Encore: Yoshiki Piano Auction Re-Tunes

After a hiatus, bidding will resume April 25-28 for a crystal Kawai CR-40 piano owned by one of Japan’s biggest rock stars

[Update, April 25, 2011] By Monday, the bidding was at $370,073.58. Auction officials initially said the bidding would reopen at $512,231.70.

[Original Story] A charity auction to benefit Japan disaster relief that peaked at $20 million and was temporarily shut down will now reopen with the bidding reset to half a million dollars, according to an online post from auction officials.

Proceeds from the sale of a crystal Kawai CR-40 piano belonging to Japanese rock star Yoshiki will be donated to Japan earthquake and tsunami relief. The auction began March 17, but was put on hiatus just two days later.

“Yahoo! Auctions has determined an exception was necessary due to an overload of unexpected high volume traffic, high bidding prices and the time required for bidder confirmation procedures; and has temporarily suspended the bidding process on this auction,” according to a notice posted on j-grab.com, the website coordinating the bidding.

Read full article

X Japan Announces International Tour Plans

We love X Japan here at ARTISTidrect.com because they are so much fun! They’ve sold more than 30-million records and DVDs, filled the 55,000-seat Tokyo Dome a record-breaking 18 times, made their North American concert debut last summer at the Lollapalooza festival, and sold out their New York City debut at the famed Roseland Ballroom. Now, for the first time ever, X Japan will bring its long-awaited, epic rock’n'roll to Europe with four special concerts set to take place in London (June 28th), Paris (July 1st), Amsterdam (July 2nd), and Berlin (July 4th).

The London show was originally scheduled for the O2 Academy, and the Berlin venue was Huxleys, but with both of those shows selling out in about 30-minutes, the show’s promoters have moved the concerts to larger venues! If that’s not proof that X Japan need to be on your radar, then nothing else is!

More X Japan concerts are currently being confirmed around the globe and will be announced shortly.

“We are all so excited to finally come and play in Europe,” said Yoshiki, X Japan’s leader/drummer/pianist/songwriter. “Because we’ve never played Europe before, we didn’t know how many fans we had there, so we’re so excited to have this kind of support.”

Read full article

Japanese Rocker gets Inspiration

Yoshiki inspired by theatrics of Kiss

By MICHAEL SULLIVAN

The unmarked, nondescript front of North Hollywood’s Extasy recording studio belies its rather remarkable inhabitants. The studio, once the stomping grounds of Alice in Chains and Metallica (lore has it that “Nothing Else Matters” was penned in the billiards room), now stores Frank Zappa’s old Moog synthesizer, the synth used in the climax of Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and Joni Mitchell’s Mellotron.

Today the studio has a new occupant and owner: Japanese rocker Yoshiki.

In 1982, drummer and classical pianist Yoshiki and his vocalist friend Toshi formed X Japan, a rock band that would come to transform the genre in Japan, and sell more than 30 million albums. Now, they’re setting their sights on the West.

The band’s sound, with one foot in European classical music and the other in the rock traditions of Led Zeppelin and Iron Maiden, hasn’t changed from Japan to America, but the words have: Yoshiki says that more than 90% of the new album will be in English.

Abroad, X Japan is best known for being seminal in the “Visual Kei” movement, a Japanese trend characterized by flamboyant costumes and concert theatrics. “Kiss was like an opening door for us,” Yoshiki said in an interview with Variety.

Read full article

X Japan: You’ve Never Heard of Them, but They’ve Sold 30 Million Albums

They’ve shifted over 30 million albums and have sold out the 55,000 seat Tokyo Dome 18 times, but most of you reading this have probably never heard of X Japan. The quintet has only released five studio albums since their mid-80s formation, yet they are widely known as Asia’s most successful rock act of all time. So who are X Japan?

The first thing you have to know is that drummer-songwriter Yoshi “Yoshiki” Hayashi is the band’s unofficial leader and visionary. Influenced by classic hard rock and heavy metal, he co-founded X Japan with vocalist Toshimitsu “Toshi” Deyama all the way back in 1982. Showing an early glimpse into his entrepreneurial side, Yoshiki also founded Extasy Records to release the group’s material. Their early singles and compilation appearances garnered them attention throughout Japan. In 1988 the band released ‘Vanishing Vision,’ their debut full length album. It sold close to a million copies.

After signing with CBS/Sony, X Japan released ‘Blue Blood,’ a record which found them incorporating lush symphonic elements into their songwriting DNA. This side of their sound would be revisited and expanded throughout their releases. After the successful ‘Jealousy’ album in 1991, X Japan signed a new deal with Atlantic Records and their commercial success continued.

