I post here just keep it as information ----------------------------------------
PROFILE
Zi:kill were one of the most well known bands of Visual Kei in the 1990's. The band's music varied between punk and hard rock, though without drifting too much in the direction of one of these two styles. What they did take from punk-rock though, was that everyone in the group was responsible for the backing vocals. On top of that came the pleasant voice of Tusk.
Author : Tanja translation : Sefs (2006-05-23)
BIOGRAPHY
The band was formed in 1987, then under the name of G-Kill, by Ken (Gu.) and Seiichi (Ba.). At the start of the following year, Masami (Dr.) and Tusk (Vo.) joined the band. They changed their name to Zi:kill and gave their first concert on the 20th of April, which took place in Meguro Rockmaykan. Further concerts followed in Tokyo and the surroundings. Music-wise they were a mix of trash-metal and punk to begin with. In September and November they sold a live-videos, each video being limited to 50 copies.
At the start of 1989 their first album came onto the market, which was limited to 5000 copies. To promote this album the band started a kind of tour, which lasted several months. After their performance in Meguro Live Station on the 3rd of May, Masami left the band. As a replacement for the following tour, which they named CHANCE OF KING TOUR, they fetched Yukihiro, who had previously stepped out of Guerilla. The year ended with a real stroke of luck for the band, since they signed a contract with Extasy Records.
On the 1st of March came their next album, Close Dance. This was again followed by a tour, which was split into two parts due to its extensive number of concerts. After the last concert on the 10th of October in Shibuya kokaido, they signed a contract with Toshiba EMI, which guaranteed them their own label called planet ground. Before they could draw back to work on new material, they started a new mini-tour, that lead them to London at the end. On the 28th of December Yukihiro left the band during a live at Kawasaki Club Citta.
Their major album Desert Town appeared in March 1991. As always it was followed with a tour, and for drummer they fetched Tetsu (ex- Saver Tiger, D'erlanger). The year then went by with success. After a Guest Vocal for Kamataichi, which Seiichi and Tusk were involved in and and several concerts, and event took place in Nippon Budokai on the 1st of August. In the same month Tusk was taken to hospital due to Angina (tonsilitis). Since his recovery was taking quite a while, the band had to cancel all their planned concerts for November.
On the 24th of September, Tetsu announced his departure from the band, though despite this three days later their single HERO was released. After Tusk's gradual recovery, they took part in Extasy Summit at the end of October. At this concert EBY (ex- Magnets) was introduced to them as a new drummer. In the following year several Best-of albums were released: Tomorrow..., from Extasy Records, and Disgrace - The best of Zi:kill, from Toshiba EMI. Finally there was an attempt to drag in a bit more money because Zi:kill left EMI to go in the direction of King Records. In October the band took part once again in Extasy Summit, which was extended to an extra concert in Osaka due to the popularity of X-Japan.
The time following this was bound with a whole load of releases and concerts. In September 1993 Tusk made an amusing video with hide of X-Japan during a Shoxx-shooting, which was released at the end of the month under the name of SETH and HOLTH. In 1994 the band decided to break up. One of the reasons was that Ken was starting a solo career. On the 7th of March the four members parted ways, this was accompanied by a batch of releases, mainly concert videos. In 1995 two best-of boxes were also released.
After the end of the band all the ex-members took some sort of break from music, but all except EBY eventually returned to the music industry.
Tusk tried with Amnesia and The Slut Banks, before he joined up with Seiichi and their ex-drummer Tetsu in CRAZE. Tetsu spent his time between the disbanding of Zi:kill and start of CRAZE in likewise pretty successful band BODY. In the meantime, Tusk announced his departure from CRAZE, whereupon the band disbanded in 2006.
A further ex-drummer of the band also carried on to have a successful career. After he played with the unknown OPTIC NERVE, Yukihiro switched to the by far more successful band, Die In Cries. In 1998 he joined L'Arc~en~Ciel, where he plays to this day. Ken switched to Crybaby, though the band disbanded at the end of 1999.
