Közi (JP)

About

Közi made his name as one of the guitarists in Malice Mizer, the theatrical visual kei band that became one of the defining acts of the 1990s Japanese rock scene. His stage persona leaned hard into pierrot imagery, clown costumes with oversized ruffs in his signature red, and marionette like movements that made him as much a performance artist as a musician. He wrote some of the band's biggest tracks, including the singles Gekka no Yasōkyoku and Illuminati, before Malice Mizer went on indefinite hiatus in 2001. Since then he has kept himself busy across a remarkable number of projects. He co founded the industrial rock duo Eve of Destiny, launched a solo career with albums like Catharsis and Loki N Roll, and has been a member of XA VAT, ZIZ and Vamquet simultaneously. ZIZ in particular channels the gothic and industrial textures that run through most of his work, while his solo output tends toward the more theatrical and cinematic. He has also reunited on stage multiple times with former Malice Mizer bandmates Mana and Yu~ki.