Ayane Hichigara

Ayane Hichigara (Japanese: 位置柄彩音, Ichigara Ayane, born April 29, 1967), is a Japanese rock vocalist and guitarist. She formed her band Girl on Run in 1982 with drummer Miyako Azanashi. A figure of the 1980s alternative rock scene in Japan, her career has spanned on and off for four decades. She is known for her five-octave vocal range, her use of belting and screaming, her use of odd time signatures and tunings in her music, and her eccentric blend of the traditional Japanese style of clothing and quintessential modern Japanese kogal clothing style. She also had a marriage to Nirvana vocalist Kurt Cobain in the early 1990s.

She first rose to prominence in 1986, with her band's third album, Stories from Chernobyl. The album had been panned extremely hard by music critics, calling it "a dilution of the late 1970s heavy metal scene, sugarcoated in pills and heroin, which they were all addicted to,". However, Stories from Chernobyl was a big hit among Japanese youth, eventually reaching #3 on the Asian Alternative charts and being certified gold by January 1, 1987. This led to the discovery of Girl on Run's previous two albums, Shit Outta Luck (1984), and Lost in Time (1985), and they reached gold certification by winter 1987.

Ayane has had a long and storied political activism career in Japan and the United States. She has tackled various subjects through her music, such as rape law, abortion laws, gay rights, and mandatory minimums for drug offenses. She also donated a lot of money to various charities in Japan that help sexual assault survivors. On top of just music, she also paints and writes.

Early life
Ayane was born on April 29, 1967, on a small farm outside of Nakajima in the Fukushima Prefecture of Japan, to parents Buzusho and Shichika Hichigara. Buzusho was hung by Miyagi Prefecture rebels as a plan to siege the city of Nakajima, in front of young Ayane and her sister. This would affect Ayane and her family later in life, and as the farm's revenue went down, the family sold the farm and moved to Nakajima proper. Ayane was entered into a girls' school program, and met Miyako Azanashi at the girl's school in 1982.

1982-1984: Formation, prison sentence, and Shit Outta Luck
Ayane was accepted into an exchange program and was placed in a girls' school in Northampton, UK, in 1981, at the age of 13. It was a boarding school, and Ayane had stated in interviews that she was a relative loner. However, near the end of her first year in England, she met classmate Miyako Azanashi in the music room at the school. They shared the same love for the late 1970s heavy metal scene, and by the end of the year, they had started a band together, originally named The Babygirls.

On January 4, 1982, while Ayane was walking alone on a trip to London, she was beat unconscious by three Brits who sodomized her under a bridge and then threw her in the River Thames. She had gotten infected from the dirty river, and was nearing death. However, Ichigo Osana, three years' Ayane's senior, pulled her out and took her to the hospital, where she healed and made a recovery a week later.

After the incident, Ayane and Miyako changed their band's name to Sapien, and played their first show at The Picturedrome in Northampton, on January 15, 1982. Only four people attended the show, and it received mediocre reviews, noting their extreme use of odd time signatures and their lack of a bassist. Therefore, the two placed a request for a bassist in the newspaper. By February, they recruited Norfolk native Kara Schaffer-Sullivan as their bassist. They only played three shows with Kara, since she had six fingers and a chromosomal deficiency, due to her brother also being her father.

At the same time, Ayane was searching for the woman who saved her from death. For two weeks in May 1982, she scoured London, looking for any trace of the woman named Osana. She eventually found out she was in a band, Normal for Norfolk, and while Ayane was in London, Ichigo and her band was in Northampton doing a show. Soon after, she found Ichigo at a show in Oxfordshire, and after a brief conversation, sent each other correspondence. After Normal for Norfolk dissolved in 1983, Ayane and Miyako called Ichigo to ask her to join Sapien, and Ayane was stuttering and mumbling, and Miyako snatched the phone and asked her directly, "Would you join our band?"

The three of them toured around England and Wales during the summer and fall of 1983. They would book shows with venue holders, calling themselves "Harakiri Records recording artists" to sound more professional. In reality, Harakiri Records was something the band made up to get them more credibility. They had gained a grassroots following around South England and Wales, riding the oncoming wave of Welsh heavy metal centered around Cardiff.

