Kaya

Kaya

Profile
Real name	瓜生達也 [Kasei Tatsuya] (unconfirmed)
Aliases	Kaya 姫 [Hime] (until 2002) 迦夜 (kanji for 'Kaya')
Date of birth	July 17th, 1980
Birthplace	Tokushima, Shikoku
Bloodtype	A
Activity
Years active	1997 - present
Current band	Kaya Schwarz Stein Femme Fatale
Occupation	Vocalist
Instruments	Piano, Keyboards
Website	http://kaya-rose.com

Kaya is a singer from Tokushima, Shikoku.

Biography[]

Early life and first activities in Ehime[]

Kaya was born in Tokushima (Shikoku). He has two older sisters and a younger brother. He claimed to have been aiming to become a singer since he sang at a local karaoke feast at the age of 3. Although no information were given about his vocal training, he confirmed to have been taking piano lessons since he was 14 and writing lyrics since he attended high school. His first band was a ROUAGE cover band called ZephyrZone in 1997.
In 1998 Kaya joined the Ehime-based visual rock band Meties and at the same time worked for the indies label LAST CHILD. His stage name at that time was 姫 (Hime, japanese for princess). Meties were active in the late 90's and released several demo tapes before disbanding in 1999.

Band activity in Tokyo (2002 - 2006)[]

After graduating high school Kaya moved to Tokyo and joined another visual rock band: ISOLA. Despite being active in the visual kei scene, Kaya seemed to enjoy more clubbing and such music genres as dance, pop, hardcore and techno.

While he was still a member of ISOLA, Kaya attended a VELVET EDEN concert and kept in touch with the band keyboardist Hora since then. Sharing the same musical vision, they soon decided to leave their former bands and create a new project together which they named Rudolf Steiner. Their aim was to convey an image of digital decadence, without using acoustic instruments at all. During a concert in 2002 Rudolf Steiner were spotted by ex MALICE MIZER guitarist Mana, who was gathering some bands to do some live events. Shortly after that he offered them a contract with his own label Midi:Nette and became their sound producer.

Rudolf Steiner changed their name to Schwarz Stein to commemorate the label change, and at the same time Kaya adopted his current change name.
Over a span of two years Schwarz Stein released two full albums, several singles and became quite popular in the indies scene, opening for Moi dix Mois several times but also holding quite successful oneman concerts. Their second single Current ranked #6 at the ORICON indies chart in November 2003 and in March 2004 the second album Artificial Hallucination managed to rank #16. However, the musical differences between the two members led to their disbandment in March 2004, followed by a one-night revival on December 15th 2004.
For the following two years Kaya disappeared from the music scene, though he was told to have performed in unknown session bands. His official comeback to the music scene took place in early 2006 with the session unit another cell, a one-release only collaboration with his ex-bandmate Hora. This project helped Kaya to launch his own solo career.

Solo career (2006 - present)[]

Main article: Kaya (solo project)

Schwarz Stein revival, formation of Femme Fatale (2014)[]

In 2014, Kaya announced on his blog that Schwarz Stein will start up activities once again. They released a new single on March 26, entitled GEBET, which will feature a new track, lapis lazuli, and a rerecording of Rise to Heaven. They also held a one-man live, GEBET -eins SUN,acht NOIZ,WR-, at Shibuya REX on March 23rd. He also announced the formation of a new band, Femme Fatale, to celebrate eight years in his solo career. Besides Kaya on vocals, members include Iori on guitar, Chargeeeeee on drums, TaNa on guitar, and Toshi on bass. They released their first single, FREYA, on May 28, 2014.

Band history[]

ZephyrZone - 1997
Meties - 1998 ~ 1999
ISOLA - 2000
Schwarz Stein - 2001 ~ March 29th 2004; 2014-present
Kaya [solo project] - 2006 ~ present
Femme Fatale - 2014 ~ 2016

Known Session bands[]

Kaleidoscope - initially called Regina, it was an acoustic session band featuring Kaya on vocals, Shingo (Sugar) on bass, Atsuto (Sugar) on drums, 将人 (Masato) on sax and 大樹 (Daiki) on keyboards. Their first live was performed at the 100 people limited event Kaleidoscope vol.1 on July 7th 2008. The band later turned into a rock unit with both cover and original songs and had several concerts over the years with different lineups.
Node of Scherzo - 2007 ~ 2008
another cell - 2006

One-night sessions[]

記憶をたどってバンド (Kioku o tadotte Band) - a one-concert only session band featuring Kanoma (Fatima) and KAMIJO on vocals, MAYU (LAREINE) on guitar, Kazuno (Moi dix Mois) on bass, Kaya on keyboard and Mana (Moi dix Mois) on drums. They played the MALICE MIZER song バロック (BAROQUE) at the Midi:Nette event Dis Inferno Vol.II, held at 川崎 CLUB CITTA on December 17th 2003.
An unknown session band with ALvino members, as mentioned in the Tainted Reality interview broadcasted in October 2007.

Guest appearances[]

Sugar - guest vocalist during the twoman summer tour 2007.
のみこ (nomico) - lyrics and production on ミラクル☆ハニー (Miracle Honey).
HIZAKI grace project - guest vocalist on the concerts from October 31st to December 24th 2007.
Versailles - backing vocals on the studio album JUBILEE.
RIU (メトロノーム member solo project) - lead vocals on 浮世の夢に酔う (Ukiyo no yume ni you), from the the single 奇天烈 (Kiteretsu).

Discography[]

<tabber> Albums'=

|-|Singles=

Trivia[]

Favourite music: chanson, club music
Disliked music: hip-hop
Played instruments: piano
Favourite comics: old shoujo mangas
Respected person: his mother
Kaya's older sister is the anime voice actress and singer nomico. In 2008 Kaya even penned the lyrics for nomico's single ミラクル☆ハニー (Miracle Honey) and had her as a guest on a special concert.
Kaya has been a DJ at several events and also hosts a monthly internet radio show.