Those who had never heard of Dragon Ash, probably learned of them last April. Those who knew them and loved their music, received a bad shock. The bassist of the legendary group, Iküzöne, was found dead of acute cardiac arrest in his studio on April 21st. This profile of Dragon Ash and their career should serve well for those who have yet to be introduced to their music.
Dragon Ash were started by Kenji "Kj" Furuya and Makoto Sakurai while they were still in junior high school. In 1996, they held auditions for bassists, and met the older, more experienced Ikuzo Baba. He joined them in the role of a mentor, despite the fact that he was 30 at the time and they were still teenagers.
Dragon Ash began life as a punk band. Once they were joined by DJ Bots, they began to steer towards a more hip-hop influenced mixture-kei sound. It was then, with their 4th single, "Let Yourself Go, Let Myself Go" that Dragon Ash found success in the mainstream. The single debuted at #7 on the Oricon chart, and eventually went up to #4.
In 2003, came more lineup changes. The guitarist Hiroki joined, as well as the dancers Atsushi and Dri-V. I had the fortune of seeing Atsushi perform in New York last year, accompanied on piano by Tsubasa Matsuda of local punk band Uzuhi. Sadly, I did not take photos - it was a very intimate performance, in a tiny as fuck restaurant, and all I had on me was my crappy, loud phone. While most people were slightly confused as to why there were dancers joining a band, Atsushi and Dri-V added interesting elements of their own to Dragon Ash's performance. Since the time of their joining the band, their names have been listed on every album as official members.
In February 2003, the music label Mob Squad was also formed. Dragon Ash were joined in this endeavor by the hip-hop groups Mach25 and Source. The three groups released an album, which was also called Mob Squad. Dragon Ash continued making hits, and in 2007, they released a two-volume best hits collection. Most Americans, meanwhile, learned of Dragon Ash's existence through the Battle Royale soundtrack, which featured their song “Shizuka na Hibi no Kaidan Wo”. There was some controversy of Dragon Ash's sampling of the Smashing Pumpkins songs in their early days. However, the outrage died down a long, long time ago, and Dragon Ash are mainly known to be a solid, awesome hip-hop act.
However, tragedy struck. In May 2011, Iküzöne was diagnosed with radial nerve palsy on his left arm, which left him for a time unable to play bass. During his physical therapy and recovery period, Kenken of RIZE and the Invaders subbed in for him. It was just a little while before Iküzöne's death that he recovered enough to rejoin Dragon Ash for their ROTTENGRAFITTY tour. The tour wrapped up on April 19th. Iküzöne was found dead in his studio on the evening of the 21st.
Iküzöne was buried in a private ceremony strictly for his friends and family. A public memorial will take place on June 6th at the SHIBUYA AX venue. Anyone who wishes may come - however, Tokyohive states there will not be any farewell performance by Dragon Ash. While rumors fly around of Dragon Ash continuing activities, or even just one last goodbye show, it has not been verified - at least, not in English. There is, of course, question of who could possibly replace Ikuzone - it is highly doubtful the band will continue on.
So, in a way, though this is an Artist Profile, we would like to take the time to pay our respects to the late Ikuzo Baba. He was an awesome bassist. Perhaps that seems an inadequate thing to say, but it does sum it up best. I may not own all the Dragon Ash albums, and they've probably made a larger impact on countless other lives than they did on mine... I did love their music. I have several of their albums - actually, the first album I ever bought for myself was Dragon Ash's Crush the Window single. I took it everywhere with me - because, you know, I'm the kind of strange person that uses CDs. The case broke and stuff, and I taped it up several times... but, gotta say, man, that was good stuff there. I ended up owning several of Dragon Ash's CDs - got my hands on the Mob Squad CD as well. I've stuck the sticker that came with it on the back of my guitar. I had hopes of seeing Dragon Ash live someday... though this is probably never going to happen, I can at least be happy with having seen Atsushi.
So... Iküzöne... where-ever you are, man... thank you. You were awesome!
RESPECT!
Music makes us who we are. Music is why we're all here.
Music is... everything.
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