Ken (born November 28, 1968, in Maibara, Shiga) is a Japanese musician and singer-songwriter, best known as the guitarist of the rock band L'Arc-en-Ciel. After he joined them in 1992, they went on to sell over 40 million records, making them one of the best-selling music artists in Japan. He has written a breadth of L'Arc-en-Ciel's material, including "Vivid Colors", "The Fourth Avenue Cafe", "Niji", "Kasou", "My Heart Draws a Dream", "Daybreak's Bell" and "Chase". Ken was also the vocalist and guitarist of the rock trio Sons of All Pussys (also known as S.O.A.P.), and has released a solo album entitled In Physical.
Bands
- L'Arc~en~Ciel - current member
Credited On
- L'Arc~en~Ciel - TOUR 2007~2008 THEATER of KISS - L'Arc~en~Ciel, released August 27, 2008 (
KSBL-5909). Guitar.
Biography
Translated from the ja.wikipedia article Ken (CC BY-SA 4.0), revision 110486026.
Overview
Although he had been involved in various bands since his student days, his full-scale musical activities began when he joined L'Arc-en-Ciel in 1992. The first commercially released studio recording to feature guitar played by ken was “VOICE”, a song contributed by the band to the omnibus album Gimmick. As one of L'Arc-en-Ciel's principal composers, he has written songs including the million-selling “Kasou” (花葬) and “NEO UNIVERSE”, as well as “Nemuri ni Yosete” (眠りによせて), “Vivid Colors”, “Natsu no Yuuutsu” (夏の憂鬱), “the Fourth Avenue Café”, “Niji” (虹), “winter fall”, “Shinshoku ~lose control~” (浸食 〜lose control〜), “forbidden lover”, “Jojoshi” (叙情詩), “MY HEART DRAWS A DREAM”, “DAYBREAK'S BELL”, “CHASE”, and “Wings Flap”. Ken has composed more songs for L'Arc-en-Ciel than any other member, with more than 50 compositions for the band, excluding different arrangements.
In 2002, at the invitation of sakura, the former drummer of L'Arc-en-Ciel, he formed the three-piece band SONS OF ALL PUSSYS with sakura and his friend Ein, who was working as a fashion model in Japan. The band initially produced and released songs leaning toward hard rock and alternative rock, which had flourished from the late 1980s through the 1990s, but gradually began using a variety of approaches in its songwriting. It continued to perform irregularly for approximately five years, but its activities ceased after a live event in 2006.
From 2006, he also began working as a solo artist under the name Ken. In his solo activities, Ken generally serves as vocalist, and depending on the song, also performs guitar, piano, keyboards, and programming. In these solo works, he has produced and released covers of songs by a wide range of Japanese and international artists, as well as songs distinguished by guitar playing reminiscent of the hard rock of the 1970s and 1980s that he had enjoyed listening to. To date, Ken has released two albums, three singles or individual digital releases, and one video work. He has also participated as a producer in the songwriting of bands affiliated with the same management company, and as a guest guitarist on Kiyoharu's solo album poetry.
As with L'Arc-en-Ciel, his management is handled by MAVERICK. His record label is DANGER CRUE RECORDS, which was established within MAVERICK.
Early Life and Adolescence
Ken was born on November 28, 1968 at a hospital in Maibara, Shiga Prefecture. As a young child, he often played with his older sister and outside with friends. During this period, he also frequently listened to records of film music that were kept at home. Around the time he entered junior high school, he began listening to bands such as Asia, as well as Japanese new music.
While in junior high school, he began playing a folk guitar that his sister no longer used. Looking back on the first time he touched a guitar, ken recalled: “It was something my older sister had been bought, but because she could not play it at all, there was a guitar at home that had been left alone. Somehow, it was not that I particularly wanted to play anything; I was simply interested in touching it, so I thought I wanted to try it, and when I did, it was fun... and it just continued from there. It was like, ‘I ended up getting it!’” He also said, “However, even when I looked at chord charts to try to play other people’s songs, they were very difficult and I could not play them well. So I would make use of open strings, turning Em into Em7 or F into FMaj7, and I became fascinated by and came to love the beauty of the sound when I played them in my own altered way.” He subsequently acquired an electric guitar and became increasingly devoted to music.
During this period, ken, tetsuya, a childhood friend living nearby who was one year younger, and an older student living across from his family home, nicknamed Ko-chan, would gather at Ko-chan’s house after school and listen to records almost every day. In an interview book released in 1996, ken recalled this time: “If I got back to Ko-chan’s house first, tetsu would come back there afterward. At that time, when you bought a record, the first thing was to listen to it there! That was what it was like. If we found something new, we would record it onto tape and say, ‘There’s something like this!’ We would just hang around listening to all sorts of things, all the time.” The gatherings of the three reportedly continued until the older student graduated.
Ken first appeared on stage at his junior high school cultural festival, where he performed an Ozzy Osbourne cover. He was the vocalist on that occasion and reportedly performed “Mr. Crowley” a cappella.
High School Years – Entering the Faculty of Engineering at Nagoya Institute of Technology
After enrolling at Hikone Higashi High School, ken joined the table tennis club. However, it appears to have been a club that required serious training, and he gradually stopped attending and became someone who went straight home after school. He then began participating in various bands as a guitarist, and around this time started writing his own songs. Speaking of this period, he said, “I would make original songs while playing guitar,” and, “My friends mainly played covers. I wasn’t good at covers. For some reason, I had a strong desire to write songs! That said, I didn’t think about what I would do with that afterward.”
During high school, ken was invited by tetsuya to join Byston-Well, whose guitarist had left the band. However, he left the band after only about a year in order to enter university. In later years, tetsuya recalled that “ken-chan had been writing good songs even back then.”
