Chiba Yusuke Announces Hiatus from Live Activities

Chiba Yusuke, the frontman of rock band The Birthday, has announced he will be taking a break from live activities as he has been diagnosed with esophageal cancer and wishes to devote his full attention to his treatment.

A joint statement from The Birthday and their label has announced that all of the band’s upcoming appearances, starting with their set at ARABAKI ROCK FEST.23, will be cancelled, including their June FxxK Forever Quattro×Quattro Tour'23. They apologized for the sudden announcement and stated that information about refunds will be added soon. They also stated that they hope fans will continue to watch over the band until the day they are able to make another announcement.

Chiba started his career as the vocalist of the influential rock band THEE MICHELLE GUN ELEPHANT, which formed in 1991 and made its major debut in 1996. Since the group’s disbandment in 2003, he has remained active in the Japanese rock scene with a number of bands, including ROSSO and The Birthday, and also pursued various solo projects.

The music video for SKY BLUE, a song from The Birthday's 2022 Tsukiyo no zankyou ep, can be viewed below, followed by the MV for LOVE ROCKETS, their opening theme song for the anime film "THE FIRST SLAM DUNK".