In 1984, they received a loan for £350.52 from their close friend Tony Bourge of the Welsh heavy metal band Tredegar. From there, they went to Silkcrayon Studios in Cardiff, with Bourge helping Hichigara mix and master the album. A month before the release of their debut album, under the advice of Ichigo, they renamed themselves to Girl on Run, seeing themselves as women with no particular home. Their debut album, Shit Outta Luck, was released on August 19 of the same year. They did a two-part tour, touring England and Wales in the fall, and returning home to Japan to tour in the winter.

At the same time, they recorded and released their first installment of The Bus Tapes, a video album of their tours. It was controversial when it was released, showing the band members in acts of unprovoked violence, including a clip of Ayane assaulting and robbing a 60-year-old man. On February 13, 1985, Ayane was arrested at her apartment in Kyoto. She was brought up on assault and battery charges and sentenced to a year in an Osaka prison. She was beaten by guards, and joined a gang of Chinese women fighting back against the guards.

1985-1987: Lost in Time, Stories from Chernobyl, and rise to prominence
She only spent five months in prison before being released in September of the same year. Only a few weeks later, on October 1, they released their second album, Lost in Time, which was mostly outtakes that weren't put forward on Shit Outta Luck. It received low sales but mostly positive reviews. It was noted for it's push away from their hardcore no-wave/heavy-metal sound and towards a darker, slower, and more progressive tone. It sold about 5,000 copies by winter 1985. This got them the attention of a small Kyoto-based rock label, Oiran Japan, known for marketing the bands Spin and ReGAL. They signed to Oiran, and they gave the band a ¥605,940 ($3,000 USD) budget. With the increased budget, the band gained a more polished sound on their third album Stories from Chernobyl, released September 9, 1986. The album was a concept album, about a world ruined from nuclear energy run amok, poisoning the world and devoiding it of plants. It was their first album to gain notoriety across Japan, selling 20,000 copies by the end of the year.

Their second tour was a combination of Lost in Time and Stories from Chernobyl, lasting 5 months and gaining them recognition throughout the Kansai and Honshu regions. This period was also noted by Girl on Run hiring a Kyoto-based session guitarist, Tsuki Uzaki, to become Girl on Run's touring rhythm guitarist.

1987-1989: Rape case, Pleasant Disaster, Ayane, Miyako, and Ichigo, and relationship with Kurt Cobain
By January 1987, after five months of touring, Ayane had suffered burnout and was becoming increasingly disillusioned with the metal scene. She went back to her home in Nakajima, and she sought to write music more influenced by traditional Japanese shakuhachi music and the drum-machine rock (which would become industrial rock), spearheaded in California in the 1980s. Over this time, her already publicized addiction to the muscle relaxer gabapentin worsened, among her increased use of opiates. During her time back in Nakajima, she wrote and recorded a demo of an album she wrote. This album was a rock opera, entitled Bleed For Me, chronicling her ambivalent feelings of success and her wish for a simple life. It was a lot slower, quieter, and more electronic. The album was never released, since Ayane found it too silly and idiotic to release, but three of the songs intended for the opera, "Dirt Lust", "River Runs Dry", and "Sandwall", were repurposed for their fourth album, Pleasant Disaster, which was released on May 24, 1987. Pleasant Disaster was an even bigger hit than their previous albums, gaining them notoriety outside Japan, and gaining them a small following in America.

The tour for Pleasant Disaster was to last seven months, and included a stint on the Moment of Truth tour, supporting American singer Whitney Houston, and a co-headline at the 1987 Reading Festival in the UK. Around this time, they also included Yuki Hanashima, a keyboardist from China, on their tour. However, they fired her shortly after.

The tour was cut short by two months, since in October 1987, she was accosted and raped by 3 fans at a show in Sendai. At the next show in Shibuya the next day, she announced the tour was over, and they were all to leave. This was a shock to fans, and there were rumors that Ayane was going to kill herself.

She increased her use of drugs even worse, often pawning the band's equipment to buy drugs, knowing that the band's manager, Ai Hirasawa, would buy them back. She moved to Tokyo, and would often join sessions with other musicians in the area. These sessions took place in warehouses, and would often descend into drug abuse. Ayane notes that the music she wrote from these sessions were subpar.