As described above, he was involved in band activities and songwriting from his high school years, but did not have a strong desire to become a professional musician. By the time he entered his third year of high school, he was thinking, “For the time being, I’ll go on to university.” ken then decided to enter the Faculty of Engineering at Nagoya Institute of Technology. As many members of his family were teachers, he initially thought that becoming a teacher might be a good option. However, because his father, who was not a teacher, opposed this, he decided to enter the Faculty of Engineering. In later years, ken said of the episode in which his father opposed his aspiration to become a teacher, “Maybe it was the reverse side of being a family of teachers.”
University Years – Invitation From tetsuya to Join a Band
Although he entered university, ken said that he "did not have a clear idea of what [he] wanted to become", and repeatedly alternated between attending and not attending university. Looking back on this period, he said, "I went for one year, then did not go at all for one year. Then I went again for one year. That was how it was," and, "Even though it was something that would determine where my life was going, I did not think about it that deeply." During this lifestyle, ken began playing in bands again without much thought and also began vaguely considering a career in music. Regarding his band activities at the time, ken recalled, "While playing in a band, when I thought, 'This is somehow a little different...', I would go to school. I spent every day in that kind of careless way."
Around the time he had to choose a university specialization, his interest began to shift towards his studies. Concerning his state of mind when he began taking an interest in academics, he said, "Once I started going to school, the appeal of school began to emerge. The specialized classes became interesting. Thinking, 'Ah, this is interesting in its own way,' my band activities and university studies progressed in parallel." The university laboratory he joined as a fourth-year student was a seminar researching such subjects as the earthquake resistance of concrete, where Toshikatsu Ichinose served as an associate professor.
Ken thus began specializing in architecture, but one day in 1992, around two months after joining the seminar, he received a telephone call from tetsuya asking, "Would you join L'Arc-en-Ciel?" At the time, L'Arc-en-Ciel was looking for a new guitarist following the departure of its original guitarist, hiro. The band's vocalist, hyde, had also suggested to tetsuya, "What about ken?", leading to ken being approached about joining. In an autobiography published in 2012, hyde recalled the background to asking ken to join the band: "I had known of ken's existence for some time. He was tetsuya's childhood friend, the person he had played in a band with. He had come to L'Arc-en-Ciel concerts several times, and although we had only exchanged greetings, he let me listen to demo tapes by the band he was in. I thought he wrote very good songs and played very cool guitar, so he immediately came to mind."
Joining L'Arc-En-Ciel, Activities in Various Band Projects – Present
When tetsuya invited ken to join the band, ken was simultaneously pursuing his studies and job hunting, and had reached the stage of passing the first interview at a certain general contractor. After considering for several days whether to choose employment or joining the band, he decided to pursue a career in music and accepted the invitation to join L'Arc-en-Ciel. Around this time, ken had vaguely considered working as a salaried employee while making music on his own. Looking back on the invitation, ken said, “Maybe the phone call from tetsu inviting me to L'Arc unlocked something. The desires within me that I could hide away without even realizing it.”
L'Arc-en-Ciel subsequently moved to Osaka, where it was then based. At this point, ken did not submit withdrawal papers to his university, instead deliberately taking a leave of absence. When the band suspended its activities after its then drummer, sakura, was arrested in 1997, he returned to university and graduated in March of the following year.
After joining L'Arc-en-Ciel, ken became involved in songwriting and live performances as the band's guitarist and one of its principal composers. In particular, more than half of the songs on the albums released during L'Arc-en-Ciel's early years, from DUNE to True, were composed by ken, and he has continued to play a central role as a composer in the production of subsequent albums. The omnibus album Gimmick, released on October 1, 1992 shortly after ken joined the band, included the song “VOICE,” written by ken. This became L'Arc-en-Ciel's first studio recording to be released on CD. After various twists and turns, L'Arc-en-Ciel released its first album, DUNE, in May 1993, approximately one year after ken joined. In July 1994, it released its major-label debut single, “Nemuri ni Yosete,” and its second album, Tierra, beginning its activities on a major label. Following its major-label debut, L'Arc-en-Ciel continued its activities through changes in membership and went on to build a career spanning more than 30 years.
After roughly ten years of activity as L'Arc-en-Ciel, from around the middle of 2001 the members began undertaking individual solo work, partly at the wishes of some members. However, as ken had become tired from L'Arc-en-Ciel's tightly layered schedule, he was the only member not to engage in solo work or musical activities in another band that year. Around one year after taking a break, he began playing guitar again in 2002. At the invitation of sakura, L'Arc-en-Ciel's former drummer, he recruited fashion model Ein and formed the three-piece band SONS OF ALL PUSSYS, abbreviated as S.O.A.P. According to ken, there had been “no intention of releasing CDs,” and for the first six months after its formation, the band mainly performed at live music venues. On February 6, 2003, however, it released its first work, the first mini-album GRACE.
Ken stated that, during S.O.A.P.'s early period, he had intended to create songs with artists such as the Smashing Pumpkins and Jeff Buckley in mind, but as the band made recordings, it came to write songs through a variety of approaches. From 2003 to 2004, S.O.A.P. also held the live event “BUBBLE FESTiVAL.” In addition to L'Arc-en-Ciel members' solo projects such as HYDE and acid android, participants included Kiyoharu, La'cryma Christi, MONORAL, and LUNKHEAD. S.O.A.P. also appeared at the outdoor rock festival “SUMMER SONIC 03” in 2003. During his time with S.O.A.P., ken attended many festivals regardless of whether he himself was performing. In an interview given after L'Arc-en-Ciel resumed activities in 2003, he explained: “I thought it might be good to delight all five senses in various ways, for when L'Arc-en-Ciel started running again,” and “Even if something does not look like music at first glance, it is about experiencing things that can become music through secondary or tertiary transformations. Festival-hopping was part of that, I suppose. I went to Fuji Rock as well.”