A major component of X Japan’s appeal was their loud stage clothes and image. It was such a radical look that it spawned a movement known as Visual kei. It’s characterized by the use of dramatic make-up, extravagant hair styles, and flamboyant costumes. Although Japan X have largely let go of the look, there’s an entire music scene that still embraces Visual kei.

Read full article

Yoshiki seeks global rock glory for X Japan

By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press
TOKYO March 9, 2011 (AP)

Yoshiki has sold more than 30 million records. Concerts by his heavy metal band X Japan pack stadiums. Everywhere he goes, he is trailed by screaming fans. But that’s just being big in Japan. Yoshiki has his eyes on bigger horizons: fame in the global music industry. It’s not enough he has his share of followers in neighboring China, Taiwan and South Korea. What he wants is stardom in the U.S., the home of rock ‘n’ roll. ”I want to be a household name,” Yoshiki told The Associated Press in a recent interview. “If you’re going to do something, there is nothing but reaching the very top.”

A Los Angeles resident for more than a decade, Yoshiki, 45, has carefully planned his international debut, studying not only the Western music scene but also the English language. A new album of X Japan hits — tailor-made for American listeners, with lyrics translated into English and the tracks heavier on the bass — is set for release this year, complete with a U.S. tour. Last year, X Japan made its American performance debut at the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago, alongside established artists including Lady Gaga and Green Day. Still, Yoshiki, whose surname is Hayashi but goes by one name, knows he is aiming for a success that has long eluded Japanese pop artists.

Read full article

X JAPAN’s Yoshiki Has MARILYN MANSON Walk The Runway At His Asia Girls Explosion Fashion Event In Tokyo

Japanese music/fashion icon, X JAPAN’s Yoshiki, co-produced and hosted Asia Girls Explosion on Sunday, March 6, an East-meets-West/fashion-meets-music event held at the Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo, and rocker MARILYN MANSON walked the runway.

“When we came up with the concept for AGE, the first person I thought of was Marilyn Manson,” said Yoshiki. “He is the fashion icon in rock’n'roll, and I’m very excited he agreed to be part of the show.”

Manson and other international celebrities that included Shenae Grimes. Jessica Stroup and AnnaLynne McCord from the TV series 90210, presented trendy but wearable collections from a variety of high-end, international designers that combined Japanese street fashion with progressive Western design, and a healthy dose of rock’n'roll style.

Read full article

Photos from “Asia Girls Explosion”

Japanese music/fashion icon, X Japan’s Yoshiki, co-produced and hosted “Asia Girls Explosion” on Sunday, March 6, an East-meets-West/fashion-meets-music event held at the Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo, and rocker Marilyn Manson walked the runway.

“When we came up with the concept for AGE, the first person I thought of was Marilyn Manson,” said Yoshiki. “He is the fashion icon in rock’n'roll, and I’m very excited he agreed to be part of the show.”

Manson and other international celebrities that included Shenae Grimes. Jessica Stroup and AnnaLynne McCord from the TV series “90210,” presented trendy but wearable collections from a variety of high-end, international designers that combined Japanese street fashion with progressive Western design, and a healthy dose of rock’n'roll style.

“Asia Girls Explosion” also unveiled Yoshiki’s own fashion line, “Yoshikimono,” that paid tribute to his parents who ran a Kimono shop when he was growing up.

“It is a tradition in Japan that the eldest male takes on the family business,” Yoshiki explained. “But I rebelled and got into rock’nroll. With the Yoshikimono line, I feel I’m keeping my parents’ dream alive.”

Read full article

Yoshiki Grammys 2011 Pictures: 53rd Grammy Awards Red Carpet Photos, Pics

Yoshiki Pictures: Yoshiki arrives on the red carpet at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards held at the Staples Center on February 13, 2011 in Los Angeles, California.

The recording industry’s most prestigious award, the Grammy, is presented annually by The Recording Academy. A Grammy is awarded by The Recording Academy’s voting membership to honor excellence in the recording arts and sciences. It is truly a peer honor, awarded by and to artists and technical professionals for artistic or technical achievement, not sales or chart positions. The annual Grammy Awards presentation brings together thousands of creative and technical professionals in the recording industry from all over the world.

Read full article

68th Annual Golden Globe Awards – Arrivals

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JANUARY 16: Musician Yoshiki and writer Stan Lee arrive at the 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at The Beverly Hilton hotel on January 16, 2011 in Beverly Hills, California.

Read full article

Stan Lee Picture – Musician Yoshiki, Stan Lee 68th Annual Golden Globe…

Musician Yoshiki; Stan Lee. 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at The Beverly Hilton hotel – Arrivals. Beverly Hills, California – 16.01.11.

Read full article