Forget-me-not: a You fansite

Music Career

You's best known for playing the guitar and violin, and can also play piano, drums and shamisen. At live shows he usually plays rhythm guitar, violin and sometimes backing vocals.

You also writes music, including a song for Chachamaru's album Air; several songs for Yellow Fried Chickenz first album; a song for Pokota's album Lady Imagination; and several songs for S.Q.F. See his full discography here.

Pre-1989

You's first band was a cover band that he formed in high school. They used to practice in the evenings either at home or at small studios in Kyoto. Shortly after graduating he became a guitarist and writer for another band who frequently performed at small venues around Kyoto.

He was also really into motorbikes when he was younger and I believe he managed a bike shop with a friend around this time.

In 1989, he met Gackt at the studio his band were using, and eventually they became good friends and decided to start a band together.

CAINS:FEEL (1989/93-1995) read more →

CAINS:FEEL was an indie Japanese visual kei (rock/goth) band, formed by You and Gackt, and was their first band together.

The majority of songs were written by Gackt and You together at You's house. Gackt used to go round in the afternoon and they would stay up writing until 7am.

Maracas (1996) read more →

This isn't technically a separate band as they only performed together a couple of times, but I thought it was worth including as it's pretty interesting.

Maracas was a cover band put together by Gackt as part of Malice Mizer's 4th anniversary celebrations. The full line-up included Gackt, You, all of Maschera (Michi on vocals, Takuya on guitar, Hiro on bass, Tomo on drums) and Makoto (another old friend of Gackt's).

GacktJob (1999-2019) read more →

As soon as Gackt decided to go solo, he called You up to ask him to join his support band, and shortly after You moved to Tokyo to join him. It was around this time that he learnt how to play violin and piano, on Gackt's recommendation.

You has been in JOB from the beginning of Gackt's solo career, first recording in LA in January 1999.

Alongside guitar and violin, he also provides vocals on Dybbuk from the album Crescent, and on Redemption from the Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII soundtrack.

You last performed live with Gackt in 2019 at Yokohama Pacifico, and since 2020 Gackt has a new band at live shows. However, Gackt has said that You (and Chacha) are still part of his family, and they will perform together again in the future. You still attends Gackt's performances as JOB 'alumni'.

Yellow Fried Chickenz (2010-2012)

Yellow Fried Chickenz (also known as "YFC" or "YFCz") began as a project by Gackt to express "the cowardice in men's souls", increase the amount of good men in the world or as an attempt to 'form'/celebrate men's spirit (don't ask me to explain, all sounds very ~Gackt~). They released one studio album, one 'best of' album, a couple of singles, a live album from their first European tour and a couple of DVDs.

A highlight during YFC's time was their two European tours, where they performed at sold out venues in London, Paris, Barcelona, Munich, Bochum, Cologne, Amsterdam, Berlin, Budapest, Warsaw, Leipzig, Stockholm and Moscow. This was Gackt's (and his band's) first time successfully touring outside of Asia. A European tour documentary, The Graffiti - Attack of The "Yellow Fried Chickenz" in Europe - "I Love You All" was released on DVD in 2011.

S.Q.F (2013-2018)

S.Q.F is a Japanese band formed in 2000 by ex-Maschera vocalist Michi and was originally Michi's solo project, with ex-iLLUMINA guitarist, Nao. The name S.Q.F stands for "Spinning Q Factor."

You was a support band member from 2013 to 2018, playing guitar at their live shows and on studio recordings, as well as writing some of their more recent songs.

Luscious (2018-present)

Luscious is a Japanese band formed by Chachamaru (Yukihiro Fujimura), and includes Chacha on vocals and guitar, You on guitar, Sato (ex. GacktJob, LiSA) on bass and Val (ex. GacktJob, DuelJewel) on drums. They have performed at several events alongside Chacha's other band, Ded Chaplin.

Chacha posts about Luscious on his Twitter account and often streams on TwitCasting with the other band members.