, better known exclusively by his stage name Inoran, is a Japanese musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the rhythm guitarist and co-founder of the rock band

Luna Sea Luna Sea (stylized as LUNA SEA) is a Japanese Rock music, rock band formed in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1986. Due to the use of make-up and costumes early in their career and their widespread popularity, they are considered one of the most success ...

since 1986. He started his solo career in 1997. Luna Sea disbanded in 2000, and he formed

Fake? Fake? is a Japanese rock musical project led by vocalist Ken Lloyd. Originally a duo, guitarist Inoran left in 2005. Lyrics are mainly in English and sometimes in Japanese. History In late 2001 Oblivion Dust vocalist Ken Lloyd joined up with Lu ...

with

Oblivion Dust Oblivion Dust is a Japanese rock music, rock band first active from 1996 to 2001; they reunited in 2007. Although they were originally largely influenced by early 1990s American grunge bands,

vocalist

Ken Lloyd Kentaro James Shibuya Lloyd (born 25 March 1976 in London, England), better known as Ken Lloyd, is a British/Japanese musician and singer-songwriter. Fluent in both Japanese and English, he writes lyrics in both languages. He is currently in Ob ...

a year later. In 2005 he left Fake? and founded

Tourbillon In horology, a tourbillon (; "whirlwind") is an addition to the mechanics of a watch escapement to increase accuracy. It was developed around 1795 and patented by the Swiss-French watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet on June 26, 1801. In a tourbill ...

with Luna Sea vocalist

Ryuichi Kawamura is a Japanese singer, songwriter, record producer, actor and author. He is best known as lead singer of the rock band Luna Sea since 1989. He started a solo career in 1997, three years before Luna Sea disbanded in 2000. In 2005, Kawamura form ...

and Hiroaki Hayama. He rejoined Luna Sea when they reunited in 2010, and in 2012 formed Muddy Apes with bassist

Taka Hirose Takashi "Taka" Hirose (Japanese: タカ・ヒロセ (広瀬隆), born 28 July 1967 in Mizuho, Japan) is a Japanese musician and chef who is the current bass guitarist for the rock band Feeder. Biography Hirose began playing bass at the age of ...

and guitarist Dean Tidey, both from Feeder, and 8otto's vocalist Maeson.

Career

In middle school through high school, Inoran became good friends with J, and they formed a band called Lunacy in 1986. In 1991, they changed their name to

and released their first album. They went on to become very successful, having sold more than 10 million certified units in Japan, and are considered one of the most influential bands in the

visual kei is a movement among Japanese musicians that is characterized by the use of varying levels of make-up, elaborate hair styles and flamboyant costumes, often, but not always, coupled with androgynous aesthetics, similar to Western glam rock. Som ...

movement. In 1993, Inoran and J teamed up with

X Japan was a Japanese rock band from Chiba, formed in 1982 by drummer and pianist Yoshiki and lead vocalist Toshi. Starting as a predominantly power/speed metal band with heavy symphonic elements, they later gravitated towards a progressive soun ...

guitarist hide to form the group M*A*S*S. Their only material released was the song "Frozen Bug" on the sampler ''Dance 2 Noise 004'' (the song would later be remixed by hide and put on his debut solo album ''

Hide Your Face ''Hide Your Face'' is the debut album by Japanese musician hide, released on February 23, 1994. It reached number 1 on the Oricon Albums Chart and was certified Double Platinum by the RIAJ for sales over 500,000 copies. It was named one of the ...

''). On September 25, 1997, Inoran released his first solo material, the single "Sou" on King Records. The following month his debut album, also titled ''Sou'', was released on October 22. Inoran does not sing on the album (except the title track), instead it features several different female vocalists. When Luna Sea "drew the curtain" in 2000, Inoran started

in late 2001 with former

vocalist

. When he left Fake? in October 2005, citing musical differences with Ken Lloyd, he founded

with former Luna Sea vocalist

and Hiroaki Hayama. In the summer of 2006, he began his solo career again and released the album ''Photograph''. After releasing the album ''Nirai Kanai'' in July 2007, he performed many live concerts and released the concert DVD ''Tour 2007 Determine'' along with ''The Best'' album, which covers his favorite music selected by himself and his fan-club. The album also features the new song "I Swear". On December 24, 2007, Inoran reunited with

to play a one-night concert in front of an audience of around 45,000 people at the

Tokyo Dome is an indoor stadium in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a baseball stadium following its predecessor, Korakuen Stadium. Construction on the stadium began on May 16, 1985, and it opened on March 17, 1988. It was built on the site of th ...

