X Japan Signs with EMI in North America, Album due in Summer

X Japan, considered the most the most successful rock band in Japanese history, has signed an exclusive three-year manufacturing and distribution agreement with EMI Label Services to handle the band's releases in North America.  

The first release will be the track "Jade" on March 15, followed by the band's as yet untitled American debut set for a late Summer 2011 release.
X Japan is band leader/producer/songwriter/drums and pianist Yoshiki, vocalist  Toshi, guitarist Pata, Sugizo on guitar and violin, and bassist Heath. The group is in the studio finishing up the album, the band's first new studio album since 1996 and fifth overall.  Half of the songs will be drawn from some of the band's Gold and Platinum Japanese singles; the other half are brand-new songs, and an estimated 95% of the lyrics are being sung in English.

"Some of the songs on this new album were originally written with Japanese lyrics," Yoshiki said. "So translating them into English has been challenging.  For some reason, English needs more words, so I ended up re-writing many of the lyrics but kept the same message."
Most of the album has been recorded in Los Angeles at Yoshiki's own studio.  It's the same studio where Metallica recorded its classic "Black" album, and artists from Van Halen to Michael Jackson to KISS also recorded in the facility before Yoshiki bought it and turned it into a private studio.  Yoshiki, who lives in Los Angeles, traveled to Japan a handful of times to record with the rest of the band there.  In addition, some of the album has been recorded live over the Internet, with Yoshiki in L.A. and the band's other members at their studio in Japan.
"X Japan's music is everything from fast, super-heavy rock to ballads with classical piano - all of those elements are what makes X Japan's music," he said.   "We don't play just one kind of music - we want to take people on a journey."
The X Japan-EMI agreement follows the band's U.S. concert debut last August at Lollapalooza, and first-ever North American tour that wrapped up on October 10 with a sold out show at New York's Roseland Ballroom.  Many of the new album's tracks were introduced to western fans when they were performed on the tour, including "Rusty Nail," "Kurenai," "I.V.," "Born To Be Free," "Endless Rain," and the album's first single, "Jade."
In Japan, X Japan has sold more than 30-million units and filled the 55,000-seat Tokyo Dome a record-setting 18 times. 
Check out song teasers from the new album at www.xjapanmusic.com.