfits and with his trademark pink hair.[3] [edit] Solo career (1993¨C1998) In early 1993, Matsumoto was featured on the sampler Dance 2 Noise 004, with the song "Frozen Bug", which he recorded with Inoran and J of Luna Sea. He also starred in an art film titled Seth et Holth, along with Tusk of Zi:Kill.[4] In 1994, Matsumoto oversaw the production of the first release on his own label Lemoned (founded in 1989), an EP from the band Zeppet Store. In the same year, hide recorded and released his first solo album, Hide Your Face. In addition to songwriting, he played all the guitars (including bass) and provided all the vocals. The cover art was based on a mask designed by Swiss artist H. R. Giger.[5] The album's musical style differed significantly from the speed metal anthems and power ballads of X Japan, leaning more towards alternative rock. Matsumoto then went on the hide our Psychommunity Tour, for which the live band was hired that would later become part of his primary project, hide with Spread Beaver.[6] A second album, Psyence, was released in 1996, also followed by a tour, Psyence a Go Go. After X Japan disbanded in 1997, hide formally titled his solo project "hide with Spread Beaver". He also formed a second band, named Zilch, which, apart from himself and Spread Beaver percussionist I.N.A. was comprised of American and British artists, such as Joey Castillo (formerly in Danzig) and Paul Raven of Killing Joke. As with his solo project, Matsumoto acted as primary songwriter, singer and guitarist. In 1998, work on first albums of both, Spread Beaver and Zilch began, which Matsumoto never finished himself, due to his death in the same year. [edit] Death The Hide museum in YokosukaHideto Matsumoto died on May 2, 1998. After a night out drinking, he was found hanged with a towel tied to a doorknob in his Tokyo apartment, his death shocking the Japanese public. Three fans died in copycat suicides, of the 50,000 people who attended his funeral, nearly 60 were hospitalized and about 200 received medical treatment in first aid tents.[7][8] Later that month, the single "Pink Spider" was released, entering the Oricon charts at number one. The song would also receive that year's MTV Video Music Award in the category "Japan Viewers Choice".[9] Sales were also strong for the follow up single "Ever Free", while those of a single released previous to his death "Rocket Dive" would also see a substantial increase. American Journalist Neil Strauss commented on the trend saying that: "In just a few weeks, pop culture in Japan had gone from mourning Hide's death to consuming it."[7] While authorities deemed Matsumoto's death a suicide,[7] several of hide's friends and colleagues stated that they believed in an accident, among them X Japan co-founder Yoshiki Hayashi and former X Japan bassist Taiji Sawada. This notion is supported by the fact that no suicide note was left[8] and Sawada theorizes in his autobiography, that at the night of his death, hide may have been practicing a technique to relieve upper back and neck pains which guitarists can suffer from continuous use of a shoulder strap.[10] The technique involved was practiced by the X Japan members during their touring days and required the use of a towel and a door knob or handle. According to Sawada, Matsumoto may have fallen asleep in his intoxicated state, becoming caught and strangling himself.[11][12] Zilch bassist Paul Raven commented that hide was "under a lot of stress", due to recording schedule for the Ja, Zoo album. He went on to question the ultimate degree of hide's involvement in the finished record, stating that only three songs had been completed before he died.[7] Ja, Zoo was released in November of the same year, making it the only original studio album to bear the Hide with Spread Beaver handle. The Zilch debut album 3.2.1. was also released and the group continued to perform and record for several years. While they never achieved mainstream success in the United States one of their songs was included on the soundtrack for Heavy Metal 2000.[13] On May 1, 1999, a tribute album was released, titled Tribute Spirits. It features covers of hide songs by several bands (such as Buck-Tick, Luna Sea and Oblivion Dust) and solo artists, among them most former X Japan members.[14] A Hide museum opened in Yokosuka on July 20, 2000.[15] As with many other late musicians, re-issues, compilations and previously unreleased portions of Matsumoto's work continue to be published, the most recent being several singles, re-released on May 2, 2007, the ninth anniversary of the artist's death.[16] On July 8, 2007 Yoshiki Hayashi announced to be in talks with several musicians regarding a Hide tribute concert set for 2008, in order to commemorate the tenth anniversary of his former bandmate's passing.