. One more reunion would happen again at the hide memorial summit on May 4, 2008. In March 2008, Inoran released his first official book ''Monophonic''. Inoran performed overseas for the first time in July in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

(for the Formoz Festival 2008 and Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival 2008, respectively). On September 21, he performed at

D'erlanger D'erlanger (stylized as D'ERLANGER) is a Japanese rock band from Kyoto Prefecture, formed in 1983 by guitarist Cipher and bassist Seela. While they originally played speed and power metal, after recruiting drummer Tetsu and vocalist Kyo they ...

's Abstinence's Door #002 event, along with Merry and

heidi. Heidi. (stylized as heidi.) is a Japanese visual kei rock band formed in Tokyo in February 2006. They gained popularity after performing at the memorial concert on the 10th anniversary of the death of the musician hide on May 4, 2008 to tens ...

His fifth original album ''Apocalypse'' was released on September 24. The tour for the album, entitled Butterfly Effect, incorporated an international extension to perform overseas again, this time in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

in November, before the tour finale back in Japan. He released his first instrumental album ''Shadow'' on December 24; it includes the title track for the movie ''A Symmetry''. Inoran performed on October 25 as part of the two-day V-Rock Festival '09. In May 2010, Inoran and

Orange Range are a 5-member Japanese rock band, based in Okinawa, Japan. Formed in 2001, the band began with Spice Music and later signed with Sony Music Japan's gr8! records division in 2003. The band left gr8! records in 2010 to start their own label, S ...

guitarist Naoto created and released the song "Love For..." for the victims of the

2010 Haiti earthquake A disaster, catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (department), Ouest department, a ...

. In August, he appeared with the other members of Luna Sea at a press conference in Hong Kong, where they officially announced their reunion and their 20th Anniversary World Tour Reboot -to the New Moon-. On September 19, Inoran joined British rock band Feeder on stage at the Tokyo Unit for a cover version performance of the

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

track "Breed". Feeder's bass player

played on Inoran's next single, "Hide and Seek". Inoran released the album ''Teardrop'' on March 30, 2011 and went on tour in support of it. In April the song "Love For...", which he and Orange Range guitarist Naoto created in 2010 for the Haiti earthquake, was offered for download once again. This time with the proceeds donated to aid reconstruction of the area damaged by the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six minutes ...

. On September 21, his first album ''Sou'' was re-released with a new version of the title track, the bonus track "The Agenda", which was a B-side on his debut single and features American hip-hop artist

Black Thought Tariq Luqmaan Trotter (born October 3, 1973), better known as Black Thought, is an American rapper, actor and the lead MC of the Philadelphia-based hip hop group the Roots, which he co-founded with drummer Questlove (Ahmir Thompson). Regarded ...

, and a DVD of the promotional video for "Sou". In June 2012, Inoran teamed up with Taka Hirose once again, as well as Feeder's support guitarist Dean Tidey and 8otto's vocalist Maeson, to form the band Muddy Apes. Their debut album, ''Crush It'', was released in Japan by King Records and digitally in Europe by Bishi Bishi on September 5. Inoran's album ''Dive Youth, Sonik Dive'' was released on June 27, 2012 and includes "Lemontune", a song originally by Fake?.

Anna Tsuchiya is a Japanese singer, actress and semi-retired model. Since 2005, she is primarily known as a singer.Oricon pr ...

provides additional vocals on the song "No Options", the limited edition of the album comes with a DVD and a 12-inch vinyl record with "No Options - Mirrorless", a version of the song which Inoran sings himself. It was supported with a nationwide Japanese tour that also celebrated his 15th anniversary as a solo artist. On August 31 in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, he kicked off his first European tour, Seven Samurais, which took him to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

and ended on September 16 in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. Inoran returned to the stage with Ken Lloyd and Fake? on February 23, 2013, for the concert Fake? -Live Decade-, his first performance with him since he left the group in 2005. On August 16, Inoran performed at

Angelo Angelo is an Italian masculine given name and surname meaning "angel", or "messenger". People People with the given name *Angelo Accattino (born 1966), Italian prelate of the Catholic Church *Angelo Acciaioli (bishop) (1298–1357), Italian Rom ...

's "Intersection of Dogma" event, alongside other acts such as

lynch. Lynch (stylized as lynch.) is a Japanese visual-kei metal band formed in 2004. The band's concept is "uniting heavy music with beautiful melodies." As of 2021, the group has released three EPs, eleven albums, and 25 singles. History Lynch was ...

and

Mucc is a Japanese visual kei rock band, formed in Ibaraki Prefecture in 1997. The classic line up of Tatsuro on vocals, Miya on guitar, Yukke on bass, and Satochi on drums was solidified in 1999 following the departure of original bassist Hiro. Af ...

