The making of Blue Blood

After we were done with the Vanishing Tour, we went on vacation together to write songs for our first major label album. We stayed in Fujikawaguchiko town, Yamanashi, where there was also a studio named Camelot. Loudness and many other bands had recorded in that studio. I imagined it to be a nice place, with modern equipment.

However, when we actually got there, the vibe was much more "charmingly vintage", as they say. The hotel was more like a traditional inn, the rooms we stayed in had tatami mats as flooring. Those rooms had a strange aura to them, an ominous air that made you wonder if something might come out in the middle of the night. We ended up not being able to sleep alone in our rooms due to that ominous air, so hide, Toshi, and I slept side by side. (*He uses the expression 川の字, the definition of that reads: (exp,n) (formation of) three people sleeping side by side (esp. a child between two parents)) Fortunately, no vengeful ghost showed up, but since the place is surrounded by lush nature, giant moths flew into the room, and to me that was the scariest part. I hate insects, they're much more frightening to me than ghosts.

Our vacation lasted around two weeks. Taiji, hide, and I were working on some songs and their arrangements in Camelot, and Yoshiki was staying over at another studio, writing songs there, but he also participated in arranging songs with us in Camelot. We also went to the studio Yoshiki was staying at to work on songs like "Easy Fight Rambling", "Blue Blood", and "Endless Rain". Yoshiki played "Blue Blood" on piano for us on that vacation. Yoshiki asked me about "Endless Rain": "What do you think about these first bars?" and I answered: "They’re pretty good".

When I think about this trip, in my mind I see the trap lights for insects they had in the convenience stores near the studio. While we stayed in that town, I used to go there and think: "Wow, the lamps caught so many bugs..." I guess that's how I can describe the desolate vibe of those days. That vacation was physically and mentally exhausting.

After Fujikawaguchiko, we started recording Blue Blood on January 6, 1989. It was recorded in Sony's studio in Shinanomachi. I remember watching Obuchi (Keizo) announcing the new Heisei imperial era (January 7) on the studio's TV.

A little earlier, on New Year's Day, some of us went to drink at hide's. Yoshiki came along too, but he got so drunk he punched a hole in hide's closet. The next day, when we were drinking at my place, he put a slight dent in my front door.

Drunk Yoshiki never apologized for his outburst, he just said something nonsensical like: "Come live in my house, then". Those get-togethers were out of this world. The others would drink and leave the place looking like a war zone, but Tatsu of Gastunk would kindly clean everything up. But he would do it saying: "You have an album to record, you better clean this up." He's a nice guy. Blue Blood was recorded after horsing around on New Year's Day.

Up to that point, I had always set up the recording equipment and done the sound production myself, but there were professional guitar technicians for the recording of Blue Blood. I played a custom black Les Paul that I already used to play live. I had always used Marshall amps, but since I wanted to experiment with different things, the guitar tech introduced me to many different amps I could try out. One that was split between a preamp and power amp, models that were specialized for metal music, and so on. I believe I used different amps for different songs as per the tech's recommendations.

The first song we recorded was "Celebration". I think it was because hide said it was a simple song, therefore we should begin with it. That song is very rock'n'roll, but it's far from simple…

Recording was even more demanding than for Vanishing Vision. Sony's Shinanomachi studio had a spare room for when assistants, engineers and other employees couldn't go home, and we often used it. hide and I slept at the studio sometimes, Yoshiki did too. When the room wasn't available, we slept in the recording room itself when all the work was done for the day. We would record until morning, then nap in the studio until noon, and immediately after we would be interviewed for magazines... That became our daily routine.

My go-to meal was carrot and apple juice, and a curry omurice from the secret menu of the in-studio café called Vega. Everyone who ever used that Shinanomachi studio has probably had the carrot and apple juice from Vega. That's just how good it is, and a healthy choice. I've done many interviews while drinking that juice. After being interviewed, I would then go back to recording until morning…

The song that took the longest to record was "Rose of Pain", with the orchestra. We were running out of time, so we asked Masami Tsuchiya who was going to use the studio next, to borrow some of his studio time. A while ago, I had the opportunity to see Masami Tsuchiya for the first time in a while, but I forgot to thank him for that.

When the album was done, there was a sensation of completion. The time we spent on Vanishing Vision was nothing compared to it. When all the production work was done, we all exclaimed together: "It's finally done...!" I remember going home with my body almost melting from exhaustion. The final mixing had started early the day before, and went on until noon of the next day. Like that, Blue Blood was finally completed after much hard work.

