By-Sexual (stylized as BY-SEXUAL) was a Japanese

visual kei is a movement among Japanese musicians that is characterized by the use of varying levels of make-up, elaborate hair styles and flamboyant costumes, often, but not always, coupled with androgynous aesthetics, similar to Western glam rock. Som ...

punk rock band from

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

. They were active from 1988 to 1995, when vocalist Sho left the band and they went on hiatus. In August 1996, the remaining members restarted the group under the name By-Sex (stylized as BY-SEX) with Ryo taking over vocals in addition to guitar. In February 1998, Nao left and the group disbanded. On September 3, 2011, By-Sexual reunited for a show at Shinagawa Stellar for the victims of the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six m ...

. Around the same time, Ryo and bassist Den teamed up with their

Zigzo Zigzo (stylized as ZIGZO) is a Japanese rock supergroup that originally started activities in 1999 and disbanded in 2002. Each member came from a prominent band and they became very popular in the indies scene. They disbanded after their last s ...

bandmate

Sakura A cherry blossom, also known as Japanese cherry or sakura, is a flower of many trees of genus ''Prunus'' or ''Prunus'' subg. ''Cerasus''. They are common species in East Asia, including China, Korea and especially in Japan. They generally ...

to perform as By-Sex. The four reunited again for the October 14, 2016 Visual Japan Summit at

Makuhari Messe is a Japanese convention center outside Tokyo, located in the Mihama-ku ward of Chiba City, in the northwest corner of Chiba Prefecture. Designed by Fumihiko Maki, it is accessible by Tokyo's commuter rail system. '' Makuhari'' is the name o ...

and Chain the Rock Festival on August 26, 2017.

History

By-Sexual was formed in April 1988 in

. That year they released the demo "Bad Boy Blues" on

Free-Will is a Japanese independent record label founded in 1986 by Color vocalist Hiroshi "Dynamite Tommy" Tomioka, with branches predominantly in Japan and the United States, as well as previously in Europe. It also continues to co-manage many of its ...

records. They signed to

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese mass media publishing company founded on October 1, 1966. The company publishes mainly physical home media on compact discs, including music, films and TV shows and video games. It is affil ...

and in February 1990 they released their major debut, "So Bad Boy". Their first album ''Culture Shock'' followed in April.Higashimori, Tsutomo By Sexual ''Fool's Mate'' 103 May 1990 It reached number 6 on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in N ...

chart and was named one of the top albums from 1989-1998 in a 2004 issue of the music magazine ''Band Yarouze''. Their song "Bakumatsu Junjoden" was used as the theme song for the 1991 movie of the same name starring Riho Makise and sold over 100,000 copies. In January 1995, vocalist Sho left the band and they went on hiatus. However the remaining members continued to play together under the name Alzheimer. In August 1996, they restarted the group under the name By-Sex with Ryo changing to vocals and guitar. In February 1998, Nao left and the group disbanded. Sho made an attempt at a solo career, but soon changed to managing bands before retiring from the music industry altogether. Both Ryo and Den went on to form the bands

, Pt. (Platinum), and are currently in Test-No.. Nao joined Nitro (now known as Food), Nakata Band (who later changed their name to The Heavenly Curve) with Zi:Kill bassist Seiichi, and Badub. Den and Nao were both support members for Machine (duo of

Penicillin Penicillins (P, PCN or PEN) are a group of β-lactam antibiotics originally obtained from ''Penicillium'' moulds, principally '' P. chrysogenum'' and '' P. rubens''. Most penicillins in clinical use are synthesised by P. chrysogenum using ...

's Hakuei and Spread Beaver's Kiyoshi). On May 9, 2011, it was announced via Nao's

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

and Den's blog that By-Sexual would reunite for one night. All proceeds were donated to the

Japanese Red Cross The is the Japanese affiliate of the International Red Cross. The Imperial Family of Japan traditionally has supported the society, with the Empress as Honorary President and other imperial family members as vice presidents. Its headquarters ...

for the victims of the

. By-Sexual's first concert in sixteen years was held on September 3 at Shinagawa Stellar to an audience of 2,000. Around the same time, Ryo and Den teamed up with their

bandmate

to restart By-Sex. They released a mini-album titled ''Ago'' on August 17 and had their first show two days later at the 2011 Chain the Rock Festival. In 2014, Ryo and Sho performed an acoustic set together at that year's Chain the Rock Festival on August 30. By-Sexual reunited once again to perform on the first day of the Visual Japan Summit on October 14, 2016 at

. They were joined by Hisashi of

Glay Glay (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese rock band, formed in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan, in 1988. Glay primarily composes songs in the rock and pop genres, but they have also arranged songs using elements from a wide variety of genres, inclu ...

for "Be Free". The band will perform at the second night of the 10th anniversary Chain the Rock Festival on August 26, 2017.

