The Devil King
Gackt Camui (born Gakuto Oshiro, July 4, 1973) is a Japanese music artist who is part of the Visual Kei scene. Besides being a singer, Gackt can play multiple instruments including piano, guitar, shamisen, violin, drums, and more
. Gackt joined the band Malice Mizer after their original singer left, but for reasons still hotly contested by fans, he left to pursue a solo career a few years later. He released his first single "Mizérable" as a solo artist in 1999. Since then he's released eight albums and 36 singles. He was a regular on the show Domoto Kyoudai (now Domoto Brothers) up until 2003, and has also acted in several movies and dramas including Moon Child, Fuurin Kazan and Mr. Brain.
See also his creator page.
Acts that Gackt has performed with:
- Cains:Feel: His first band.
- Malice Mizer: The band he became famous with.
- S.K.I.N.: A superband that he performed with Yoshiki Hayashi, Miyavi, and Sugizo.
- Yellow Fried Chickenz: A band he started for his international performances.
Album discography:
- Mizérable (1999)
- Mars (2000)
- Rebirth (2001)
- Moon (2002)
- Crescent (2003)
- Love Letter (2005)
- Diabolos (2005)
- "RE:BORN" (2009)
Compilations:
- The Sixth Day: Single Collection (2004)
- The Seventh Night: Unplugged (2004)
- Juunigatsu no Love Song: Complete Box (2006)
- 0079-0088 (2007)
- nine*nine (2008)
Concert Tours:
- MARS Sora Kara no Homonsha ~Kaisou~ (2000)
- Requiem et Reminiscence ~Shuuen to Seijaku~ (2001)
- Kagen no Tsuki ~Seiya no Shirabe~ (2002)
- Jogen no Tsuki ~Saishusho~ (2003)
- The Sixth Day & Seventh Night (2004)
- Diabolos ~Aien no Shi to Seiya no Namida~ (2005)
- Gackt Training Days D.R.U.G. Party (2006-2007)
- Requiem et Reminiscence II ~Saisei to Kaikou~ (2008-2009)
- Yellow Fried Chickenz (2010-2011)
Gackt's music provides examples of:
- Concept Album: Every non-compilation album, as well as singles. Even his concerts are designed to be visual interpretations of his albums and singles, if not a continuation of their story.
- Concept Video: Most of Gackt's videos are these.
- Dual-Meaning Chorus: Many of his songs have multiple meanings, especially "Mirror."
- Everything Is an Instrument: The song "4th..." consists entirely of gun fire, radio static, explosions, helicopter noise, Gackt singing gibberish in a soprano-like falsetto, and a guitar rhythm. It's surprisingly good.
- Epic Rocking: "Cube," "Birdcage," "Blue," "Uncertain Memory," "Dybukk," "Secret Garden," and many others.
- Genre Mashup: Many of his songs, especially "Dybbuk," "Lost Angels," "Memories," and "Ghost." In recent interviews he's even talked about taking this further by combining rock, classical European, traditional Japanese, and various other Asian music styles in his newer work.
- Genre Shift: Gackt's early albums (and recent singles) tend to be a music version of this. A single album can have a combination of rock, pop, techno, ska, rap, R&B, metal and whatever else Gackt feels at the moment. Even singles will often have contrasting songs on them.
- Genre Roulette: Gackt is a rock artist, but what genre of music is going to be on his albums and singles is random at best. Some songs such as "Cube," "Oasis," "Uncertain Memory," and "Secret Garden" don't even resemble any discernible genre. Songs like these are simply referred to by fans as Gackt rock.
- Grief Song: "Emu ~For My Dear~".
- Intercourse with You: "Koukuma Heaven," "Vanilla," and "Dispar" are explicit. "Papa Lapped a Pap Lopped" and "Speed Master" are more ambiguous.
- Rock Opera: Again, every non-compilation album and single, as well as concerts.
- Vocal Dissonance: People not knowing him rarely expect such a deep voice from someome with the "pretty boy" image.
- Word Salad Title: "Papa Lapped a Pap Lopped."
Gackt's concerts provide examples of:
- Bad Ass Long Coat: He wears coats during many of his concerts.
- The Band Minus the Face: Malice Mizer. Averted when Tetsu left and Gackt joined they reached the height of their popularity. Played straight when Gackt left and later Kami died, as even after replacing Gackt with Klaha the band eventually broke up.
- Benevolent A.I.: The Ghosts are heroic robots.
- Cluster F-Bomb: During every Yellow Fried Chickenz live Gackt rips off his shirt and launches one of these.
- Cute Kitten: "U+K" live always features people dressed up in cat costumes.
- Dark Is Not Evil: The heroes of his stories are vampires, Nazi-created cyborgs and other supernatural beings.
- Fanservice:
- "Vanilla" live is the most famous example. But "Kagen no Tsuki," "Jougen no Tsuki," and "Drug Party" had plentiful amounts of this as well.
- Gackt's second Yellow Fried Chickenz tour has taken this to the extreme with fans encouraging him by throwing underwear, hand cuffs, and whips on stage for Gackt and his band to play with.
- Last Stand: His 2005 concert "Diabolos" opens with a scene showing 5 warriors riding into battle with a legion of Darts. Gackt's character wakes up as a superempowered vampire, and is the last man standing.
- Meaningful Name: His stage name, Gackt Camui, is a modification of Kamui Gakuto which can either mean "Divine power of music" or "Divine being made of music."
- Ninja: During the song "Lu:na" he often has people dressed as ninjas come on stage and fight him.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: The stories in his music contain many of these, such as Cyborg Nazis and Vampire Knights. His concerts can also be said to be this, since they're designed to be combinations of rock concerts, movies, and musicals. This also applies to Gackt himself who is a singer, songwriter, actor, writer, and fashion designer.
- Say My Name: Some of his "Call and Response" routines during concerts consist of a legion of fans shouting his name in unison.
- Science Is Bad: Subverted by the Ghosts, soldiers and war prisoners turned into cyborgs by Nazis to be mindless weapons of war turn against their evil creators and heroically sacrifice their lives fighting the Nazi agenda.
- Shirtless Scene: During the Starlight Gig and Yellow Fried Chickenz tours Gackt has no shirt on for half the show.
- Student Council President: He plays a student council president during the Camui Gakuen concerts.
