DUALFACE is a Japanese hard rock band. The roots of the band date back to 1986 when Jimmy, vocalist and Hawk, guitarist founded it with Hiraoka (guitar), Tsuchimoto (bass) & Kana-Morry (drums) in a music circle, Lilac Rainbows of Doshisya University. They used to jam RATT for practice.
After Tsuchimoto (bass) disappeared without notice only in a few months followed by interim support by Takamatsu, bassist of DISASTER, in October Jimmy scouted a permanent member Tsukasa, who had been a guitarist of another band and switched his guitar into bass to complete "DUALFACE".
They made their first public performance in VIVRE Hall in Kyoto. Their original songs "Rock'n' Roll Gypsy", "Law In The Nature", "Carry On", "All My Love" and "Lick Up Your Sweet Body" were written around that time.
At the end of 1987 guitarist Hiraoka's withdrawal left 4 members of the band. This turning point developed their music into more solid and simple moving away from the former flowing and harmonic twin-guitar sound. Before long a new drummer Makoto replaced Kana-Morry and DUALFACE sound of the 2nd era was established. Their typical songs at that time are "Casino Scandal", "Sexy Violence", "Bad Boys' Rock". They also re-arranged "Dance Without Me" for 4 members' play.
DUALFACE started performing at live houses energetically with promotional demo tapes "The Crazy Rock'n Roller DUALFACE". The band based their activity in live house BAHAMA at Shinsai-bashi, Osaka. DUALFACE's debut at BAHAMA was a really exciting joint gig with FRENZY from Nagoya. The members needed more songs for monthly regular performance they established at BAHAMA. Songs like "Room #303", "Rose & Girl", "Feel Me", "It's Time To R&R", "Kimagure Hysteric Cat" were created almost in a flash out of necessity.
It did not take long for DUALFACE to win popularity. They attracted more fans by appearing in a radio program in KBS Kyoto and joining more music events. The regular DUALFACE fans called as "DUALFACIST" supported their live activities.
After a gig at BAHAMA in June 1989, DUALFACE suspended activities except for appearing in graduation concert of Lilac Rainbows in February 1990.
In August 2013 DUALFACE returned to live performance by original members, Jimmy(Vo), Hawk(G), Tsukasa(B), Makoto(Ds) after more than 20 years' silence. The familiar original tunes they played ignited enthusiasm.
The band is now back in music activities based in Tokyo with a new drummer Shark who replaced Makoto in August 2014. In 2015 they toured in Japan for their 30th years' anniversary lives. In Hamamatsu a special guest member Hiro joined the gig.
DUALFACE started Japan tour 2016 with GUILTY Shibuya on 7th May and performed at GANZ,toi,toi,toi, Umeda Osaka on 13th August. They are planning to join "YARAMAIKA FESTIVAL" in Hamamatu like in 2015 and another gig is scheduled in Yokohama in October. Their year-end live will be in Kyoto in December.
After this live performance, SHARK (Ds) had to leave Tokyo.
In January 2017, the band considered continuing their activities by having SHARK (Ds) travel to perform, but decided that continuous rehearsals were essential to maintain and improve their performance, so they began looking for a new drummer who could work in the Tokyo metropolitan area. As a result, they chose Kaneteru (Ds).
Kaneru is an old friend of Tsukasa (B), having played together in a band called "B.R.D." in the late 1990s. This was what led to them joining DUALFACE, but in fact, Kaneru was active in a Kyoto band called "Shounen Guerrilla" in the late 1980s.
It is believed that there was a near miss with DUALFACE, but there was no contact at the time.
As an aside, the song "How to get more good love" recorded by "B.R.D." in 1996 was included in an omnibus album by an indie band called "Amateur Square X" and released on CD.
With the addition of KANETERU (Ds), DUALFACE has begun activities with its fourth generation of members.
The first live performance by the 4th generation members was at Shinjuku Nine Spices in May 2017. With a huge audience watching, the new DUALFACE put on a fantastic performance and got off to a great start.
Then in August, they performed at Kyoto's VOX Hall. It was their first live performance in about 30 years, since they took to the stage there in 1988 when it was still called Big Bang, and looking up from the stage, the audience seats gave the impression of being just as they were back then.
On this day, the band attempted to perform in two parts: one with MAKOTO (Ds) , and the other with KANETERU(Ds) . The contrast between the setlist of songs that make the most of MAKOTO's technical drumming (Bad Boys' Rock and Room Number 303) and the setlist of KANETERU's driving, snappy songs (It's Time To R&R and Casino Scandal) was interesting and drew praise from many in the audience.
In 2018, they also toured the country, performing at Meguro Live Station in May, HRS (Hamamatsu Rock Summit) and Shin-Yokohama Bell's at Hamamatsu Madowaku in June, and Yara Fest in Hamamatsu in October. This year, Dualfacist in Hamamatsu was the most exciting. This was due to the fact that they performed more frequently in Hamamatsu, and that it is Jimmy's hometown.
The band kicked off 2019 with a performance at Shin-Yokohama Bell's in January, followed by a live performance at Live House R.A.D in Nagoya in March. Tsukasa (B) also wrote a new song in about 30 years. The new song, "Amai Yuwaku," debuted at a live performance at Meguro Live Station in May, and its catchy melody and simple structure quickly made it a hit. However, there was also an unfortunate announcement on the same day: KANETERU (Ds) would be leaving DUALFACE.
This was unavoidable as Kaneru was moving his base to Okayama, but the emergency occurred at a time when Kaneru's popularity was on the rise, making it difficult to plan live performances for the second half of 2019.
The band had already booked entries for the events in Osaka in August and Nagoya in September, so they contacted MAKOTO (Ds). MAKOTO doesn't live in the Kanto region, so they knew it would be difficult to rehearse, but they managed to get him to join them.
The fifth generation of DUALFACE will start with the same members as the second generation.
The first live performance by the 5th generation members was in August in Shinsaibashi, Osaka. Coincidentally, this is the same town that was the base of operations for DUALFACE in the 1980s. With the same members playing the same songs in the same town as back then, it was a return to their roots, so to speak.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic halted all live performances, leaving them in a state of distress with no end in sight. 2021 marked the 35th anniversary of the band's formation, but they unexpectedly had no activities at all. In some ways, it was a memorable anniversary year. After this, they were able to resume activities at the 14th Yaramaka Music Festival in Hamamatsu in October 2022.
In 2023, the band's live performances gradually returned to normal, and they performed their new song "4 Years" at a live concert in Shin-Yokohama in July. In October, they performed at the annual "Yaramaika Music Festival in Hamamatsu," and in December, they appeared at the 149th "HRS (Hamamatsu Rock Summit)."
In 2024, they performed a total of six live shows, starting with Meguro Live Station in April, followed by Shin-Yokohama LiT in June, Playhouse Machida in July, Hamamatsu's Yara Fes in October, Shin-Yokohama LiT again in November, and finally Hamamatsu FORCE in December.
Their 2025 live performances began in April with an appearance at Hamamatsu Rock Summit Vol.159 at Hamamatsu Madowaku. While the year only saw a small number of live shows, with just four in total, they also had a live performance in Nagoya for the first time in a while in July, and played their new song "Bang Bang Bang" at Yara Fest in October, making it a year of some change.
