Kaoru (musician)
| Kaoru | |
|---|---|
Kaoru at Maquinaria Festival, 2009
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| Background information | |
| Born | February 17, 1974 |
| Origin | Hyōgo, Japan |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Guitarist, composer, record producer |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Associated acts | Dir en grey, La:Sadie's, Charm, Cecil Die:Steria |
| Notable instruments | |
| ESP Ganesa, ESP Viper | |
Kaoru (薫 Kaoru?, born February 17, 1974, in Hyōgo) is a Japanese musician, best known as the leader and one of the guitarists of the visual kei metal band Dir En Grey. He has been with the group since its inception in 1997 and was previously a member of La:Sadie's. He has composed most of Dir en grey's songs (at least up to the Vulgar album, at which individual credits for the music were dropped). His contributions display a fair amount of variety, ranging from slow ballads such as "Zakuro" to upbeat numbers like "Jessica". He performs many solos for the band, which vary strongly in feeling and tempo, similar to his compositions. Kaoru cites hide as his biggest influence and the reason he plays guitar, saying "If I had never known him, I wouldn’t be who I am today." Revealing "Kaoru" to be his birth name in his book Dokugen (読弦?), he's the only Dir En Grey member with a known real name.
Kaoru is endorsed by ESP Guitars in Japan, who provides him with most of his guitars, picks, and straps. In the past, Kaoru primarily used ESP Custom Shop guitars from his signature-series, Ganesa. He stopped using the Ganesa guitars around 2005 and switched to the Viper series, in which he has his own custom model, the D-KV-420. Recently a limited edition Edwards version of his D-KV is being sold.
ESP has released several replicas of Kaoru's signature guitars in Japan through the ESP and Edwards product lines. The ESP artist series offers replicas of the D-KV-420 and the Ganesa II. Edwards offers a miniature Ganesa and replicas of the Ganesa IV and VIII. Kaoru uses guitar amplifiers by Diezel and cabinets by VHT.
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