Schaft is a Japanese musical side project of Maki Fujii, of Soft Ballet, and Imai Hisashi, of Buck-Tick. Schaft formed in 1991 and released the song "Nicht-Titel" on the compilation release Dance 2 Noise 001. The two musician friends (Imai Hisashi and Maki Fujii) collaborated for a song in 1991 and a few live shows. The enjoyed it so much they went on to do an album. For the album, Maki recruited his friend Raymond Watts, whom is known for his solo work as PIG and collaborations with KMFDM. Maki was able to get many guest musicians to work with Schaft. On August 9, 1993 a five date tour called "LSB" began. This featured the bands Luna Sea, Soft Ballet, Buck-Tick, and sometimes Schaft (w/o Raymond Watts). The art of singing and dancing in a prepared fictional play has been a time-honored tradition ranging to the early days of civilization. ... In music, a side-project is a musical project undertaken by one (or several) person already known for their involvement in another band. ... Soft Ballet is a Japanese industrial and synthpop band. ... Imai Hisashi Imai Hisashi is the lead guitarist and founding member of the Japanese rock band Buck-Tick. ... Buck-Tick Buck-Tick (an anglicization of baku chiku, Japanese for firecracker) is a Japanese rock band founded by Imai Hisashi. ... 1991 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... P.I.G. consists almost solely of Raymond Watts, an early member and periodic collaborator of KMFDM. Several of his albums were originally released in Japan, where he enjoyed considerably more success than in the United States, but those albums were eventually released in the US. Casting aside the pseudonym... KMFDM circa 1993; from left to right: Raymond Watts, Sascha Konietzko, Gunter Schultz, and En Esch KMFDM is an electronic music band in the industrial music genre. ... LUNA SEA was a significantly popular Japanese Visual Rock band of the 1990s. ...

Schaft went on to play a few shows in Tokyo and Osaka with Raymond Watts and Motokatsu (The Mad Capsule Market's) guesting on drums. Other musicians that appeared on the album appeared on stage via pre-recorded tape. Schaft released 2 albums. Switchblade on September 21, 1994 and Switch Remix on October 21, 1994 along with a VHS live video Switchblade Visual Mix on December 16, 1994.

In 1998, Imai Hisashi and Maki Fujii rejoined as Schaft without Raymond Watts on tour with Zilch for their "Cut Your Edge Tour 99" for three shows (August 11 in Fukuoka, 12 in Osaka, and 14 in Tokyo). This was the last time Schaft made any appearances. Zilch may mean several things: It was a name for Zela. ...

Members of Schaft came together again in 2001 for the project Schwein, who recorded the album Schweinstein and its remix companion EP Son Of Schweinstein. A Japanese tour followed. Schwein is a music group consisting of members of KMFDM, P.I.G. and BUCK-TICK. Members Raymond Watts and Imai Hisashi, both having worked together with Schaft, were joined by Sakurai Atsushi of BUCK-TICK and Sascha Konietzko of KMFDM. In 2001 Schwein released an album, Schweinstein followed by... Schweinstein is a 2001 album released by Schwein. ... Son Of Schweinstein is a remix EP by Schwein. ...

A song from the Switchblade album, Broken English, will be used as the opening song for the Geneon USA funded Hellsing OVAs.

Discography

• Switchblade - 1994
• Switch - 1994