. He released his next studio album, ''Beautiful Now'', on August 26, 2015. It includes a cover of hide's "

Pink Spider is the ninth single by Japanese musician hide, the second to bear the hide with Spread Beaver name, released on May 13, 1998, eleven days after his death. It debuted at number 1 on the Oricon Singles Chart and was the 11th best-selling single o ...

" and was followed by a nationwide tour in September. In 2017 he teamed up with Teru,

Hisashi Hisashi is a masculine Japanese given name. Its meaning differs depending on the kanji used to write it. Kanji Single kanji used to write the name Hisashi include: *: "long time" *: "eternal" *: "still" *: "standard" *: "complete" *: "long" *: "li ...

, Pierre Nakano (

Ling tosite Sigure are a Japanese rock trio, formed in 2002 in Saitama Prefecture. The band's style resembles post-hardcore and progressive rock, math-rock, often incorporating rapid changes of tempo and mood framed in complex guitar melodies and technical drummin ...

) and Ery (

Raglaia Rami or Ramy may refer to: People Given name In music *Rami (singer), Japanese singer * Rami El-Kaleh (born 1983), Libyan-Irish musician *Rami Jaffee (born 1969), American keyboardist *Rami Kleinstein (born 1962), Israeli singer and composer *Ram ...

) to cover "

Lullaby A lullaby (), or cradle song, is a soothing song or piece of music that is usually played for (or sung to) children (for adults see music and sleep). The purposes of lullabies vary. In some societies they are used to pass down cultural knowled ...

" by

for the ''D'erlanger Tribute Album ~Stairway to Heaven~''.

Personal life

Inoran has two younger brothers. He loved playing baseball when he was in school. The nickname Inoran came into existence when he was playing a baseball game; he hit the ball and a fan kept shouting "Ino! Run!!", which sounded like "Inoran". He was also said to be popular among girls in his school. Because of his good manner and looks, Tokyo Pop contacted him to be an idol but Inoran refused. At age 16, Inoran became a big fan of Cipher, the guitarist and co-founder of the band

, when he went to see one of their live concerts. Inoran said in an interview that Cipher is a person who has changed his life. Though Inoran is left-handed, he said he's more comfortable playing guitar with his right hand. He is also

claustrophobic Claustrophobia is the fear of confined spaces. It can be triggered by many situations or stimuli, including elevators, especially when crowded to capacity, windowless rooms, and hotel rooms with closed doors and sealed windows. Even bedrooms with ...

, this inspired him to compose the song "Claustrophobia", the B-side of Luna Sea's first single " Believe".

Equipment

In 2010, Inoran endorsed the American-based guitar brand Fender. Inoran (together with

ken Ken or KEN may refer to: Entertainment * ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer. * ''Ken'' (film), 1964 Japanese film. * ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine. * Ken Masters, a main character in ...

from

L'Arc-en-Ciel L'Arc-en-Ciel ( French: 'The Rainbow', stylized as L'Arc~en~Ciel), also known as Laruku, is a Japanese rock band, formed in Osaka in 1991 by bassist tetsuya and vocalist hyde. Following the departure of original members hiro and pero, guitarist ...

) was approached by Fender and signed the endorsement contract; his signature model is based on a 1959

Jazzmaster The Fender Jazzmaster is an electric guitar designed as a more expensive sibling of the Fender Stratocaster. First introduced at the 1958 NAMM Show, it was initially marketed to jazz guitarists, but found favor among surf rock guitarists in th ...

. The black "Inoran Jazzmaster #1 LTD" was released in 2011 and the aged Olympic White #2 model in 2013. Another aged Olympic White model, "Inoran Road Worn Jazzmaster", was released in 2015. Inoran was previously endorsed by

ESP Guitars is a Japanese guitar manufacturer, primarily focused on the production of electric guitars and Bass guitar, basses. They are based in both Tokyo and Los Angeles, with distinct product lines for each market. ESP Company manufactures instruments ...

and had around eight signature models with them. He has also been known to occasionally use

Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed from 1952 into 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuously ...

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

Gibson Les Paul The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The guitar was designed by factory manager John Huis and his team with input from and endorsement by guitarist Les Paul. Its typi ...

s, and

ES-335 The Gibson ES-335 is the world's first commercial semi-hollowbody electric guitar, sometimes known as semi-acoustic. Released by the Gibson Guitar Corporation as part of its ES (Electric Spanish) series in 1958, it is neither fully hollow nor fu ...

Discography

Albums

* ,

Oricon Albums Chart The Oricon Albums Chart is the Japanese music industry standard albums popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Oricon originally published LP, CT, Cartridge and CD charts prior to the establishment of the Oricon Albu ...

