1989
During the first half of January, (continuing from December 1988), there were a series of "Buck-Tick Special" video concerts AKA "Captagon Vol. 31". The Captagon company held these video concerts for various bands and Buck-Tick was the main band for this edition. Vol. 31 featured footage of Buck-Tick recording in London, live footage, as well as messages from the members. Due to the death of the emperor on January 7th, some venues cancelled showing this program. At least one venue was scheduled to show this video in February but for most venues the original schedule was through mid-January.
It may have begun in late 1988, but by early 1989, Hisashi and Hide's custom model guitars by Fernandes appeared in magazine ads. Their photos appear multiple times in the 1989 Fernandes catalogue but unfortunately Hisashi's first name kanji issue struck again as he was mistakenly listed as Yasushi Imai. The photos used were from the spring tour in 1988 and the Seventh Heaven Tour in autumn 1988. For Hisashi, they sell both an Imai custom model stratocaster and telecaster. For Hide, they sell only a Hoshino custom model telecaster. Both telecasters are remarkably similar. The key difference is that Hide's has one less switch and Hisashi's fingerboard has shark fin inlays. Hide's telecaster and Hisashi's stratocaster models have dot inlays.
On January 8, the band appeared on NHK's "Just Pop Up" television show, performing the songs "Iconoclasm" and "Tokyo". On the 18th, the band appeared on TBS's "Kirari Atsuatsu Club", which was a television show that broadcast live performances at Club Citta' Kawasaki. [I am not sure if the broadcasts were live or pre-recorded but I have seen this listed on another website as occurring on the 11th, which may have been a typo or that the shows were recorded then aired a week later or so.]
On January 18, Buck-Tick's third major label album was released. It was entitled Taboo. This is the album that was recorded in London and their only studio album recorded outside of Japan. Well, most of the tracks were recorded in London. The single "Just One More Kiss" was recorded in Tokyo before the band went to London. There are some notable songs on the album for the lyrics or songwriting credits. "Iconoclasm" is the first Buck-Tick song to have lyrics written completely in English. While "Feast of Demoralization" has lyrics by Toll and music by Hide. This is Toll's first songwriting credit for the band. Toll claims that Atsushi had too many songs to write lyrics for so he was just helping out.
Curiously, the third album was released while the tour for their previous album Seventh Heaven was still technically underway. The tour finally came to an end with two shows at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo. As the Budokan is quite famous, it was going to be landmark show for the band. They essentially had a warm-up to feel what the venue is like when they appeared at Band Explosion '88 just three months prior. The Budokan capacity's is 14,471 so this was their biggest solo show to date. In comparison, they played at the Nippon Seinenkan in December 1987 and that venue has a capacity of 1,360. Some of the venues they played in 1988 also had a capacity of around 1,300, such as Club Citta' Kawasaki. The last date of the Seventh Heaven Tour in 1988 was at a venue that had a capacity of around 2,200.
The first show was on January 19 and broadcast on national radio. The second show was on January 20 and was recorded for video release. Hisashi was so nervous he felt like his body was stiff and couldn't move. Atsushi accidentally started to sing the set list for the second day on the first day. (The setlists are almost identical until the end of the show and encore.) Atsushi also put his hair up on the first day and like he had announced the previous year, put his hair down the next day because he felt like it and also to give those who came both days something different to see. The stage included a disco ball mannequin. That's the best way that I can describe it. This prop, the costumes, and even the setlist was a preview of the upcoming "Taboo" tour.
Video footage was shot at the Budokan was edited on January 26th-28th and January 30th-February 5th. It was released in two parts as Sabbat I and Sabbat II on April 21. In August, there were 3 showings of Sabbat scheduled. August 23 at Nagoya Rainbow Hall, August 25 at Osaka-jo Hall (Osaka Castle), and August 27 at Seibu Lion's Stadium. The entrance fee was less than the cost of a single video. I am not sure if these viewings actually took place as something was about to happen in April that would change the course of Buck-Tick history.
