Ja, Zoo

Biography

hide with Spread Beaver was a Japanese rock band formed in the late '90s. Vocalist and guitarist, hide, formed the band after the disbandment of his previous group, X JAPAN. Most of the members of Spread Beaver were originally hide's live musicians for his two solo tours, but the group only formally became "hide with Spread Beaver" at the end of 1997. They released one single and recorded one more before the unexpected death of their vocalist. Their first and only album, Ja,Zoo, was still incom...

hide with Spread Beaver was a Japanese rock band formed in the late '90s. Vocalist and guitarist, hide, formed the band after the disbandment of his previous group, X JAPAN.

Most of the members of Spread Beaver were originally hide's live musicians for his two solo tours, but the group only formally became "hide with Spread Beaver" at the end of 1997. They released one single and recorded one more before the unexpected death of their vocalist. Their first and only album, Ja,Zoo, was still incomplete at the time of hide's death, with only three songs recorded. However, the album was finished by I.N.A. and released months later. Spread Beaver made good on hide's promise to fans that they would tour in 1998 and were joined onstage by a number of other friends and peers of hide in the course of the tour.

The members moved on to other groups after the disbandment of Spread Beaver.

MEMBERS:
hide: Vocals/Guitar
Kiyoshi: Guitar
K.A.Z.: Guitar
Chirolyn: Bass
D.I.E: Keyboard
I.N.A: Percussion/Programming
Joe: Drums

I.N.A. was the longest-standing member of Spread Beaver, having worked with hide from the very beginning of his solo career. He can be spotted in the earliest videos, before the rest of hide's permanent live band was formed. He also worked with hide in the transcontinental project Zilch. After Spread Beaver, I.N.A. formed Dope HEADz with Pata and Heath from X Japan and Sonic Storage with K.A.Z. He still works as a programmer/DJ/mixer both alone and for a number of other bands, including X Japan. Recently he was involved with the rock musical Pink Spider.

Kiyoshi was recruited by hide from MEDIA YOUTH for the Psyence tour, replacing former guitarist Ran. After Spread Beaver he joined/formed the groups machine (with Hakuei of Penicillin), Madbeavers (with Joe), LUCY (with Imai Hisashi of BUCK-TICK) and Kiyoshi SUPERNOVA .

Joe joined Spread Beaver from 44 MAGNUM and Ziggy. Now he is a member of Madbeavers, while working as a session drummer for a variety of artists.

Very little is known of Chirolyn's career before his work with hide. After Spread Beaver, Chirolyn was the bassist for Madbeavers until September 2007, while also working with his own project Chirolyn & the Angels. He has performed as a session bassist for a number of other performers including GACKT and Tomoyasu Hotei. In 2011, he released a solo EP as CHIROLYN.

D.I.E. is a lifelong session keyboard player who still performs regularly as a solo artist, often having surprise special guests turning up to join in. He is a permanent member of Ra:IN (with Pata) and Kiss the World, and also plays with Kiyoshi in Kiyoshi SUPERNOVA.

K.A.Z. was the last member of Spread Beaver to join, while still working with his original band Oblivion Dust. Presumably, hide recruited him as a permanent second guitarist in place of Pata, who performed in that capacity as a special guest on hide's tours. After Spread Beaver disbanded, K.A.Z. joined groups such as Spin Aqua (with singer/actor/model Anna Tsuchiya). He also formed the group Sonic Storage with I.N.A. and has most recently been active with VAMPS, a joint project with Hyde (L'Arc~en~Ciel).

DISCOGRAPHY:
Singles:
* [1998.01.28] ROCKET DIVE
* [1998.05.13] Pink Spider
* [1998.05.27] ever free
* [1998.10.21] HURRY GO ROUND
* [2000.01.19] TELL ME with Spread Beaver

Album:
* [1998.11.21] Ja,Zoo Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.