Nakama Hideaki

Nakama Hideaki is a metal guitarist who has been in the music scene for quite a long time and throughout his career the excellent guitarist has played in various bands. Expanding his activities to the USA, he has formed the band Hell’n’Back with American musicians. More recently, Nakama has been the support guitarist of L’arc~en~Ciel’s Ken’s solo project.

Nakama Hideaki’'s interest for guitars started at a young age. In 1977, when he saw a live performance of KISS on TV, he became interested in learning to play the guitar. Instead of finding a teacher or follow music classes, he learned by simply copying his idols, mostly American guitar heroes.

He started the band HURRY SCUARY and they released their debut album BREAK IT UP] in 1988, after they had released some tracks on compilation albums and such. The lyrics were completely in English and the album was also used as a soundtrack for the movie TOP DOG.

A year later he released his solo-album, Point of no return. However, he didn'’t really continue his solo career, but became the guitarist of the band Emerald Forest for a while around 1990. They only released some songs on compilation albums and, at the same time, he also worked with the metal band Anthem.

In 1994, he moved to the USA, in order to find a new band there and he was especially interested in finding an English vocalist. He succeeded in that and formed the band Hell’'n'’Back, consisting of all American members except for Nakama himself. Their music can be best described as '80s heavy metal, sounding heavy yet melodious at the same time. They released two albums in 2005 on the Danger Crue label. They also performed in Japan, and had the chance to perform in the famous Budokan venue.

Nowadays, Nakama has joined Ken of L'arc~en~Ciel on stage as a support member. He has also participated in a tribute project for the guitarist Randy Rhoads.

Either as a solo artist in its own right or as part of a band, Nakama Hideaki shows his excellent skills as guitarist. As versatile as he is, there is no doubt that he will continue to make music and appeal to metal fans from all over the world.