disapproval, Sugizo acquired a bass guitar and an electric guitar and began to teach himself how to play. He has cited three Japanese guitarists as influences; Masami Tsuchiya, Kazumi Watanabe and You. When he was around the age of 17, then in high school, Sugizo with Shinya on drums and Tezya on vocals formed a power metal band called Pinocchio, where he played as the bassist. Since the internal structure of Pinocchio was not cohesive, Sugizo and Shinya left and briefly joined Kashmir in 1988. On January 16, 1989, they both joined another band which performed at the same live houses, called Lunacy, formed by J and Inoran. With the addition of Ryuichi Kawamura, vocalist from the band Slaughter, the five formed the visual kei rock unit Lunacy. Since J was already the bass player and Inoran preferred to play rhythm guitar, Sugizo became the lead guitarist and took on his stage name, which he believes Shinya came up with. Soon they were discovered by hide (then lead guitarist of X Japan), who got them signed by X Japan co-founder Yoshiki, to his independent label Extasy Records, on which they released their debut album in 1991. Upon their first album release, the band changed their name from Lunacy to Luna Sea. They became one of the most famous rock bands in Japan, selling more than ten million records, as well as performing in China and Taiwan. Sugizo's first solo activity came in 1993, when he wrote his first solo song "Revive" for the album Dance 2 Noise 004 featuring many musicians, including the group M*A*S*S, which consisted of hide, J and Inoran. In the upcoming three years, a variety of lesser-known musical collaborations and contributions took place. 1997–2001: Solo career, Truth? After Luna Sea went on break in 1997, Sugizo started his own solo career and opened the independent label "Cross" to produce other artists and release his own records. He points out that the opening of his record label was one of his very important projects at the time, but not anymore. On July 9, his debut single "Lucifer" was released and reached number 8 on the Oricon singles chart. It was followed by his first solo tour "Abstract Day" which lasted until the final performance in August at Akasaka Blitz, where he was joined by DJ Krush, Masami Tsuchiya and members of Japan. Then on September 10 he