Hisashi Imai

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Hisashi Imai (今井寿, Imai Hisashi, born October 21, 1965 in Gunma Prefecture) is the lead guitarist and founding member of the Japanese rock band Buck-Tick.

1 About

[edit] About

Imai Hisashi is a popular guitarist within the Japanese rock scene and has performed in musical side-projects such as 'Schaft'(1991-1994), 'Schwein'(2001) and more recently 'Lucy'(2004).

[edit] Schaft

The two musician friends (Hisashi Imai and Maki Fujii) collaborated for a song in 1991 and a few live shows. The enjoyed it so much they went on to do an album. For the album, Fujii recruited his friend Raymond Watts, whom is known for his solo work as Pig and collaborations with such artists as KMFDM. Fujii was able to get many guest musicians to work with Schaft. On August 9, 1993 a five date tour called "LSB" began. This featured the bands Luna Sea, Soft Ballet, Buck-Tick, and sometimes Schaft (w/o Raymond Watts?).

Schaft went on to play a few shows in Tokyo and Osaka with Raymond Watts and Motokatsu (The Mad Capsule Markets) guesting on drums. Other musicians that appeared on the album appeared on stage via pre-recorded tape. Schaft released 2 albums. Switchblade on September 21, 1994 and Switch Remix on October 21, 1994 along with a VHS live video Switchblade Visual Mix on December 16, 1994.

Schaft appeared on the Zilch's remix album "BastardEYES" in 1999.

[edit] Schwein

Schwein is a music group consisting of members of KMFDM, PIG and BUCK-TICK. Members Imai Hisashi and Raymond Watts, both having worked together with Schaft, were joined by Sakurai Atsushi(vocalist) of BUCK-TICK and Sascha Konietzko of KMFDM. In 2001 Schwein released an album, Schweinstein followed by a remix EP Son Of Schweinstein. Schwein toured Japan in the summer of 2001, however Konietzko did not tour with them citing illness, though also stating he was absent so he could focus on KMFDM.

[edit] Lucy

This more recent project Lucy was another side-project led by Imai Hisashi. This project involved guitarist Kiyoshi (ex.spread beaver, machine) and drummer Katsushige Okazaki from Japanese band (Age of Punk). They toured at clubs throughout Japan in the Summer of 2004 and released an album named "Rockarollica" and a live DVD called "Lucy Show - Shout, Speed, Shake Your ROCKAROLLICA".