Ken Lloyd is truly a creative and enigmatic presence in the J-rock scene.
Defying the antiquated cardinal rule set by 90’s Japanese major labels that stated artists could not be successful unless they sang in Japanese, through a mix of punk attitude, heavy guitars and melancholic melodies and lyrics, Ken Lloyd has established himself as a true one-of-a-kind artist. Continually evolving his sound and vision, taking risks and ultimately trailblazing a path for other future J-rock bands to follow.
With a successful career in music spanning 25 years with 3 bands and over 15 albums to his name, his influence can be seen and heard in many of the modern bands coming out of Japan. His unconventional life made all the more unique by the fact that he originally never intended to pursue a career in music.
Early Life
Born to a British father and Japanese mother, Ken Lloyd spent his early years raised in London like any other normal child.
Despite his father being an avid classical music lover and his best efforts to push his son in a musical direction, Lloyd showed little interest towards music in his early life. Piano, violin and guitar lessons that his father had set up, all never lasting more than a few tries.
That would all change however, when Lloyd reached the age of 10.
With the aim of having him gain Japanese language skills, he was enrolled by his parents into a strict Japanese boarding school, where he would spend the next 5 years.
Being the sole “foreigner” in the entire school and equipped with Japanese speaking skills that were basic at best, Lloyd would struggle to find his place early on.
Unable to bond with classmates, Lloyd would soon befriend some high school students who all played in bands. He would visit their dorm rooms any chance he could and in return, the boys would often play Lloyd the latest rock music they were listening to, whilst also influencing him to pick up the guitar and teaching him how to play.
Music had become a useful tool for communication with others and a source for comfort when alone and had now become firmly rooted within the core of Ken Lloyd’s life.
At 15, Lloyd once again transferred schools. This time to an American boarding school, where the campus was much more multicultural and diverse. At a time when the 90’s alternative music scene was exploding, all genres of music could be heard blasting out from student’s rooms and Lloyd immersed himself fully into whatever sounds came his way.
Bands such as Manic Street Preachers, The Church, The Cure, Faith No More, Stone Temple Pilots and Jellyfish among others would become heavy musical influences and soundtrack his high school years.
Though he dabbled from time to time in making music with other classmates, Lloyd never intended to pursue a professional music career, having heard and read the horror stories on how hard it was to make it as a musician. The years of playing clubs in the hope of a lucky record deal with no guarantee for success seemed way too risky of a path to take.
After being accepted to college, Lloyd would move base to Tokyo with the plan of transferring to Seattle after a couple of years and then eventually moving back to London to find a normal job of some sort.
As he attended classes, Lloyd also worked at a nightclub in Tokyo on weekends to help pay for living costs, and it was at this nightclub one evening that his life would take a drastic change.
Getting Signed
As the now infamous story goes, a regular customer of the club approached Lloyd one night asking Lloyd if he was a musician and whether he had a demo tape. “I’ll come back tomorrow. I have a friend who’s looking for a singer” the customer said as he left. Lloyd returned home after work, quickly recorded a song on a beat up 4-track recorder and handed the demo over the next night.
A few days later, the man showed up with his friend, who began asking a strew of questions.
“Have you been in a band?”, “Do you have live experience?”, “Ever been in a recording studio?”.
With nothing to lose, Lloyd proceeded to answer all questions by name dropping non existing venues and studios where he had supposedly played and recorded, presenting a completely false resume and making himself out to be an experienced musician.
Amazingly, the tactic worked, as Lloyd was asked to play a small gig with the band a few weeks later.
Lloyd’s performance turned out to be extremely raw, but the band caught the eye of guitarist HIDE from X JAPAN, who was at the venue with a couple of record label executives, and within days of his first ever live show, the band was signed to Japan’s biggest record company AVEX TRAX.
OBLIVION DUST
OBLIVION DUST debuted in January 1997. The band’s first bassist was Derek Forbes of Scottish rock band Simple Minds, while Ray McVay, guitarist of London punks The Professionals, was hired to produce the 1st album. While recording in LA, OBLIVION DUST would frequently tour the small clubs on the west coast. Back in Japan, the band would also share the stage with many western acts such as Marilyn Manson and The Prodigy.