It is not known the certain date when Hichigara met Kurt Cobain, however, it is presumed to be March 1988. According to Hichigara, she first met Cobain at a small park in the Shibuya area, when he asked her for a cigarette. She had one and gave it to him, and it sparked a conversation. Cobain asked her for her number, Ayane said she would only give it to him if he met her at the same bench, at the same time, the next day. The next day, Ayane waited all day for Cobain, who showed up at the exact time noted. She gave him her number, and their relationship started.

Cobain was a Seattle native, and was only in Japan on visiting. However, Ayane would often see Cobain at the various warehouse sessions. They bonded further, and her relationship with him was publicized in 1989. By then, Hichigara's band had released their fifth album, Ayane, Miyako, and Ichigo, on April 9. The album received critical acclaim, getting them moderate success in America, where they toured up and down California, Oregon, and Washington. At the same time, Cobain had debuted with Nirvana's first album, Bleach. They mostly toured independently of each other, however, they did have shows together, such as the Staples Center show in Los Angeles, California, on September 9.

By November, the media had realized that Ayane was pregnant. Cobain was the father. The pair had known since August, but it was only announced by Spin in a November editorial.

1990-1996: Marriage, the Seattle scene, blackmail, and The Downward Spiral
On December 23, 1989, Ayane took a video announcing her quitting from Girl on Run, noting she wanted to be the best wife and mother possible for Cobain and their child. Ayane's pregnancy was still highly publicized in Japan, so on January 15, 1990, Ayane left Japan and moved to Tacoma, Washington, with Kurt. Kurt did a small tour for Nirvana, and Ayane states she was happiest during this time.

On April 19, 1990, the pair's daughter, Nozomi, was born. Kurt decided to take off Nirvana for a few months to take care of his daughter, and the pair had enjoyed relative privacy from the media. However, soon after, Sub Pop had transferred Nirvana to DGC, which expected an album to be completed by 1991. That album would be Nevermind, Nirvana's smash hit album, that sold millions of copies. They were soon plunged into superstardom, and Kurt had left for a year to tour, only returning occasionally to see Ayane and Nozomi.

Sometime in 1992, Courtney Love, vocalist for the band Hole, had blackmailed Cobain into divorcing Ayane. It is not certain what she held against him, however, it is presumed Ayane and Nozomi were involved. Nozomi was too attached to her father to leave, so while Ayane left to Japan, Nozomi stayed behind.

Devastated, Ayane returned to Japan. Her band had found a new singer, Naomi Michigaya, and she was shunned by the media for leaving Japan. She started a few small bands in Tokyo, but it went nowhere.

She descended into further drug use and would often prostitute herself for drug money. In late 1992, she suffered a mental breakdown, bleached her hair, and moved to Kyoto. She described it as "surreal... horrifying... I'd see girls wearing Girl on Run T-shirts that wouldn't even recognize me."

She would continue this spiral into summer 1993, where she was kidnapped one night, and held for two weeks in a warehouse, where she was repeatedly raped and tortured by up to a dozen men, all while only being fed grass.

After the incident, she decided she wanted to prove herself to her family, and moved back to Seattle. She got to be with Nozomi again, and it is rumored that Kurt and Ayane had an adulterous relationship while Kurt was married to Courtney.

In early March 1994, Ayane helped Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails produce The Downward Spiral, their second album. It was originally rumored that the album was about Ayane and her fall from fame, however Trent Reznor has denied these claims.

In 1994, Cobain committed suicide at his Seattle home, while taking care of Nozomi. Ayane was heartbroken, and while doing the best to be a good mother, was struggling with depression and drug addiction. Sometime in early 1995, she gave Nozomi to Chris Cornell, her close friend, and then attempted suicide. She survived the attempt, but she was still suffering. During this time, she rarely went outside, staying inside in a dark room, doing drugs and watching movies. It was not until a few months later, she reunited with her bandmates after they fired Michigaya in 1996. Ayane notes this was the turning point when they reinvited her into the band, and Girl on Run was back to it's original lineup.

