2001
Due to the activities of the band and its members this year, Buck-Tick only plays 1 live show in Japan this year. Just the one. To be fair, they did play in another country but that makes just 2 Buck-Tick concerts this year. They played more live shows as amateurs in 1984 when they had barely learned their instruments.
Buck-Tick were supposed to appear on the Stalin tribute album 365: A Tribute to the Stalin that was released on January 24 but the deal fell through. They were supposed to cover the song "365". Buck-Tick started off playing covers of the Stalin so it would have been a fitting tribute. They were able to appear on another Stalin tribute album nine years later.
The live album and video One Life, One Death Cut Up were released on March 28. This was a recording of their last show of the 20th century on December 29, 2000 at the Nippon Budokan. There was a heavily edited version that was sold only to Wowow Club members entitled One Life, One Death Cut Up Prototype (BVT-1145 for ¥2,100). It was limited to 3000 copies and included a music video for "Trans." The running length was only 17 minutes.
U-ta appeared on the BSJ-471 radio show "Gekkan Haga Channel Vol.7" on April 1. Atsushi appeared on the Inter FM radio show "Artist @ Nine Lucy No.9" on April 30.
On May 26, U-ta and Toll appeared at an event called "The Cover" at Club Phase in Takadanobaba, Tokyo. It was produced by Anarchy vocalist Shigeru Takano and G.D. Flickers vocalist Joe Inada. It was also broadcast on MTV Japan on the show "Homebase" in June. I have no further information about this event.
On July 29, Buck-Tick played at the Soyo Rock Festival in Dongducheon, Seoul, Korea. It was a 2 day festival and there was bad weather when Buck-Tick performed. Other performers that year included Megadeth, Cul-de-Sac, Blackhole, etc. At the time, Buck-Tick did an interview on Korean television in which they mention that the last time they went to Korea, they were unable to play live. They were referring to the fan meet and greet 1 year prior.
Atsushi and Hisashi became involved in the side project Schwein, with Raymond Watts (Pig) and Sascha Konietzko (KMFDM). Considering the members, Schwein may be thought of Schaft part 2. Schwein's releases and tour were held in Japan so it seems to be a Buck-Tick project. Schwein means "pig" in German so this seems more like a Raymond project just by that implication. From what I can assess, that is actually true. Raymond wanted to break some boundaries and unite musicians from several countries. Raymond first got the idea for the project when Pig opened for Buck-Tick during a few dates in 1999 but it was not until summer of 2000 that he contacted Atsushi, Hisashi, and Sascha (KMFDM) and talks of the project truly began. From this project, a bromance between Atsushi and Raymond developed to the point that rings were involved. To promote the band, a website for Schwein was created, making this the first Buck-Tick side project that had its own website.
Schwein's album Schweinstein was released on May 9. They toured in June but without Sascha. The live band comprised of Jules Hodgson (guitar), Bryan Black (keyboard), Andrew Selway (drums), and Arianne Schreiber (backing vocals). The tour was entitled "Schwein Fest Tour Japan 2001" and lasted for 8 dates. The cities included Yokohama, Fukuoka, Osaka, Nagoya, Sendai, and Tokyo. They would play some Schaft, Pig, and Buck-Tick songs. The other Buck-Tick members did attend a Schwein concert. (I wonder how it felt for them to watch Atsushi and Hisashi play Buck-Tick songs without them.) Unfortunately, no live videos were released. Hisashi had a new custom guitar created for Schaft called the black pot which has a little device on it called a pot. Some pots are cosmetic and some had a theremin like device. In total, Fernandes created only 12 copies of the pot and each were different. Four copies were reserved for Hisashi himself and the rest were made available for sale. These are extremely hard to find now but some of them have made their way to internet auction sites. For more information, please go to the members section, click on Hisashi, and scroll down to the guitars.
The Son of Schweinstein remix album was released on September 5. Those that purchased the remix album had access to stream live audio clips from the tour through September 18. No singles were released by the band but the remix album did feature a bonus video for "You're My Disease" which was apparently filmed in the New York City area. The video features just Atsushi, Hisashi, and Raymond. They were in New York for about 5 days. Atsushi wasn't interested in shopping but Hisashi expressed that he would like to return. It was a business trip so the only time they'd go out was to eat and drink.
To promote Schwein, there were several magazine appearances and some television appearances. Atsushi and Raymond Watts's comments aired on the Kumamoto TV show "Beat Mega TV" on May 28 and the Wowow show "Music Tribe" on May 29. On July 6, the MTV Japan show "World Chart Express" aired Atsushi's comments that included live footage from a Schwein show. It was roughly 1 minute long and was rebroadcast for the next few days. I think at least one of the Schwein concerts was aired on Japanese tv but I do not know the full details.
In September, Tower Records Shibuya had Atsushi and Hisashi's tour costumes from the Schwein concerts on display as well as Hisashi's guitar that he used on the tour. This display was to be held from September 5 through September 11, but for unknown reasons it ended a day early on September 10. The guitars used by Hisashi and Raymond were also on display at Shinseido Rock Inn Takasaki on September 22-October 8 and at Touhoku Orix Sendai on October 13-October 28.
"21st Cherry Boy", the first single from the new album was released on November 21. The lyrics were written by both Atsushi and Hisashi, making it the first single were there were two lyricists. The music was written by Hisashi. The B-side "Barairo No Hibi" had lyrics by Atsushi and music by Hide. The new album would be released in the following year.
On December 29, Buck-Tick played their first The Day In Question gig at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo. How once the band liked to label special shows as "Buck-Tick Genshou", in the 2000s they like to label special end of the year shows as The Day In Question. These are like annual commemorations of their phoenix-like resurrection. In 1989, after a lengthy silence from Hisashi's arrest, the band played at Tokyo Dome, the largest venue in Japan, on December 29. The annual The Day In Question shows are held around this time. Sometimes there is only 1 date on the exact same day, other times there are a couple shows around this date. They are usually held at Nippon Budokan, where Buck-Tick filmed the end of the Seventh Heaven tour in January 1989 and sold it as the video Sabbat.
