Artist Spotlight

She started playing guitar at 17. Now she's one of the best.

With this column, I celebrate one of my favorite musicians. She showed up on the scene 17 years ago, and rapidly became a favorite of musicians and lay fans alike. Then she suffered a medical crisis, coinciding with the pandemic, and had to put things on hold.

She came back with a vengeance, co-founding an amazing new supergroup, recorded two EPs with them — and then had to take another hiatus. This one, however, is for much happier reasons. Read on!

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I grew up mostly listening to instrumental music. My parents (mainly my mom because my dad pretty much disappeared when I was a kid) always had classical music and jazz playing in our house. We went to live performances when my mom could scrape together the money. I even took piano lessons.

I didn’t practice much, but enough to instill a profound respect for people who actually became good at playing instruments.

I remain a sucker for music played by people who deeply understand what they are doing. It was natural, then, that when I discovered rock, I gravitated to groups that could really play their instruments. As much as I love great vocalists, my heart ultimately belongs to the musicians who can make an instrument cry, moan, soar or simply tell a story, no words needed.

The folks in D-Drive do all that stuff. They know how to write. They play with passion—but without the histrionics and funny faces affected by many other musicians, including many who are not as good. Their feelings come out in the music itself. And they are wizards on their instruments, giving them a deep musical vocabulary.

First Gig: D-Drive

Before guitarists Seiji and Yuki started D-Drive, they were “senpai” and “kohai”—master and student. He is a long-time professional guitar instructor and brand ambassador. She picked up the guitar at the age of 17 after having been a drummer and was soon his star pupil. By 2009, when she was 21, she had become so good that he asked her to form a band with him.

Having decided to take the plunge, they needed to recruit a drummer and bassist. They posted a video of themselves playing something they had composed together, accompanied by programmed drum and bass tracks. On the strength of that, they were able to complete their lineup.

Here is that original video. For those of you who like the little details: At 2:07, they start a sequence of lightning-fast harmonized riffs, and if you watch their hands, you will see that Seiji is tapping (hammer-ons and pull-offs) while Yuki is sweep-picking. Using two such different techniques and getting them perfectly synchronized is crazily difficult.

On the strength of this video, they recruited a drummer and a bassist to complete the lineup. The original band consisted of:

· Seiji and Yuki on guitars

· Chiiko on drums

· Shimitaro on bass.

The Last Revenge

Here is one of the last things they released with that lineup. It’s a high-energy rocker that could have been the soundtrack to an action film.

The song has an unconventional structure, with an extra bridge and an extra round of verse and chorus. Nothing repeats—each verse is an improvisation on the previous one, and each chorus is more dense and complex than the prior one. The song keeps building in intensity while staying catchy and melodic.

Shimitaro left in 2018, and they recruited Toshiyuki Sugimori (“Toshi”), a veteran of several heavy metal groups, to replace him.

D-Drive’s current lineup:

· Seiji, lead guitar

· Yuki, lead guitar

· Toshi, bass

· Chiiko, drums

The rhythm section, Chiiko and Toshi, provide a rock-solid foundation with plenty of flair. The entire group has jazz and fusion influences, which come through in their performances.

Seiji and Yuki have an almost telepathic connection, helped, of course, by the fact that he coached her for so long. It enables them to play fiery, intricate duets, anticipate each other’s moves, and play off each other effortlessly.

They have been evolving before our eyes, and none more than Yuki, who has become a true guitar hero. As she has grown, she has embraced a more aggressive musical approach. Her lead lines flirt with dissonance and odd time signatures. She uses more overdrive and distortion than Seiji does, giving her a grittier, dirtier sound. It nicely complements his clean, bell-like tone.

D-Drive were smart enough to make Yuki the face of the band. She has off-the-charts charisma and has been dubbed “the world’s most beautiful shredder.”

Oh, and she has some of the most gorgeous custom gear I think I’ve ever seen.

Still, none of that would matter if she weren’t a beast on her instrument.

A beastly cover

Here, Yuki is doing a solo cover of Judas Priest’s most iconic song, “Painkiller.” For those not familiar with Priest, they were one of the earliest bands to feature twin lead guitarists (Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing), who were famous for their dual shred-fests.

She actually plays both of their lines in this cover (except for a few spots where it would be physically impossible). She makes it look absurdly easy.

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The more I hear D-Drive, the more impressed I am. They combine the catchiness and infectious beat of some of the great ’60s rock groups, especially the surf-rock bands, with decidedly modern composition and technique. That’s all topped off with elite-level skill.

There are lots of musicians who can show off and take every opportunity to do so, but that gets boring. D-Drive flip that approach on its head: They pull you in with beautiful melodies and harmonies and set a mood before they hit the accelerator. When they do, it sounds natural and takes the song to another level.

When words really aren’t needed: “Unkind Rain”

Like many of us, D-Drive worked remotely during the pandemic. They recorded and posted several studio sessions. This is one of my favorites from those sessions—it’s a moody, atmospherically jazzy piece full of emotional ups and downs. For guitar history nerds, I hear echoes of Neal Schon and Robin Trower.

Yuki had been taking on more of the group’s writing, and this was the first piece for which she took sole writing credits. Listen for the stark contrast in tone between the two guitars during the coda.

In mid-2022, D-Drive posted a cryptic notice that Yuki was going in for surgery to remove a tumor. She added her own comment:

“…I will be considering my physical condition after the surgery and will let you know again when it is decided that I will return. I apologize for the inconvenience this will cause to the members and those involved, and I appreciate your understanding.”

Really? You have to face cancer surgery, and you are worried about inconveniencing everyone else? In a world drowning in self-pity and narcissism, I’d say that stands out as a bit unusual. In any case, like the rest of D-Drive’s fans, I waited anxiously for any news.

The band had just completed their new album “Dynamotive,” and they went ahead and released it.

Here is one of the singles from that album:

Second gig

Around six months after Yuki’s surgery, she and D-Drive resumed a limited schedule of local live performances. The band are said to be working on a new album. They have said very little about her prognosis, though she looks happy and healthy.

The big news was that in the fall of 2023, Yuki joined with four other wildly talented musicians in a project called “East of Eden.” It started as a side gig — like her, they all have day jobs with other bands. But the chemistry has been so good, and the resulting music so exciting, that they have started to put out recordings — two EPs to date.

This is also an interesting change of pace for Yuki. She is not front and center, but part of an ensemble of equally capable musicians. Her role is more subtle than it is in D-Drive—most of the time she is weaving a tapestry of sound that backs up Akane, the lead singer. Her solos are short and sweet, and usually played in counterpoint to the violin.

Here is a sample:

A second hiatus and a new chapter

This past week, we learned that D-Drive is going on hiatus again, but this time for a much happier reason. Yuki is pregnant with her first child. She will finally take maternity leave, though she managed to keep recording and performing live right up to the start of her ninth month!

I think it’s pretty clear that we can expect to see her back before long. Some people just have to be making music.