Sugizo
Yūne Sugihara, born Yasuhiro Sugihara and better known by his stage name Sugizo, is a Japanese musician, songwriter, composer and record producer. He is best known as the lead guitarist and violinist of the rock band Luna Sea since 1989.
Sugizo started his solo career in 1997 and has since collaborated with a variety of different artists. He formed the psychedelic jam band Shag in 2002, the rock duo The Flare in 2004, and the electronica duo S.T.K in 2005. In 2007 he became a member of the international trance/world music act Juno Reactor, and of the Japanese rock supergroup S.K.I.N. Sugizo officially joined the rock band X Japan in 2009, and became a member of the supergroup The Last Rockstars in 2022.
In addition to being known for experimenting with many musical genres, mostly rock, psychedelic and electronica, he is known for his political views and for being an anti-war, anti-nuclear, and environmental activist.
Early life and musical education
Yasuhiro Sugihara was born on July 8, 1969, in Hadano, Kanagawa, in Japan. His Manchukuo-born father played trumpet in the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, and his mother played cello in the same orchestra. He has a younger sister, who was the drummer in a band with Sugizo's future Luna Sea bandmates J and Inoran. From a young age, Sugizo was brought up on classical music and studied classical music theory. At the age of three, by his father's initiative, he started to learn to play the violin. He practiced it for 3 hours per day, but without the right type of music or composer, began to hate playing music, and coercion from his parents aggravated his feeling of repulsion. The situation persisted until the age of ten. His early favorite composers included Beethoven, Bartók, Liszt and J.S. Bach.When Sugizo was eleven or twelve years old, he began to play the trumpet. He preferred the trumpet's "dirty" image from the 1950s through the 1970s over playing the violin, which was seen as something for higher-class people. During his junior high school days, he became exposed to non-classical music types, such as the Japanese synthpop group Yellow Magic Orchestra, the British new wave group Japan, David Bowie's glam rock, and the London punk scene, forming his attraction to rock'n'roll. Sugizo's parents divorced when he was in high school, and his father moved out. He has a good relationship with his mother and has since reconciled with his father, who has another family.
Career
1986–1996: Early bands and Luna Sea
Despite his father's disapproval, Sugizo acquired a bass guitar and an electric guitar and began to teach himself how to play. He has cited three Japanese guitarists as influences; Masami Tsuchiya, Kazumi Watanabe and You. When he was around the age of 17, then in high school, Sugizo with Shinya on drums and Tezya on vocals formed a power metal band called Pinocchio, where he played as the bassist. Since the internal structure of Pinocchio was not cohesive, Sugizo and Shinya left and briefly joined Kashmir in 1988. On January 16, 1989, they both joined another band which performed at the same live houses, called Lunacy, formed by J and Inoran. With the addition of Ryuichi Kawamura, vocalist from the band Slaughter, the five formed the visual kei rock unit Lunacy. Since J was already the bass player and Inoran preferred to play rhythm guitar, Sugizo became the lead guitarist and took on his stage name, which he believes Shinya came up with. Soon they were discovered by hide, who got them signed by X Japan co-founder Yoshiki, to his independent label Extasy Records, on which they released their debut album in 1991. Upon their first album release, the band changed their name from Lunacy to Luna Sea. They became one of the most famous rock bands in Japan, selling more than ten million records, as well as performing in China and Taiwan.Sugizo's first solo activity came in 1993, when he wrote his first solo song "Revive" for the album Dance 2 Noise 004 featuring many musicians, including the group M*A*S*S, which consisted of hide, J and Inoran. In the upcoming three years, a variety of lesser-known musical collaborations and contributions took place.
1997–2001: Solo career, ''Truth?''
After Luna Sea went on break in 1997, Sugizo started his own solo career and opened the independent label "Cross" to produce other artists and release his own records. He points out that the opening of his record label was one of his very important projects at the time, but not anymore. On July 9, his debut single "Lucifer" was released and reached number 8 on the Oricon singles chart. It was followed by his first solo tour Abstract Day which lasted until the final performance in August at Akasaka Blitz, where he was joined by DJ Krush, Masami Tsuchiya and members of Japan. Then on September 10 he released his second single, "A Prayer", which reached number 7 on the charts. On November 19, his first solo album Truth? was released, and reached number 12 on the album charts. It was met with mixed reviews, largely because of the unexpected musical style which mixed different genres with electronica beats. A variety of artists participated in the album, from Ryuichi Sakamoto and Mick Karn, to Lou Rhodes and Valerie Etienne. Towards the end of the year, remix editions of his two maxi singles and album were released.As Luna Sea resumed activities, until the band's disbandment, Sugizo collaborated in the studio with actress Miki Nakatani and singers Miu Sakamoto and Vivian Hsu, among others. On August 11, 1999, a compilation album titled Grand Cross 1999, sponsored by Sugizo's record label Cross, was released, featuring many musicians with whom he had worked with before and many for the first time.
