Violet UK

Solo project by Yoshiki Hayashi that has spanned over 20 years of work. Violet UK has produced music for, among others, the movies "Catacombs" ("Blue Butterfly,"), "Repo! The Genetic Opera" ("VUK-R" a.k.a. "God Bless You"), "In God's Hand" ("Sane"), "Goemon" ("Rosa"), a Japanese news station ("Blue Sky Heaven"), as well as a series of previous songs that were performed in a 2002 symphonic concert (one of which, "Unnamed Song," was covered by X Japan vocalist Toshi in his 2010 farewell solo live). Technically (though it can also be considered under Yoshiki's solo classical project), the 2014 song "Hero" for the anime film "Saint Seiya: Legend of Sanctuary" also is a Violet UK song due to the project's sole remaining vocalist (Katie Fitzgerald) being the vocalist of record for it. Violet UK was initially started in 1991 by Yoshiki in Los Angeles while he was recording for the X "Jealousy" album. "UK" is an abbreviation for "Underground Kingdom." Their music styles range from industrial rock/metal, classical, symphonic rock, experimental, trip hop, trance, jazz, ballad, ambient, D&B, EDM, electronica, and gothic metal to alternative rock. A classical version of Violet UK song "Amethyst" was released as Yoshiki's solo single "Amethyst" and on the album "Eternal Melody in 1993. Live versions of "Amethyst" and "Unnamed Song" (a.k.a. "7th") were released on Yoshiki "Eternal Melody II" in 2005. A classical version of Violet UK's "Red Christmas" is also included on this album. "City Of Devils" was performed live by Violet UK featuring Katie Fitzgerald on vocals, Amanda Frei (Mandi Martyr) on bass, and Sugizo on guitar during X Japan's 2008 Tokyo Dome concert. X japan songs "Angel", "Hero", and "White Poem I" were originally Violet UK songs. Another Violet UK song "VUK-R" (also known as "God Bless You") developed into X Japan song "I.V." which was released in 2008.