In 2006, he released the solo single “Speed” and began full-scale solo activities under the name Ken. While continuing his band activities, ken has pursued solo work to the present, producing numerous cover versions of songs by a variety of Japanese and international artists, as well as songs distinguished by guitar playing reminiscent of the hard rock of the 1970s and 1980s that he had enjoyed listening to. In his solo activities, ken also serves as vocalist. In an interview at the time of his first solo single's release, he indicated that he had begun solo activities partly because he wanted to try performing cover songs.
From 2008 onward, he also began working as a producer on recordings by bands and other artists affiliated with the same agency. He participated as a guitarist in “Yuiitsu Tooku e,” a track on his longtime friend Kiyoharu's 2004 solo album poetry, and in the production of the charity song “We Love Music,” for which Char was responsible for overall artistic direction, songwriting, and production in 2021. In 2022, he provided a song for Tatsuro (MUCC) for the first time. DURAN, formerly of Made in Asia and a flood of circle and a support musician for Fujii Kaze and Vaundy, participated in the production of the song provided to Tatsuro, “the love letter feat.DURAN.”
Outside his musical activities, ken formerly wrote two magazine serials: “Hodan Gaho” (放談我報), transcriptions of casual conversations with editors and staff in the music magazine WHAT's IN?, and “Ken Gyunyu” (Ken牛乳), about his everyday life, in the music magazine Ongaku to Hito (音楽と人). These two serials were respectively published as the books Hodan Gaho X (放談我報X) in 2010 and Ken Gyunyu (Ken牛乳) in 2013. From October 2005 for approximately two and a half years, Weekly Pia also ran an interview feature titled “IRON MAIKEN.” The project invited guests, primarily artists then affiliated with Ki/oon Records, the label to which L'Arc-en-Ciel belonged, for discussions with ken on the theme of heavy metal. Discussions were held with Seiji of Guitar Wolf, Utamaru of RHYMESTER, PUFFY, Chatmonchy, DOES, DISCO TWINS, and TAKE and GOT'S of FLOW, among others. In January 2007, a special interview with Adrian Smith, guitarist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden, from which the feature's title was derived, was published.
Band and Solo Career
Bold type indicates a band or unit. Bands in which he did not participate as an official member are excluded.
DOBERMAN Byston-Well THE CLARE L'Arc-en-Ciel (1992–present) D'ARK-en-CIEL (1996–1997) the Zombies (1997) P'UNK-en-CIEL (2004–2012) SONS OF ALL PUSSYS (2002–2006) Ken (2006–present)
Parts
In L'Arc-en-Ciel, in addition to his primary role as guitarist, he has handled piano, keyboards, programming, manipulation, percussion, autoharp, vibraphone and tambourine on recordings, depending on the song. Furthermore, in D'ARK-EN-CIEL, L'Arc-en-Ciel's part-changing band, he plays drums under the name Kën D'Ark, while in P'UNK-EN-CIEL he plays drums under the name KEN P'UNK.
At L'Arc-en-Ciel concerts, he performs backing vocals on songs such as "Shizuka no Umi de" and "LOVE FLIES", although there are few songs for which he performs backing vocals on studio recordings. However, since taking on vocals in SONS OF ALL PUSSYS in 2002, he has occasionally provided backing vocals on recordings of songs he wrote, including "Coming Closer" and "Pretty girl". He has also worked jointly with outside arrangers on the string arrangements for "winter fall", "Butterfly's Sleep", "finale" and "ALONE EN LA VIDA"; the keyboard arrangement for "LOST HEAVEN"; and the brass arrangement for "Pretty girl".
In his solo activities, which began in 2006, he serves as vocalist and guitarist, and personally writes, composes, arranges and produces nearly all of his songs. Depending on the song, he also plays piano, keyboards and kalimba.
Songwriting
L'Arc-en-Ciel, of which ken is a member, has adopted a band format in which all members are songwriters. ken has composed the largest number of L'Arc-en-Ciel songs, with more than 50 compositions excluding rearranged recordings and similar works. In L'Arc-en-Ciel's early years, it was customary for the person who created the chord progression and backing track to be credited as the composer. Beginning with the 1996 single "Kaze ni Kienaide", composed by tetsuya, however, the composer began creating the vocal melody in addition to the backing track.
ken began writing original songs while in high school. Looking back on that period, he stated, "I would write originals while playing guitar," and, "My friends mainly played covers. I wasn't good at covers. For some reason, I also had a strong desire to write songs." While in high school, ken was invited by tetsuya to join Byston-Well after its guitarist left, and the band performed original songs written by ken. Several songs that ken had composed as a hobby during his student years were subsequently included on L'Arc-en-Ciel's first album, DUNE, as "Taste of love" and "Be destined". In producing "Butterfly's Sleep", included on the sixth album ark, ken used part of the melody from a song he had written while a member of Byston-Well.
More than half of the songs included on the albums from L'Arc-en-Ciel's first album DUNE through its third album heavenly, released during the band's early period, were composed by ken. The albums were chiefly made around songs written by ken, including "Voice", "As if in a dream", "Kaze no Yukue", "Vivid Colors", and "Garasu Dama". However, the band's two major-label albums did not sell well, and record company staff reportedly began saying that "L'Arc won't sell." Upon hearing such remarks, ken became conscious of reaching a mass audience during the production of True, which began in 1996, and set about creating songs with pop melodies. In a 2004 music magazine interview, ken reflected on his state of mind while making True: "When I heard people saying that [L'Arc-en-Ciel] wouldn't sell, I was the one writing the most songs. So I thought, 'The songs must be bad,' 'I must be bad,' and 'Of course it won't sell; I'm making things that won't sell.' That may have been where it began."