Another party was thrown by Victor on February 8. Starting the next day the members had their first long break since rigorous assembly line like touring and recording had begun in 1987. Atsushi visited Hong Kong while Hisashi and U-ta visited India.
On March 7, a book entitled Hyper was released. It was published by the makers of the magazine "Pati Pati" and is comprised of many photos of the band. If you like this period of Buck-Tick, you will love this book. On March 25, the band appeared on the TVK television show "Music Tomato." Hide has his hair down in an interesting way that he may have only done for this appearance. On April 4 another book entitled Love Me was released. It is a biography of the band and each member and contains historical photographs. This is a must read for anyone interested in the early days of the band and greatly informed me of those early days. Around this time and at the end of the year, Buck-Tick appeared on the radio show "Radio De Gomen", which was also broadcast on tv. I am not sure of the exact date, but probably around mid-April, Buck-Tick appeared on the television show "5ji Sat Magazine."
The Taboo Tour began on March 22 at Tachikawa Shimin Kaikan in Tokyoand was set to go through May 30 and 31 in the Higuchi brothers hometown of Takasaki, Gunma. Visually the tour was like the Seventh Heaven Tour Final in January at the Budokan that was recorded and released as Sabbat, except that Atsushi had reverted to black hair. The disco ball mannequin increased from 1 to 3 though, with 1 on the stage for Atsushi to caress, the same as the Seventh Heaven Tour Final, and 2 suspended above the stage. Originally only 1 date at Shinbashi/Shiodome Pit was booked but then another date was added. However, the band would never play these shows as the Taboo Tour was cut short, (only 13 out of the 31 gigs were completed), on April 21 when Hisashi was caught with LSD at Haneda Airport. (Perhaps this is what sparked Hisashi's so-called fear of flying.) He had a stronger pill form of the drug, which was the first time someone had been found in possession with it in Japan. The police had been arresting people in the clubs with it in the fashionable areas of Tokyo and Hisashi was the 15th arrest they made. Hisashi claims that he bought it off his friend in December 1988, who incidentally was a Buck-Tick staff member in 1987 and is credited on a release. That friend was also arrested.
Besides cancelling the rest of the tour, an appearance at the Hokkaido Rock Circuit in the summer also had to be cancelled. It was pretty big (shocking) news at the time because drugs are such a scandalous thing in Japan. It destroys careers and gets foreigners banned from returning to the country. The reports of Hisashi's arrest were all over the newspapers and some even printed a picture of Hide instead of Hisashi, which caused confusion and even more shock amongst fans. Some articles printed that foreigners are trying to get you to buy cigarettes from abroad and then lure you into buying LSD. Seemed like a scare tactic story. After the arrest, there was a long absence of news of the band. I am still not sure what exactly became of Hisashi in those months. Was he required to do jail time? Sent to rehab? I really do not know. I also somehow doubt that there would be court ordered rehab at the time. Over the years I have tried to piece together the puzzle from various sources. Aside from drugs being taboo in Japan, this was monetarily costly to the band. They were mid-tour. Touring is how many bands make their money. They lost the sale of 38,000 tickets, over ¥100,000,000!
On an interesting side note, the Buck-Tick Club published issue #9 on April 25 with no mention of the arrest on April 21. It even contained a list of upcoming tour dates and that a second date was added at the Pit. There was also a tease that the next issue would have details on the band recording their 4th album. I think that this issue had already been printed beforehand and there was nothing they could do but send it off. An extra note was printed that I think was included with the issue as it is dated April 25. It basically apologizes that issue 9 was already ready and includes a message from Shaking Hands, Atsushi, Hide, U-ta, and Toll. The band apologized and that they really looked forward to playing. Toll assured that the members won't change and they're not breaking up. I'm sure it was a very bittersweet thing to receive for members at the time, especially those with tickets for dates that were cancelled.
