Demon Kakka

Early life and education Demon attended kindergarten up through his first year of elementary school in New York City. He moved to Tokyo for second grade of elementary school, before moving to Nishi-ku, Hiroshima in 1971 for three years.

In March 1986, Demon graduated with honors from Waseda University with a degree in social science. He was also a member of their folk song club.

Career Music When Sunplaza Nakano-kun left the Waseda University rock band Super Slump to form Bakufu Slump, Demon replaced him as vocalist.

Demon and fellow Waseda University student Damian Hamada formed the heavy metal band Seikima-II in December 1982. The band saw numerous lineup changes in their career, with Demon being the only constant member. They signed to CBS/Sony and released their first album Seikima II – Akuma ga Kitarite Heavy Metal in 1985. Seikima-II went on to release 12 studio albums and sell over 10 million records. In accordance to their fictional "prophecy" and after completing their "world conquest", Seikima-II disbanded at the end of the century on December 31, 1999 at 23:59:59. , becoming the first Japanese musician to do so.

In January 2007, Demon released Girls' Rock, a cover album of rock songs by female artists. He released a follow-up, Girls' Rock √ Hakurai, in January 2008 and supported it with a national tour from April to May. A third female rock cover album, Girls' Rock ~Tiara~, was released on February 11, 2009. The compilation album Girls' Rock Best, collecting songs from these three albums and some new covers, was released on January 20, 2010.

Demon released Mythology, his first original studio album in nine years, on May 16, 2012. It features several guests, including Yuki Koyanagi and May J., and a song composed by Tetsuya Komuro. The album's June tour featured Koyanagi at every date, while its final day also saw the other contributors perform.

Demon wrote and composed the 2013 song for the idol group Kamen Rider Girls.

For his March 2017 album Existence, Demon had two Akutagawa Prize winning authors (Keisuke Hada and Yū Nagashima) and Terra Formars author Yū Sasuga write song lyrics. His November 2017 album Utadama was built around folk instruments, pianos and other unplugged instruments and includes covers of songs such as "Furusato" and "Kimigayo".

His November 2019 album Uta Dokuro: Gekida☆Shinkansen Gekichūka-shū is a collaboration with the theater company Gekida☆Shinkansen, with whom he has written lyrics for and performed songs with since at least 1995. The album features Demon singing 12 songs he wrote for the company's plays over the last 24 years with some altered lyrics. That same year, he provided the song "Naked Men Miro, Hadaka no Oretachi o!" to the stage adaptation of Reiko Okano's sumo manga series Ryōgoku Hananishiki Tōshi.

Sumo Demon dedicated a section of his radio program Demon Kogure no All Night Nippon to sumo. The section, called , often featured interviews with active rikishi, most notably Daitetsu Tadamitsu, who became friends with Demon.

Demon wrote a column for the sumo magazine Van Van Sumo Club for 13 years, and was a regular guest commentator on the J Sports TV show Gekisen! Ōzumō for five years.

The following year, Demon was a guest commentator for NHK's television broadcast of the January 2006 honbasho, and became the first guest to commentate an entire sumo tournament. When Wajima died in December 2018, Demon sang a song he wrote at the funeral and was a pallbearer.

On day 2 of the January 2011 tournament Demon caused some controversy when he opined publicly on NHK that Kotomitsuki Keiji, who was expelled by the JSA in July 2010 for gambling, should be reinstated.

In April 2012, Demon's alma mater Waseda University appointed him a special counselor of their sumo club which was struggling to recruit new members.

Other activities

Demon hosted the weekly radio program on Mondays from 25:00 to 27:00 (technically Tuesday mornings) on National Radio Network from April 6, 1987 to May 14, 1990 as part of All Night Nippon.

Demon voiced the character Zatan in the 2012 Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Wizard & Fourze: Movie War Ultimatum film. He also wrote and performed its theme song, "Forest of Rocks".

In 2017, Demon was selected by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to educate the public on and bring awareness to the harm of illegal radio waves.

In February 2018, Demon took part in a symposium alongside singer Kaori Kishitani, athlete Dai Tamesue and the representative director of the Federation of Music Producers Japan speaking on the problem of ticket scalping. That year Demon provided the voice of the character Dr. Tetsuji Kanie in the anime adaptation of Hinomaru Sumo.

In 2019, Demon was appointed an ambassador for good medical care by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

Demon leant his voice to Capcom's 2023 video game Street Fighter 6 as a real time commentator for fights.

Persona Demon Kakka wears face paint and elaborate costumes to convey his persona of a demon. Like the other members of Seikima-II, Demon adopted the stage persona of an Akuma ("demon") from the futuristic hyper-evolved dimension Makai ("demon world"), where he was the former Vice Emperor. They all wear face paint and elaborate stage outfits. The band preaches a demonic religion called Akumakyō through heavy metal music to conquer the Earth. Originally using the name , he began using in 2000, and in 2010 changed his name to Demon Kakka. He has also released material under the name and the symbol !, which is read as "Exclamation".