Playing live in my dream venue, the Budokan

Blue Blood was released on the 21st of April, 1989. But the tour had already started 3 months earlier. We hadn't even finished recording the album when we started rehearsing. Sometimes it was just hide, Taiji, and I rehearsing since Yoshiki and Toshi would be in the middle of recording. One memorable date of this tour was the Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall in June. It started to drizzle just when we started playing "Endless Rain". I thought the timing was perfect. I don't remember much of anything else (laughs).

We finished the first stage of the Blue Blood Tour in mid-June, and were able to go on summer vacation. Sony told us to "travel somewhere", but I couldn't be bothered so I would be content with just going to Atami. An onsen would also be great. However, hide proposed: "Let's go to Los Angeles!"

And so, Taiji and hide dragged me along to Los Angeles. Toshi went to New York, and Yoshiki went to Paris. For some reason, we all met up in New York, at the end of our vacation.

After LA, we met with a video director and ended up recording a video in New York. Then I understood, that last part of the trip wasn't a vacation anymore, but work. We also gave interviews and were filmed. Sony told us to "travel somewhere", indeed, but they didn't say it was for work.

Speaking of New York, I was a big fan of the movie about street gangs, The Warriors (1979). If I could choose a place to be filmed for an interview, I've always wanted to visit Coney Island, the gang's home turf. The movie ends showing a desolate beach, and I always imagined the place to look like that, run down and decaying. Contrary to my expectations, there was none of that dangerous vibe, and children were happily playing in the amusement park that has become a symbol of Coney Island. It was peaceful and people were all smiles. The atmosphere was amazing, but I remember being a tiny bit disappointed it wasn't like what I imagined.

After we returned from New York, the Rose & Blood tour began in September. In November, in the middle of the tour, we had two dates scheduled at Shibuya Public Hall, but Yoshiki was in poor health and the remaining dates had to be postponed after the first Shibuya Public Hall concert.

Our comeback concert was scheduled for the 4th of February 1990, at the Nippon Budokan. That would be my first ever Budokan. Of course, I had seen Rainbow and the Michael Schenker Group play there in my first year of high school, I was very emotionally attached to that venue as a spectator. But now, I was about to perform there. I was ecstatic when our Budokan show was announced.

As we drove to the Budokan that day, I felt like I was going in with a panoramic view of the venue. The car has to go past the front of the building to get to the backstage entrance. I felt a surge of emotions again when I saw the 'onion on the roof', it hit me that it was the Budokan indeed. I heard that Tommy Lee's (Motley Crue's drummer) signature was written on the wall of the backstage bathrooms, and I was able to confirm it was really there.

But I don't really remember much of the rehearsal or the performance itself. I only remember our staff members being impressed that we managed to sell out every seat on the same day. And I remember thinking: "Huh, so this is where Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin stood," when I got up on the stage.

Performing in the Budokan, rather than watching, feels like you're much closer. When you're watching a concert, the stage feels like it is very far, but when you're on the stage, you feel like you're close to the audience. Maybe it's because the venue is round, but I can even see the people in the back of the second floor. I can't see their expressions exactly, but I can tell if they're standing or sitting down. It's one of the Budokan's enigmas, the way you can feel close to the audience. I believe anyone who has played on that stage has felt the same thing.

Anyway, the Budokan is my dream venue. A while ago, I was playing a festival with many younger musicians. Someone said to me: "I guess if someone's as successful as Pata, the Budokan is just another venue among so many," But no, I don't see it like that. The Budokan is a special place, it can't be compared to other live music venues. No matter how many times I get on that stage, the Budokan will always be my dream venue. How many live albums have been released with the title Live at Budokan? I grew up listening to many of these albums by foreign artists. And not to mention that playing guitar on the Budokan's stage just feels really good. The Budokan is my favorite live venue in Japan.

I've played live in the Tokyo Dome, which is much bigger than the Budokan. But I just want to say that the Tokyo Dome is where you go to watch a baseball match. Personally, I feel strongly that the Tokyo Dome is superior when it comes to watching baseball matches. Well, I guess the judokas and kendokas would argue that the Budokan isn't a place to play live music, that it's a martial arts stadium.

The Blue Blood tour ended after our February 1990 Budokan concert, and a postponed concert in May at the Osaka Castle Hall. After that, without any time to rest, we started working on preparing what would be our next album, Jealousy.

However, we had no idea that it would turn out to be a much longer struggle than what we had imagined.

