Toshiya (musician)

Toshiya
Toshiya at Maquinaria Festival, 2009
Background information
Born	(1977-03-31) March 31, 1977 (age 39)
Origin	Nagano, Japan
Genres	Experimental metal extreme metal alternative metal progressive metal
Occupation(s)	Bassist, composer, record producer, model
Instruments	Bass
Associated acts	Dir en grey, D+L, Gosick
Notable instruments
ESP D-TR-290 RU-Drive, Killer Beelze, Lakland 55-94 Classic

Toshiya (born March 31, 1977, in Nagano) is a Japanese musician, best known as the bassist of the metal band Dir En Grey. He has been with the band since its inception in 1997, although he was not in La:Sadie's, as the other four previously had been. Unlike his fellow band members Kaoru and Die, Toshiya has only composed a handful of Dir en grey's songs, such as "Erode" and "Bottom of the Death Valley". Unsurprisingly, his compositions tend to have a distinct, bass-driven sound.

Near the beginning of the band's career, Toshiya was endorsed by Killer Guitars in Japan. During this period he primarily used guitars with the company's Kumovi body and later his signature-series bass, the Beelze, which is similar to a reverse version of a typical Rickenbacker guitar. These signatures had a verse written by Toshiya on the headstock instead of the standard Killer logo. The third model he used from Killer was a custom bass called the 3epo.

Toshiya is currently endorsed by ESP in Japan, who provides most of his basses, picks, and straps. His endorsement began with P-bass style guitars, used for most of the band's songs, and Lakland 5-string guitars used for low-tuned songs such as "Obscure". He used to use his signature-series basses from the ESP Custom Shop called the RU-Drive until 2009 which is a copy of the Gibson RD body shape. Now he has two custom basses with 00 and 01 written on the headstock. They feature a flying V design at the bottom of the body and horns resembling something close to a at the top. It has a V headstock. Replicas of the discontinued Beelze series were once available through Killer, who still offers a non-signature version of it under the series name Simmony. ESP currently offers replicas of the 22-fret RU-Drive in both the ESP and Edwards artist series.