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GACKT

 

    Gackt Camui (神威 楽斗, Kamui Gakuto, born July 4, 1973) is a Japanese musician, composer, and lyricist, as well as a poet, author, actor, designer, and model. Usually referred to by his mononymous stage name (currently stylized as GACKT), he is known for his career as a solo artist and as the former vocalist for the now-defunct band Malice Mizer. Besides Japanese, he has has performed in English, Korean, Cantonese, and Mandarin.

BIOGRAFI ::

Early life

         Gackt was born in Okinawa, Japan, on July 4, 1973. In an interview, Gackt once stated that his birth year is 1540, and that he feels he was born in the wrong time period and should have been alive during the time of samurai.His father was a music teacher primarily playing the trumpet and his mother was also a teacher. According to Gackt's autobiography, he was a mischievous child and enjoyed taking risks; at age of seven he nearly drowned while swimming off the coast of Okinawa. After this near-death experience, he claimed to have the ability to see and speak with deceased family members, a notion which was dismissed by his parents. At the age of ten, Gackt was hospitalized with a gastrointestinal condition and had to remain at the hospital for a prolonged time. He made the acquaintance of several terminally ill children, some of whom died during his stay. Gackt's musical education began at age three, when his parents initiated his classical piano education, which he grew tired of four years later. It would take another four years until his parents allowed him to quit. Gackt is known for being very competitive, and when he learned that a friend was also learning piano it led to Gackt taking up the piano again so he could be better. Having only listened to classical and  while growing up, Gackt didn't become interested in rock music until he was a young adult. He cites Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" as being particularly inspiring, and went on to master modern percussion and guitar.

Malice Mizer

     In 1995, Gackt joined Malice Mizer as the group's vocalist, lyricist and pianist. The band released several successful singles along with two albums with Gackt, entitled Voyage ~Sans Retour~ and Merveilles. At the immediate start of 1999, Gackt left Malice Mizer. Five months after Gackt's departure,Kami died of a subarachnoid hemorrhage. Gackt dedicated two songs to his memory ("U+K" and "Emu ~For my dear~").

 Solo career

     Gackt launched his solo career on May 12, 1999 with the release of the EP Mizerable. Several albums, singles and videos (on VHS and DVD) have since followed. Gackt's music has also been featured as theme songs for anime and video games multiple times, examples being New Fist of the North Star, Bujingai, Texhnolyze, and Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, amongst others. He has also provided voice acting, motion capturing and his likeness for such works on several occasions and co-wrote and co-starred in the 2003 movie Moon Child, which also features Hyde (vocalist of L'Arc~en~Ciel) and Taiwanese-American singer Leehom Wang.Also in 2003, Gackt published his autobiography, Jihaku and for Caparison Guitars, he has designed two guitars, named "Mercury" and "Venus".

2007-present

Cover of Gackt's 2007 release "Returner ~Yami no huen~"

      Beginning January 7, 2007, Gackt played the warlord Uesugi Kenshin in the NHK drama Furin Kazan.Gackt's single "Returner ~Yami no Shuen~", was released on June 20, 2007, and was the first in his career (both solo and in a band) to reach the number one spot on the Japanese Oricon charts.Gackt has provided the voice for Malthazar in the Japanese release of the film Arthur and the Minimoys and in October 2007, his back catalog became available in the iTunes Store. On December 19, 2008, Gackt released an album titled 0079-0088. It contains eight tracks, which had either previously been used on the soundtracks of the Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam movies or were covers of earlier songs from the Gundam franchise.

      It was created as a tribute to the creator of Gundam, Yoshiyuki Tomino, for his birthday.Gackt performed on the 58th Kohaku Uta Gassen, the 2008 annual New Year's Eve special by NHK. Gackt's single "Jesus" was released on November 26, 2008; his first single release in over a year.On January 28. 2009, Gackt released his twenty-seventh single, "Ghost", which was the opening for the Japanese version of The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Gackt is expected to perform the theme song for upcoming third installment in the "Samurai Warriors" series video game and as a representative of Japan at the Asia Song Festival in 2009.

S.K.I.N.

     On May 25, 2007, the formation of the supergroup S.K.I.N. was announced which, besides Gackt, consists of fellow pop/rock artist Miyavi, former Luna Sea guitarist Sugizo and X Japan co-founder Yoshiki. The group gave its debut performance at the Anime Expo convention in Long Beach, California on June 29, 2007  and plans to release an album.