Jealousy was scheduled to be recorded in LA. First, we got together in Japan, then started working on song arrangements and rehearsing. I had a health issue around that time, and there was a period when I couldn't attend the rehearsals very often. Around late autumn 1990, we went to LA, but it was Yoshiki who now had a health issue, we weren't able to start the recording process until much later than we had planned. So late that our half-year visas expired in the middle of recording, and we had to get them renewed.

Almost like the mafia's secret dealings

When we were in LA recording Jealousy, I wasn't in the studio all the time, I spent a lot of my free time browsing instrument stores. There were many of these stores around back then, and Guitar Center, on Sunset Boulevard, was even somewhat of a tourist attraction. I would go into these stores not to buy a guitar I wanted, but more to kill time looking for interesting things. Back then, those stores had so many instruments that today would be considered lucky finds. I came across a 1959 Les Paul Standard, which is still one of my favorite guitars.

I was browsing the store and the owner asked me: "Is there anything you're looking for?" I wasn't really looking for anything, but I answered, without thinking too much about it: "Do you have any Les Pauls or Strats?" The owner told me they had a Les Paul that had just arrived, in the back of the store. The owner took me there and showed me a rare 1961 Stratocaster and a 1959 Les Paul Standard.

Those two guitars were already quite valuable at the time, and I was drawn to the Les Paul. I had no intention to buy it, but I had the chance to play it. The owner of that music store was a very knowledgeable Les Paul collector and told me that if he didn't manage to sell it, he would buy it for his own collection. I didn't think I'd be able to buy it since it was a valuable guitar. When I asked about the price, it was as expensive as I thought.

After that, I left the store. I went to get some food at the nearby Denny's, but all I could think about was that guitar and how cool it was. Little by little, my thoughts shifted to ownership of that guitar and I made a phone call to Japan to check how much money I had in my savings account, and asked the bank to send it all over.

When X Japan played with Richard Fortus and Wes Borland in 2008, they saw my 1959 Les Paul Standard and said: "In the US, that guitar is worth a house!"

The prices of vintage guitars have skyrocketed in recent years. A few years after I bought my 1959 Les Paul Standard, rich Japanese people have bought up many vintage guitars, probably for investment purposes or whatever. Not just guitars, but vintage amps and effect pedals too. That drove the prices even higher, and now you can barely find anything interesting in US music stores. I believe I made a good decision as I bought my guitar just at the right time.

If the guitar sounds good, that's all I need

Speaking of good timing, I also bought Jeff Beck's signature model, a few years later. In 1991, Jeff Beck's best-of album Beckology came with a booklet shaped like a guitar case, and when you opened it, there was a picture of that guitar. It had a purplish body, and was Jeff's signature model guitar.

Back then, Bo Diddley and Jeff Beck also posed with that Strat guitar for the magazine Rockin' On. I really liked the color. Only one Signature model in this color came into Japan, as a mistake. I didn't miss it, and immediately placed my order. That was great timing. When hide was recording his solo album, he wanted to use a Strat, so I lent him this guitar. He took a liking to it, and later bought a white Jeff Beck Signature model, and painted it himself... I'm glad he didn't do it to my guitar (laughs).

Also on the subject of guitars, in addition to the Strat and the Les Paul, I also played an Explorer, and during X's amateur era, I also had an SG Junior on standby as a backup. I bought the SG at Tadaya, in Chiba, and had it shipped to the hotel we were staying on tour because I wanted to use it as a backup, live. In 1988, there was a major accident involving X's equipment truck, and it toppled sideways on the highway, costing us much of our equipment.

The gong Yoshiki was using was originally hung on a round frame, but it was blown off in that accident and we never saw it again. After the accident, the gong was then hung on a square frame. My guitar effects rack was also originally a rectangle, but was bent into a parallelogram shape. The board's top measurements didn't change, but the shape changed considerably. The SG Junior guitar was also damaged, the impact of the accident straightened the angled head portion. Many other instruments and equipment were lost, or went missing. It was a serious accident. I couldn't bear to watch the broken remains being carried back into Sony's studio.

This is a little digression, but when I bought my 1959 Les Paul Standard, I didn't feel any sort of overwhelming motivation to do so, as a guitarist. I was overjoyed, obviously. But to make it easier to understand, to me it felt closer to buying a toy I had been wanting for a long time. I was also very into the 1958 and 1959 models back then.

Still, I've lost some of that admiration for vintage guitars. If the guitar sounds good, then that's all I need.