[17] The remaining members of X Japan recently reunited and recorded a new song, titled "I.V.". It contains a previously unused guitar track by Hide.[18] [edit] Songwriting "Eyes Love You" from the album Hide Your Face "Beauty & Stupid" from the album Psyence "Scars" from the X Japan album Dahila "Pink Spider" from the album Ja, Zoo Problems playing the files? See media help. At the outset of his solo career, Hide experimented with instrumentations very different from what he had usually access to in X Japan. The song "Psychommunity", for example, has four guitar tracks and employs a full string section. As another example, his song "Blue Sky Complex" features guitars in drop C tuning, a trumpet section, and an organ.[19] The title track of his second album Psyence is a big band/jazz composition with full brass, other songs on the record explore genres such as reggae, industrial rock and glam rock, with varying uses of guitar effects.[20] Instruments and songwriting are less experimental on the Ja Zoo album, most songs featuring a fairly conventional instrumentation of two guitars, bass, drums, and keyboards. Traditional piano and violins do, however, make an appearance. [edit] Spread Beaver The Hide with Spread Beaver logoHide's live band featured the following musicians: Kiyoshi Honma (±¾égÇå˾, Honma Kiyoshi?) ¨C guitar Kazuhito "Kaz" Iwaike (ÑÒ³ØÒ»ÈÊ Iwaike Kazuhito) ¨C guitar Hiroshi "Chirolyn" Watanabe (¶ÉÄsºë Watanabe Hiroshi) ¨C bass Daijiro "D.I.E." Nozawa (ÄË�É´ó¶þÀÉ Nozawa Daijiro) ¨C keyboards Satoshi "Joe" Miyawaki (ŒmÃ|֪ʷ Miyawaki Satoshi) ¨C drums Kazuhiko "I.N.A." Inada (·RÌïºÍÑå Inada Kazuhiko) ¨C percussion, programming Former X Japan guitarist Tomoaki "Pata" Ishizuka also made several live appearances with the band.[6] [edit] Discography [edit] Solo/with Spread Beaver Albums Hide Your Face (February 23, 1994) Psyence (September 2, 1996) Ja, Zoo (November 21, 1998) Singles "Eyes Love You" (August 5, 1993) "50% & 50%" (August 5, 1993) "Dice" (January 21, 1994) "Tell Me" (March 24, 1994) "Misery" (June 24, 1996) "Beauty & Stupid" (August 12, 1996) "Hi-Ho"/"Good Bye" (December 18, 1996) "Rocket Dive" (January 28, 1998) "Pink Spider" (May 13, 1998) "Ever Free" (May 27, 1998) "Hurry Go Round" (October 21, 1998) "Tell Me" (re-recording, January 19, 2000) "In Motion" (July 10, 2002) Compilations Tune Up (June 21, 1997) Tribute Spirits (May 1, 1999) Best ~Psychommunity~ (March 2, 2000) Psy-Clone (May 22, 2002) Singles ~ Junk Story (July 24, 2002) King of Psyborg Rock Star (April 28, 2004) [edit] With X Japan Main article: X Japan discography [edit] With Zilch 3.2.1. (July 23, 1998) BastardEyes (July 7, 1999) [edit] References ^ a b c d Official fan club biography, 1964¨C1986. hide-city.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-21. ^ Official fan club biography, 1987. hide-city.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-21. ^ As seen on the Art of Life 1993.12.31 Tokyo Dome and Dahlia Tour Final 1996 video releases. ^ Official fan club biography, 1993. hide-city.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-21. ^ The Hide Your Face mask. giger.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-21. ^ a b As seen on the Alivest Perfect Stage video release. ^ a b c d Strauss, Neil (1998-06-18). "The Pop Life: End of a Life, End of an Era". nytimes.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-21. ^ a b Seno, Alexandra A.; Murakami, Mutsuko (1998-05-22). "Isolated in Their Grief". asiaweek.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-21. ^ Official fan club biography, 1998. hide-city.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-21. ^ "Dare Strap for Guitarists with Back or Neck Pain". guitarsite.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-19. ^ Sawada, Taiji (2000). Uchuu o Kakeru Tomo E: Densetsu no Bando X no Sei to Shi (ÓîÖæ¤òÏ褱¤ëÓѤØ: �»Õf¤Î¥Ð¥ó¥É X ¤ÎÉú¤ÈËÀ, Uchuu o Kakeru Tomo E: Densetsu no Bando X no Sei to Shi?). Tokyo: Tokuma Shoten. ISBN 978-4198611743. ^ "Exercises - Head, Neck, Shoulder, Arms". pain-clinic.org. Retrieved on 2007-09-19. ^ Heavy Metal 2000 soundtrack information. amazon.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-21. ^ Tribute Spirits release information. hide-city.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-21. ^ Official fan club biography, 2000. hide-city.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-21. ^ Hide with Spread Beaver releases. cdjapan.co.jp. Retrieved on 2007-05-21. ^ JaME France News (French). jmusiceuropa.com (2007-07-09). Retrieved on 2007-07-09. ^ "X Japan to film PV on Aqua City rooftop". tokyograph.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-18. ^ Hide Your Face Photo & Band Score. Doremi Music Publishing. ISBN 4-8108-3853-6. ^ Psyence. Doremi Music Publishing. ISBN 4-8108-3969-9. ~Kyoko~

