Zi:Kill

From MedBib.com - Medicine & Nature

 This article does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2007)
Zi:Kill
Origin Kanagawa, Japan
Genres Punk rock
Hard rock
Progressive rock
Years active 1987–1994
Labels Extasy Records
Toshiba-EMI
King Records
Associated acts Craze
L'Arc~en~Ciel
Former members
Tusk
Seiichi
Ken
Eby
Masami
Yukihiro
Tetsu

Zi:Kill was an influential Japanese visual kei band formed in 1987. The core members were Tusk (vocals), Seiichi (bass), and Ken (guitar). They were featured in a chapter of Karl Taro Greenfeld's novel, Speed Tribes. The chapter documents the writer's time spent with the band, and the events that nearly caused their break up.

Contents

History

Early Years

Zi:Kill (Originally called G-Kill) was formed in 1987 by Ken(Guitar) and Seiichi(bass). TUSK(Vox) joined in 1988 and they began to actively play shows. hide of X JAPAN introduced the band to Yoshiki, who signed them to Extasy Records and released their first album, Shinsekai~THE REAL WORLD, in 1989. The band embarked on their first nationwide tour with MASAMI(Drums) in May of that year.

The album proved to be successful, with the band becoming one of the largest in Japan's emerging visual kei scene. In 1990 Close Dance, their second album was an even greater success; it landed in the first position of Oricon's indies chart, with 30,000 copies pre-ordered. During a show at the Shibuya Kōkaidō Zi:Kill announced their signing with Toshiba EMI, a major label.

Although the band was becoming very successful, Zi:Kill had become known for infighting within the band, and were sent to Los Angeles to record their major label debut. The session was marked with heated arguments, and upon completing the album in December 1990, Yukihiro was fired.

Desert Town, their major label debut, appeared to be the bands breakthrough album when it was released in 1991. It hit the Oricon top ten, and their debut single, Lonely, sold 40,000 copies. However after announcement of new drummer Tetsu and a nationwide tour that summer, the band began a bitter dispute with Toshiba EMI that led to Zi:Kill leaving the label. The band ceased promotion of Desert Town, spending the rest of year playing a handful of shows. Tetsu graduated from support to full member, but this was to be short-lived.

Regrouping and final years

After Tetsu's departure hit the press in January 1992, Zi:Kill announced they had resumed activity with new drummer EBY. As free agents, they collaborated with Yoshiki on a history compilation of their indies albums, submitting the new song "HERO" and recording "CRACK EYE" and "DONT ASK ME" especially for the record. TOMORROW(extasy records) was released in 1992 and hit 34 on the Oricon charts, a monumental success for an indies album. In retaliation, Toshiba EMI released its own Zi:Kill history album, Disgrace~The Best, two months later.

In The Hole, a new album recorded that summer, was released on King Records October 28, 1992. It hit the 8th position on the Oricon with "SLOW DOWN" as its lead single. After another national tour, they appeared at Extasy Record's Extasy Summit at the Osaka-jo Hall and Nippon Budokan, ending the year with a oneman performance at the Nippon Budokan December 17.

Recorded in London, Rocket was released in June 1993. It was to be Zi:Kills final album. Ranking 5th on the Oricon, it also marked their highest chart appearance. The single "Calling" was a success, being used as Tony's theme in the anime Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle.

After a nationwide tour titled "FLYING ROCKET 1993" and a number of one-man performances, Zi:Kill disbanded in early 1994.

Post Zi:Kill

In 1995 Seiichi and Tetsu teamed up with CIPHER(ex-D'erlanger) to form CRAZE, whose sound was originally a mix of D'erlanger and Zi:Kill style visual rock.

TUSK initially formed a solo unit with Kyoji Yamamoto of BOWOWOW and ex-Zi:Kill drummer Tetsu. They released a solo single, 3 songs, in 1996, but ceased activities after its release. He then formed THE SL*T BANKS. They released four albums between 1997 and 2000 before disbanding.

TUSK joined Seiichi and Tetsu in CRAZE in 2000, but by then their sound had changed to agree with pop-punk and nu-metal styles in vogue at the time. TUSK recently left CRAZE to partake in THE SL*T BANKS reunion. CRAZE played their final show in 2006, without TUSK.

Ken went on to release a number of solo efforts, notably featuring former Zi:Kill drummers yukihiro and EBY.

Ex-drummer yukihiro went on to form prominent 90's visual band Die in Cries in 1991, and famously replaced L'arc~en~Ciel's drummer Sakura after he was arrested for drug possession in 1996.

Members

Past members

Discography

Single

Album

VHS

DVD

Photo Albums

External links

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
All material adapted used from Wikipedia is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
Seeking health information online: does Wikipedia matter?