In my opinion, you can almost never tell whether a guitar sounds good or bad when you test-play it at a music store, with their amps. Their amp settings will never deliver the real sound. I believe the only way to judge how a guitar sounds is playing it raw. I couldn't explain to you in words how my 1959 Les Paul Standard sounds. I just liked how it sounded when I strummed it, raw, at the music store. The rest is all about looks. That's how I evaluate an instrument.

I acquired my 1959 Les Paul Standard before recording Jealousy, so it is heavily featured in the album. On "Silent Jealousy", I used my '80 Les Paul for a little of the backing, but the rest of the song is all, unmistakably, my 1959 Les Paul Standard. I used a Strat for the solo and countermelody on "Desperate Angel". On "White Wind From Mr. Martin", I played a Martin and a Gibson, both acoustics. Everything else should be the 1959 Les Paul Standard. For amps, I mostly used a Marshall, but for the rhythm guitar of "Silent Jealousy", I used a Mesa Boogie.

Many of the songs on Jealousy were composed in LA. The only songs that were written in Japan, before we went to the US, were "Silent Jealousy" and "Stab Me In the Back", which had been around for a while already. Over there, we were all staying in the same area, so a common exchange between us was like: "At whose house we're going to today?" Then, we would get together at someone's place and talk about songwriting and arranging. We would record and exchange demo tapes, I believe at the time we used DAT (Digital Audio Tapes). Since Yoshiki wasn't in good shape to play drums, we brought in a replacement drummer, and we also wrote some songs in the studio.

Due to many scheduling delays, we could only start actually recording on the first of January. From a Japanese perspective, I felt very sorry for the employees who had to work on the first day of the year. For Blue Blood, I was in the studio for other things rather than just recording my parts, but for Jealousy, I didn't spend much time there other than to record. The recording of the guitars was also divided into parts, with hide playing all the harmonized parts himself. I played all the backing on "Silent Jealousy". While I was recording the guitars, the other members weren't in the studio.

I believe fans already know this, but Jealousy was originally meant to be a double album. But since the monumental Art of Life couldn't be finished on time, Jealousy was then released as a single album. And even then, we just barely met the production schedule. We held a press conference in LA, in May 1991, which was supposed to be to announce the album's completion, had it been finished. However, we didn't manage to finish it in time.

At that press conference, Yoshiki went off the rails and declared: "We're returning [to Japan] on such-and-such date," which was then printed in the newspapers. Fans gathered at Narita Airport on the date set by Yoshiki, and there was a big commotion. However, the man responsible for those words did not return to Japan on that day, betraying the fans' expectations and causing yet another serious problem. Yoshiki was in LA to oversee Toshi's vocals recording, while it was just me, hide and Taiji who were on the flight to Japan that day.

The next day, Yoshiki and Toshi returned to Japan: "Well, we didn't finish it..." They said. For some reason, they were unable to finish recording the vocals of "Say Anything." While we discussed what we were going to do about that song, I suddenly realized something. The album's cover art had been printed, and "Say Anything" was listed in the tracklist. I knew Sony wouldn't want to reprint the album, so we had to make it work somehow. So, after negotiating, we were granted a 3-day extension to finish recording "Say Anything" in Japan. Incidentally, the concurrent mixing was taking place in LA.

However, Jealousy still had a long way to go.

The biggest concert in the band’s history

Jealousy's release date was July 1st, 1991, but the album's mastering wasn't finished until about the first half of June. Under normal circumstances, an album would never be ready that soon. We were astonished that sample discs were ready two weeks after finishing the whole recording process. hide, Taiji and I were being interviewed for Rockin' F when we received our sample discs, and instead of being excited about the work itself, we were surprised at how Sony's corporate power got the album so quickly pressed (laughs). I still have nothing but appreciation for the workers at Sony's Shizuoka plant. It felt as if they were operating the factory exclusively for us once they received Jealousy's master tape.

I didn't really know what kind of album Jealousy would be until it was fully finished... I mean, every album has been like that, for me. It's hard to have a complete perspective of an album while you're recording it. The songs only start to sink in once you begin rehearsing for the tour.

After the release of Jealousy, we went on the Violence In Jealousy tour to promote it. An unforgettable date of that tour was our first live performance at the Tokyo Dome(July 23, 1991). The night before, I was at a bar in Asagaya, Kousuke, watching the Giants' match against Hiroshima. Our live equipment couldn't be brought in from the trucks until the game ended. My fellow bandmates watched the match hoping it would end soon, not caring about what happened during the match or who won, everyone just wanted it to end soon.

