Biography

HEESEY WITH DUDES

29/05/2006 Author: Yukionna

HEESEY WITH DUDES was a solo project by ex-The Yellow Monkey bassist Youichi Hirose. Their music is a mix of traditional rock'n'roll and heavy metal.

Heesey started playing bass after he met KISS and fell for rock'n'roll music. His first bands were MURBAS and 16LEGS. In 1989 Heesey founded The Yellow Monkey, which would later become one of the most popular rock'n'roll bands in Japan.

When The Yellow Monkey ceased their activities in 2001 Heesey started to think about putting together a solo project. He met his friends Takamasa "Mad" Ohuchi and Satoshi "Onochin" Onodera, both of whom then joined Heesey's band.

Officially HEESEY WITH DUDES started in the early 2003 by releasing a single NAMELESS LOVER a month after their first album OBSTINATE ROCKAHOLIC was on sale. The releases were followed by a tour entitled OBSTINATE ROCKAHOLIC SHOW. During the summer of 2003 they also played at some famous festivals including SUMMER SONIC, ROCK IN JAPAN, LIVESTOCK and RISING SUN ROCK. On New Years Eve 2003 they played at the COUNTDOWN JAPAN festival.

In 2004 the bands' support guitarist Senor was made an official member. HEESEY WITH DUDES started their year with a new tour called SPECIAL NEW YEAR PARTY. Again in summer they played at various festivals, and they also released a new mini-album H-O-O!, which was available only through their official homepage. After the release they toured throughout Japan once again.

HEESEY WITH DUDES did not release any material in 2005, but they continued to tour extensively. Their HEAVY ROLL CARNIVAL event took place in Spring 2005.

In August 2005, to everyone's suprise, Heesey wrote in his blog that he wanted to quit the activities of HEESEY WITH DUDES. The reason was that he is primarily a bassist and he would prefer do do just that, rather than sing. The band however continued and toured with The DUST'N'BÖNEZ for the R&R Hoo Chie Koo tour. Soon after they started their own, last tour THE FAREWELL TOUR. OMMY, a support guitarist who had helped Heesey with OBSTINATE ROCKAHOLIC, participated in the last tour.

THE FAREWELL TOUR ended at Liquidroom Ebisu in Tokyo on December 7th, and the final show was filmed and later released on DVD Farewell Tour: LOVE, LIFE, LIVE.