Gackt
Gackt M.S. Camui (ガクト; but most often written in
Latin alphabet, even in
Japan) is a songwriter, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist. A one-time drummer for the band
Cains:Feel, he began his rise to fame fronting the band
Malice Mizer. He plays the
trumpet,
tuba,
horn,
euphonium,
trombone,
piano,
guitar,
drums,
bass, most traditional Japanese instruments, and other standard orchestral instruments.
Gackt can speak
Japanese,
English,
Mandarin,
Korean, and
French, with varying degrees of fluency.
Early life
Gackt was born in
Okinawa, Japan, to very strict traditionalist parents. At the age of seven, he nearly drowned in the sea of Okinawa. His parents, both musicians, began his formal lessons in classical piano when he was three.
The singer has always been extremely competitive, stating "It's not that I want to win; it's just that I don't want to lose." As a result of this, he began learning to play instruments that deviated from the classical standards of music, eventually focusing on contemporary rock. After many years of having no real interest in his parent's classical lessons, his competitive nature made him want to master the piano after seeing a friend play better than him. His musical preference later shifted to brass instruments after seeing his father play the trumpet. When Gackt turned seventeen, his taste in music changed from classical to
rock. He graduated high school in 1992.
Malice Mizer
Solo career
After leaving Malice Mizer, Gackt began a solo career with a band he created called "GacktJOB", which consisted of several members including You (violin/rhythm guitar), Yukihiro "Chachamaru" Fujimura (lead guitar/effects), Masa (rhythm guitar), Ren (bass), Toshi (drums), Yosh (choreographer/dancer), and Igao (keyboards). GacktJOB later added Ryuichi
Ryu Nishida on drums and Ju-ken on bass. Gackt's live concerts often included
homoerotic play (
fan service) with some of these members.
Despite being often labeled as "pop", few of his songs can be clearly said to belong to that genre. Gackt's music is characterized by a wide variety in musical styles which can range from heavy rock to romantic ballad. Traditional instruments are often used to accentuate electric guitar, piano, and other modern instruments. For these reasons, it becomes difficult to clearly assign Gackt's music to a specific genre.
Other Media
In addition to music, Gackt has been involved as an actor in various TV commercials (usually playing himself), and in the Japanese drama
Hero's Hero. He also co-wrote and co-starred in the hit vampire themed movie
Moon Child with
HYDE, vocalist of
L'Arc~en~Ciel.
Gackt is also officially an author, having written
Moonchild: Requiem, and several as-yet unpublished short stories. In 2003 he published his autobiography titled
Jihaku, in which he displayed deep thoughts and described events that had a profound impact on his life. Gackt has worked as a runway model for his favorite designer, Yoshiyuki Konishi; designed his own stage-wear and clothing line; and opened his own private, members-only restaurant and bar, Tamaly Bar, complete with his own personal and family recipies.
Gackt was also involved in the
PlayStation 2 game
Bujingai, for which he performed some of the voices as well as doing
motion capture for the game's protagonist, Lau Wong, who is a redheaded vision of Gackt himself. His voice acting, however, was not included in the English version of Bujingai. He has also appeared in Japanese commercials for the hit game
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and his name appeared on a
dog tag in the game. Other voice-over work of Gackt's included the character 'Seiji' from the anime
New Fist of the North Star (
Shin Hokuto no Ken), as well as singing the opening and ending theme songs. He also performed the ending theme 「月の詩」, ("Tsuki no Uta") for the anime
Texhnolyze.
Rumors on the internet cite Gackt as the model for the
Final Fantasy VIII lead character
Squall Leonhart. In the game, Squall is wearing a jacket identical to one Gackt wore in his Malice Mizer days. Said rumors state that the designer of Squall Leonhart was a big fan, but Gackt has never been officially credited.
Tetsuya Nomura, the character designer for
Squall Leonhart, has stated that American actor
River Phoenix was the basis for Squall, and that the jacket was intended to test the Playstations capabilities.