Members

;By-Sexual * Sho Yamanoi –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

(1988–1995, 2011, 2016, 2017) * Ryoji "Ryo" Okamoto –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

(1988–1995, 2011, 2016, 2017), (

, Pt., Test-No.) * Hiroyuki "Den" Onishi –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gu ...

(1988–1995, 2011, 2016, 2017), (Sister's No Future, Zigzo, Pt., Test-No.) * Naoyuki "Nao" Fujimoto –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

(1988–1995, 2011, 2016, 2017), (Nitro/Food, Nakata Band/The Heavenly Curve, Badub) ;By-Sex * Ryoji "Ryo" Okamoto – vocals, guitar (1996–1998, 2011) * Hiroyuki "Den" Onishi – bass (1996–1998, 2011) * Naoyuki "Nao" Fujimoto – drums (1996–1998) * Yasunori "Sakura" Sakurazawa – drums (2011), (

L'Arc~en~Ciel L'Arc-en-Ciel (French: 'The Rainbow', stylized as L'Arc~en~Ciel), also known as Laruku, is a Japanese rock band, formed in Osaka in 1991 by bassist tetsuya and vocalist hyde. Following the departure of original members hiro and pero, guitaris ...

, Zigzo,

Sons of All Pussys Sons of All Pussys (typeset as SONS OF ALL PUSSYS, abbreviated as S.O.A.P.) was a Japanese rock band. Formed in 2002 by Ken, his former L'Arc-en-Ciel bandmate Sakura, and German born model Ein (who appeared in L'Arc-en-Ciel's PVs for "Heaven's ...

, Lion Heads, Rayflower)

Discography

As By-Sexual

;Studio albums * ''Culture Shock'' (April 21, 1990)

Oricon Albums Chart The Oricon Albums Chart is the Japanese music industry standard albums popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Oricon originally published LP, CT, Cartridge and CD charts prior to the establishment of the Oricon ...

Peak Position: No. 6 * ''Sexualty'' (November 14, 1990) No. 5 * ''Cracker'' (October 9, 1991) No. 5 * ''4D Pocket'' (September 18, 1992) No. 9 * ''Coupling Party'' (November 20, 1992) No. 14 * ''Young Sprits'' (June 2, 1993) No. 21 * ''94 Love'' (April 6, 1994) No. 21 * ''Cool'' (November 18, 1994) No. 40 ;Compilation albums * ''Album'' (April 5, 1995) No. 34 * ''Anthology By-Sexual Best'' (December 18, 2002) * ''Platinum Best'' (July 19, 2017) No. 256 ;Singles * "So Bad Boy" (February 21, 1990),

Oricon Singles Chart The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard singles popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Chart rankings are based on physical singles' sales. Until 2017, Oricon did not track download sales. In ...

Peak Position: 16 * "Be Free" (March 21, 1990) No. 14 * "Get, Start, Don't Stop, Go Go!" (July 25, 1990) No. 12 * "Flapper" (October 24, 1990) No. 8 * "Dynamite Girl" (April 24, 1991) No. 14 * No. 12 * "Hysteric" (September 21, 1991) No. 12 * "Hurry Up! Let It Go!" (January 1, 1992) No. 20 * "Deep Kiss" (September 18, 1992) No. 25 * "Thank You for Smile" (May 21, 1993) No. 56 * "Media Junky" (September 17, 1993) No. 43 * "Romantic" (March 18, 1994) No. 56 * "Cool Heart" (October 21, 1994) No. 66 ;Demo * "Bad Boy Blues" (1988) ;Home videos * ''Film By-Sexual 1'' (September 21, 1999) * ''Film By-Sexual 2 ~Live in Shibuya Kokaido~'' (January 1, 1991) * ''Film By-Sexual 3'' (November 21, 1991) * ''Film By-Sexual 4 ~Cracker Shop 24h~'' (April 1, 1992) * ''Film By-Sexual 5'' (April 28, 1994) * ''By-Sexual MVP '90-'94 Music Video Parade'' (May 20, 1994) * ''Film By-Sexual 6 ~Live at the Hibiya Music Stadium~'' (January 20, 1995) ;Books * ''Penalty Area'' (June 1991) * *

As By-Sex

* ''Ago'' (August 17, 2011)

References

External links

* *
Test-No. Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:By-Sexual Visual kei musical groups Japanese punk rock groups Musical groups from Osaka Musical groups established in 1988 Musical groups disestablished in 1998 Musical groups reestablished in 2011 Pony Canyon artists