• facebook
  • twitter
  • rss

LOUDNESS: 'Last Memorial Birthday' To Honor Late Drummer MUNETAKA HIGUCHI

December 21, 2008

A "Last Memorial Birthday" in honor of late LOUDNESS drummer Munetaka Higuchi will be held on December 24 at Aoyama Sougisho in Tokyo, Japan. The surviving members of LOUDNESS will attend the event, which will coincide with what would have been Munetaka's 50th birthday.

For more information (in Japanese),visit the band's official web site.

Higuchi passed away on November 30 following a seven-month battle with liver cancer.

After Higuchi was diagnosed with liver cancer in April, the band put its activities on hold while the drummer underwent treatment. In October, the band's official web site reported that his condition had worsened, even after more than half of his liver was removed.

Higuchi was also the drummer of the rock band LAZY, going by the nickname of Davy, according to Tokyograph. The group disbanded in 1981 and Higuchi co-founded LOUDNESS the same year. LAZY reunited in 1998. Higuchi was also active as a producer, handling artists such as Mari Hamada.

LOUDNESS utilized a session drummer — Kozo Suganuma, a member of one of the most popular fusion bands in Japan, FRAGILE, and a former member of DED CHAPLIN (featuring LOUDNESS singer Minoru Niihara) — for its "special guest" appearance at MÖTLEY CRÜE's October 26, 2008 concert at Saitama Super Arena.

LOUDNESS recently released a four-disc DVD set entitled "The Legend Of Loudness - Live Complete Best" in Japan through Tokuma Communications. It features footage spanning the band's entire career — from the early 1980s through 2008 — including the periods when it was fronted by Michael Vescera (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, OBSESSION) and Masaki Yamada (EZO).

Japanese TV report on Munetaka Higuchi's passing:

Find more on
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).