From this album onward, ken also began producing recordings that made extensive use of strings and horns, such as "Lies and Truth", "the Fourth Avenue Café", and "Fare Well". Around this time, he also began incorporating a greater number of keyboard sounds into his songs. According to ken, he had previously felt conflicted about extensively introducing keyboards, which were outside the basic rock-band format of guitar, bass, and drums. Reflecting later on the background to his adoption of diverse instruments from this period, he stated, "I thought that adding keyboards could make things more brilliant, give them what people call a more 'cohesive sound,' and keep the range under control; I knew there was this way of making music, but I wondered whether it was all right to do it... In the end, I did it [laughs]. That may have been the biggest point at which I changed the way I thought as someone involved with L'Arc-en-Ciel."
After sakura left L'Arc-en-Ciel, the band went through a hiatus before producing its fifth album, HEART, with new member yukihiro. As, in ken's words, "there was no one talking about [sales] numbers at a time like that," the group produced recordings through an approach different from that of True, while retaining the form of pop music that L'Arc-en-Ciel had established on that album. As heard in "Shout at the Devil" and "fate", included on the album, ken also gradually came to use guitar approaches closer to alternative rock and grunge.
Around 1999, when L'Arc-en-Ciel was scoring hit releases, ken was reportedly unable to write upbeat, cheerful songs. Explaining why at the time, he said, "The moment I felt there was an atmosphere in which people around me were excessively demanding cheerful songs, I couldn't write them at all anymore." However, his outlook changed during the approximately three years in which L'Arc-en-Ciel's activities were suspended from 2001, and from the ninth album SMILE, released in 2004, onward, he occasionally began producing bright pop music. According to ken, participating in outdoor rock festivals as SONS OF ALL PUSSYS and attending festivals as a spectator during L'Arc-en-Ciel's hiatus were among the factors that led him to write cheerful songs. In a 2004 interview, he described this change as follows: "Up until then, I couldn't accept cheerful songs. [...] But during those three years [when L'Arc-en-Ciel was inactive], I began to think that cheerful songs could lift people up, and that music might have meaning even if it was just playing in a car stereo and making you go, 'Yeah!' I started thinking I'd like to write songs like that, so I began writing them." He also stated, "Before, I would think about making a programmed-sounding song, surprising people with unusual time signatures, or using arpeggios to make a backing track with an atmosphere like The Cure... But now, rather than loud rock, hard rock, or any kind of '-rock,' I have returned to thinking that it would be good if we could enjoy playing simple rock well in our own way." During the production of the ninth album SMILE, he composed "Feeling Fine" as a pop song inspired by folk and rock music of the 1960s and 1970s.
Among L'Arc-en-Ciel's representative songs composed by ken are "Niji", whose title is the Japanese translation of the band's name and which is also one of the band's signature songs, as well as the million-selling "Kaso" and "NEO UNIVERSE". He also composed the chart-topping songs "winter fall", "MY HEART DRAWS A DREAM", and "DAYBREAK'S BELL".
ken has also created genre-crossing, borderless songs including "Nemuri ni Yosete", which places distorted guitar sounds over an arrangement evocative of bossa nova; "Hitomi ni Utsuru Mono", resembling a piano-and-vocal performance; "Wind of Gold", which blends reggae; "Shinshoku ~lose control~", with an occult-like atmosphere created through frequent use of irregular time signatures; "forbidden lover", notable for marching-beat-like drumming and grand upper-layer arrangements; "the silver shining", resembling film music and notable for its highly floating synthesizer sound; "THE NEPENTHES", a hard-rock number with a distinctive guitar riff; "Jojo Shi", which develops from a classical introduction into a modern 16-beat rhythm; and "Wings Flap", a synth-pop-style song incorporating Latin rhythms. He also composed "Coming Closer", notable for its traditionally styled sound, and "EVERLASTING", which has a dark electro mood derived from gothic and industrial music. According to ken, these two songs were written with “imaginary foreign folk songs” in mind, and he has described "Coming Closer", released in 2004, as "a turning point."
SONS OF ALL PUSSYS, an indie band also known as S.O.A.P. that began activities in 2002, initially created songs with hard rock and 1990s alternative rock in mind. In an interview conducted around the release of its first mini-album, GRACE, ken stated, "What we mentioned at the time [of the band's formation] was the Smashing Pumpkins and Jeff Buckley, but only in terms of that kind of atmosphere." "A Song For You" and "PRIVATE RELIGION", included on the album, were recorded according to the concept established at the band's formation. Unlike L'Arc-en-Ciel's song production and live production, S.O.A.P.'s sound was created with relatively few synchronized elements. Regarding his guitar approach in S.O.A.P., ken stated, "There have naturally been more low chords, and because there aren't any synchronized elements, there have been more guitars that fill the space between the bass and the vocals." S.O.A.P. also released songs for which demos had been made during L'Arc-en-Ciel's active periods and hiatuses but which had not been recorded for release. "gimme A guitar", included on the second mini-album, had existed as a demo before S.O.A.P. was formed, while "Moving on", released as a single's coupling track, had existed as a demo recording for more than approximately ten years before its release.
Musical Roots and Musical Preferences
His particular favorite genres are 1970s and 1980s hard rock, heavy metal, and new wave. He also enjoys listening to film music, bossa nova, progressive rock, alternative rock, alternative metal, and Japanese new music.
Profile
He was born in Maibara, Shiga Prefecture, and graduated from Hikone Higashi High School and Nagoya Institute of Technology. His blood type is AB. He has one older sister.
