X Japan’s Yoshiki on WE ARE X Documentary, Loss & the Power of Music

WE ARE X is a documentary following the rise, fall and resurgence of Japan’s biggest metal band X Japan. Drummer and band leader Yoshiki shares a trailer for the film and opens up about why he agreed to make the documentary. Yoshiki also discusses obstacles the band had to overcome in order to connect with international audiences as well as the return of the band’s lead singer Toshi, who had been brainwashed by a cult in this SXSW edition of BYOD hosted by Ondi Timoner.

Guest Bio

Yoshiki Hayashi is a Japanese musician, songwriter, composer and record producer. Better known by his stage name Yoshiki, he is best known as the leader and a co-founder of the heavy metal band X Japan, for which he is the drummer, pianist and main songwriter. The band achieved breakthrough success in the late 1980s, and besides being one of the first Japanese acts to achieve mainstream success while on an independent label, Extasy Records which he founded, the group is widely credited as one of the pioneers of the visual kei movement. Though the band disbanded in 1997, they reunited in 2007 after ten years. In 2000 and 2007, Yoshiki formed his solo musical project Violet UK and the Japanese rock supergroup S.K.I.N. respectively.
Director Stephen Kijak’s traces the arc of X JAPAN - from phenomenal origins through tumultuous super-stardom and premature dissolution up to present day, as the band prepares to reunite for a show at the legendary Madison Square Garden while struggling to reconcile a past haunted by suicide, injury and cultish extremism with the insatiable thirst for perfection.