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Some kami images

~Kyoko~

Friday, November 23, 2007

   Kami

Kami was the drummer for the Japanese band Malice Mizer. He was born in the city of Ibaraki, Japan on February 1. Little is known about his personal life. However, he had a pleasant demeanor and was always smiling. He had a large collection of perfume bottles. He was called "Monkey Man" and said to be cheerful. Fans referred to him as the "cute member" of the group. Kami was extremely nervous though in interviews. He did not speak much because he was timid. However, many described him as kind hearted. He died in 1999 in his sleep of a subarachnoid hemorrhage. He was only 26 years old. Contents [hide] 1 Early life 2 Project History 3 Death 4 Personal life 5 Trivia 6 External links 7 See also [edit] Early life Ukyou Kamimura was born on February 1 in Japan. As a child in elementary school, Kami was very much interested in traditional Japanese brush writing and using an abacus (Soroban), therefore studying these fondly. However his affection for tennis was also present and a love for music began to develop within him, often sitting alone in the music room after school and listening to records for hours on end. His first interest in playing his own tunes was in his fifth year at school when he began to practice on a drum kit. Although he was unusually talented at this, Kami left and didn't return to drumming until early high school. Early influences of Kami included many of the british New Wave bands, including Culture Club and Duran Duran. Between this time, Kami devoted his afterschool hours to practicing his favourite hobby, tennis. [edit] Project History At the beginning of his high school years, Kami was invited into a friend's band, initially, his interest was in being a guitarist. After practicing for a short time, he decided that his talent for this was surpassed greatly by his drumming skills, returning to this shortly thereafter. Kami's fondness for drumming began to evolve and therefore a personal drum kit was a necessity, so he took up a part time job and subsequently saved up the necessary money. Due to his newly found adoration for his instrument, Kami practiced approximately 5 hours a day on weekdays and all day on Sundays, hastily developing his technique. As a result of this practice, he made a decision to go professional. Realizing that he could not achieve a large amount of success in his current high school band after graduation, Kami came to the conclusion that this success he sought could only come in the nation capital, Tokyo. Upon leaving his previous group and moving, Kami spent a brief time in a punk band before taking a liking to the visual kei style and as a result, joined an up and coming musical group called Kneuklid Romance. Playing mainly live shows, Kami soon attracted the attention of Yu~ki, a bassist from a fellow visual kei band, Malice Mizer. Due to Malice Mizer's previous drummer, Gaz, leaving (who would ironically shortly thereafter join Kneuklid Romace), the band was very keen on introducing Kami to their style of music. He was reluctant at first, although a phone call from one of their guitarists, Mana, persuaded him. Therefore, Kami began to play unofficially for six months as a support player. However, soon after, the other members of Malice Mizer agreed upon recruiting him as a whole new member of the group. Upon Kami's recruitment into the group, Malice Mizer released their debut album, Memoire, his first inclusion in a publicly released album. This album proved to be a mild success and shortly thereafter, their lead singer, Tetsu, abandoned the group. After a year of inactivity, the group recruited a new vocalist, Gackt. They performed numerous live shows and released two albums. This was a very exciting period for the band and they developed a very flamboyant and colourful fashion sense with a heavy usage of capes, exuberant hair colours, latex and costumes. However, in mid 1999, Gackt announced his departure from the group to begin his own solo career. The remainder of the group began a dark period with a heavy usage of contrasting whites and blacks in their clothing, although, Kami would never see this. [edit] Death On June 21, 1999, a subarachnoid hemorrhage killed Kami in his sleep at the age of just 26 years old. His body was discovered four days later. Unusually, his funeral was held the same day, with only his band members, Mana, Közi and Yu~ki attending, as well as his parents and a few close friends. Gackt, who had just launched his solo career, was on tour at the time and did not hear about the death of his close friend until about a week later. He was reportedly very devastated. In the months before his death, Kami had taken to composing music, writing two complete songs, 'Unmei no Deai' and 'Mori no naka no tenshi'. These would later be released on the memorial album 'Shinwa'. [edit] Personal life Kami was often regarded as the silly and over the top person of the group, nick named 'Monkey Man' by Közi due to him constantly jumping around and being childish. Despite this, often in interviews he acted very timid and never talked much and he has stated to be very quiet and trusting, joking that it made it easy to cheat him. Kami was a person of many hobbies and interests, his main being tennis, which he had played since his early childhood, as well as buying lottery tickets when bored. He also was fond of collecting many perfumes and shampoos, one hobby that was shared by fellow group member Yu~ki which often led to them trading and recommending various products to each other. Kami also had an interest in the Sengoku era army general, Shingen Takeda. He was known to attend the Shingen Takeda festival every year, stating that he was glum he could not spare any time from Malice Mizer as he wanted to be a part of the celebration. Alongside this love of the army general, was his interest in the ritualistic suicide, seppuku. Often, Kami would have photos taken of himself mimicking the act in costume. [edit] Trivia His colors were pink and purple in Malice Mizer He was very obsessed with the imagery and symbolism of the butterfly and he had at least three tattoos on his arm, all of butterflies. He was also known to have bought anything he saw that had to do with butterflies One of his favorite anime/manga series was Leji Matsumoto's Galaxy Express 999 and he even cosplayed the lead role Maetel (in both traditional wear and a special pink leopard print edition) He claimed that the first thing in the morning he did was smoke a cigarette He was fond of working out Enjoyed the music of Duran Duran and Culture Club in his youth Kami was fond of historic Japanese military and seppuku One of his favorite foods was meat and onion curry He enjoyed playing tennis Kami loved to "flirt" with Gackt as well as annoy and "bother" Yu~ki Gackt wrote two songs in memory of Kami that were both released on his Mars album - "Emu~for my dear~" and "U+K" KAMI TRIBUTE ~Kyoko~