Tetsuya, the leader and bassist of L'Arc-en-Ciel, the band to which he belongs, is from the same hometown and has been his childhood friend.
He is affectionately known as “Ken-chan” by band members and fans.
Preferences
Having majored in architecture during his university years and having interviewed with general contractors while job hunting, ken has a strong interest in structures. He is particularly attached to dams, to the extent of describing himself as a “dam enthusiast” and taking dam-sightseeing trips on his days off. In the question-and-answer section of the 2008 book IRON MAIKEN, ken named Hoover Dam, Kurobe No. 4 Dam (黒部第四ダム), and Miboro Dam (御母衣ダム) as his three favorite dams in Japan and abroad. Incidentally, when he visited the United States
Guest Musicians
Artists who participated in recordings, excluding the live support musicians listed above.
Guitars
The first guitar ken owned was reportedly an acoustic guitar that his older sister had left at home without playing. The first electric guitar he owned was a Yamaha SG. After subsequently using a Gibson Explorer, he was given a Fender Stratocaster by a friend after graduating from high school.
The aforementioned Stratocaster was reportedly a white Fender Japan model, which he continued to use while repeatedly experimenting with changing its pickups and frets and fitting it with a humbucker. During L'Arc-en-Ciel's early years, he often used this white Stratocaster and a Steinberger that he purchased soon after joining the band. After the band's major-label debut, he bought a 1965 Stratocaster for the production of the 1994 album Tierra and introduced it into his recordings. Ken later entered into an endorsement contract with Fernandes, but before the agreement he used guitars from various manufacturers in live performances, including the aforementioned Steinberger and a Gibson Les Paul Custom. Up to the present, ken has basically used Stratocasters for recording, although he has also frequently used guitars by different manufacturers and of different models.
Ken has used a 1967 Gibson ES-345 for the guitar solo in “winter fall”, a 1981 Gibson Les Paul Standard for “Shout at the Devil”, and a 1966 Fender Coronado for “milky way”. For the recording of “HONEY”, he used a Fender Custom Shop Jazzmaster fitted with three single-coil pickups. He also played a Dobro guitar borrowed from hyde for the recording of “Spirit dreams inside -another dream-”, a Gibson Les Paul on “AS ONE”, and a Dragonfly Custom Model on “CHASE”. Among acoustic guitars, he often uses a Gibson J-50, playing this model on the recordings of “Niji” and “MY HEART DRAWS A DREAM”.
After his contract with Fernandes ended, he entered into an endorsement contract with Fender in 2010. In 2015, he entered into an international endorsement contract with the string manufacturer Dean Markley.
According to ken, he often continues using guitars he likes for practice and live performances. In a 2006 interview, he said of choosing guitars: “My mood changes in various ways from time to time, but I do not really switch between several guitars. Basically, there is a guitar that is in vogue for me at the time, and I only change it when it really does not suit me. I want to play everything on one guitar as much as possible.”
Fernandes
Until 2009, ken had an endorsement contract with Fernandes and used his own signature models in live performances, except for SONS OF ALL PUSSYS and his solo activities.
A total of three guitar series have been released as ken signature models: the LD series, a Stratocaster-type model with a large headstock and 21 frets; the LA series, with a reverse Telecaster-type headstock and either 24 frets until 2003 or 21 frets from 2007 onward; and the LV series, a Flying V-type model. The LA series was initially a 24-fret model, but around 2007 newly developed 21-fret models began to appear, with the tremolo unit also changing from a locking type to a synchronized type. These models were released in various forms as part of Fernandes's Musician Model Series. Various variations with different colors and specifications were also produced within each series.
In the past, ken often used the LD series as his main guitar in live performances and the LA series as a secondary guitar. He used the Stratocaster-type LD series as his main guitar in order to avoid any sense of unfamiliarity when changing guitars.
Fender
Following the end of his contract with Fernandes in 2009, ken began using a Fender Custom Shop Fender Stratocaster, which he had previously used primarily for recording, in live performances and media appearances as well. In December 2010, he formally entered into an endorsement agreement with Fender, and production of signature models began.
In 2010, the first signature model, the Ken Stratocaster® Galaxy Red, was produced. At ken's request, the guitar was made by Fender Master Builder Greg Fessler. Regarding how he came to ask Fessler to build the guitar, ken stated: “At some point, I had the opportunity to play a model made by Greg Fessler, a Master Builder. It was a Stratocaster with a Jacaranda, or Brazilian rosewood, specification, and I thought, ‘Ah, this somehow suits me very well.’ From then on, I became interested in Mr. Greg.” The guitar was released in a limited edition in 2011, and a more affordable Japanese-made model was released in 2017. A Jazz Bass version in this color scheme was also produced.
In 2013, a Fender Jaguar that ken had customised for his own use caught the attention of Fender's product development staff in the United States and was commercialized as the FSR Jaguar Ken Custom, limited to 150 units. Based on the specifications customised by ken himself, the production version had an Arctic White body and a matching headstock in the same color. In addition, the position of the tremolo plate was modified to increase string tension, and the 9.5-inch-radius fingerboard was fitted with medium-jumbo frets.
In 2016, the second signature model, the Ken Stratocaster® Paisley Fantasy, was unveiled for the first time at the “FENDER×PARTY ZOO TALK EVENT”, an event held through a collaboration between Fender and a live tour planned by ken. Like the first model, this guitar was made by Fender Master Builder Greg Fessler and, as its name indicates, featured a vivid paisley-pattern paint finish. The guitar was first released in 2022, followed by another made-to-order release in 2023. A Telecaster version of this signature guitar was also produced.
