Update: G.I.S.M. and Relapse Records have confirmed that Sakevi Yokoyama passed away on August 24.
Original story: Tributes have begun to pour in for Sakevi, the frontman of legendary Japanese metal-meets-punk band G.I.S.M.
G.I.S.M. originally existed between 1981 and 2002, and ultimately reunited for Lee Dorian's curated 2016 Roadburn event. G.I.S.M. recently experienced new popularity within the United States, as Relapse Records reissued both their Detestation and M.A.N. (Military Affairs Neurotic) albums.
Neither Relapse Records nor G.I.S.M. has yet confirmed Sakevi's death. The following is a lengthy tribute from Dorian himself. We wish Sakevi's friends and family all the best at this time.
"RIP Sakevi. What a legend. Heard so many wild stories about him in the 80s, via penfriends etc, which made him a near mythical character. Some of the stories were actually pretty wild, so it was hard to decipher fact from fiction. Anyway, back in 1993, I first had the pleasure of meeting him and was invited with a few others to his small apartment just outside of Tokyo city. That was a wild and fun night. He seemed to take great pleasure in getting us stoned, then subjecting us to some rather gruesome human dissection videos, lol. There's no denying that G.I.S.M. were/are one of the most unique and original punk bands in history. Nobody sounded like them but many have tried. They were just way ahead of their time and their influence is a lot more than it simply appears to be on the surface. When I was invited to curate the 2016 edition of Roadburn, I aimed high and my initial list included bands that I thought would never agree due to obvious reasons. G.I.S.M. had never performed outside of Japan prior to this. It took a while to convince Sakevi to agree (I had to send him handwritten letters, as opposed to electronic), eventually he did but then I wasn't even sure if he would make it out of Japan, due to his 'supposed' criminal record. Anyway, he did and it was a historical occasion for everyone involved."
