| S.K.I.N. | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Japan / United States |
| Genres | Rock |
| Years active | 2007 |
| Associated acts | X Japan, Malice Mizer, Luna Sea, Dué le Quartz |
| Members | |
| Yoshiki Gackt Sugizo Miyavi |
|
Skin (stylized as S.K.I.N.) is a music project founded by several Japanese rock musicians in 2007. They are Yoshiki, Gackt, Sugizo and Miyavi, all being important to the visual kei movement or closely related to it, but everyone being from a different generation.
Its debut performance was on June 29, 2007, in Long Beach, California, considered as the "Japanese rock concert of the century". Although they had announced more activities, such as a live tour and releasing a record, all activities were suddenly stopped. So the future of the project still remains unclear.
Contents |
The origin of the project dates back to when Yoshiki invited Gackt to his Los Angeles mansion, and later they decided to produce some music together.[1] But due to Gackt's then rising solo career and other aspirations, the project was postponed indefinitely.
The project was publicly announced in July 2006 at an Otakon conference where Yoshiki as a guest said, he would be starting a band with Gackt. He announced how the group would be composed of five members, and they're going to produce a recording with a live tour in 2007.[1] In December of the same year, it was announced that Sugizo would be the third member and the first guitarist of the group.[2] And then at the first "JRock Revolution Festival" on May 25, 2007, organized by Yoshiki, he officially announced that Miyavi would be the fourth member and second guitarist, and that Skin would be having its debut performance on June 29, 2007 at the anime expo in Long Beach.[3] Yoshiki confirmed that the group was planning to release an album and that rough recordings of seven or eight songs were made in March 2007.[4] With the well known members the band is considered a supergroup, causing their concert to be called the "Japanese rock concert of the century".[5] Both Gackt and Yoshiki said that they want to be the first Asian band to conquer the world charts, beginning with America.[6] Leading a rock revolution and starting a new era of rock and roll, by opening the market for Japanese in the Western music industry.[7]
On June 12, premiere Skin concert tickets started to be released via internet. However, every site's, that sold tickets for the anime expo or the premium concert, servers crashed due to the massive interest, and in a few hours ticket reservations were temporary stopped.[8]
On Thursday night of June 28, Skin performed for the first time, supported on bass by Ju-ken, at the time a member of Gackt's live band. The concert began almost two and a half hours late, for unknown reasons. They performed four songs: "Gei-Sha", "Killing you Softly", "Beneath the Skin", and "Violets", most lyrics were in English. During the performance of "Violets", Gackt and Yoshiki both played piano, Sugizo was on violin and Miyavi played the traditional Japanese shamisen. At the end, Gackt announced that they would meet again.[9][10]
Since their debut performance, Skin has been inactive, neither an album release date nor a full-time bass player has been announced, all activity was suddenly stopped without any information. So the future of the project still remains unclear.
In a 2008 interview, guitarist Sugizo was asked about the project. He had said all members wish to continue with the project, but are all too busy to get together at the same time and place, and added maybe next year.[11] But nothing happened the following year, and in another interview he stated don't know what will happen from now on.[12] During a press conference in June 2010, Miyavi said he was honored being included in the group, and revealed that he would like to become active with Skin in the near future.[13] In a 2010 interview, Yoshiki said as he is working with X Japan and his solo project Violet UK, it will be after them.[14] Also, Toshi in a semi-joking context said that he would like to be part of the project since he really appreciates the group’s music, adding, perhaps as a percussionist or trumpeter.[14]