, better known by his stage name J, is a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He is best known as bassist and co-founder of the rock band Luna Sea since 1986. After they disbanded in December 2000, he focused on his solo career, which first began in 1997. He rejoined Luna Sea when they reunited in August 2010.
J ranked tenth on Bass Magazines list of the 100 Greatest Bassists, and Luna Sea are regarded as one of the most influential bands in the visual kei scene. Musicians such as Shun (Totalfat), Ni~ya (Nightmare), Reita (The Gazette), and RxYxO (Coldrain) have cited him as an influence. Since 1997, J has had prominent names in the music industry playing on his albums, as his backing band, or appearing as guests at his concerts, including Scott Garrett, Billy Duffy and Ian Astbury (all three from The Cult), Franz Stahl (Scream), Steve Jones (The Sex Pistols), Duff McKagan and Slash (both from Guns N' Roses), and Takashi Fujita (Doom).
Early life Jun Onose was born in Tokyo on August 12, 1970. His mother's family home was in Jingūmae. Due to his father's work, the family moved to Ashikaga, Tochigi, then to Zama, Kanagawa, before settling in Hadano, Kanagawa when J was in the fourth grade of elementary school. As a child, J was obsessed with soccer until his sister, who is five years older, introduced him to rock music. He first encountered Western music in elementary school, then, when he entered middle school, he was able to use his school ID to rent record's from a shop near his home. J said he listened to every record they had, going through alphabetically and choosing based on whichever caught his eye. He cited the Sex Pistols and U2 as bands that drew him into rock music.
J had already decided that he wanted to be in a band by the time he was in middle school. The first thing he learned to play on guitar was the riff to Michael Jackson's "Beat It". Because everyone wanted to play guitar, including himself, J casually chose bass without even knowing what the difference was. He practiced by reading the tablatures of various songs by different bands, often being so engrossed he did not realize morning had come. The first song he learned to play all the way through on bass was the Sex Pistols' "Silly Thing". Middle school is also when he met and began playing music with his classmate Inoran, after asking to borrow his copy of Howard Jones' album Human's Lib. Although they would get together with friends and declare themselves to be in bands, only the one he formed in his third year featured members that all had instruments, and even then, they only ever practiced. Thus, J said he does not consider these middle school groups to be a part of his band history. However, it was during this time that he became known by the nickname "J", in order to differentiate himself from a friend with the same given name. The drummer of one of these bands was the younger sister of Sugizo.
Because they did not know anyone as passionate about music as themselves, J and Inoran specifically chose a high school that had a light music club, but were disappointed to learn that they were already more skilled than their seniors. J used his sister's bass guitar until buying his own in high school. While in high school, J was a roadie for Dean, bassist of the thrash metal band Aion, for about two years. He said the job was another type of school, teaching him how the music scene worked; such as, how to get booked at a venue, when to transport your equipment there, and how to sell tickets. The members of Luna Sea later provided backing vocals to Aion's 1991 album Aionism, and J played bass on five songs for the 2008 self-titled debut album of Aion leader Izumi's death metal band, The Braincase.
Career 1986–2000: Luna Sea While in high school, J and Inoran formed a band called Lunacy in 1986. The name was chosen because they felt something akin to "madness" in their sound, the future they aspired to, and the things they were doing. As the other members left to pursue careers or college, in January 1989, they recruited Pinocchio drummer Shinya and guitarist Sugizo, who were a year older and had attended a different high school, but whom they knew from the local music scene. J had originally asked Shinya, but the drummer insisted that his friend Sugizo also join. J, who vaguely knew Sugizo as they had attended the same elementary school, did not object as he found the prospect of a twin guitar setup intriguing. In his autobiography, J recalls that Yasuhiro "Yasu" Imai, the band's vocalist and one of his closest friends, suddenly told him that he wanted to quit one day. He speculated that Yasu might have become uncomfortable because, like any band, the members grew at different rates, differences in direction became apparent, and their expectations of each other gradually increased. At the same time, he learned that Ryuichi was considering leaving his band Slaughter and said the timing worked out perfectly for Ryuichi to replace the outgoing Yasu as vocalist of Lunacy. Yasu went on to enter his family's business of creating eyewear, and J later collaborated with his brand, Less Than Human. The finalized lineup of Lunacy made their debut at Play House in Machida, Tokyo on May 29, 1989.
After releasing three demo tapes, the band decided the next logical step was to release an album, and signed with Extasy Records. While creating the album, J suggested that Lunacy change their name. He felt that continuing with a name meaning "madness" might eventually trap and confine them, and wanted one that conveyed a deeper and broader meaning. "Luna Sea" suddenly came to him one day, and he proposed writing it in Japanese as "", which would evoke a mystical energy reminiscent of the ebb and flow of the tides. Additionally, he liked that there were very few bands that used something found in nature as their name, and the fact that no other band would dare change their name at such an important time as their debut album. The Japanese spelling was ultimately dropped, and the self-titled Luna Sea was released by Extasy in April 1991. It earned them offers from around 16 record companies, from which, the band chose MCA Victor and released their major debut album, Image, in May 1992. Luna Sea went on to become very successful, selling more than 10 million records, and are considered one of the most influential bands in the visual kei movement. Their 10th Anniversary Gig [Never Sold Out] Capacity ∞ concert held on May 30, 1999, was attended by 100,000 people, making it one of the largest-ticketed concerts ever held by a single act.