In 2022, the third signature model, the Ken Stratocaster® Experiment #1, was unveiled. As indicated by the name “Experiment”, it was a model born out of ken's experiments and was made while retaining certain specifications of the Paisley Fantasy. Based on ken's image of “Japanese pottery repaired with kintsugi”, the guitar featured a striking white-and-gold color scheme. During its development, ken reportedly continued to shave the body with a utility knife himself in search of a shape that would produce the sound he preferred. Regarding its development, ken recalled: “Because the Paisley Fantasy has a pattern, I shaved an inconspicuous part on the back of the body, put my ear to it and listened. The first idea came to me suddenly: ‘If there were no contouring on the back of the body, perhaps lower sounds would come out not only on wound strings but also on plain strings.’ When I play a Fender Telecaster, I also have the impression that it produces a somewhat more solid, thudding sound. Those things came together, and I wanted to try playing a body without contouring, one that had not been carved, as an experiment.” Discussing what prompted him to begin seriously making experimental instruments, ken stated: “In the past, I kept trying to make the sound suit my preferences through electrical means—using amplifiers and effects to a certain extent. But the response that only the guitar itself can produce? When you strike it hard, it catches this much, and when you play it softly, it produces this kind of sound—I felt that electrical components alone could not keep up with that. It was only when things reached that point that I felt like experimenting.” The guitar went on sale in 2022, and a special limited edition was also released.
In 2023, the fourth signature model, the Ken Stratocaster® HH Prototype, was unveiled. Like the Experiment #1, this model did not have body contouring. Its body was painted jet black, while the contours and neck were finished in a deep reddish-purple color. It was equipped with two Fishman Fluence pickups and used a hardtail bridge rather than a synchronised tremolo. After further updates, in 2026 ken produced and unveiled the fifth signature model, the Ken Stratocaster® Dodome, which pursued the powerful sound of humbuckers under the “Experiment #2” concept, based on this model and the Experiment #1. Following the prototype, the model had a predominantly black body, while its contours and neck used dodome-iro, a traditional Japanese color. A special limited edition of the guitar went on sale in 2026.
Since signing with Fender in 2010, ken has appeared several times at events in Japan for Fender's top-line brand, FENDER CUSTOM SHOP. On June 27, 2023, he was invited to the reception party for FENDER FLAGSHIP TOKYO, the world's first Fender flagship store, which opened in Harajuku, Tokyo, where he performed a session that included his own compositions.
Amplifiers, Effects Units, Etc.
For basic live sound production, ken uses two amplifiers: one for distortion and one for clean tones. His distorted sound is often created by driving a Plexi-type amplifier to a crunch level and then boosting it with various distortion effects. In recent years, his sound system has been designed primarily around products by Free The Tone. After introducing the company's custom routing unit, he has used equipment and effects including the Free The Tone OVERDRIVELAND, Free The Tone COSMIC WAVE DELAY, Free The Tone COSMIC WAVE MULTIPLE FILTERING DELAY, Free The Tone CRUNCHY CHIME BOOSTER, Free The Tone SILKY GROOVE COMPRESSOR, Free The Tone 10 BAND EQ (for BASS)/PA-1QB, and Free The Tone INTEGRATED GATE.
He currently uses Kerry Wright cabinets fitted with Celestion G12-65 speakers. At live performances in 2021, he used a Suhr ML-100 as his main amplifier, a Two-Rock Classic Reverb Signature as his clean amplifier, and a FRIEDMAN JJ JUNIOR JERRY CANTRELL SIGNATURE as a sub-amplifier. Depending on the concert, a Fender The Edge Deluxe and a Fender Deluxe Reverb have also been used for the sub-stage.
During L'Arc-en-Ciel's 1994 live tour Tour Sense of time '94, ken used an ADA MP-1 MIDI programmable tube preamplifier and a VHT 2150 power amplifier, with Pacific speaker cabinets. Around 1995 and 1996, he began using amplifiers by Marshall, Digitech, and Matchless. From the 1997 concert 1997 REINCARNATION, he also began using Marshall head amplifiers, and around 1999, a leopard-print custom Marshall 1959 began to be placed on stage. The leopard-print custom Marshall was frequently used until around 2007. In 2007, in addition to the leopard-print custom Marshall, he used a 65Amp London collaboration amplifier and a Roccaforte Levant Series Hi-Gain 100, set for clean and crunch sounds. Thereafter, in addition to the Suhr ML-100 and Two-Rock Classic Reverb Signature, which he has used as his main amplifiers since around 2012, he began employing amplifiers by Divided by 13, Marshall, Diezel, and Bogner depending on the song. Around 2015, he used a MAGNATONE SUPER FIFTY-NINE HEAD as his main amplifier and a Fender Deluxe Reverb as his clean amplifier.
In addition to Free The Tone products, effects such as the Shin-ei UNI-VIBE and Walrus Audio Julianna are installed in his equipment rack. The rare vintage Shin-ei UNI-VIBE has been used for a long time because it can produce a mixed chorus, vibrato, and phaser effect. He previously used effects from various manufacturers, including the DOD LOVE DRIVER FX-900 overdrive, which he produced himself, as well as the Klon Centaur, Electro-Harmonix BIG MUFF Π, Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man, Roger Mayer Voodoo-Vibe, Katana Clean Boost, and Z.VEX Fuzz Factory. From the beginning of his career until around 2008, he favored Alesis's Quadraverb series for spatial effects such as delay and reverb; in the 2010s, he favored using units such as the T.C. ELECTRONIC 2290 through the send-return loop. The first compact effects unit ken purchased was a BOSS DS-1.
From L'Arc-en-Ciel's December 2018 concert L'Arc-en-Ciel LIVE 2018 L'ArChristmas, he began using the Free The Tone Ken SIGNATURE FUTURE FACTORY/FF-1Y-K digital delay effect, developed with his cooperation, primarily for backing and guitar solos. This signature model was released to the general public in 2020. Since introducing this model, his setup has been renewed around Free The Tone products.
