Morrie (musician)

Motoyuki Ōtsuka (大塚基之, Ōtsuka Motoyuki, born March 4, 1964 in Tatsuno, Hyōgo), known mononymously as Morrie, is a Japanese singer-songwriter. He is best known as the vocalist and co-founder of the influential heavy metal band Dead End, active from 1984 to 1990. When they disbanded, he began a solo career for five years, before moving to New York City and going into hiatus. He reemerged in 2005 with the solo project Creature Creature, which utilizes several well-known Japanese musicians, reunited with Dead End four years later, and released his first solo album in twenty years in 2015.

Morrie
Birth nameMotoyuki Ōtsuka
Born (1964-03-04) March 4, 1964
Tatsuno, Hyōgo, Japan
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Singer-songwriter
  • musician
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar
Years active
  • 1980–1995
  • 2005–present
Labels
Associated acts
Websitemorrie.jp

History

1980–1984: Career beginnings

Morrie joined his first band when he was in 11th grade, The Wild. It was a cover band, covering songs by artists like Queen and The Police. He later left The Wild, and joined the heavy metal band Liar in 1983. By the summer of 1984, Liar were touring heavily around the Japanese underground, and as a result, were starting to develop a small cult following. Despite this, however, Liar eventually ended up disbanding in the fall of 1984.

1984–1995: Dead End and solo career
Main article: Dead End (band)

In December 1984, Morrie formed Dead End alongside his fellow former-Liar bandmate, Takahiro Kagawa, Tadashi Masumoto ("Crazy Cool Joe") and Masaaki Tano. Only he and Joe remained, although they were joined by Yuji Adachi ("You") and Masafumi Minato in 1987, just before they signed a major contract with Victor Entertainment. Although achieved only limited commercial success in their homeland until January 1990, they managed to have a contract with an American label with their songs and videos aired on MTV and radio stations. Morrie's distinctive visual appearance and rough vocal style inspired many later prominent musicians in Japan's visual kei movement.

In 1990, Morrie started a solo career and gradually went to live in New York City. He was featured in productions by Roli Mosimann, and on Infected and Mind Bomb by The The. Ultimately, Mosimann would produce all three of Morrie's studio albums.[1] His first solo release was the single "Paradox" on October 21, 1990, and exactly one month later his debut solo album, "Ignorance", was published. In the upcoming five years, he released a few more singles (his second, "Shisen no Kairaku", featured a cover of "In My Room" by The Walker Brothers[1]) and two more studio albums, Romantic na, Amari ni Romantic na in 1992 and Kage no Kyoen in 1995, before seemingly withdrawing from the public eye for almost ten years.[2]

2005–present: Return to music and Creature Creature

In 2005, Morrie's solo best of album Ectoplasm was released and marked his return to music.[3] At the end of the year he announced the formation of his rock band Creature Creature, that included bassist Tetsuya (from L'Arc~en~Ciel), guitarist Minoru Kojima (from The Mad Capsule Markets), and drummer Shinya Yamada (from Luna Sea). They performed at the year-end event Danger IV at Nippon Budokan as a secret musical act.[4][5] In 2006, three singles were released on the same day of July, and on August 30, their debut studio album Light&Lust was released on Danger Crue Records. During the album's recording, Morrie was joined by Dead End members You, Minato and Joe, and their producer Hajime Okano, who each contributed to several songs. Morrie said it was a moving moment for him, and said about the meeting that "I was curious what kind of musician and persons they became. After they played I started thinking that a Dead End reunion would be extraordinary".[4][6][7] The band performed only two times that year, at the next Danger V event and the held Light&Lust concert at Shibuya-AX in December.

It was quiet for another two years, until June 2009, when two Creature Creature concerts in Tokyo and Osaka were held starting the Simone and the Wrath tour series, but with different a line-up, featuring guitarist Hiro (from La'cryma Christi), guitarist Shinobu (from Guy's Family), bassist Hitoki (from Kuroyume), and drummer Sakura (from L'Arc~en~Ciel).[8][9][10][11] In August, Morrie and the other Dead End members reunite, and held a their first concert in almost twenty years. In November they released their new album and did not stop with activity in upcoming years. In December, with Creature Creature, Morrie held two concerts in Shanghai, China, and performed at the Jack in the Box and Beat Shuffle events at Nippon Budokan and Omiya Sonic City respectively.[12]

On July 21, 2010, Creature Creature's second studio album Inferno was released and throughout this and next year they held the smaller Purgatory, Inferno, and Paradise tours.[13][14] The single "Psyche Telos" was released on June 12, 2011 by Psyche Records, a record label owned by Morrie. In September they went on the Exorcising Orpheus tour, and released a live concert video of the same name recorded at the Paradise tour finale.[15] In June and August 2012, the singles "Rakuen/Ataraxia" and "Kurumeki/Sexus", as well as the Sodom and Gomorah tour, were followed by the release on October 17 of the band's third studio album Phantoms.[16][17]