However, a character with his likeness will appear in
Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII. The character will be created using video-capture and digitally inserted into the game instead of the more traditional animation. Although having little direct involvement in the game, his character is revealed through various
G Reports hidden throughout the game. Gackt's identity in
Dirge of Cerberus is thus known as
G, the prototype to Shin-Ra's super-soldier,
Sephiroth (or codename
S).
In early 2005 he was asked to write and perform the theme songs for the Gundam movie
Zeta Gundam: A New Translation, a movie eagerly anticipated by the anime community. The songs were 'Metamorphoze' and a rearrangement of a previously released song, 「君が待っているから」 ("Kimi ga Matteiru kara").
Gackt's next single,
Redemption, is also the theme for
Dirge of Cerberus, and was released alongside the game (and its
soundtrack) in January for Japan.
At
Otakon on August 5th 2006
Yoshiki announced he will be forming a band with
Gackt. The statement however should not be taken as concrete fact, as Yoshiki stated that he had merely suggested the idea on the phone the previous night.
GacktJOB is Gackt's group of support members. Current members include:
*
You (violin, guitar)
*
Chachamaru (茶々丸) (bandleader, backing vocals, & guitar)
*
Ju-ken (bass)
*
Ryu (drums)
*
Igao (keyboard)
* Yosh (choreographer)Former members include:
*
Ren (bass) currently in band LinClover
*
Masa (rhythm guitar) who was in the band
Spiky and is currently in
DizzyDrive*
Toshi (drums) currently the drummer for
SpikyIn several cases, the
Japanese titles are given first, followed by the
romaji titles in square brackets.
Albums
* (
1996.
06.17)
Voyage
～sans retour
～ (as part of
Malice Mizer)
* (
1998.
03.18)
merveilles (as part of
Malice Mizer)
* (
1999.
05.12)
Mizérable Ver.2/3
* (2000.04.26) MARS
* (2001.04.25) Rebirth " a special pre-order edition was released on 27 June 2001
* (2002.06.19) MOON
* (2003.12.03) Crescent
* (2004.02.25) The Sixth Day: Single Collection
* (2004.05.26) The Seventh Night: Unplugged
* (2005.02.14) Love Letter
* (2005.06.16) Love Letter - For Korean Dears
* (2005.09.21) DIABOLOS''
Singles
* (
1999.
07.09)
Mizérable* (
1999.
08.11)
Vanilla* (
1999.
09.03)
Remix of Gackt EP* (
2000.
02.09)
Mirror* (
2000.
02.16)
OASIS* (
2000.
03.08)
鶺'〜seki-ray〜 [Sekireiseki-ray]* (
2000.
08.30)
再会〜Story〜 [SaikaiStory]* (
2000.
11.16)
Secret Garden* (
2001.
03.14)
君のためにできる"と [Kimi no tame ni dekiru koto]* (
2001.
09.05)
ANOTHER WORLD* (
2001.
12.16)
12月のLove song [Juunigatsu no Love Song]* (
2002.
03.20)
Vanilla - re-release with video on first prints
* (
2002.
04.24)
忘れないから [Wasurenai kara]* (
2002.
11.27)
12月のLove song - with English version "December Love"
* (
2003.
03.19)
君が追いかけた夢 [Kimi ga oikaketa yume]* (
2003.
06.11)
月の詩 [TSUKI no UTA]* (
2003.
06.25)
Lu:na/OASIS* (
2003.
11.12)
Last Song* (
2003.
12.03)
12月のLove song - with Chinese version
* (
2004.
10.27)
君に逢いたくて [Kimi ni aitakute]* (
2004.
12.14)
12月のLove song - with Korean version
* (
2005.
01.26)
ありったけの愛で [Arittake no ai de]* (
2005.
04.27)
BLACK STONE* (
2005.
05.25)
Metamorphoze～メタモルフォーゼ～* (
2005.
08.10)
届カナイ愛ト知ッテイタノニ抑エキレズニ愛シ続ケタ･･･ [Todokanai ai to shitteita no ni osaekirezu ni aishitsuzuketa …]* (
2006.
01.25)
REDEMPTION* (
2006.
03.01)
Love Letter/DybbukVHS
* (
1999.
06.30)
Mizérable Single Box* (
1999.
12.08)
Video Vanilla* (
2000.
