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 vocalist and co-founder of the influential heavy metal band Dead End, active from 1984 to 1990. When they disbanded, Morrie 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, and reunited with Dead End four years later.

History

1984–1995: Dead End and solo career

In December 1984, Morrie formed Dead End alongside his fellow former-Liar band mate, Takahiro Kagawa, Tadashi Masumoto ("Crazy Cool Joe") and Masaaki Tano. Only he and Joe remained, and until the 1987 were joined by Yuji Adachi ("You") and Masafumi Minato, just before they signed a major contract with Victor Entertainment. Although achieved only limited commercial success in their homeland, 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. His first 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 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.^[1]

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.^[2] 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.^[3][4] In 2006, three singles were released on the same day of July, and on August 30 their debut 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".^[3][5][6] 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).^{[7][8][9][10]} 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.^[11]

On July 21, 2010, Creature Creature's second album Inferno was released and throughout this and next year they held the smaller Purgatory, Inferno, and Paradise tours.^[12][13] 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.^[14] In June and August 2012, the singles "Rakuen/Ataraxia" and "Kurumeki/Sexus", as well as the Sodom and Gomorah tour, followed the release of the band's third album Phantoms.^[15]

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.^[16]

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.^[17][18][19] In May was followed by the Boys of the Flesh concert.^[20] On December 25, was released Morrie's fourth studio album Hard Core Reveire, and first in almost twenty years.^[21] Over the years continued to perform at small tours.^{[22][23][24][25][26]}

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 (December 25, 2014) Oricon #252^[27]

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^[27]
• Inferno (July 21, 2010) Oricon #40^[27]
• Phantoms (October 17, 2012) Oricon #51^[27]

Singles

• "Paradise" (パラダイス, July 19, 2006) Oricon #29^[27]
• "Red" (July 19, 2006) Oricon #27^[27]
• "Kaze no Tou" (風の塔, July 19, 2006) Oricon #26^[27]
• "Psychetelos" (June 12, 2011)
• "Rakuen/Ataraxia" (楽園へ / Ataraxia, June 20, 2012) Oricon #89^[27]
• "Kurumeki/Sexus" (くるめき / Sexus, August 8, 2012) Oricon #139^[27]

DVDs

• Exorcising Orpheus: Paradise Tour Final (October 20, 2011) Oricon #185^[27]

Notes

References

External links

• Official website
• Creature Creature websIte