Peak Position: #16, #117 (reissue) * ''Fragment'' (July 25, 2001) #16 * ''Photograph'' (September 26, 2006) #42 * #43 * ''Apocalypse'' (September 24, 2008) #37 * ''Watercolor'' (March 10, 2010) #40 * ''Teardrop'' (March 30, 2011) #25 * ''Dive Youth, Sonik Dive'' (June 27, 2012) #38 * ''Somewhere'' (March 19, 2014, mini-album) #47 * ''Beautiful Now'' (August 26, 2015) #22 * ''Thank You'' (August 24, 2016) #27 * ''2019'' (August 7, 2019) #31 * ''Libertine Dreams'' (September 30, 2020) #36 * ''Between the World and Me'' (February 17, 2021) #40 * ''Any Day Now'' (October 20, 2021) #44

Remix albums

* ''Landscape of Fragment'' (November 21, 2001; CD, December 25, 2001; 12″ vinyl) #79 (CD)

Other albums

* ''The Best'' (January 23, 2008; compilation) #40 * ''Shadow'' (December 24, 2008; instrumental) #123 * ''Intense / Mellow'' (August 23, 2017; self-cover) #32 * ''In My Oasis Billboard Session'' (June 29, 2022; live album) #44

Singles

* ,

Oricon Singles Chart The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard singles popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Chart rankings are based on physical singles' sales. Until 2017, Oricon did not track download sales. In J ...

Peak Position: #7 * "Won't Leave My Mind" (June 13, 2001) #15 * "Waves/Felicidad" (January 1, 2004; fan club limited) * "/Elements of Foundation" (September 17, 2009) :Inoran×Roen collaboration, limited CD and DVD release available at Inoran Live Tour 2009. * "Hide and Seek" (October 5, 2011) #10 * "Something About You" (September 13, 2013, concert limited)

Home videos

* ''Won't Leave My Mind'' (August 8, 2001), Oricon DVDs Chart Peak Position: #19 * ''The Last Night'' (June 25, 2003) #90 * ''Another Room'' (April 26, 2005) * ''Raize'' (September 26, 2006) * ''Tour 2006 Photograph'' (March 7, 2007) #78 * ''Tour 2007 Determine'' (January 23, 2008) #62 * ''2008 Butterfly Effect+'' (June 10, 2009) #27 * ''Tour 2010 Watercolor'' (September 22, 2010) #73 * ''I'm Here'' (August 28, 2013) #48 * ''Tour 2015 -Beautiful Now- at EX Theater Roppongi'' (April 6, 2016) #21 * ''Sugizo vs Inoran Presents Best Bout ~L 2/5~'' (April 26, 2017) #33 * ''Override'' (August 22, 2018) #26 * ''Inoran Tour 2019 Cowboy Puni-Shit Live in Tokyo'' (February 26, 2020), Oricon Blu-rays Chart Peak Position: #72 * ''Sugizo vs Inoran Presents Best Bout 2021 ~L 2/5~'' (March 9, 2022) #38 * ''Inoran -Tokyo 5 Nights- Back to the Rock'N Roll'' (March 9, 2022) #45 * ''In My Oasis Billboard Session'' (December 14, 2022)

Books

* ''Monophonic'' (March 2008)

With Luna Sea

With Muddy Apes

* ''Crush It'' (2012) * ''Fairy Dirt Nº5'' (2013) * ''Faraway So Close'' (2016)

Other work

OLIVIA Olivia may refer to: People * Olivia (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Olivia (singer) (Olivia Longott, born 1981), American singer * Olívia (basketball) (Carlos Henrique Rodrigues do Nascimento, born 19 ...

; " Sailing Free" (2009) - arranger on track 1 * Ever; ''Happiness Is...'' (2009) - composer, arranger, producer on track 1 *

; ''Inferiority Complex'' (2012) - guitar on "Experience" * lecca; ''lecca Live 2012 Jammin' the Empire @ Nippon Budokan'' (2009) - "Missing Ordinary", "Higher" *

Oldcodex Oldcodex (stylized as OLDCODEX) was a Japanese rock band from Tokyo, Japan, formed in 2009. They performed the opening themes for the anime series '' Free!'', ''Servamp'' and '' God Eater'' and the ending themes for ''Kuroko's Basketball'' and ...

; ''Oldcodex Live DVD "Contrast Silver" Tour Final'' (2013) - "Heaven" *

; ''Beautiful Lie'' (2021) - composer, co-arranger on "Sing to You"

References

External links

Official website

Official blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Inoran 1970 births Living people Luna Sea members Visual kei musicians Musicians from Kanagawa Prefecture King Records (Japan) artists Japanese male singer-songwriters Japanese singer-songwriters Japanese male rock singers Japanese rock guitarists Japanese alternative rock musicians Rhythm guitarists People from Hadano, Kanagawa 20th-century Japanese guitarists 21st-century Japanese guitarists