Episodes
As a child, he often played with his older sister, who was one year ahead of him, and with friends from his housing complex. He also reportedly played at professional wrestling with his mother. In a 1996 interview, ken recalled an episode from his childhood involving his mother: “Normally, you get injuries after you start kindergarten, right? Like, ‘I fell over at school!’ But for some reason, I had a scar from the very beginning. When I became aware of things and asked, ‘Mom, what is this scar from?’ she said, ‘I was playing wrestling with you, threw you, and you hit the corner of the stereo and got cut’ (laughs).”
He also often played with a white Pomeranian named Chappy that his family kept when he was young.
Around 1995, he owned a cat named Elizabeth. The cat appeared in the opening footage of L'Arc〜en〜Ciel’s live video heavenly 〜films〜, released in 1996, and is depicted as an inlay at the twelfth fret of ken’s signature-model guitars released by Fernandes.
Other signature-model guitars released by Fernandes feature inlays of lizards and the L'Arc〜en〜Ciel logo. In addition, a guitar called the “FERNANDES LD-Custom kk Jojo Shi,” based on the jacket design of L'Arc〜en〜Ciel’s single “Jojo Shi,” was also manufactured.
In high school, ken joined the table tennis club, but quickly quit because it required serious training and he felt that it did not suit him. After becoming a student who went straight home after school, he reportedly spent his time having fun. He was also involved in band activities in high school, although ken has said, “It’s not like I was doing nothing but band activities.” While his high-school friends began forming cover bands, he became interested in writing original songs. He reportedly often had the songs he wrote during this period listened to by friends and by his childhood friend tetsuya of L'Arc〜en〜Ciel.
Regarding ken during their student days, tetsuya said, “Ken-chan had been writing good songs since then.” Ken was a “childhood-friend senior” one school year above tetsuya. Concerning his relationship with ken, tetsuya said: “He’s both a childhood friend and a senior at school, so... it’s kind of like a club activity (laughs). He really is a senior... and there’s also the fact that I’ve known him ever since I became aware of things. Ken-chan treats me differently from the other members. I really am his junior... so he’s strict with me. Only with me—or rather, with me, you know (laughs). It’s probably unconscious, but he’s strict with me.” He also said, “When you’re in elementary and middle school, someone one school year above you is enormously older, right? At this age, being one year apart does not matter much, but someone one year above you in elementary or middle school is a great senior. It was like, ‘Ah, Ken-chan is tough only on me. He’s strict’ (laughs). Well, it is probably unconscious on Ken-chan’s part.”
After graduating from high school, he entered the Faculty of Engineering at Nagoya Institute of Technology, where he reportedly continued band activities as a hobby. When he reached the year in which he had to choose a specialization, he joined the laboratory headed by Toshikatsu Ichinose and chose to study architecture. According to Ichinose, ken was a memorable student. He later said: “He wore piercings, sat near the front, and asked quite a lot of questions. Generally, I never take attendance in class, so I never remember people’s names, but Kitamura-kun’s—that is, ken’s—was the one name I remembered. I was happy when he came to my seminar in his fourth year.” Regarding why he chose Ichinose’s laboratory, ken said: “When I talked with the professor, difficult subjects somehow started to become like riddles... It may be strange to call them riddles, but they stopped being ‘studying.’ We could talk without it becoming ‘Study! Study!’, so I thought that was nice.”
Some time after joining the laboratory, ken decided to join L'Arc〜en〜Ciel. As his band activities began in earnest, he took a leave of absence from university. He subsequently made his major-label debut while still on leave. In 1995, when he appeared on the Chukyo TV program Kiss Miss Chic, he met Ichinose again for the first time in a long while as part of a feature in which he visited a former teacher. On that occasion, Ichinose nostalgically remarked, “I wanted him to go to graduate school.” At the end of the program, Ichinose sent ken a letter that read: “You said that even now, you still think about various things concerning what time is. As someone who loves that kind of subject, I still cannot completely abandon the hope that you will make use of such a philosophical stance in the academic sphere.” When ken decided to join L'Arc〜en〜Ciel, he went to inform Ichinose of the decision, and after joining, he reportedly sent Ichinose recordings and works that he had produced.
In February 1997, around one year and four months after the program appearance, L'Arc〜en〜Ciel was forced to suspend its activities following the arrest of sakura, the band’s drummer at the time. Ken returned to university at this point and graduated in March 1998. He remained in contact with Ichinose after graduating and frequently invited him to L'Arc〜en〜Ciel concerts.
Possibly because he had specialized in architecture, ken was invited as a special guest to the reception of the Architectural Institute of Japan Annual Meeting (Tokai), held in September 2021, and sent a video message for the meeting. Ichinose, who had become an emeritus professor at Nagoya Institute of Technology, also attended the reception.
Because he joined L'Arc〜en〜Ciel while job hunting, his hairstyle at the beginning of his time in the band was a short recruitment cut. The other members therefore reportedly made him wear hair extensions. Ken later recalled the time by saying, “They said it would be better to put on extensions before the photo shoot for the artist photographs. I was like, ‘Why do I have to wear something like this? I feel such resistance to it’ (laughs).”
From around 2001, L'Arc〜en〜Ciel entered a hiatus, and the members began activities under their respective solo names. However, as various schedules had accumulated since 1998, ken apparently felt fatigued and did not engage in musical activities for about one year. Looking back on the latter half of 2001, ken later said, “I did nothing but play mahjong and baseball.”
