Tomoyasu Hotei

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Tomoyasu Hotei (布袋 寅泰, Hotei Tomoyasu^?, born February 1, 1962 in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture) is a Japanese musician, guitarist and actor.

Biography

Tomoyasu Hotei as Rannosuke Kazamatsuri in Samurai Fiction

Born to a Korean father and a Japanese/Russian mother, Hotei first began playing the guitar in junior high school. In high school, his band Blue Film finished runners up in a school contest to Death Penalty, a band led by Kyosuke Himuro. Hotei was expelled shortly before graduation. The reason was that, when warned about his long hair he replied “Jesus had long hair!” Shortly after, he went to Tokyo where one day he received a phone call from Himuro. The two had never really known each other but hit it off and went on to hold auditions for a new band, which in 1981 became the six-member Boøwy. The band became major stars in Japan,^{[citation needed]} in 1985 played the Marquee in London, and in 1986 had their first million seller, Beat Emotion.

When the band broke up in 1988, Hotei established himself as a solo star, as did Himuro. Hotei also made two albums with Koji Kikkawa as Complex, both of which went to number one in the national charts. Hotei frequently records overseas and has collaborated with many foreign musicians, including playing on The Stranglers Hugh Cornwell’s 1993 solo album, on stage with David Bowie at Nippon Budokan in 1996, and at the closing ceremony of the Atlanta 1996 Centennial Olympic Games with Michael Kamen.

He later recorded “Guitar Concerto” with Kamen. He has also worked with Andy Mackay of Roxy Music, guitarist Chris Spedding and Mike Edwards of Jesus Jones. Hotei also sometimes plays in Europe, including a number of major festivals. His regular drummer in recent years, Zachary Alford, has previously played with Bruce Springsteen and David Bowie. Hotei's 1998 album Supersonic Generation, recorded in part with Apollo 440 and Ofra Haza, was released in 14 European countries.

In addition to many bestselling solo albums, Hotei composed and performed the score for Hiroyuki Nakano’s Samurai Fiction, as well as starring in the film. He composed the score to Terry Gilliam’s feature film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas together with Ray Cooper. Hotei's song “Battle Without Honor or Humanity” was used in the Quentin Tarantino’s feature film Kill Bill, the PlayStation 2 version of Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA,and Michael Bay’s feature film Transformers. Hotei recorded a cover of John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” for Merry Axemas, an instrumental guitar Christmas album featuring tracks from guitarists including Jeff Beck, Joe Perry, Eric Johnson and Steve Vai.

The Nintendo DS game Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan features his song "Thrill". The game's sequel, Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii, features another Hotei song, "Bambina". (Both songs are cover versions.) Hotei is featured in “Grace” on the Apocalyptica album Worlds Collide. The song is featured in the game NHL 09.

Personal life

Tomoyasu Hotei is married to Miki Imai who is also a singer and actress.

Discography

Singles

• “Deja-vu” (December 12, 1990)
• “Beat Emotion” (June 29, 1991)
• “You” (December 4, 1991)
• “Lonely Wild” (July 22, 1992)
• “Saraba Seishun no Hikari” (さらば青春の光, July 28, 1993)
• “Surrender” (サレンダー, March 30, 1994)
• “Bara to Ame” (薔薇と雨,December 14, 1994)
• “Poison” (January 25, 1995)
• “Thrill” (スリル, October 18, 1995
• “Last Scene” (ラストシーン, January 24, 1996)
• “Inochi wa Moyashitsukusu tame no Mono” (命は燃やしつくすためのもの May 24, 1996)
• “Circus” (October 23, 1996)
• “Change Yourself!” (August 1, 1997)
• “Thank You & Good Bye” (January 28, 1998)
• “Bambina” (バンビーナ, April 16, 1999)
• “Nobody Is Perfect” (May 12, 1999)
• “Vampire” (August 30, 2000)
• “Love Junkie” (October 25, 2000)
• “Born to be Free” (January 1, 2001)
• “Russian Roulette” (February 6, 2002)
• “Destiny Rose” (October 17, 2002)
• “Nocturne No.9” (August 27, 2003)
• “Another Battle” (アナザー・バトル, June 30, 2004)
• “Identity” (2005 February 23)
• “Liberty Wings” (April 27, 2005)
• “Battle Funktastic” (January 25, 2006)

a collaboration with Rip Slyme.

• “Back Streets of Tokyo” (August 23, 2006)

a collaboration with Brian Setzer.

