Miya
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Miya is the guitarist for the Japanese rock band called Mucc. The band was formed in 1997 and is still together and has become very famous in Japan and has played, and become popular in other countries such as Germany, France and most recently, America. Miya is the leader of Mucc and has written the music and lyrics for most of their songs.
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[edit] Quick Info
- Miya(ミヤ)
- Name: Yaguchi Masaaki (矢口雅哲)
- Nickname: Miya
- Function: Guitarist
- Birthday: 26/07/1979
- Astrological Sign: Lion
- Birthplace: Ishioka, ibaraki prefecture
- Blood Type: O
- Height: 167 cm
- Weight: 54 kg
[edit] The Early Life
Miya was born in Ishioka, Japan, in the Ibaraki-ken prefecture as Yaguchi Masaaki on July 26, 1979. Miya’s father died when he was seven and was a main influence for the darkness of his lyrics (such as during the albums Homura Uta and Zekuu) When Miya's father died, Miya used music as a way to get out his anger and frustration for the untimely loss of his father. Miya grew up with his mother, father (until his untimely death), older brother and his older sister in Ishioka. He started learning piano at a very early age from his mother who was a piano teacher. Also, Miya listened to lots of classical music when he was growing up. As Miya got older he wanted to play the drums but couldn’t as his mom said that they were too noisy. So instead, Miya decided to take up playing the guitar.
[edit] Mid-life
Miya formed Mucc in 1997 at the age of 18, with Tatsurou (TATOO) on vocals, Satochi on drums and Hiro on bass. But when Hiro left the band in 1999, Miya asked a childhood friend of his, Yukke, to join the band and he accepted making the line up Mucc has held till today. After high school it is unknown whether he went to university or started playing with Mucc and began touring.
[edit] Other Projects and Accomplishments
Miya co-produced and directed two albums for La Vie en Rose, one of which is Atarashii Asa; he also sang in a couple of their songs. He, along with the other members of Mucc, started their own record label called Shu through Danger Crue Records. Miya is the leader of Mucc, which has been around since 1997. According to Gekigakutai's official site, Miya was asked by Kyohsuke of La Vie en Rose to join the band. The session band was formed from existing Japanese rock bands and have released one album titled Tokyo. Miya contributes to most of the lyrics and music for Mucc, and has only contributed with music for Gekigakutai.
Every great musician has his or hers influences and Miya was greatly influenced by X Japan who is Japan's most famous and influential rock bands of all time and is considered a music legend today. Oddly enough, Miya was also influenced by the sound of Slipknot, a North American metal band (At an Otakon 2006 panel he also listed Metallica and Korn). There were many other influences for Miya but whenever asked in interviews about his influences he usually says "Many".
[edit] Other
As a person, other members of Mucc describe Miya as “quite scary.” Tatsurou, Mucc’s vocalist says Miya makes little noises and whenever he’s surprised he most commonly says “Geh?!” The other members also say he’s a very good drawer. People who have met Miya say his eyes are disturbingly intimidating and evil looking at times but they say he’s a very nice person and is probably the most “normal” person in the band unlike Satochi, Mucc’s drummer, who likes to make faces during photos. When making music, the one thing Miya cares for most about is if he likes it himself. Until he feels that satisfaction, his work isn’t finished. Possibly because of how hard he works on music to perfect it, it could be said that many fans of Mucc see him as an amazing guitarist as well as amazing at writing lyrics and music.
[edit] Fun Facts
- Miya’s first musical performance in front of an audience was during a cultural festival in his last year of high school. For the performance, Miya and his friends played a song called “NO?!” and was also Mucc’s first song to be released.
- Miya decided on the name of the band influenced by a kids cartoon called Ponkickies where one of the main characters was named Mucc. He also thought that the band name should be short, simple, easy to remember and above all, meaningless. Another thing Miya thought important was for the band to have look that would be remembered easily. For this look they did what became to be called “Zombie Makeup”, which was black makeup around the lips, eyes and other dark shades, such as purple to make you look dead.
- June 9 (also seen as 6/9) is “Mucc day”. Mucc is the band Miya has been playing with since 1997. Mucc in Japanese can pronounced as “muku” which would translate to 69.
- Miya, along with Tatsurou and Yukke don’t like to wear shoes and often don’t wear any for concerts, photo shoots and music videos
[edit] External links
- 55-69.com Mucc official website (in Japanese and English)
- Danger Crue, Inc. Official site (in Japanese and English)
- Miya_Mucc - a Miya LiveJournal community
- Zetsubou - Miya fansite