However, contrary to my bandmates' feelings, I just sat there thinking: "Come on, Giants, you gotta win!" and I was also fine with the game getting extended time (laughs). In the end, the Giants lost after a second or short grounder by Komada. It was a great, heated match, but our staff members who built the stage must have been pissed off at the extended game time.

On the day of the concert, July 23, I arrived at the venue and the stage was right in the middle of being set up. I had nothing better to do, so I thought I'd give myself a little tour of the Giants' headquarters. Since I had two gloves and a baseball, I played a little catch with Toshi, since he was the only one among my fellow bandmates who seemed like he could play baseball.

I came well-prepared with the gloves and baseball because I knew playing catch on the grounds of the Tokyo Dome wasn't something that happened every day. It was hard to see the ball when I threw it up due to the white ceiling. It must be tough for the players during a match. I also hurled myself at the wall since I always wondered if it hurt when someone runs into the outfield fence to catch the ball. As I expected, it hurt like hell.

As soon as I stepped into that venue, I didn't feel like a guitarist who would go on stage that night. I was just a baseball fanatic.

When I got up on the stage, my first thought was that it was enormous. The distance from the stage to the other side of the seats felt like the distance between Asagaya and Shinjuku. That's how far away it seemed. That was, by far, the largest capacity venue the band would play, but I didn't have any feelings of grandeur. That was closer to how I felt at the Budokan. As a Giants fan, the Tokyo Dome belonged to my beloved team, so I had more feelings of appreciation that they were letting us borrow their venue despite it being the busiest time of the year for baseball. The stage was built in the outfield, so I was a little worried about there being damage to the artificial grass. That's the most I remember about that day, not so much about the concert itself.

Taiji’s departure

The second time we played at the Tokyo Dome, we played three days in January 1992(On the Verge of Destruction). After those shows, Taiji consequently left the band.

I don't know exactly when it started, but Taiji had been playing some new Loudness songs. I don't know if he was already helping Loudness out or not. At the end of 1991, there was an incident at the Meguro Rock-May-Kan, where we were playing with other bands.

I like to call myself the 4th unofficial member of the Tokyo Yankees, I'm always popping up at their shows and playing with them, and hide was also playing guitar with them that day. Yoshiki was also at the Rock-May-Kan that day, but he suddenly walked out of the venue to talk to someone, as if something bad had happened. A little later, he came back and suddenly announced: "I've decided to fire Taiji." It all happened so unexpectedly that, upon hearing those words, I could only answer with something like: "Oh... Okay." But it wasn't something that surprised me too much, because I already had a feeling it was about to happen. I don't know who Yoshiki was talking to, or any other details of that conversation. The only thing I know for sure is that Yoshiki told me he was going to fire Taiji.

Each of the three days at Tokyo Dome had a completely different set list. We opened the second day (January 6) with "Vanishing Love", I think that set list was very interesting. That's because we were told tickets for this second day hadn't sold very well, so we decided to do things differently and got excited with the idea of playing some older songs. We played a variety of our early songs, such as "Phantom of Guilt".

On the third day, we opened with "Silent Jealousy", and when we were rehearsing, I suggested we begin the song without piano, and then we structured the song that way. The rehearsal happened before the situation with Taiji, and everyone contributed to the set list and the general mood was friendly.

I believe the last song of the third day was "Endless Rain". That was also the last song Taiji would play live with us. I felt strangely emotional, just like I did at our last live show. That day, as I watched Taiji play bass, sitting in front of me, it hit me: "So, this is the last time..." For our live arrangement of "Endless Rain", normally Taiji wouldn't play the latter half of the song, but that day, he played until the very end. After the show, he gave me the leather gloves he wore live, still dripping with sweat, saying: "Here".

I believe it's thought that Taiji was the biggest fan of American rock music out of all the X members. But, surprisingly, he wasn't a big fan of KISS. We all went to see KISS a long time ago, and he was the only one who didn't seem too stoked about it. But when he caught a cold and couldn't come along with us to see Anthrax, he cried. In fact, I believe all members of X have seen Anthrax live.

Taiji was originally a guitarist, and he was a big fan of Akira Takasaki of Loudness. I think Taiji even played the same Random Star guitar as Takasaki, in his guitarist days. He played guitar in his own band before he switched to bass and became Dementia's bassist, before joining X.