In 2012, Morrie performed his first solo live concert in twenty years. Extasis was held on his birthday, where he performed old and new songs. The following year he held The Nostalgia of the Infinite birthday and two Nowhere Nobody concerts.[18] In 2014 for his fiftieth anniversary was held the third consecutive birthday concert, Now I Here Eternity, with Sugizo, Kiyoharu, You and Joe as special guests.[19][20][21] In May was followed by the Boys of the Flesh concert.[22] On December 25, 2014 was pre-released Morrie's fourth studio album Hard Core Reveire, and first in almost twenty years.[23][24] It was generally released on January 21, 2015 on Morrie's indie label Nowhere Music.[25] The album's music is uniquely experimental, while the concept is that the reality is a dream, a hardcore illusion of waking up.[1] On March 4, was released a limited to 500 copies half-century commemorative work Book of M: From Nowhere To Nowhere based on the concept "from birth to death", accompanied with a 25-minute long DVD.[25] Over the years he continued to perform his Solitude one-man solo shows.[26][27][28][29][30][31]

Morrie featured on three songs from Aoki Yutaka's album Lost in Forest,[32] and one song, for which he also contributed the lyrics, to the album Oneness M by Sugizo.[33] On March 15, 2017, Creature Creature's released their fourth studio album Death is a Flower, and the band held the second part of its tour between December 2016 and March 2017.[34][35] Because they felt they had "come full circle" conceptually with Death is a Flower, and because Morrie wanted to focus on his solo activities, Creature Creature went on hiatus after July 8, 2018.[33][36][37]

On August 27, 2017, Morrie performed an intimate solo show at Kraine Theater in New York City. It was his first official solo live performance outside Japan.[38][39][40] He reprised the performance at Kraine Theater on January 31, 2018,[41] with a third performance scheduled for August 26 as part of his solo tour Morrie the Universe "Solitude" Season 6 which started in September.[33] His fifth solo studio album, In The Shining Wilderness, was released on April 19, and was followed by a solo tour with a band in February and March, and then until December 2019 by his 7th solo Solitude tour series.[42]

Musical style and lyrics

Morrie's lyrics throughout his career were inspired by philosophical questions about the human being, I, good and evil, justice, truth, beauty, as well those people who devoted their lives trying to solve them. Compared to Dead End, in Creature Creature, he freely explores his ideas with other musicians and the creation is "more centripetal with lyrical content evoked by philosophical questions of being and what is I". In the classical music he is especially fond of Richard Wagner and Johann Sebastian Bach.[43]

Discography

Solo work
Studio albums
  • Ignorance (November 21, 1990)
  • Romantic na, Amari ni Romantic na (ロマンティックな、余りにロマンティックな, April 21, 1992)
  • Kage no Kyoen (影の饗宴, January 21, 1995)
  • Hard Core Reverie (January 21, 2015) Oricon #252[44]
  • In the Shining Wilderness (光る曠野, April 19, 2019)
Compilation albums
  • Ectoplasm (April 20, 2005)
Singles
  • "Paradox" (パラドックス, October 21, 1990)
  • "Shisen no Kairaku" (視線の快楽, November 21, 1991)
  • "Sayonara, Toriaezu" (さよなら、とりあえず, August 21, 1993)
  • "Barairo ni Somaru" (薔薇色に染まる, December 16, 1993)
  • "Inu" (犬, January 21, 1995)

Creature Creature
Albums
  • Light&Lust (August 30, 2006) Oricon #15[45]
  • Inferno (July 21, 2010) Oricon #40[45]
  • Phantoms (October 17, 2012) Oricon #51[45]
  • Death is a Flower (March 15, 2017) Oricon #144[45]
Singles
  • "Paradise" (パラダイス, July 19, 2006) Oricon #29[45]
  • "Red" (July 19, 2006) Oricon #27[45]
  • "Kaze no Tou" (風の塔, July 19, 2006) Oricon #26[45]
  • "Psychetelos" (June 12, 2011)
  • "Rakuen/Ataraxia" (楽園へ / Ataraxia, June 20, 2012) Oricon #89[45]
  • "Kurumeki/Sexus" (くるめき / Sexus, August 8, 2012) Oricon #139[45]
DVDs
  • Exorcising Orpheus: Paradise Tour Final (October 20, 2011) Oricon #185[45]
  • Beyond Light & Lust (April 23, 2020)

Notes

a. ^ Ōtsuka's surname is sometimes also spelled as Otsuka, Ohtsuka.