He starred in Ken Nikai's movie Soundtrack and composed the music for the film. On November 14, a compilation album inspired by the film, titled Parallel Side of Soundtrack was released, and the following year he released the single "Rest in Peace & Fly Away" featuring Bice on vocals. That same year he produced the music for, as well as danced in, Suichoku no Yume, a production by the popular contemporary dance company H. Art Chaos.
2002–2007: ''C:Lear'', joining Juno Reactor
Around late 2001 he formed the solo project Sugizo & the Spank Your Juice, with whom he toured with until 2004 and released three singles; "Super Love", "Dear Life" and "No More Machineguns Play the Guitar", which entered top 50 on the charts. In 2002, he formed the jam band Shag. His acting career also continued in 2002, when he starred in Isao Yukisada's film Rock'n'roll Mishin, and the television series RedЯum, directed by Ken Nikai. In 2003, following the release of "No More Machineguns Play the Guitar", Sugizo released his second album C:Lear. It peaked at the number 56 on the album charts.In March 2004, Sugizo formed the rock band The Flare with vocalist Yuna Katsuki. He also created a new record label called "Embryo", which received major distribution from Universal Music Group for the music of The Flare. They performed at Earth Day in Tokyo, Japan's largest event devoted to environmental and peaceful causes. The band would last until 2006, releasing four singles and one album. In May 2005, Sugizo organized the event Neo Ascension Groove, with his jam act Shag. In the band he plays guitar, violin and percussion, while the music is avant-garde with concentration on rhythm. Also in 2005, he formed the electro-acoustic duo S.T.K with author and music producer Tetra Tanizaki. In April 2006, collaborated with trumpeter Toshinori Kondo and celebrated Earth Day by participating in three shows held on April 9, 22 and 23 at the Yoyogi Koen in Tokyo. He later had his first performance with Juno Reactor at the Tokyo Techno Festival, after starting talks with the band in 2005 about a possible collaboration.
In April, he played at the Nagisa Music Festival with Shag. On June 29, 2007, Anime Expo convention in Long Beach, California, hosted the debut performance of S.K.I.N, a supergroup consisting of Sugizo, Yoshiki, Gackt, and Miyavi. In July, Juno Reactor performed as the White Stage's main act on the final day of the Fuji Rock Festival. On December 5, he released the remix album Spirituarise, in which artists from both Japan and overseas remixed his original tracks. On December 24, 2007, Luna Sea reunited for a one-night only concert at the Tokyo Dome.
2008–2009: ''Cosmoscape'', joining X Japan
On March 28 and 29, 2008, Sugizo played at X Japan's two reunion concerts as a stand-in along Wes Borland and Richard Fortus for the deceased hide. In April, he took part in Juno Reactor's European tour. On May 2, he reunited with Luna Sea again at the "hide memorial summit", a two-day concert in memory of hide, at the Ajinomoto Stadium. On July 23, Sugizo released a greatest hits compilation album titled Cosmoscape. The album featured various music genres, such as rock, trance, jazz, classic, bossa nova, among others, and spans his ten years of solo work. During the year, Sugizo wrote a song titled "Enola Gay", named after the Boeing B-29 bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. He wrote the song to convey his feelings and thoughts toward the people who suffered from the aftermath of nuclear war, and to the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As well, that the bomb never must be dropped again, and as his live supporting drummer Greg Ellis is American, singer Origa Russian, and him Japanese, that people from former enemy states can be friends.In September joined Juno Reactor on the USA leg of their tour. On December 19, at the 1,500-seat Shibuya-AX concert hall, he held the solo concert "Rise to Cosmic Dance" playing songs from Cosmoscape, and including the new song "Enola Gay". On December 31, Sugizo played with X Japan at their New Years countdown gig at Akasaka Blitz.
On May 1, 2009, Sugizo officially joined X Japan as lead guitarist, violinist and backing vocalist. In December, Sugizo with Juno Reactor performed in the Netherlands, twice in Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland. Upon returning to Japan, he released two new digital singles, "Messiah" and "Tell Me Why You Hide the Truth?", via iTunes on December 16. They topped iTunes electronic music charts with first and second place. On December 24 and 25, he held the concert "Next Phase of Cosmic Dance" in Taipei, Taiwan.