On November 8, 2000, it was announced that Luna Sea would disband after two concerts in December. The decision was made at a meeting held in a hotel suite after the August 2000 Fukuoka performances of their Brand New Chaos tour. Looking back decades later, J wrote that ever since they achieved their first Tokyo Dome concert in 1995, the members lacked a goal to strive for in unison, and that he personally started to sense the band was coming to its end when they regrouped and began working on the 1998 album Shine, after a year off in 1997 for solo activities. Although it was never said aloud, he suspects each member went into recording Lunacy, which was released in July 2000, with the feeling that it would be their last. Luna Sea played their final concerts at the Tokyo Dome on December 26 and 27, 2000. In 2003, HMV Japan ranked the band at number 90 on their list of the 100 most important Japanese pop acts.
1997–2010: Solo career
In 1993, J teamed up with Inoran and X Japan guitarist Hide to form the group M*A*S*S. Their only material released was the song "Frozen Bug" on the sampler album Dance 2 Noise 004, which was later remixed by Hide and put on his 1994 debut solo album Hide Your Face. At the end of 1996, Luna Sea announced they would be taking a one-year break for the members to pursue solo careers. J later explained that some members wanted to start solo activities, while others did not as they felt they should all be focusing on the band, and the resulting conflict is what resulted in the one year limit. He was one of those against, and had never thought of being a solo artist before because he always preferred bands. Because he felt the public no longer thought of Luna Sea as a rock band due to their popularity, J said that he wanted to play the type of music he grew up listening to in his solo career and express his own view of rock. J signed with Universal Music Group as a solo artist. On selecting his band members, he explained that he recruited Scott Garrett on drums because he is a huge fan of The Cult, and Takashi Fujita of Doom on guitar because he wanted to play with a guitarist who plays heavy riffs. His first single, "Burn Out", was released on June 25, 1997, and contained a cover of Blondie's hit song "Call Me". His first album, Pyromania, was released on July 24 and reached number 9 on the Oricon chart. Recorded in Los Angeles with Joe Barresi as engineer, it features Shinya on "Back Line Beast", Billy Duffy on "Pyromania" and Slash on "But You Said I'm Useless" as guests. Needing a second guitarist to go on tour, Franz Stahl of Scream later explained he just happened to be in the right place at the right time as he knew Garrett and was hanging around during the recording of the album. J gave his first three concerts, titled Ignite, at Club Quattro venues between July 7 and 10, before the Pyromania Tour '97 was held from August 10 to September 1. Stahl described the tour as "total Beatlemania", with fans frequently chasing him and Garrett down streets. When Luna Sea's one-year hiatus was up, J had no intention of returning to his solo career. In 1999, he remixed Zilch's song "Electric Cucumber" for their remix album Bastard Eyes.
J said the way he decided to cope with Luna Sea's December 2000 disbandment and console their fans, was by touring right away, even if some people felt it was inappropriate or made them suspect he was the reason for the break up. Beginning in January 2001, he performed and toured with Zilch and South Korean singer Youjeen as part of the Fire Wire 2001 concerts and tour that he organized. The concerts also featured The Cult, Loaded and Steve Jones. J's Igniter #081 EP was released in Taiwan and South Korea on July 18, 2002, followed by its Japanese version, Crack Tracks, on August 21. The tracklist varies per country, but all songs include English lyrics, at a time when it was still illegal to sell music with Japanese lyrics in South Korea. J's second solo album, Blood Muzik, was released on December 27. Between 2001 and 2002, J contributed to Zilch's singles and their album Skyjin, and did much arranging, writing and composing for Youjeen. In 2002, he played bass on the track "I Hate You" from Tomoyasu Hotei's album Scorpio Rising, while Hotei remixed J's song "Perfect World" for the "Go Crazy" single. From July 8 to 12, J held the first installment in his "5 Days" concert event series, which are composed of five consecutive concerts at a venue, with the first four days featuring different guest acts. This first installment, 5 Crazy 5, took place at Shibuya-AX and featured Youjeen, the Polysics, Dice and Fullgain. J released Unstoppable Drive, his third solo album, on November 27. His January 4, 2003, concert at the Nippon Budokan was the first in the venue's history to be standing only, something he specifically requested and accomplished after a long negotiation period with the venue's staff. J participated in the making of South Korean musician Seo Taiji's January 2004 album 7th Issue, before releasing his own album Red Room on May 19. His second 5 Days event, Red or Dead, took place at Shibuya-AX in September and featured Lunkhead, Fuzzy Control, Dice and Youjeen's band Cherry Filter.