X JAPAN Founder Yoshiki Opens His Amazing Studio to Introduce New Documentary
We Are X documents flamboyant X Japan drummer and founder Yoshiki in his efforts break into the American market
by James Mandell
Credited for bringing metal-head culture and spectacle to Japanese audiences in the late 80’s, X Japan, billed as “the world’s biggest band you’ve never heard of,” was revered for their high energy performances and melodic anthems. They sold 30 million albums and reset the bar for decades to come. Yoshiki, their flamboyant drummer and group leader, performed with huge arm and body movements, delivering volleys of blasting beats that powered the band to greatness. He was also their songwriter and keyboardist, a quintessential showman with remarkable stamina who left it all on the stage in the wake of adoring fans who revered his every move.
But there was a price to pay. Huge physical showmanship led to painful physical injuries. The drum bashing, head banging and frenetic body movements of a driven rock star soon manifested in hand, arm and body ailments that became a constant battle for Yoshiki to manage. And the band suffered dramatic changes and heartache, featured in the new documentary We Are X, that culminates with them planning a reunion concert at Madison Square Garden.
The doc makes use of concert clips interspersed with close-ups and personal interviews focusing on those challenges and X Japan’s determination to break into the American and English-speaking market. Moving to Los Angeles, Yoshiki purchased the famous Larabee Studios in the ‘oughts, refurbishing them into a spectacular two-studio palace for his private use, which opened for the first time to the public last week to host a debut party for the new documentary.
Redefining the term “Man Cave,” the studio is about as sensational as a studio that doesn’t float in midair could possibly be. Besides the hushed and pristine atmosphere of a high-end palace, there’s an enormous amount of vintage electronic gear, which is mounted on the walls, stacked up on landings and displayed as art in the studios.
It turns out that Yoshiki is a devoted collector who has focused on assembling a massive trove of famous keyboards and rack mount gear that was used by superstars of yore: Frank Zappa’s giant Moog synthesizer, the modular synth used to record Dark Side of the Moon, the first Wave Table keyboard sampler and rows of hugely complex analog rigs used on hit albums that are no longer in circulation but from a vintage standpoint, all nearly priceless.
The hallways are lined with eye-level synth modules-as-art, all lit up and wired to the interior studios. The control rooms bulge with some of the largest SSL mixing consoles extant, including a 104-input model in Studio B – recording a massive Bosendorfer 10-foot grand which sits in front of one of Yoshiki’s custom Kawai plexiglass touring pianos next to a huge set of drums.
Yoshiki in his multimillion dollar Hollywood studio with Gene Simmons
Everywhere you look, there is gorgeous, lovingly maintained, museum quality gear that simply pulsates with power. We were told there are additional warehouses here and in Japan filled with much more, the sign of an obsessive collector laser focused on acquiring the finest vestiges of an era that pioneered the artform of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. It’s as if he’d focused on literally surrounding himself with the original Gear of the Gods, to be infused with the inspiration those very machines had helped to create.
This parallel universe documentary is an emotional story that may be entering a new phase as the band faces West. In the center of it all, Yoshiki is humble and deadly earnest, expressing himself as fully as an artist with limitless creativity — and the funds to bring that creativity to life – can manifest.
X Japan Founder Yoshiki Opens His Amazing Studio to Introduce New Documentary