06.18)
Video Mirror.OASIS* (
2000.
10.04)
MARS 空からの訪問者〜回想〜
[MARS Sora Kara No HomounshaKaisou ]* (
2000.
11.27 )
MARS 空からの訪問者〜回想〜
(Lawson Special Backstage Report)* (
2000.
12.16)
PLATINUM BOX 〜Ⅰ〜
* (
2001.
06.21) 再"と終焉
[Saisei to Shuen]* (
2001.
09.28)
Requiem et Réminiscence〜終焉と静寂〜
[Requiem et RéminiscenceShuen to Seijaku]* (
2001.
10.24)
Requiem et Réminiscence〜終焉と静寂〜
(Lawson Special Backstage Report)*
seven (2001) - exclusive Dears-only content
* (
2002.
11.27) 微風
[Soyokaze] (
1 March 2002) - includes the short film,
Life* 心海 2002.6.6〜7.10 LIVE TOUR DOCUMENTS
[Shinkai]* (
2003.
03.19)
Gackt Live Tour 2002 下弦の月〜聖夜の調〜
[Kagen no Tsuki Seiya no Shirabe]* (
2003.
08.06) ⽉光
[Gekkou]* (
2003.
09.18)
Gackt Live Tour 2003 上弦の月〜最終章〜
[Jougen no Tsuki Saishusho]* (
2004.
09.15)
Gackt Live Tour 2004 THE SIXTH DAY & SEVENTH NIGHT 〜FINAL〜DVD
* (
2000.
11.20)
MARS 空からの訪問者〜回想〜 特別編
[MARS Sora Kara No HomounshaKaisou Tokubetsuhen]* (
2001.
11.30)
Requiem et Réminiscence〜終焉と静寂〜 特別編
[Requiem et RéminiscenceShuen to Seijaku Tokubetsuhen]* (
2001.
12.21)
PLATINUM BOX 〜Ⅱ〜
* (
2002.
12.21)
PLATINUM BOX 〜Ⅲ〜
* (
2003.
03.19)
Gackt Live Tour 2002 下弦の月〜聖夜の調〜
[Kagen no Tsuki Seiya no Shirabe]* (
2003.
08.06) 月光
[Gekkou] " includes special footage of Gackt's joke for Ren's birthday on the Dears FC trip to Hawaii
* (
2003.
09.18)
Gackt Live Tour 2003 上弦の月〜最終章〜
[Jougen no Tsuki Saishusho]* (
2003.
12.16)
PLATINUM BOX 〜Ⅳ〜
* (
2004.
09.15)
Gackt Live Tour 2004 THE SIXTH DAY & SEVENTH NIGHT 〜FINAL〜* (
2004.
12.14)
PLATINUM BOX 〜Ⅴ〜
* (
2005.
12.05)
PLATINUM BOX 〜Ⅵ〜
* (2006.03.29) LIVE TOUR 2005 DIABOLOS "Aien no Shi to Seiya no Namida
"
* (2006.8.23) Greatest Filmography 1999-2006 -Red-
* (2006.8.23) Greatest Filmography 1999-2006 -Blue-''
* Moon Child DVD (Gackts movie)Each
PLATINUM BOX set is produced as limited editions and contain a Gackt collectible inside. These are designed to have the appearance of a fine bound book. Illegal copies or
bootlegs of the boxsets come in cheaper cardboard cases, or regular plastic DVD harcases, and do not contain the collectable.
Official
*
Dears*
Nippon Crown: GacktUnofficial Websites
*
International Malice Mizer and Gackt Fanbase , ,
*
Story: the Gackt Fan Website *
Gackt Syndrome , , , ,
*
Gackuto no Yume *
Beautiful or Handsome *
Fully Gackt *
Gackt - the fallen angel *
2tylish *
Sawasdee Gackt *
Euphoria *
the eyes of the angel *
Tribute to Gackt *
Ga-Ku-To ,
*
Forget-me-not *
Gackt World *
Gacktement Lui *
North American Dears *
Spanish Dears Other websites
*
AsiaFinest Gackt*
Project J's Gackt Page*
Nippop Profile*
Watch Gackt videos
