Buck-Tick Zone

2004

This was the year of side and solo projects, except for Hide whom only put out t-shirts.

This was the year of solo/side projects. Atsushi entered the studio on February 16 to record for his solo project and ended recording on May 13. The "Sacrifice" single was released on May 26 and "Taiji/Smell" double single on July 21. The debut album Ai No Wakusei was released on June 23. He played 2 live shows in Tokyo at NHK Hall on July 21 and 22. For the concerts, the backing band consisted of Masatomo Kawase (guitars), Ken Miyo (guitars), Tomohiro Matsuda (bass), Kousaku Abe (drums), and Maki Fujii (synthesizer, backtrack compile, & rebuild). The setlist included a new song "Explosion" and a cover of David Bowie.

The short film Longinus was released on August 25. In it, Atsushi makes his acting debut as a vampire who hunts other vampires. (Perhaps he is planning to be like David Bowie with dual careers?) A live video, -Explosion- Ai No Wakusei Live 2004 was released on December 16. The books Yasou was released on July 14 and Sacrifice on July 20. During this time, Atsushi announced that he has married again.

Atsushi made a guest appearance on October 9 at the "Arabaki Matsuri" held at Sendai Accel. He appeared with Kazumasa Tanaka (Grapevine) and Leyona as the guest of Theatre Brooks and were thus billed as Theatre Brooks & Arabaki Super Session. (Though the band is Theatre Brook, all information I have read on this show is listed as Brooks plural.)

Lucy (Hisashi side project) released their album Rockarollica on June 9. The other members are Kiyoshi (vocals, guitars) and Katsushige Okazaki (drums, manipulate, vocals). Lucy seems to be a group where 1 member will write the entire song, rather than a collaborative effort. Hisashi and Kiyoshi had custom guitars made for Lucy that resemble coffins with a cross on it. The band toured in June and July for 12 dates. Their setlist includes a cover of The Roosters and The Rockers. The live video Lucy Show ~Shout, Speeed, Shake Your Rockarollica~ was released on November 17.

Wild Wise Apes (U-ta side project) released their album 3rd World on July 28. The other member is Atsushi Okuno (vocals), formerly of Rogue. They played 2 live shows entitled "Stage for 3rd World" on July 30 in Tokyo and July 31 in Takasaki, Gunma. For the concerts, the backing band consisted of Akihide (guitar) and Furuton (drums). Their setlist included a Rogue song, Atsushi solo song, and a cover of The Roosters.

Toll Yagami released his solo album under the name Yagami Toll & the Blue Sky and the album is titled 1977 / Blue Sky. The songs are one continuous long track on the CD. It is a very personal album where he deals with the death of his older brother, which sparked him to become a drummer. He does not play any live shows to support the album.

It is interesting to note that both Atsushi and Hisashi's solo/side projects were released on Victor, Buck-Tick's first record label, while U-ta and Toll chose to go the independent route. WWA Records was created to release the Wild Wise Apes record. The Blue Sky album was released by Circles Music Publishers, the Buck-Tick run company that Buck-Tick publishes all their music with.

At the Night Side live album released on April 7; live video released on April 21.

On September 11, Buck-Tick played a show entitled "Akuma To Freud -Devil and Freud- Climax Together" at the Yokohoma Arena. Twelve years earlier they had held the "Climax Together" show at the same venue. The Akuma To Freud -Devil and Freud- Climax Together live video was released on December 22.

Fernandes held a "Buck-Tick Fair" at the Music Land Key music store in Shibuya were Hisashi and Hide's guitars were on display for the first week of November.

At the end of the year, Buck-Tick played 3 dates under the banner "The Day In Question".

[this page was last updated on Saturday, 26-Apr-2008 23:29:41 PDT]