 

Current projects 

Gackpoid

     Gackt lent his voice and stage name for the creation of the Vocaloid Kamui Gakupo (神威がくぽ^?). Yamaha wanted to utilize the voice of a musician but felt it would be difficult to acquire cooperation. They consulted Dwango (new owner of Vocaloid publisher Internet Co. Ltd.), who suggested Gackt, as Gackt had previously provided his voice for Dwango's cell phone services.Referred to alternately as Gakupoid or Gackupo, the most recent release includes a new program, OPUS Express, for mixing vocal parts with accompaniment and phoneme data.
The new software will be available for download for users with registered copies of previous Vocaloids. Besides the new program, Gackpoid will include two of Gackt's songs and three example songs.

        The product was originally intended to be released in June 2008, but although Gackt existed as a model for the Vocaloid, it lacked an illustrated avatar to match the previous Vocaloids. Popular manga author Kentaro Miura, famous for his dark fantasy epic Berserk, was approached. Due to Miura's affection for Nico Nico Douga, he agreed to offer his services as character designer for free. As a fan of Berserk, Gackt was more than happy with this arrangement, and requested Miura's sketches be faxed to him as well as the developers, even though he was on location for the filming of Guy Moshe's Bunraku. Gackpoid was released on July 31, 2008. Miura's design for Gakupo has a samurai aesthetic?the Vocaloid is clad in a hakama and haori, and carries a katana that somehow acts as a musical instrument.

Appearances as Uesugi Kenshin

    Gackt reprised his Furin Kazan television role of Japanese warlord Uesugi Kenshin at Joetsu city's Great Kenshin Festival for the second year in a row on August 23, 2008. On May 21, 2008, Gackt released the documentary, Amakakeru Ryu no Gotoku, which was about his time spent making the drama, Furinkazan.

10 Year Anniversary Countdown

     On June 20, 2009 Gackt released his single "Koakuma Heaven", which was the first of four singles released as part of Gackt's "10 Year Anniversary Countdown," which was a countdown to his 10th anniversary as solo artist.Each of the countdown singles were released within a week of one another. The second single was Faraway, released June 17, followed by the third single, "Lost Angels", released June 24 and ended with "Flower", which was released July 1, 2009.

Album

• Mizerable (April 26, 2000) - Download Here
• Mars (June 28, 2000)
• Rebirth (April 25, 2001)
• Moon (June 19, 2002) - Download Here
• Crescent (December 3, 2003) - Download Here
• Love Letter (February 14, 2005)
• Love Letter - For Korean Dears (June 15, 2005)
• Diabolos (September 21, 2005)
• 0079-0088 (December 19, 2007)

Compilation Album

• The Sixth Day: Single Collection (February 25, 2004)
• The Seventh Night: Unplugged (May 26, 2004)
• Jūnigatsu no Love Songs ~Complete Box~ ( December 13, 2006)
• nine*nine (October 29, 2008)

FILM

• Soyokaze (2002)
• Hero's Hero (2002)
• Moon Child (2003)
• Fūrin Kazan (2007)
• Mr.Brain (2009) as Takegami Teijirou (episode 2)
• Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker - as Jōji Yūki (2009)
• Bunraku (2010)

GACKTJOB

GacktJob is Gackt's live support band. Its current lineup is as follows:

• Yukihiro "Chachamaru" Fujimura – backing vocals, lead guitar
• You Kurosaki – violin, guitar
• Chirolyn - bass
• Jun-ji - drums
• Igao – keyboard

Support members when needed

• Ju-ken – bass
• Nell - bass
• Minami - drums

Former members

• Masa – rhythm guitar
• Ren – bass
• Ryu – drums
• Toshi – drums

credit source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gackt
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IKIMONO GAKARI

IKIMONO GAKARI

Band Profile 

     Ikimono-gakari (いきものがかり) is a Japanese Pop-rock band. They record on Sony Music Japan's Epic Records label. The band was formed in Kanagawa Prefecture in February 1999 by Hotaka Yamashita and Yoshiki Mizuno, and was later joined by lead vocalist Kiyoe Yoshioka in December the same year. Ikimono-gakari (生き物係) is a child who is responsible for looking after plants and animals inelementary school. As ikimono-gakari, Hotaka and Yoshiki shared experience of feeding goldfish in first grade.

Members Profile

 

Kiyoe Yoshioka (吉岡聖恵, Yoshioka Kiyoe) - Vocal

Born February 29, 1984 from Atsugi-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture. She is a graduate of Ebina High School and the Showa Academia Musicae Junior College. She is the band's lead vocalist, and has written lyrics to some of the band's songs. Her older brother was a classmate of both Hotaka and Yoshiki at high school. Her nicknames are Yosshie and Kiyoe-chan.

Hotaka Yamashita (山下穂尊, Yamashita Hotaka) - Guitar

Born August 27, 1982 from Ebina-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture. He is a graduate of Atsugi High School and the Faculty of Social Sciences, Hosei University. He plays the guitar and harmonica, and has written lyrics and melodies to some ofthe band's songs. His nicknames are Hocchi and Yama-chan.