During the hiatus, he formed an amateur baseball team as part of a fan-club newsletter project; the team was called LOVE FLIES. As part of the newsletter project, the team played against a team led by comedian Ryuhei Ueshima of Dachou Club. Ken’s team reportedly suffered a crushing defeat. Ken’s amateur baseball team also once played against a team to which actor Naohito Fujiki belonged.
Relationships
Kiyoharu (黒夢, SADS)
Before joining L'Arc-en-Ciel, ken attended Nagoya Institute of Technology, where he met Kiyoharu. Their association therefore goes back a long way. When L'Arc-en-Ciel was active as an amateur band, it frequently shared bills with Kuroyume, Kiyoharu's band. At the time, L'Arc-en-Ciel was unusual among amateur bands in that it rarely performed on shared bills, making Kuroyume one of its few such counterparts.
The two remained in contact after L'Arc-en-Ciel and Kuroyume made their major-label debuts. In 2004, ken invited Kiyoharu to perform at “BUBBLE FESTiVAL,” a live event held by Sons of All Pussys, where they shared a bill. In April 2004, ken was invited as a guest guitarist for the recording of Kiyoharu's first solo album, poetry.
Michihiko Nakayama (中山道彦)
Nakayama handled such work as L'Arc-en-Ciel's promotion as the label's A&R representative from 1996 to 2002, and was affectionately called “Mitchan” by the members, including ken. He later served as president of Ki/oon Records, to which L'Arc-en-Ciel belonged, and as representative director of Sony Music Artists.
From October 2005, ken serialized the interview column “IRON MAIKEN” in Weekly Pia for approximately two and a half years. The project began at Nakayama's suggestion. In the afterword to the 2008 book edition of IRON MAIKEN, Nakayama wrote of his reason for recommending the project to ken: “The biggest reason was that, at the time, ‘L'Arc-en-Ciel stood out within the label.’ If ‘stood out’ is difficult to understand, perhaps it would be better to say that they were in another dimension.” He further wrote: “That was why we asked Ken-chan to appear, and there was only one reason: because he is entertaining to talk to. This person's pointless chatter and trivial conversations are genuinely interesting. By interesting, I do not simply mean that they make one laugh or make others laugh; they are interesting because they contain hidden intelligence and things that make one think, ‘I see.’”
Tamori (タモリ)
When ken appeared in the “Telephone Shocking” segment of Fuji Television's Waratte Iitomo! on January 28, 2000, hosted by Tamori, the two discovered that they were both dam enthusiasts and quickly hit it off. Ken subsequently appeared on TV Asahi's Tamori Club, also hosted by Tamori, on February 7, 2003. This episode featured ken's proposed segment, “Men's Structures: Dam Water-Release Grand Prix,” which introduced powerful dam discharges in ranking form.
Ken was invited back onto the program repeatedly after this appearance. It was highly unusual for ken, who rarely appeared on variety programs, to appear on a program by himself. Before the program ended, he was invited to take part in projects involving an attempt to break the world record for paper airplanes, repairing walls using plastering techniques, railway mahjong, an on-location shoot at Tokyo Crane School, an attempt at mixing, a homemade-speaker championship, and the creation of an original fuzz pedal commemorating the 70th anniversary of Jimi Hendrix's birth.
Looking back on his appearances on the program, ken said: “It is the same every time, but this program is fun whenever I appear on it.” He also recalled, “At first, I thought, ‘It would be bad if I did not properly memorize the script,’ but all of the performers always improvise, and it has almost never gone according to the script.” He further stated, “You do not hear ‘Okay, that's good’ or ‘Cut!’ very often on this program. They really just film as things unfold, and when Tamori says, ‘See you again next week,’ it ends. It is amazing.”
MUCC
MUCC is a rock band junior to ken at the same agency. They had known each other even before MUCC made its major-label debut, as they belonged to the same agency. From 2008 onward, ken began participating in MUCC's recordings and occasionally arranging and producing its songs. He also participated in a MUCC tribute album in 2017. In 2022, ken provided a song for the first time for an album created by vocalist Tatsuro under his solo name.
SATOchi, MUCC's former drummer, who left the band in 2021, was once responsible for the original concept of a four-panel comic in the 2013 book ken Milk.
Ken also associates with Shinji of SID and SORA of DEZERT, who belong to the same agency. Shinji appeared quite frequently in ken Milk, a column chronicling ken's daily life.
Michiya Haruhata (春畑道哉, TUBE)
Ken became acquainted with Haruhata through Yukihiro Hayashi, president of Free The Tone, a company that designs and manufactures musical equipment and designs systems. Their first meeting was through their shared hobby of golf. According to Haruhata, he had attended a L'Arc-en-Ciel concert several years before meeting ken, and when they played golf together, he asked ken how he managed his equipment because “Ken's variety of delays was incredible.”
Ken and Haruhata subsequently began associating with one another. Since both mainly used Fender guitars and at one point used the same effects pedals, they came to discuss equipment frequently. When the special publication GUITAR MAGAZINE SPECIAL ARTIST SERIES/Michiya Haruhata was produced by the music magazine Guitar Magazine, an interview between Haruhata and ken was published in the magazine.
From the latter half of the 2010s onward, ken has increasingly held discussions with guitarists through his association with Yukihiro Hayashi. Videos in which he discusses guitars and equipment with TAIKING of Suchmos, Yuya Komoguchi, formerly of TRIX and a support member of Zutomayo, and Yoshiaki Tanabe of Macaroni Enpitsu, among others, have been uploaded to Hayashi's YouTube channel, “National Effects Board Bonsai Association.”
Sources
- Wikidata entity Q1361450.
- en.wikipedia, Ken (musician) (revision 1369594589), CC BY-SA 4.0.
- ja.wikipedia, Ken (revision 110486026), CC BY-SA 4.0.