Buck-Tick Zone

Members

• Atsushi Sakurai
• Hisashi Imai
• Hidehiko Hoshino
• Yutaka Higuchi
• Toll Yagami

Kanji

how to read: Sakura-i Atsu-shi
literal meaning: cherry blossom-well industry-director
(commonplace kanji for "sakura")

how to read: Sakura-i Atsu-shi
(in 1991, Atsushi switched to the older kanji of "sakura" for his last name; the decision may have been affected by the death of his mother)

Autograph Sample

Stats from Hyper (1989)

code of life: freedom

blood type: O

eyesight: both 1.5 (perfect vision)

height: 177cm

weight: 60kg (buck-tick.com reports 65kg)

shoe size: 26cm

Childhood Photos (from Love Me)

with his older brother

with his father

Hair (from Hyper)

Self-Portrait

Japanese text top: points to Atsushi and says that he gets hungry often
Japanese text near mic shows Atsushi yelling "Sexual Intercourse!"

Voice

saying "Buck-Tick"

introducting himself, "bakuchiku desu. eh, vocal no sakurai desu" (This is Buck-Tick. eh, I'm Sakurai on vocal.)

Side/Solo Projects

Atsushi has been appeared live with other musicians, involved in the side project Schwein, The Mortal, as well as done solo work. He has made the following guest appearance:

artist: Der Zibet
album: Shishunki II
song: Masquerade
release date: October 21, 1991
contribution: vocals

artist: Issay
album: Flowers
song: Koi No Hallelujah
release date: September 21, 1994
contribution: vocals during chorus

artist: Pig
album: Wrecked
song: No One Gets Out of Her Alive, Contempt
release date: 1996 Japan/ 1997 USA
contribution: vocals

artist: Masami Tsuchiya
album: Mori No Hito ~Forest People~
song: Manatsu No Yoru No Mori ~A Mid Summer Night's Forest~, Chiisana Mori No Hito ~Goblin Forest~
release date: October 21, 1998
contribution: lyrics composition and vocals

artist: Chiaki Kuriyama
album: Circus
song: Shinkai
release date: March 16, 2011
contribution: lyrics, arrangement, production

Atsushi and Hisashi made a guest appearance at a Der Zibet concert in Tokyo at the Kudan Kaikan on Dcember 10, 1991.

Atsushi made a solo apperance as a guest of Theatre Brooks on October 9, 2004 at "Arabaki Matsuri" held at Sendai Accel. He also appeared with Theatre Brook on January 23, 2005 at "Niigata Aid" held at Shibuya-AX, Tokyo. (Please note that everything I read on the 2004 show credited to Theatre Brooks plural.

Atsushi made a surprise solo appearance on March 20, 2010 during the tour finale for Abingdon Boys School at Chiba Makuhari Messe Event Hall. During the encore, the band played their cover of "Dress" and to the audience's surprise, Atsushi came out to join the band during the chorus.

Member Comment

Hisashi: He's hard to know, he's so secretive. (from Buck-Tick Fest 2007 On Parade)

Hide: He's much more social than he appears to be. He's charasmatic. (from Buck-Tick Fest 2007 On Parade)

U-ta: I think he's a good vocalist. His face looks mean but he's very kind. (from Buck-Tick Fest 2007 On Parade)

Toll: Atsushi used to be the drummer and I have given him drumming lessons in the past. When he became he vocalist and turned around on stage and looked at me, the look in his eyes was so different from when he was the drummer. He took to it like a fish takes to water. I think it's where he belongs. (from Buck-Tick Fest 2007 On Parade)

Webmaster observation: like many other vocalists, Atsushi can be a contradiction in personalities and an enigma. He is the most popular with fans, especially females.

Songwriting Credits

Atsushi did not write many lyrics in the very early days of the band but he has become Buck-Tick's main lyricist.

Though he writes most of the lyrics to the songs, Buck-Tick have never released an album where all the song lyrics were written by Atsushi.

Atsushi wrote the lyrics to Buck-Tick's major debut single "Just One More Kiss" (1988).

Atsushi co-wrote the lyrics to "21st Cherry Boy" (2002) and "Tango Swanka" (2010) with Hisashi, who wrote the music.

Atsushi co-wrote the lyrics to "Black Cherry" (2003) along with Hide, who wrote the music.

U-ta is credited with writing the lyrics to "Under the Moon Light" (1990) but had a lot of trouble with it and turned to Atsushi for help.

It may surprise a few that a couple Buck-Tick songs have Atsushi listed in the songwriting credits, (not the lyrics). Atsushi co-wrote "Detarame Yarou" with Hisashi as well as wrote the music for "Plastic Syndrome Type II" and possibly "Prologue" (1987). However, the songwriting credits for "Prologue" and "Plastic Syndrome Type II" are in debate as the songwriting credits are never consistent from official sources. In the liner notes from the original 1987 release, it credits Imai/Sakurai for "Prologue" and Imai/Imai for "Plastic Syndrome Type II". In the 1990 mix, it credits Imai/Sakurai for writing both "Prologue" and "Plastic Syndrome Type II". In the official tab book for the 1990 mix, it credits Imai for writing the music for "Prologue" and Sakurai for writing the music for "Plastic Syndrome Type II". In the discography section of Buck-Tick's official website, it lists both songs as being composed by Sakurai/Imai, causing confusion as to who are the actual songwriters for each. In the book Buck-Tick, Hisashi says that Atsushi wrote the music for "Plastic Syndrome Type II" and then Hisashi later wrote the lyrics. Hence, I believe those to be the true songwriting credits until I am informed otherwise from the horse's mouth.

Buck-Tick's songwriting process often begins with a word and the composition tries to reflect it. Sometimes Atsushi will pick 1 word, sometimes 5-6 words.

