X Japan drummer Yoshiki says headbanging is dangerous after undergoing urgent surgery
Japanese heavy metal band’s drummer says he plans to play the piano instead of the drums at X Japan concerts next month after undergoing surgery to implant an artificial cervical disc
The frenzied drummer behind rockers X Japan declared headbanging to be “no good” yesterday, while sporting a neck brace at his first press conference since emergency surgery.
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Yoshiki, who is known for such intense drumming that he sometimes collapses on stage, shocked fans last month when he announced he would need an urgent operation to implant an artificial cervical disc.
On Tuesday, Yoshiki appeared at a Tokyo press conference in sunglasses, a black leather outfit and the neck brace. “I’ve thought about it and I have to say that headbanging is no good,” he says, drawing laughter from fans. “I may sound weird saying it at this point.”
I’m not well. It hurts a lot. I had an artificial cervical disc inserted but it isn’t used to my body yet.
But the career rocker immediately appeared to take back his no-banging pledge. “I may end up headbanging again, unless there is a law banning it.”
The frail 51-year-old, whose group was one of the biggest acts in Japanese music history with fanatical fan followings in the 1980s and 1990s, cancelled all engagements leading up to and following the operation at a hospital in Los Angeles, where he lives.
A neurosurgeon in Japan had told the rocker he had such severe neck damage that it would have forced a professional rugby player to retire, his management said in May.
“I’m not well. It hurts a lot,” he says. “I had an artificial cervical disc inserted but it isn’t used to my body yet, maybe.”