HIZAKI (born February 17th, 1979 in Kyoto) is a guitarist and a solo artist, most known for being a founder member of Versailles. Even though he has been an exponent of the visual kei scene for over a decade, his guitar playing has always been much closer to European metal, being mostly influenced by western heavy, power and neoclassical metal bands and guitarists.

-Stage name: HIZAKI
-Birthdate: February 17th 1979
-Blood type: AB
-Place of birth: Kyoto
-Drinks: red wine, black tea
-Cigarette brand: Lucia
-Brands: Tiffany, Louis Vuitton
-Band preferite: Dream Theater, Angra, Arch Enemy, X-Japan, Stratovarius, La`cryma Christi, …
-Favourite manga: DEATH NOTE
-Idol: Kyoko Fukada
-Likes: beautiful things
-Hates: feeling bad or ugly
-Instruments: guitar, bass, programming

Since 2004 HIZAKI, the former guitarist of the visual kei band Schwardix Marvally, has been working as a solo artist. Being a guitarist, he doesn’t sing but instead works with different guest vocalists and musicians. Although the line-up of his solo project changes with every new release, his distinctive style, a combination of hard rock with elaborate guitar solos and classically inspired synthesizer, is evident in all his compositions. On stage, he cultivates a feminine image, which includes cross dressing.

BIOGRAPHY
After leaving Schwardix Marvally in 2004, HIZAKI returned to the music scene in September of the same year with his first solo release, the mini album Maiden Ritual. Three of the five tracks on the CD were instrumental, with Fu-ki (BLOOD) singing on the other two.

In 2005, he released two more mini albums, Dance with Grace and Maiden Ritual ~experiment edition~. Each song on Dance with Grace was sung by a different vocalist: Seiji (Brainhacker, ex Amadeus), Masaki (Sulfuric Acid), Yoshi (Refiena) and Shinya (999). Drummers KAI (Sherock) and Mikage (ex Babylon) contributed as support musicians. Maiden Ritual ~experiment edition~ consisted entirely of instrumental versions of songs from Maiden Ritual. The special edition Double Pack, available only via pre-order and limited to 500 copies, contained both mini albums plus a bonus disc with two additional songs, one of which was a new song and the other a previously unreleased instrumental version of a Maiden Ritual song.

Later that year, HIZAKI joined Sulfuric Acid as a guitarist in a move that surprised many fans, given their very different musical style. During his time with the band, they released two singles, a mini album and a full length album.

At the same time, he began to work on another session project and in August 2006 released a single called -unique-, which his new HIZAKI grace project shared with +ISOLATION. It contained four tracks, with each band contributing one song and one instrumental track. Another song appeared on the compilation Graceful Playboys. The vocalist for HIZAKI grace project was Hikaru (Izabel Varosa). After the split of Sulfuric Acid in October 2006, HIZAKI focused again on his solo work.

For HIZAKI grace project’s first full length album, Dignity of crest, he recruited Juka (ex Moi dix Mois) on vocals, TERU (Aikaryu) on guitar, Yuu (ex Jakura) on bass and Bikei (ex Babylon) on drums. The album was released in January 2007 and sold out in a matter of weeks, but the following month HIZAKI announced that he and KAMIJO (ex Lareine) would start the band Versailles together, while Juka would begin a solo career. These new activities would take priority over HIZAKI grace project.

(source www.jame-world.com, visualkei.wikia.com/wiki/HIZAKI, hizaki.syncl.jp)

Tags: Hizaki, HIZAKI - VERSAILLES, hizaki grace project