 

Yoshiki Mizuno (水野良樹, Mizuno Yoshiki) - Guitar dan Vocal
Born December 17, 1982 from Ebina-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture. He is a graduate of Atsugi High School and the Faculty of Social Sciences, Hitotsubashi University. He is the leader ofthe band, and plays the guitar and vocals. He has also written lyrics and melodies to some of the band's songs. His nickname is Yocchan.

More Band Profile:

Band Profile

Ikimono Gakari's story began with the meeting of Hotaka and Yoshiki in April 1989, at a time when they were at primary school, where both of them were given the nickname "ikimono gakari", which means "those who are in charge of the (school) pets".

They followed the same path in school and decided to create a band in February 1999 at their Atsugi College (Kanagawa Pref.). Around the same period they definitively chose Ikimono Gakari for their band name (but using a different writing method than now, including kanji: 生き物係) and started performing live in street and at live houses. Some months later, Kiyoe, the little sister of one of their schoolmates joinedthe band as vocalist.

But the fact is that the three young people were still busy with their studies and by 2000 the college final tests, for university entrance began: so the band made the decision to take a break starting that September before restarting activities only a year and a half later.

With the help of many live performances, the band gained more and more popularity in its local area, and in June 2003, indies label Thunder Snake gave them a chance and offered the band their first real solo concert at Atsugi Thunder Snake, the concert sold out.

The band then released their first mini-album in August entitled Makoto ni Sen'etsu nagara First Album wo Koshiraemashita..., which was sold in Thunder Snake related concert places.The band managed to sell out every subsequent concert and their success grew each time. Their contract with Thunder Snake continued without a hitch.

A second mini-album was available a year later, it sold more than 1,000 copies and the band were now becoming very popular among Kanagawa prefecture's inhabitants. A third and final four tracks indies mini-album was released on May 2005 which included a live DVD of their Atsugi Bunka Kaikan concert. Soon after though Ikimono Gakari were contacted by Sony Music which offered them a contract to sign for the major labelEPIC RECORDS JAPAN.

The band's major debut single, SAKURA, released in mid-March 2006 and which is used as a commercial song theme gained a great success, with sixteen weeks on Oricon charts, creating a ideal buzz forthe band to become known by general public. Experienced in live performances due to their successful indie performances Ikimono Gakari decided to give a free concert in a park of its hometown, Atsugi to which 2000 people came.

Their second single, HANABI, was quickly released after the success of their first. To celebrate the release of the new CD the band offered up another free live concert, but this time it took place in Mizuno-Yamashita in front of 5000 people. HANABI carried on do well in charts, reaching the Oricon 5th rank, certainly helped by the fact of its use as anime Bleach's ending theme.

Their third single Koi suru Otome was released in mid-October 2006, and instead of being an original song it is a re-arranged version of a song from their indies period, which is well loved by fans. The single is once again promoted as a tie-up, like coupling-with tracks, as GET CRAZY!, a cover of 80s girl band PRINCESS PRINCESS's song.

With positive and sincere attention from the media and solid foundation from their indies experience to be proud of, the band started its first tour (seven dates) in November 2006, titled Ikimono Gakari no Minasan Konnitsuaa !! 2006, with great public anticipation.

Trivia:

* Vocalist Kiyoe's older brother was the classmate of both Yoshiki and Hotaka.
* Yoshiki and Hotaka met in their first year of elementary school in 1989. The two were "Ikimono Gakari" in their class, or the leaders.
* The band opened for Tamaki Nami on August 5th, 2005 at an Atsugi, Kanagawa music festival.

Album Indie

Makoto ni Senetsu Nagara First Album wo Koshirae Mashita (|誠に僭越ながらファーストアルバムを拵えました・・・) (25 August 2003) - Download Here

Shichishoku Konnyaku (七色こんにゃく) (28 August 2004) 

Jinsei Sugoroku Dabe (人生すごろくだべ。) (25 May 2005)

Album Major

Sakura Saku Machi Monogatari (桜咲く街物語) (7 March 2007)
Life Album (ライフアルバム) (13 February 2008)
My Song Your Song ( 私の歌、あなたの歌 )  (24 December 2008)
Hajimari No Uta (13 December 2009)


Compilation Album
 BLEACH THE BEST  (13 February 2006)
14 Princess ~Princess Princess Children (8 March 2006)
'Cherry Pie' Original Soundtrack (18 October 2006)
Tenpo Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi' Original Soundtrack (21 March 2007)
'Ookiku Furikabutte' Original Soundtrack (12 September 2007)




Official Website
http://www.ikimonogakari.com/

Credit source:
www.ikimonogakari.forumotion.com
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