Atsushi is the only member of Buck-Tick to have released a body of solo material. His first solo release was a song for the Dance 2 Noise 002 compilation in 1992. (The other members have been involved in side projects and Hide's only solo song was available on a compilation album.)

Did You Know...

Buck-Tick have played a gig on Atsushi's birthday several times. (1990, 1991, 1998, 2003)

Atsushi reads a lot and is quite influenced by Charles Baudelaire, as evidenced by the album Aku No Hana, which is Japanese for "Les Fleurs du Mal".

Buck-Tick endorsed a JVC portable stereo (CDian) in 1989. Atsushi also endorsed a JVC stereo (CDioss) in 1991.

When questioned on the future of Buck-Tick, Atsushi has said that he really doesn't think about it.

Though many might think Atsushi or Hisashi is the leader of the band, Buck-Tick does not have a leader.

Atsushi's handprint can be found outside of Nakatsugawa Station, Gifu prefecture, along with other rockers who performed at the Solar Budokan.

Atsushi has remarked that if it weren't for the band, he might have become a thug in Gunma, due to the way his life was going when he was a teenager.

Atsushi has commented that he didn't like most subjects in high school, just Japanese language class.

Sometimes Atsushi is so enthusiastic when playing live that his wardrobe malfunctions. There have been a few incidents of pantsgate. His crotch ripped during the "Seventh Heaven Tour" but the lining prevented a total malfunction. More famously as it was caught on video, during the "Parade Tour" of 2007, there was a huge split up a thigh.

As for Atsushi changing the "sakura" kanji in his last name, I am not sure if this was just for his art or if he legally changed it. It can be difficult to legally change your name in Japan, even if it's just a matter of kanji, but it's not unheard of. (Note: entire branch of webmaster's family changed kanji so it's possible but whole families doing so are quite rare.) I have speculated that there was a profound change in Atsushi after his mother died and this is reflected in his last name changing letters. Another thing about kanji using cultures is that the number of strokes is important. One can do fortune telling this way. Perhaps he was advised it would be better to use a character with a different stroke count.

Atsushi is a huge fan of David Bowie and Bauhaus. He first bought a Bauhaus record because he was curious to hear their cover of Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust". He thought it was cool, as well as their other songs, and eventually starting watching their videos.

In the early days, Atsushi had a tendency to 'molest' (some may say 'caress') Hisashi when playing live. This sort of stage performance died down over the years. He still interacts with Hisashi and now much more visibly with Hide and U-ta as well but to the point of molestation is what died down. It never fully went away though as you can see him molest Cube Juice as well in Atsushi's solo live dvd and he's been known to share an awkward kiss on stage with the likes of Issay, Kiyoharu, and Raymond Watts.

Atsushi has commented that he stopped putting up his hair because it was a pain in the ass and then once it got very long, he cut it short because it was a pain in the ass. (see collage)

In recent years, Atsushi has been in charge of the band's management as head of Banker.

Atsushi and Hide (with his dog) walked down the runway as models for the "Stop the AIDS" event wearing clothes by Jean Paul Gaultier (1994).

During the making of the video for "National Media Boys", Atsushi holds a burning flag and the wind picked up and blew the flag back at Atsushi, scorching his clothes a little.

There is a mythical story as to how Atsushi decided to quit drums and become the singer. One of the stories was that when Boøwy was back home in Gunma, they threw a party and Atsushi was there. The singer Kyosuke Himuro told him he has a good face so he should be a singer. Atsushi has later denied that this story is true but in an interview in 2016, this story was clarified. Atsushi stated that he was told by Himuro that he has a good face so he should be a singer but that wasn't the reason he was in band, but rather a reason why he decided he would rather sing than play drums.

There have been very few times in Buck-Tick's history that concerts have been cancelled, sometimes due to weather but a couple of times it was due to Atsushi's health problems. He tends to have severe gastrointestinal problems. The first time concerts were cancelled due to his illness was in December 1996. Inbetween tours, Atsushi went to Nepal for a photoshoot and suddenly became ill on his second day there with peritonitis and had to be hospitalized. They couldn't help him in Nepal and he was in such pain that it was really the first time that he thought he was going to die and wished to die in Japan. He was told to fly to Singapore where they could have an ambulance on standby but an ambulance wouldn't be ready at the airport in Japan. He didn't care and insisted to be flown to Japan regardless. At the airport he had to be in a wheelchair since he was unable to walk and then insisted to be taken to a hospital near his home. The doctor informed him that he would have died if he had returned to Japan 1 day later. And that's the story of how Atsushi had his first surgery. He thinks his illness was related to stress and an overindulgent diet. 4 concerts were cancelled in December 2018 when Atsushi had gastrointestinal bleeding.

At almost every Buck-Tick concert, from the early days to now, Atsushi will introduce each band member, usually with this line: "Drums Yagami Toll, Bass Higuchi Yutaka, Guitar Hoshino Hidehiko, Guitar Imai Hisashi, Vocal Atsushi."

When asked in 2012 which entertainment changed your life, Atsushi replied that it was the movie Tokei Wa Ikiteita (1973) and he saw it in elementary school at the town's only movie theater. The film is based on the 1971 book of the same name by Masao Kogure and is about the Maebashi air raid during World War II, which occurred on August 5, 1945. Kogure was a small child growing up in Maebashi during the war. He died in 2007. Maebashi is the capital city of Gunma prefecture and close to the town where Atsushi grew up in.

It is common practice in Japan to play with kanji and read it in an alternative way, much like a pun in English. The first Buck-Tick lyrics where Atsushi did this was in "Illusion" (1987) where the lyrics are written "jikan" (time as in what time of day is it) but he sings it as "toki" (time as in a precise moment).

If Atsushi were an animal he replied that he would be an alligator/crocodile.