As a major label band that sang almost completely in English, OBLIVION DUST were considered a unique act for Japan at the time and their style isolated them within the scene.
Despite being out of place, OBLIVION DUST’s audience quickly grew with each album they released and with every tour that followed. By the time the band had released its 4th studio album “Butterfly Head”, they were playing the Tokyo Bay NK Hall to 7,000 fans.
Though “Butterfly Head” was highly acclaimed and a big hit, internal relations within the band were deteriorating fast, and shortly after the departure of bassist Rikiji at the end of 2000, OBLIVION DUST decided to call it quits after less than 4 years.
FAKE?
After OBLIVION DUST’s break up, Lloyd began writing new material with LUNA SEA guitarist INORAN. The two had formed a close friendship for a number of years and it was Lloyd’s intention that if he were to continue working in the music industry, it would be with others that he had close prior relationships with. A chemistry that had been missing in OBLIVION DUST.
FAKE? debuted in July 2002, and in the span of 3 years they released four albums, all the while touring extensively during that period. An opening slot for Guns n’ Roses in Hong Kong grabbed the attention of many in Asian regions with talk of FAKE? possibly branching outside of Japan.
In 2005 however, INORAN would depart the band to pursue other projects. Though INORAN’s departure was a huge loss for FAKE?, Lloyd would ultimately decide to continue on as the sole member of the band, citing that there was “still more music that needed to be put out through the FAKE? name”. Lloyd would also add that he “felt a strong commitment to continue on with FAKE?”.
OBLIVION DUST Reunite
In 2007, after years of no communication, Lloyd would reach out to OBLIVION DUST guitarist K.A.Z to ask if he could remix a FAKE? track titled “Disco”. K.A.Z’s remixed version of the song was extremely well received, but more notably, rumors of OBLIVION DUST reforming were spreading fast throughout the industry.
These rumors would not go unheard by the members themselves and after a few meetings, Lloyd, K.A.Z and Rikiji would agree to an OBLIVION DUST reunion and a brand-new album.
Simply titled “OBLIVION DUST”, their first album in 7 years was released in 2008 and marked the restart of a band that was sorely missed during that time. Since then, they have continued touring their high brand energetic tours, while also releasing new material, including their latest album “Dirt”.
The band is currently working on their 8th studio album, due to be released sometime in 2022.
ATOM ON SPHERE
Along with OBLIVION DUST and FAKE?, Lloyd is also a member of alternative electro band ATOM ON SPHERE.
After the initial collapse of OBLIVION DUST in 2000, Lloyd had grown tired of the rock scene in Tokyo and was spending more and more of his personal time in House/Techno clubs hanging out with musicians from the club music scene. It was here, that Lloyd would get to know Shigeo (SBK/The Samos), who later asked Lloyd if he would like to team up.
Since Shigeo’s concept of a “UK Electro style” band was a fresh musical direction for Lloyd to pursue, he agreed, and along with Makoto Sakurai (Dragon Ash) and Keitaimo (ex. Beat Crusaders), ATOM ON SPHERE released their self-titled debut album in 2011.
Considered more of a side-project than a full-time band, ATOM ON SPHERE have released two albums to date, whilst playing a handful of club gigs each year, mainly in Tokyo when members schedules align.
KEN LLOYD Solo Project
In November of 2021, Ken Lloyd announced his brand-new solo project under the name “KEN LLOYD”.
Little has yet been revealed about this project, but having listened to a track that has been completed, the song can be described as powerful yet beautiful and melancholic, with fresh energy pulsating at the core. The result being a blend of sounds and melodies unlike any of his past releases from his many bands.
Here is what he had to say about it:
“I’ve been making music for a while now. Way longer than I ever imagined I’d be doing it when I first started. I feel lucky and blessed, but at some point, I plan on returning to the UK.
Before I’m done, I want to complete my story in a way that I could be totally happy with. Bring all of those experiences and lessons learnt over the years and mold them into music that would best characterize and represent who I was and have become. A culmination of everything.
I’m not saying “This is my last year” or whatever, but my career can be divided into stages. The OBLIVION DUST stage, The FAKE? stage and so on, and I think a final solo project that encapsulates everything is a stage I would like to add as a fitting final chapter.”
Text: Shinji Hyogo
Translation: Shojiro Matsuo