References
  1. Yoshida Nagata (January 21, 2015). "20年ぶりのソロアルバム発表！　MORRIEが語る、自身の音楽的遍歴とNY前衛シーン" (in Japanese). Real Sound. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  2. Kay (August 18, 2009). "Morrie Biography on Jame World". jame-world.com. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  3. Tanja (March 2, 2005). "Best of Morrie". jame-world.com. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  4. Non-Non (July 9, 2009). "Interview with Creature Creature". jame-world.com. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  5. Pebbles Karu (November 24, 2008). "Exclusive interview with Creature Creature!". jpopexpress.com. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  6. Andrew (November 10, 2009). "Dead End Interview". j-popworld.com. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  7. Andrew (November 23, 2008). "Creature Creature Interview". j-popworld.com. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  8. Kay (November 13, 2012). "Creature Creature Biography on Jame World". jame-world.com. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  9. Bine (July 7, 2009). "Creature Creature's 'Simone and the Wrath' in Osaka". jame-world.com. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  10. Non-Non (July 9, 2009). "Creature Creature's 'Simone and the Wrath' at Shibuya O-East". jame-world.com. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  11. Yoshi (October 24, 2009). "Creature Creature's 'Simone and the Wrath, Continued' in Liquidroom Ebisu". jame-world.com. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  12. Yoshi (February 16, 2010). "Creature Creature at Beat Shuffle Live". jame-world.com. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  13. Plusloud (June 28, 2010). "Creature Creature - Purgatory at Shibuya O-East". jame-world.com. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  14. Diana (August 7, 2011). "Creature Creature Paradise Tour Final". jame-world.com. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  15. Kay (July 17, 2011). "Creature Creature's Live DVD and September Tour". jame-world.com. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  16. Diana Tome (July 26, 2012). "Creature Creature – Sodom and Gomorrah". jame-world.com. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  17. "Creature Creature 3rd Album Phantoms 10-17". Jrockrevolution.com. September 27, 2012. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  18. Tomo (March 30, 2013). "Morrie Solo Live 2013 – The Nostalgia Of The Infinite". jame-world.com. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  19. Nina Kouprianova (March 14, 2014). "Music with an exclamation point". Metropolis. Retrieved May 9, 2014.
  20. Diana Tome, Melissa Costa (April 23, 2014). "Morrie – Half Century Anniversary of Flesh". Rokkyuu Magazine. Retrieved May 9, 2014.
  21. Amke (April 16, 2014). "Morrie 'Now I Here Eternity - Half Century of Flesh' at Akasaka Blitz". jame-world.com. Retrieved May 8, 2014.
  22. "鹿鳴館伝説 Part IV 開催迫る！ Morrie他、鹿鳴館ならではのアーティスト続々登場！". yahoo.co.jp. May 1, 2014. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
  23. "New Album from Morrie". jame-world.com. November 7, 2014. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
  24. "MORRIE、20年ぶりにソロアルバムを発売". Barks (in Japanese). Japan Music Network. November 8, 2014. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  25. "MORRIE、生誕半世紀記念本『Book of M:From Nowhere To Nowhere』の発売が決定". Barks (in Japanese). Japan Music Network. January 21, 2015. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  26. "Morrie、20年ぶりソロアルバムは "Hard Core Reverie"". natalie.mu (in Japanese). Natasha Inc. November 6, 2014. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
  27. Tomo (January 16, 2015). "Morrie "Reveries" Tour Final at Tokyo Kinema Club". jame-world.com. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  28. Tomo (July 6, 2015). "Morrie One-Man Show "Solitude" at Yokohama O-Site". jame-world.com. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  29. Tomo (January 1, 2016). "Morrie One-Man Show "Solitude" Season 2 Episode 10 at Yokohama O-Site". jame-world.com. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  30. Tomo (August 2, 2016). "Morrie One-Man Show "Solitude" Season 3 Episode 16 at Yokohama O-Site". jame-world.com. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  31. Tomo (June 5, 2017). "Morrie One-Man Show "Solitude" Season 4 Episode 26 at Yokohama O-Site". jame-world.com. Retrieved August 29, 2017.
  32. "downy青木裕の初ソロ作にSUGIZO、DIR EN GREY薫、MORRIE参加". natalie.mu (in Japanese). Natasha Inc. December 9, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  33. Christine (June 4, 2018). "Morrie to Hold Third "Solitude" Live in New York". jame-world.com. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  34. Ruchesko (December 5, 2016). "New Album from Creature Creature". jame-world.com. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
  35. Tomo (February 12, 2016). "Details on Creature Creature's New Album". jame-world.com. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  36. Tomo, Amke (January 25, 2018). "Creature Creature to Go On Hiatus". jame-world.com. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  37. Tomo (August 21, 2018). "Creature Creature "Beyond Light & Lust" at Shinjuku Reny". jame-world.com. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  38. Zephyr (September 20, 2017). "MORRIE brings out the feeling of Solitude in intimate live show in New York". Jrock News. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
  39. Ali (September 22, 2017). "Morrie Solitude performance in NYC August 2017". Jrock Revolution. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
  40. Masa Sasaki (September 28, 2017). "Morrie "Solitude" at Kraine Theater, New York City". jame-world.com. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
  41. Sasha Halim (February 25, 2018). "Morrie at Kraine Theater, New York". jame-world.com. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  42. Zephyr (February 9, 2019). "MORRIE releases album "In The Shining Wilderness" and returns to New York for live show". Jrock News. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
  43. "Morrie: Guitars and the meaning of life". Metropolis. February 18, 2014. Retrieved August 29, 2017.
  44. Morrieの作品 (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  45. Creature Creatureの作品 (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
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