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On September 14, DEVILOOF announced the departure of their guitarist, Aisaku. Moving forward, they will continue as a four-piece band. Comments from the members, translated into English, are available below.
The following statement was issued in English:
Thank you for your continued support of DEVILOOF.
We want to inform you that Aisaku has left the band as of August 31, 2024.
We deeply apologize for this sudden announcement to all the fans and people involved with DEVILOOF.
The reason for this decision is differences in the direction we want to take the band and how we think about the band in general.
Although we will be walking our separate paths, we ask for your continued support for Aisaku and DEVILOOF in the future.
As for DEVILOOF, we will continue on as a four-piece band.
The following are the members’ heartfelt parting words, translated from Japanese to English. Read on below for their messages.
Ex-guitarist Aisaku:
Thank you for supporting DEVILOOF.
I’m sorry that this announcement is so out of the blue.
After discussions with the other members, this is the best way forward for all of us that we could think of.
I understand that this is a selfish decision to come to, but I hope that you’ll kindly support everyone on their journies from here out, both DEVILOOF and myself, Aisaku.
Former guitarist Aisaku
Vocalist Keisuke:
Sorry to bring you all this kind of news.
It’s been about six years that the five of us have been making music together. There have been good times, tiring times, and a ton of things we got to experience together. It makes me sad that we’re losing someone who went through it all with us.
Our paths will go in different directions from here, but I will continue to support Aisaku in the future.
Thanks for everything.
Vocalist Keisuke
Guitarist Ray:
To all of you who have supported us, including those of you who found us recently, I’m really sorry that we have to make such an announcement.
It’s been the five of us up until now, but from here on out, we’ll become four.
I’ve stayed up all night drinking and crying with Aisaku before.
It’s hard to lose a member of the family, but none of us want to disappoint those of you who come to our shows.
We’ll be sad, but we have no intention of letting things slip.
Aisaku, thanks for everything.
I’m rooting for you.
Thank you so much.
Guitarist Ray
Bassist Daiki:
First of all, I’m sorry we had to make this announcement.
I think there are a lot of you out there who were looking forward to what we five as DEVILOOF would get up to in the future.
I’m very sorry that we betrayed those hopes.
Aisaku, thank you so much for everything until now.
Those of us who are left are determined to take DEVILOOF even further.
We’re ready to rewrite our future.
I hope you’ll continue to support Aisaku and DEVILOOF.
Bassist Daiki
Drummer Kanta:
At 22:00 JST on December 9, 2018, Aisaku and I joined the band.
Me, because I can kind of play metal drums.
Aisaku, because he’s kind of handsome.
I remember I had absolutely no idea what to do in a visual kei band, and taking promotional pictures was so embarrassing.
Back then, I remember asking Aisaku for help. He taught me about how the lighting would affect the angle my face should be at, and things like that. But my strongest memory is that he taught me to “make a big deal about what you think is cool”.
After that, I talked to Daiki about what I wanted to do, which he accepted surprisingly easily. I was really happy.
Aisaku really praised me after I managed to unlock that part of myself during photo and music video shooting.
But as I got my footing and started to work towards becoming who I wanted to be, honestly, the number of times Aisaku and I started to disagree on things increased.
He was uncertain over my YouTube and live streaming activities, and how I use social media.
I wasn’t certain either—whether or not it was okay to talk about my personal work, or how to express myself, or whether what I was doing was wrong.
I’ve been groping my way forward, not knowing the answer, and even now sometimes I still wonder. It’s not like I’ve done an AB test either.
But there’s one thing I know was right for sure.
Even if I lose money, or people point and laugh, or nobody understands what I am getting at, I know I won’t regret a thing as long as I “make a big deal about what I think is cool”. All because somebody told me so.
This ended up all about me, but Aisaku is leaving DEVILOOF.
All of our paths from here have changed.
But, I believe that we (Aisaku and us) have the same core, deep in our hearts.
Let’s take what we think is cool to the extreme.
We might be on different roads, but let’s make the biggest deal we can out of what we think is “cool”.
Maybe they’ll cross paths someday.
Thank you so much for everything until now.
This is the biggest decision for DEVILOOF in the six years since I joined, and from here on out, we’ll show you even stronger unity and more potential.
I’ve got to get even cooler if I want to show my face!
Drummer Kanta
Formed in 2015, DEVILOOF is a four-member heavy metal band from Osaka, Japan, featuring Keisuke on vocals, Ray on guitar and vocals, Daiki on bass, and Kanta on drums.
Blending deathcore with brutal underground influences and striking visuals, the band quickly gained a strong following in Japan and abroad. Their third album DYSTOPIA, released on December 8, 2021, reached number 1 on the iTunes domestic metal chart and number 1 on the Apple Music domestic metal chart on December 17, 2021. The album also reached number 1 in Japan, Norway, Hungary, and Saudi Arabia.
This year, they released their third EP, “Song For The Weak.”, and made their overseas debut with a Latin American tour.
We wish Aisaku and DEVILOOF all the best in their future endeavors.