Yukihiro ~Profile

Yukihiro Awaji (November 24, 1968 in Chiba Japan) is a Japanese musician, best known as drummer of the rock band L'Arc-en-Ciel.[ He also sings for his solo project, Acid Android. Before joining L'Arc he was in several other popular bands, such as Zi:Kill and Die in Cries.

Early life

Yukihiro was born on November 24, 1968 in Chiba, near Tokyo. His father is a company worker, and his mother is a kimono-wearing instructor. He has a younger sister.

Yukihiro has stated that he had as ordinary a childhood as any other kid, never questioning his destined path of going to school, graduating to a university, and ultimately becoming a white-collar salaryman. But he loved music, both Japanese and American, from heavy metal to pop. He was also a good short-track athlete in junior high school. However, he was kicked out from his athletics club for his sabotaging of the daily training.

When he entered high school, he started to play the drums and immediately decided to be a professional rock musician. Once he made the decision, he told his parents that he was leaving school because it was of no use to him. His parents forbade this, thus he continued his education while devoting himself mostly to rock music.

During his university days (he left The Chiba University of Commerce), he joined Zi:Kill, one of the rising visual kei rock groups at time.

1990–1996: Zi:Kill and Die in Cries

Zi:Kill signed a recording contract with Toshiba EMI in 1990. However, during the recording of their major debut, they was infighting and ultimately Yukihiro was fired after a show in December. He then formed a band named Optic Nerve with guitarist Shin Murohime.

In 1991, he joined Die in Cries, who released their debut album Nothing to Revolution that same year. They became quite popular and even had a performance at the Nippon Budokan in 1994. However, Yukihiro became frustrated with the band. He later stated that Die in Cries was caught in the heavy metal niche, especially its singer Kyo (D'erlanger). Yukihiro wrote some songs for the band, but they were rejected because of their style. Some of these songs, "Trick" and "L'heure" were later recorded by L'Arc-en-Ciel in 1999.

Die in Cries broke up in 1995, with their last album Seed. For a while, Yukihiro worked as a free-lance drummer. During that time, he had no home and moved around staying with friends. Tetsu stated it was so hard to catch Yukihiro then, because he had no mobile phone and was always on the move.

1997–present: L'Arc-en-Ciel

When it was announced that the former L'Arc drummer Sakura left in 1997, Tetsu, the leader of the band, asked Yukihiro to help record the new single. During that time, they had good chemistry. So after their first "come-back" single, "Niji", was released, they held a comeback concert with Yukihiro as support drummer. In 1998 the band announced Yukihiro was an official member with the new single "Winter Fall", followed by the album Heart. After joining L'Arc-en-Ciel, his changed the stylization of his name to all lowercase letters, to match the rest of the members' names (his name had been written in all capital letters prior).

Despite some arguments from Sakura's fans, Yukihiro quickly got accepted to L'Arc. His first song, "A Swell in the Sun", was played as a prologue during their 1998 tour. L'Arc-en-Ciel quickly became one of the most popular rock bands in Japan. Their tour was sold out, the album went platinum and all seven of their singles hit the top 10 in the charts.

On July 1, 1999, they released their sixth and seventh albums Ark and Ray on the same day. The albums hit the top two ranks, and the tour was a huge success.

L'Arc-en-Ciel stopped activities until 2003 and each member started their own solo projects. Yukihiro started Acid Android, where he is the singer.

L'Arc-en-Ciel came back with the single, "Ready Steady Go!", and album, Smile, after the three year hiatus in 2004. Then followed up with Awake and "Link" in 2005.

In 2007, L'Arc-en-Ciel released the single called "My Heart Draws a Dream" and album Kiss The group also released the single "Drink It Down" for January 2008, with the music composed by Yukihiro.

Personal life

Despite his skinny appearance (he weighs only 48 kg), Yukihiro is fond of fast foods such as chocolate, Coca-Cola, and McDonald's FishMac. Due to his soft and loose voice style, some of his fans addressed his ways of speaking as "hiragana shaberi".

Acid Android, Yukihiro's solo project. 

He formed a band named Acid Android, was releases as with the other L'Arc~en~Ciel members' solo projects, take place when they are on hiatus. Acid Android has released three albums, two mini albums, two singles, and three live DVDs. The band, in contrast to L'Arc~en~Ciel, uses a harder, faster sound, more stage-lighting and American-styled mechanics to further energize their concerts. 

Equipment

Yukihiro is an endorser of Pearl drums, pedals and hardware, Sabian cymbals (mostly from the HH and AA series) and Remo drumheads (mostly from the Emperor series). He uses two double bass drum kits, with different set ups. He has his own signature 13x3.5" snare drum made by Pearl. He has also played his kit with Remo rototoms.

Drums

Pearl MX Standard Maple Pure White Lacquer + Remo Roto Tom:

Pearl Brass Shell Piccolo Snare 14″ x 3.5″

Tom Tom 10″ x 8″

Floor Tom 14″ x 14″

Floor Tom 16″ x 16″

Remo Roto TOM 6″

Remo Roto TOM 8″

Remo Roto TOM 10″

Bass Drum 22″ x 18″

Hardware 

Pearl Rack System

Cymbals 

Sabian HH Series & AA Series + Afro:

13″ Flat Hi Hat

16″ Sound Control Crash

10″ Mini Hi Hat

18″ Thin China

8″ China Kang

8″ Afro China Splash

18″ Thin China

12″ Mini China

12″ Mini Hi Hat

10″ Leopard Ride

16″ Sound Control Crash

16″ Chins

Yukihiro Signature Snare Drum

YA-9114P (14″x3.5″) 60,000yen

Shell : Hammered Brass

Hoops : Top-Single Flange / 10 Tensions; Bottom – MasterCast / 10 Tensions

Strainer : SR-010B

SnareWire : S-022

Lugs : FT-35B

Bolts : Top – SST-5042F; Bottom – SST 5038