On December 10, 2014, a supporter of politician Daisuke Sakamoto (Party for Japanese Kokoro) dressed as Demon during a public event supporting Sakamoto in the 2014 Japanese general election to represent Hiroshima 7th district. When news of the cosplay spread on the internet and TV, Demon wrote a blog post stating that because it was not made clear that it was a fake, any similar acts in the future would result in legal action. Sakamoto apologized stating that it was a "careless" decision.

Discography

Studio albums Release date Title Name holder Record label Oricon April 21, 1990 Fitzbeat/CBS Sony 7 September 21, 1995 Demon as Bad Man Demon Kogure Ki/oon Records — October 25, 2000 Astrodynamics ! [Exclamation] Ariola Japan — February 14, 2002 Symphonia His Excellency Demon Kogure BMG Japan — October 8, 2003 When the Future Loves the Past: Mirai ga Kako wo Aisurutoki His Excellency Demon Kogure BMG Japan — January 24, 2007 Girls' Rock Demon Kogure Avex Trax 29 January 30, 2008 Girls' Rock √ Hakurai Demon Kogure Avex Trax 40 February 11, 2009 Girls' Rock ~Tiara~ Demon Kogure Avex Trax 22 May 16, 2012 Mythology Demon Kakka Avex Trax 22 March 15, 2017 Existence H.E. Demon Kakka Ariola Japan 23 November 8, 2017 Demon Kakka Ariola Japan 23 October 16, 2019 Demon Kakka Ariola Japan 16

Singles Release date Title Name holder Record label Oricon August 21, 1995 "Love Romance" Demon Kogure Ki/oon Records — September 20, 2000 "Age of Zero!" ! [Exclamation] BMG Japan — January 14, 2009 Demon Kogure Avex Trax 39 December 12, 2012 "Forest of Rocks" Demon Kakka Avex Trax 43 December 4, 2019 "Neo" H.E. Demon Kakka Ariola Japan 33 September 15, 2020 Demon Kakka Toho Village —

Compilation albums Release date Title Name holder Record label Oricon December 12, 1993 Ki/oon Records — April 26, 2006 Demon Kogure: "In The Naked Lens" BMG Japan 175 September 26, 2007 Demon's Rock Show! Avex Trax 87 September 24, 2008 √ Hakurai Culture Rock Show! Avex Trax 90 January 20, 2010 Demon's Rock Expo ~The Live~ Avex Trax 86

Other work Release year Song Artist Album/Single 1987 "Rolling Boys in Town" 1234 1988 1991 1992 "Venus" Points-3 1993 unknown 1995 1995 unknown 1996 Reborn 1996 1999 "Man on the Silver Mountain" Various artists Super Rock Summit Rainbow Eyes 2001 "Wisdom of Nature" Amii-Phonic 2002 Various artists Skill and a Shout It Lets Out 2006 "L←→R" Various artists Death Note Tribute 2007 "Under My Martial Law" MCU A.K.A 2009 Various artists Dragon Ball Kai Song Collection 2010 Damijaw 2010 "Search For Light" Grand Illusion Brand New World 2010 "Time to Turn Over" Takashi O'Hashi Independent Souls Union 2012 "Forest of Rocks (Movie Edit.)" Various artists Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Wizard & Fourze: Movie War Ultimatum Original Soundtrack 2012 Various artists Another Sound of 009 Re:Cyborg 2013 Various artists Bakufu Tribute Complete 2013 Various artists 2016 "I See the Light featuring Demon Kakka and Jeff Watson" D-Metal Stars Metal Disney 2016 Various artists "Concrete Revolutio: Chojin Genso The Last Song (Anime)" COMPOSITE ALBUM 2018 Darjeeling 2019 Various artists

Video games Release year Game Console Notes 1986 Famicom, MSX2 Demon plays the main character who needs to save his band members in four areas. 1989 DJ Boy Arcade Demon voices the DJ in the Japanese version of the game. 1993 Pioneer LaserActive Demon appears in this game. 1996 Nintendo Super Famicom Demon composed the entire soundtrack for the game. 1996 Sega Saturn Demon wrote music for one of the characters. 1998 Rudra no Hihō Nintendo Super Famicom unknown 1998 G.O.D Pure Sony PlayStation Demon wrote music for this game. 1998 Sony PlayStation Demon voices some characters for this game. 2009 Trick x Logic Season 1 Sony PSP Demon voices one of main characters for this game. 2009 Trick x Logic Season 2 Sony PSP Demon voices one of main characters for this game. 2023 Street Fighter 6 PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Microsoft Windows Demon voices a fight commentator for this game.

Filmography Year Title Character/role 1986 Wanna-Be's Himself 1989 Godzilla vs. Biollante Himself 1989 Batman Joker (Jack Nicholson) (Japanese dub voice) 1990 Urotsukidoji II: Legend of the Demon Womb Münchhausen II 1992 Humane Society Himself 2003 unknown 2008 Himself, also writer and director of this short film 2012 Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Wizard & Fourze: Movie War Ultimatum Zatan (voice) 2018 Hinomaru Sumo Dr. Tetsuji Kanie (voice)