Since then, the band doesn't really address this part of their past and thankfully interviewers do not bring it up either. It is almost as if the subject is taboo. It is now a blip in history and one that it feels like the band is trying to erase. On the official website, the Taboo Tour is listed as ending on April 20, with no mention that it was originally scheduled through May 31 and that many shows were cancelled. They do note cancelled shows for more recent years but this one has been stricken from the record. Curiously, their website also notes that the Taboo Tour was for 16 dates when the band clearly were only able to play 13 dates. A typo? An oversight? A webmaster too high to get it right? Who knows. Let it be.
At the time of Hisashi's arrest, I was living in Japan and was a new Buck-Tick fan of a few months. My mother received the newspaper daily and I'm sure I checked it daily for the tv schedule, however I never came across anything on Buck-Tick and Hisashi's arrest, perhaps partly that we lived in a rural area for Japanese standards and had limited media access. I also never saw anything on tv. I was informed of the arrest by my friend and schoolmate. In June, I was preparing for a long summer trip to the USA and happened to be flipping the channels on television and managed to catch something. I was quick enough with the VCR that I have a minute of it. It was a press conference or court hearing concerning Hisashi. I wasn't sure at first, too crazed scrambling for a videotape. There were many Buck-Tick fans who wanted to get in to this event, (1300 girls waiting outside), but only a lucky few (509) won a seat inside the building. There were 22 rows for people to sit in and 19 were filled with fans! They showed footage of the many girls and Hisashi being escorted to the building by the band's manager and some other men.
Though there was scare news of the band during this time, especially for what I had access to, I have researched that there was some info going around the mainstream Japanese rock media and fan club publications. (I wasn't a fan club member then so I wouldn't have come across this info and some of these magazine interviews were published over the summer when I just happened to be out of the country so that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.) On August 12, the fan club put out a special issue newsletter to address everyone's concerns and mentioned that on June 14, Hisashi received his sentence for violating Japanese narcotics laws: 6 months prison, 3 years suspended sentence. (This must have been the footage on tv that I caught a snippet of.) Wikipedia Japan states that Hisashi was convicted but his sentence reprieved while the rest of the members served 6 months probation. (Feels like false information since I've never heard of anything happening to the other members.) All in all, this is a subject the band does not like to discuss though they have written songs with drug references since then. In an interview published in "Pati Pati Yokuhon" in February 1990, it stated that Hisashi was incarcerated for 20 days on June 28, so perhaps out of his 6 months sentence he served as little as 20 days and then the suspended sentence began. Now to be good for 3 years while the suspended sentence is in effect. My suspicion is that this prevented Hisashi from leaving the country for a few years.
On July 17, the band minus Hisashi interviewed with various magazines ("B Pass", "Arena 37° C", "Pati Pati", "Pati Pati Rock & Roll", "Rockin' On Japan", "Rock 'n' Roll Newsmaker", "Takarajima") and these interviews were generally published in their respective September issues. Also in July, Hisashi released a statement apologizing to those who were unable to see the shows that got cancelled. He also said that his days lately were relaxing ones spent mainly writing songs.
For even further details into this, Hisashi was arrested while the band was on tour and thus travelling together. The whole band states that they did not know about Hisashi's drugs beforehand and were in shock. The Higuchi brothers state that didn't know what had happened until they got home and each received a phone call. Toll was told to turn on the tv to find out what happened as it was all over the news. When Hisashi was released from custody, the band met with him and they tried to keep spirits up and not make the situation weird and more uncomfortable than need be. Hisashi apologized to the rest of the band. Atsushi joked that Hisashi had gotten fat. For U-ta, they had been apart so long that all he could think of was, "How are you? Are you OK?" All in all, the band believes that Hisashi was sincere with his apologies and did not mean to cause such a mess. Interviewers also tried to get the band's thoughts on why they thought Hisashi did it. Atsushi speculated that Hisashi did it for musical inspiration, that he was unable to write songs, not necessarily because he wanted to do drugs in itself. U-ta thinks that perhaps Hisashi had adopted the foreign attitude of doing drugs is no big deal. Toll thinks that the devil made him do it, that once Hisashi goes home and lives his private life, he had nothing else to do. They also mentioned that since they are not Hisashi, they really can't speak for him. Of course, there are fans who think Hisashi was the fall guy and that more than one member was taking drugs.
