Best known as the bassist for LUNA SEA, J has also been burning up the rock scene as a solo artist for nearly two decades, and he continues to tour and release new music with impressive passion.
J began his career with LUNA SEA back in 1989, and he was beloved by their fans during the band’s ten year run.
In 1997, he released his debut solo album PYROMANIA. It was very different from LUNA SEA’s material, containing traces of hard rock and grunge, but the album was well received and proved that J could survive on his own if anything were to happen to the band.
As fate would have it, LUNA SEA broke up in 2000, giving way to many solo projects fronted by its members. Although all were successful in their own respect, J definitely came out near the top in terms of fan and media attention. With his bad boy antics, fiery live shows and pure, hard-hitting party music, it’s no wonder that J is still at it today.
J has released many albums and singles since his solo debut, and it’s clear that he doesn’t plan on slowing down anytime soon. Notable for his 5 CRAZY 5 concerts (where he plays concerts for five days straight), he never seems to get tired. And if he ever does, he makes sure to double his efforts afterwards! For example, after losing his voice during his show in Toyama on July 14, 2004, J embarked on his 2005 DIVE to the SUN tour to show fans that he was still ready to rock. He even extended the tour by two shows when the last one at Shibuya-AX was sold out.
J has also worked with a number of world famous musicians over the years. He and INORAN formed the short-lived group M*A*S*S with hide, and he would later remix a song for Zilch. He played bass on Tomoyasu Hotei’s song I Hate You in 2002, and Hotei returned the favour by remixing Perfect World for his single go crazy.
In 2004, J released two best-of compilations, Blast List –the best of- and Blast List –the clips-. They were well-timed, as it turns out, since the next year brought some major changes. Guitarist Franz Stahl, who had been part of J’s backing band since his very first album, was replaced by masasucks from FULLSCRATCH and J switched labels from Universal to blowgrow (under avex). J also took some time that year to pay tribute to BUCK-TICK, contributing a cover of ICONOCLASM to the tribute album PARADE RESPECTIVE TRACKS OF BUCK-TICK.
The first installment of J’s CRAZY CRAZY live and documentary videos was released in March 2006.
On December 19, 2007, J released his first live album THE LIVE -ALL of URGE-, which documented his special 10th anniversary SHIBUYA-AX 5DAYS performances from that October. Just a few days later, seven years after the members of LUNA SEA went their separate ways, the band reunited for a Christmas Eve concert at the Tokyo Dome, God Bless you ~One Night Déjàvu~.
2009 saw guitarist masasucks depart from J’s backing band. He was replaced by Kazunori Mizoguchi, formerly of NUNCHAKU and SUPERHYPE. J also began an acoustic project, Dessert Flame Frequency, in March 2010, which held a short tour that year. J embarked on his 11-date J Summer Tour 2010 2days Club Circuit ～２Nights to Revolution～ on July 23rd, and an extra show in Taiwan was added in September. Most remarkably, LUNA SEA also officially reunited that year, announcing a world tour, which kept J even busier than usual.
J celebrated his 14th anniversary as a solo artist in 2011 with a self-cover best-of album, FOURTEEN -the best of ignitions-.
2013 saw many fans’ dream come true when LUNA SEA released their first new album in thirteen years, A WILL. LUNA SEA have continued to tour and perform sporadically since, and even now that J is juggling both activities with the legendary band and his own projects, his stamina hasn’t decreased at all; he held five back-to-back concerts at Akasaka Blitz from November 21st to November 25th in 2014, with the last date being a one-man.
Unfortunately, near the end of that year, longtime guitarist Takashi Fujita, who has been recording and touring with J since his very first album, withdrew from his backing band. masasucks, who is now also in the HIATUS, has returned as his replacement. However, it was announced soon after that Fujita and J would be performing together again in Dessert Flame Frequency, which made its return with a show at Shibuya duo MUSIC EXCHANGE on June 5th.
