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Hizaki (sometimes stylized as HIZAKI, formerly stylized as Hiza:ki) is a Japanese visual kei musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for being the lead guitarist for the symphonic power metal bands Versailles and Jupiter, as well as his own solo project the Hizaki Grace Project.
Hizaki grew up in the countryside of Shiga Prefecture and became a fan of classical music in kindergarten, especially gaining significant interest in the violin, but his parents never let him learn to play one. Eventually, when he was in sixth grade he and his older brother began to learn guitar, and the first time playing it, he began his dive into music.
Already a fan of other visual kei bands like Loudness and X Japan, Hizaki wanted to go on to play lead guitar in his own band but was not skilled enough to play their complex songs so he improved overtime by coming up with his own guitar exercises. After getting better using these exercises he became quite skilled by the time he entered middle school, but no one around him had the same level of skill.
He entered high school during a time when a boom in the amount of bands in Japan occurred, so he finally found some others to play with him. While unwavering in his love of metal and visual kei, his friends preferred genres such as punk rock or grunge. As such, Hizaki said he had little fun in the band and that his high school days were "quite gloomy." After graduating from high school, Hizaki moved to Kyoto and finally found the music scene he always longed for.[3]
Carrer
Hizaki debuted as the guitarist of the band Garnet Grave in the year 1996, which dissolved 3 years later. Hizaki participated in several other small bands after this, including Crack Brain and Schwardix Marvally, which dissolved in 2004.
Hizaki then started his solo career with an EP titled Maiden Ritual and another titled Dance with grace. His solo project was put on hold in 2005 when he joined the band Sulfuric Acid, staying with them all the way up until they disbanded in October of 2006. He then restarted his solo career under the new title, the Hizaki Grace Project with Hikaru and Jasmine You (who then used the stage name Yuu), and Sulfuric Acid's support drummer Seiji. After recruiting three more members, Mikage, Teru, and Shaura (who then used the stage name Juka), they released their first album Dignity of crest and curse of virgo.
In 2007 Hizaki became a support member of the band Node of Scherzo led by Kamijo. At Node of Scherzo's first live performance, Kamijo and Hizaki announced that they would be forming a new band together and the details of the new band were announced later the same month. Named Versailles, the band would feature Kamijo on vocals, Hizaki and Teru on guitar, Yuki on drums, and Masashi and Jasmine You on bass.[4]
On 1 April 2013, every member of Versailles except for singer Kamijo announced they would be forming a new band called Jupiter.[5] They recruited Zin as the new vocalist and released their first new single Blessing of the Future in the summer. Hizaki has since resumed his solo projects releasing the solo EPs and albums Rosario, Back to Nature, and Rusalka.
Equipment
Hizaki with the ESP Maiden
Hizaki's current guitar is the ESP Maiden Hizaki Custom Rose, a custom electric guitar made by the Japanese guitar company Electric Sound Products. It is a dark red, or rose-colored, alder and hard maple electric guitar with a golden flaked rose design and golden string tuners.[2][6]