• “Stereocaster” (ステレオキャスター, November 8, 2006)

a collaboration with Char.

Albums

• Guitarhythm (October 5, 1988)
• Guitarhythm II (September 27, 1991)
• Guitarhythm III (September 23, 1992)
• Guitarhythm IV (June 1, 1994)
• King & Queen (February 28, 1996)
• Merry Axemas A Guitar Christmas (1997)
• Supersonic Generation (April 29, 1998)
• Samurai Fiction (July 29, 1998)
• Guitar Concerto (composed by Michael Kamen) (October 21, 1998)
• Fetish (November 29, 2000)
• Scorpio Rising (March 6, 2002)
• Doberman (September 26, 2003)
• Monster Drive (June 15, 2005)
• Monster Drive Party!!! (September 13, 2005)
• Soul Sessions (2006)
• Ambivalent (October 24, 2007)
• Guitarhythm V (February 18, 2009)

Compilations

• Tribute Spirits (1 May 1999)
• Greatest Hits 1990–1999 (June 23, 1999)
• Electric Samurai (March 30, 2004)
• All Time Super Best (December 7, 2005)

Live albums

• Guitarhythm activ tour 91-92 (April 8, 1992)
• Guitarhythm wild (April 28, 1993)
• Space cowboy show (March 19, 1997)
• Tonight I'm Yours (January 26, 2000)
• Rock The Future Tour 2000-2001 (March 22, 2001)
• Live in Budokan (December 26, 2002)
• Monster drive party!!! (September 14, 2005)
• Mtv unplugged (June 27, 2007)

DVD/VHS

• Guitarhythm (July 11, 1989)
• Guitarhythm active tour '91-'92 (March 25, 1992)
• Guitarhythm wild (June 16, 1993)
• Serious clips (July 27, 1994)
• Guitarhythm serious climax (May 17, 1995)
• Cyber city never sleep (May 24, 1996)
• H (October 9, 1996)
• Space cowboy show (April 25, 1997)
• Ssg live rock the future (October 7, 1998)
• Greatest video 1994-1999 (July 16, 1999)
• Tonight i'm yours (May 16, 2000)
• Rock the future 2000-2001 (May 16, 2001)
• Hotei jukebox (July 25, 2001)
• Live in budokan (July 29, 2003)
• Doberman dvd (November 3, 2003)
• The live doberman (June 30, 2004)
• Top runner (May 30, 2005)
• Monster drive party!!! (September 14, 2005)
• All time super clips (May 15, 2006)
• All time super best tour (June 26, 2006)
• Hotei presents "super soul sessions"BRIAN SETZER vs HOTEI vs CHAR" (July 27, 2007)
• Mtv unplgged (June 27, 2006)
• Hotei and The wanderers funky punky tour2007-2008 (April 23, 2008)
• Guitarhythm V tour (Nov 25, 2009)
• HOTEI+TODAIJI SPECIAL LIVE -Fly into your dream- (Nov 25, 2009)

External links

• HOTEI Official Website (Japanese)
• BEAT CRAZY Official fan club (Japanese)
• HOTEI weblog (Japanese)
• My space (English)

Videography

• Aka Kage as Rannosuke Kazamatsuri (風祭龍之介) 2001, Hiroyuki Nakano
• Samurai Fiction ~SF episode 1~ as Rannosuke Kazamatsuri (風祭龍之介) 1998, Hiroyuki Nakano

Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (March 2009)

• “Battle Without Honor or Humanity” was featured in the movies Kill Bill, Transformers, Hotel for Dogs, and Team America: World Police, and the games Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA and Pop'n Music Carnival (13). It also made an appearance in a first season episode of My Name Is Earl, and has been used in a variety of automobile ad campaigns worldwide. It is also the intro theme used during the Colin Cowherd radio show syndicated in the United States via ESPN Radio. The song also appeared in the trailer for the PlayStation 3 game Gran Turismo HD by Polyphony Digital.
• “Russian Roulette” was featured in an opening video of the PS2 game, Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny.
• “Bambina,” “Russian Roulette,” and “Nocturne no. 9” were featured in Konami's Guitar Freaks/Drummania series in mixes 4/3, 8/7, and V, respectively.
• “Bambina” and “Thrill” were also featured in the video games Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 1 and 2.

See also

• Egashira 2:50 – He uses Hotei’s song “Thrill” as his theme song.

External links

• HOTEI Official Website (Japanese)
• BEAT CRAZY Official fan club (Japanese)
• HOTEI weblog (Japanese)
• My space (English)