Tetsuya (musician)

Tetsuya

Tetsuya (right) performing with L'Arc~en~Ciel at Madison Square Garden in 2012.
Born (1969-10-03) October 3, 1969
Other names T.E.Z P'UNK, tetsuya, TETSUYA, TETSU69, TETSU P'UNK, DARK TETSU, tetsu, TETSU
Occupation
  • Musician
  • singer-songwriter
  • record producer

Musical career

Genres
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • bass
  • guitar
  • keyboards
Years active 1989–present
Labels
Associated acts
Website tetsuya.uk.com

Tetsuya (born October 3, 1969, in Shiga Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese musician, best known as the leader and bassist of the rock band L'Arc-en-Ciel. Formerly known by the stage name tetsu, on December 1, 2009 he started to use his birth name. While in L'Arc-en-Ciel his name is stylized as tetsuya, whereas in his solo work it is stylized as TETSUYA.

He also does backup vocals in L'Arc-en-Ciel and has composed many of the band's songs, including "Link", "Ready Steady Go", "Finale", "Driver's High", "Stay Away", "Pieces" and "Good Luck My Way". In 2001 he started a solo career under the name TETSU69 (1969 is his birth year). On November 26, 2006, he released one song under his old stage name, and as of December 10, 2009 he uses his birth name. From 2005 to 2006 he was a support member of, Dead End front man, Morrie's solo project Creature Creature.

Playing style

Tetsuya plays with a melodic style. Many of L'Arc-en-Ciel's songs involve him playing counter melodies with guitarist Ken while still holding a groove with the drums. Tetsuya's composing can be seen as more "poppish" as compared to Ken's who has a heavier and sometimes bluesy approach. He frequently uses slides, hammer-ons, and pull-offs in his playing.

He plays with a pick most of the time, but uses finger style occasionally when the song calls for it, such as in "Winter Fall" , "Jojoushi" , "XXX" and "Mirai Sekai". In a few songs he can be heard using the slap style of playing, such as in the L'Arc songs "The Nepenthes" and "Twinkle, Twinkle. Tetsuya has also used distortion, such as in "Stay Away" and "Butterfly's Sleep".

Tetsuya primarily plays a 5 string bass since L'Arc-en-Ciel's 15th anniversary, but is known to occasionally use 6 strings. Such as in "Neo Universe", "Time Goes On", "Get Out from the Shell" where he plays lead melody. In "Perfect Blue" he used a 6 string baritone guitar (an electric guitar between the range of a bass and standard electric guitar). Tetsuya also uses a guitar/bass double neck in the song "Trust".

Even though Tetsuya is endorsed by ESP Guitars and has several signature models, he has used his Zon bass for most of his recording work. Tetsuya is an avid collector of basses and guitars, owning over 120 basses and more than 20 guitars.

Tetsuya now also endorses Lakland basses and his signature model is the US Series 55-69 tetsuya. He was seen using variations of this bass at the band's recent 20th anniversary concerts in aid of the Great Japanese Earthquake tragedy.

Discography

Albums
Stage name Information Release date
TETSU69 Suite November November 20, 2002
TETSUYA Come On! January 5, 2011
Singles
Stage name Name Release date Album
TETSU69 "Wonderful World/Tightrope" July 18, 2001 Suite November
"Shinkirou" (蜃気楼 Shinkirō, "Mirage") August 28, 2002
"15 1/2 Fifteen Half" (15 1/2 フィフティーンハーフ Fifutīn Hāfu) October 23, 2002
"White Out: Memory of a Color" February 13, 2003 Non-album single
tetsu "Can't Stop Believing" March 14, 2007 Come On!
TETSUYA "Roulette" May 19, 2010
"Looking For Light" August 18, 2010
"Lonely Girl" November 10, 2010
Other releases
Stage name Name Album
TETSU69 for TRAPNEST "Reverse" Love for Nana: Only 1 Tribute

Equipment

Guitars/Basses
Amplifiers
Effects

References

    This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/13/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.