In October, the whole band appeared for a photoshoot with "B Pass" magazine. On November 9, Hisashi was interviewed by himself and it was published in "Rock It!" magazine number 5. In an interview published in "Rockin' On Japan" magazine in January 1990, Hisashi mentions that he freaked out on LSD and will never do it again, was in a hospital (rehab?) for 20 days, and felt bad for his actions when thinking about those he affected such as the band and the record company. He also mentions shortly before getting caught that he should tell Atsushi because he is the leader, which is odd because around this time the band had mentioned in interviews that there was no leader. I could have misunderstood but think of it what you will, if it's an honest interview or if there was pressure from above or what have you.
Around this time, the band appeared on the television show "BTT Japan" on Sun TV.
Interviewers also asked the band what they did while away from Hisashi. U-ta said he played guitar and wrote 3 songs but they were not good. He shared one of them with Hisashi who thought it was good. Toll became irritated as he became more aware of others looking over him but he also quit smoking for at least a month. Hide realized that for him, he only has the band in life and just listened to music, wrote 4 songs, and watched movies. Atsushi listened to various music and read books. The fan club mostly just let the staff ramble with the band members leaving a few words. The overall message was one of apologies, that the band is not breaking up, that they are not changing members, that this sort of incident will never happen again, that they are itching to see the fans again, and please continue to support them. They also mentioned that they will record the next album in the fall with plans to release it the following year.
Hisashi also wrote a song for Naoko Nozawa entitled "Itoshi No Gaitare" for her album Tonkichi Chinpei Kanta, which was released on December 21. Naoko is a comedian who would go on to co-host "5-ji Sat Magazine" television show, which Buck-Tick has appeared on multiple times.
On September 29, the band starting rehearsing again and making a demo tape. When the band first got in the studio to play together for the first time after such an absence, Atsushi suggested that they play "Just One More Kiss" since they were out of practice. On October 1, Buck-Tick again entered the studio to record a long awaited album. Buck-Tick were so pleased with the work Will Gosling did while recording the Taboo album in London that they flew him to Japan to engineer this album as well. (Perhaps a condition of Imai's arrest was that he could not leave Japan?) The media silence was broken around this time when ads in many major rock magazines declared Buck-Tick would be playing a show in December with subsequent releases of a single and album. It was a very exciting time indeed. In order to warm up for the main event, they first played at home on December 20 at the Gunma Ongaku Center in Takasaki. Hisashi had bleached hair that wasn't as blonde as it was earlier in the year during the Taboo Tour, but otherwise the band appeared relatively the same.
On December 29, the band delivered by playing Buck-Tick Genshou at Tokyo Dome. Tokyo Dome is a domed baseball stadium, making it an indoor venue. It is the home field of the Yomiuri Giants. This marks the first time Buck-Tick played at a pro baseball stadium. (Previously they played at concert events held at parks that may have had various athletics and an amateur baseball field.) Hisashi appeared with freshly dyed bright red hair. Hisashi was understandably nervous about this show and remembered thinking when the venue was booked, if 50,000 people would really show up. Show up they did--it sold out! At the concert, Buck-Tick previewed two songs from their upcoming album: "Aku No Hana" and "The World is Yours". The venue was so large (it is an indoor baseball stadium that was built for the Tokyo Olympics) there were screens on the side to help those who were too far away to see what was going on. Buck-Tick made it a point to let everyone know that the concert was not being filmed and would not be sold or broadcast. It was at this concert that the new Buck-Tick model guitars were revealed and used on stage. Both of the guitars had unique shapes drawn by their respective player. Hisashi had created the mai-mai shape, which would become his main guitar for year. The best I can describe is taking a stratocaster body, lengthening the horns to create what looks like the scroll on a violin. The headstock also appears to look like a violin scroll. Then there were 2 S's painted to look like Tim Burton drew f-holes. Hide created the kuwagata (hoe-shaped), which had a more traditional shape guitar with some slight accents. One cutaway could be described as looking like a batwing. It was also at this concert that Hisashi bowed his guitar live for the first time. (It has been a long time since Hisashi has used the bow and says that it is something you can only achieve with practice. Since he is out of practice he can no longer do it.