Taiji was a talented guitarist. He also plays acoustic guitar in the recorded version of "Voiceless Screaming" that is on Jealousy. We played it live together, but he used to give me directions during rehearsals, like: "Play this part like this" (laughs). Once, before there was "Voiceless Screaming", Taiji asked me to write an acoustic song, so I wrote "White Wind From Mr. Martin".

Taiji and I used to often discuss compositions and song arrangements. Even before we started recording "Desperate Angel", a song he composed for Jealousy, he gave me directions for how I should play my guitar part. He wanted a harmonica solo on that song to go with its American style, so he asked me if he could place it over my guitar solo. When I told him I didn't like the idea, he simply answered with a "Okay, I get it," and that was the end of it, no arguments.

Going to Mother Farm

As an effect of Taiji's departure, we now had to think about finding a bassist for X. We didn't have any obvious candidates, and we also had no clear ideas of who could be an ideal bassist. We had many acquaintances introduce us to possible replacements, and to broaden our search, we also posted an ad. So, all of us met at a hotel room to listen to tapes sent from all over the country. hide brought a tape, saying: "Listen to this one, it's intriguing!" The tape began with a woman stating various reasons why she thought we should have a female bassist. We listened quietly, thinking she would introduce herself, but she just continued listing reasons, and didn't even play a single note of bass throughout the entire tape. It was interesting, indeed, but questionable for the purpose of an audition tape.

In the end, we didn't pick any of those submissions. We knew about 5 bassists who were acquaintances or had some connection to us, so we told them to come to the studio and play "Kurenai" and an extra song, so we could do an audition of sorts. Still, Heath wasn't among any of these people.

Unimpressed with the auditions, we continued our search for a bassist. Then, one day, hide invited me to watch some bands play at the Meguro Rock-May-Kan.

A lot of bands played that night, the very last being Mephistopheles, in which X's former member, Hikaru, was the bass player. Another band that played was Media Youth. hide had his eye on Media Youth. He had heard about Heath of Media Youth from a Yokosuka acquaintance. Since we went with the intention to scout a bassist, we watched Media Youth from a small window at the venue's reception area. And we also weren't in the mood to go backstage and say hello, so hide and I snuck out to have a drink at an izakaya. There, he asked me what I thought, and I said: "Not bad, not bad at all."

After a series of band meetings, we finally came to the conclusion that Heath was a good choice. The final decision was made at a very late hour, past midnight, at Yoshiki's house. hide phoned Heath to tell him about becoming our bassist, and he immediately answered: "I'll join the band!"

Finally, we found our new bassist. Then, Yoshiki abruptly said: "Ok, let's all go to Mother Farm!" and called Heath again, even though he had just got off the phone with us. It was past 4 in the morning.

Why Mother Farm? Well, that's a Chiba thing. However, I should say that it wasn't a tradition between us X members to visit Mother Farm to celebrate something good happening. Being from Yokosuka, hide probably had a big question mark in his mind when Yoshiki said Mother Farm. Heath, who had just barely joined X, and was from Amagasaki in Hyogo, probably had 3 or 4 question marks in his mind. I am from Chiba and have been to Mother Farm many times on school field trips, but why Yoshiki suggested we go there is still a mystery to me. Mother Farm is located near Mount Nokogiri in Chiba, considerably a long way from Tokyo. Nevertheless, we all set off at daybreak from Tokyo to Mother Farm.

The visit to Mother Farm ended up being Heath's first activity with X. X had become somewhat famous by then, students on a field trip spotted us and followed us around. We felt like the farm animals at Mother Farm. That was really something out of a comedy skit. Well, X is basically a comedy band anyway. For the record, we did not milk the cows.

The visit to Mother Farm left such a deep impression on me that I can't remember what the first rehearsal with Heath was like (laughs). But I do remember our press conference in New York, in the summer of 1992. Our wacky band activities consisted of playing the Tokyo Dome, going to Mother Farm, and going to the Rockefeller Center. Way too broad for my liking! Before boarding the plane to New York, I was in LA recording the mini album, Art of Life.

The press conference was to announce Heath joining the band, and us signing with Atlantic Records. AC/DC and Led Zeppelin were signed to Atlantic as well. I was thrilled to sign with Atlantic, knowing it was a label that had such a background. The people at Atlantic also gifted each of us an ornament made by Tiffany & Co. with the band logo in it. And when I told them I was a baseball fan, I was offered tickets to see the New York Yankees match the following day. I couldn't go to the game due to our schedule, but it was very nice of them to offer me that.