One of those thousands who attended was me. Though I was young and lived as far away as one could in Japan (~1600km or 1000 miles), I just had to be there no matter what because at that point who could know whether or not I would ever get the chance to see them again or even if the band would continue to exist. For my first concert ever, walking into the venue was exciting enough, but seeing the stage covered with a giagantic red curtain with "Buck-Tick" in black and "BT" in white behind it was breathtaking. (The design of the curtain was also utilized as a flag in the promotional music video "National Media Boys" but we didn't know that yet.) Hearing the "Theme of B-T" being played over the speakers built up the excitement even more. Then, the concert began. Naive as I was, I didn't know about encores and apparently I wasn't the only one. Many of us left the venue after we thought the show was over. I even had time to look for merchandise for sale and only found a guy selling pamphlets. That's just an example to show that they took their sweet ass time to come back to play an encore. Later I read in magazines about the encore. Since then, I stick around until they kick me out! You should too.
Further description of Tokyo Dome's show and large concert venues are seated in Japan versus the way they are in other countries: In Japan, at large indoor venues such as Tokyo Dome and Budokan, they don't crowd as many as they possibly can to a floor. The floor is divided into squares and is quite orderly. The row closest to the stage is not close at all. There is no chance of managing your way onto the stage. Shows start almost on the dot to when printed on the ticket without an opening act and are incredibly tame: no stage-diving, no pushing. Of course, the tiny packed "live house" could be much different. As far as punctuality is concerned, fans in Japan speak quite ill of artists that are late. An hour delay might be par for the course in the Western world, but in Japan it's an unforgivable sin.
I'm not sure of the exact dates but starting in the end of December, there were a series of "Buck-Tick Special" video concerts AKA "Captagon Vol. 38". The Captagon company held these video concerts for various bands and Buck-Tick was the main band for this edition. Vol. 38 featured footage of Buck-Tick recording the new album, the artwork photography session, as well as messages from the members.
Continuing the count of prefectures played, this year the band played these prefectures for the first time: Okayama. Don't worry, they didn't miss out on any firsts with the cancellation of the Taboo Tour.
[Webmaster's note: another major thing happened in the Japanese rock scene on April 21, 1989. That was when X's (later known as X Japan) major label debut album Blue Blood was released. Their hard rock/metal fit well for the time as that kind of sound dominated Western markets but there was perhaps a lack of Japanese bands really making an impact. X fit into that niche and exploded on the Indies scene. During Buck-Tick's hiatus, X exploded with singles like "Kurenai" and "Endless Rain". In Japan, both bands were seen as rock but in other countries, I think there is a distinction of the genres they occupied. I can't help wonder how things might have been a bit different for Buck-Tick if there was no hiatus in 1989. As for the fans of such music, there was a clear divide of the camps. You were either a Buck-Tick fan or an X fan. In fact, one of my classmates even commented that had I gone to the other school in the area, I probably would've been an X fan instead. I doubt it though! As for the bands, over time some members of Buck-Tick and X developed a friendship, particularly Hisashi and Hide(to) would run into each other at bars and chat.]