1997-1999: Revival, Slip EP, battles with Hole, and breakup
Hole, Courtney Love's band, and Girl on Run had a storied conflict, with Ayane blaming Courtney for Kurt's demise. This came to a head at the first Fuji Rock Festival in 1997, where Courtney Love and Eric Erlandson of Hole came on stage after Girl on Run did a long outro to try and eat up Hole's concert time, which ended in Love and Hichigara engaging in a fistfight on stage. Hichigara and Love were detained by police, however Ayane was let out immediately after, while Love spent a month in jail. It is presumed Ayane being Japanese is the reason for this discrepancy.

With the revival of Girl on Run's pre-1990 lineup, rumors of a follow-up to their hit album Ayane, Miyako, and Ichigo were rampant. A few demos were leaked by fans, and in response, Girl on Run released the Slip EP on September 2, 1998. It got weaker sales, mostly due to fans who were expecting a follow-up in the sound of Ayane, Miyako, and Ichigo and Lightswitch, but it received positive reviews, noting their more melodic structure while returning to the sound of Stories from Chernobyl.

Slip was the first Girl on Run album to have a version in Japanese. All of the other Girl on Run albums were in English.

They toured for three months with Slip. However, burnout was again prevalent for the band, and they amicably disbanded on February 11, 1999.

2000-2006: Hiatus, If I Had, and audio engineering work
Ayane did not participate in much in the early 2000s. She had a job producing at Electric Lady Studios, and helped Weezer produce their second self-titled album and Maladroit, and helped Rage Against the Machine produce Renegades.

After the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, Girl on Run reunited with a one-off concert at Rock Against Bush, a concert of several bands who were against the War on Terror started by George Bush.

In 2003, Ayane published a book, entitled If I Had, it was a fiction story, however, it was heavily influenced by her own life. It sold 500,000 copies in its first year.

2006-2016: Collaborations with Thom Yorke, Milk Carton EP, and Runaway
In 2006, Girl on Run reunited for a few shows in Japan. They also realized a live videotape of the concerts.

Hichigara and Thom Yorke worked on a song, "Melt", in 2009. They released it on Radiohead's B-Sides compilation.

Ayane released a solo EP, Milk Carton, which was largely acoustic. It was a noticed distinction from her older works, in 2010.

In 2014, Ayane started a supergroup with Stone Temple Pilots bassist Robert DeLeo, Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard, and Radiohead drummer Philip Selway. It was called Runaway. They released one album, entitled Ditch Bitch, and they went on tour for two years, before disbanding in 2016.

2018-present: Third reunion of Girl on Run, ...and Tsuki!, and expansion to a four-piece band
In 2019, Ayane reunited again with Miyako and Ichigo for what was intended to be a one-off concert in Avalon, California. After a successful concert, they announced their reunion on March 31, via Snapchat.

They announced the morning after that Tsuki Uzaki would be joining as an official member of the band, however, since it was on April Fools' Day, nobody took it seriously until their next Instagram post, showing Tsuki Uzaki joining the band.

In December 2019, the band went to their summer house in Avalon, California, and released their eighth album ...and Tsuki!

It received amazing reviews, noting the expansive guitar work due to Tsuki's input.

In the wake of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Girl on Run released an acoustic EP, titled One Lovely Winter, and released one single with it, an acoustic version of their 1984 song "Marmalade Girl".

Artistry
Ayane's music has been described as heavy metal, sludge metal, stoner metal, grunge, post-grunge, and industrial rock.

She notes her biggest influence was Welsh heavy metal band Tredegar, American alt-metal band Faith No More, and American rock band Thin Lizzy.

With Girl on Run

 * Sixtrack (1983)


 * Shit Outta Luck (1984)


 * Lost in Time (1985)


 * Stories from Chernobyl (1986)


 * Pleasant Disaster (1987)
 * Ayane, Miyako, and Ichigo (1989)
 * Slip EP (1998)
 * ...and Tsuki! (2019)
 * One Lovely Winter EP (2020)

With Thom Yorke

 * "Melt" (2009)

Solo work

 * Milk Carton EP (2009)

With Runaway

 * Ditch Bitch (2014)

Writing
Hichigara has written and published several short stories with her friend and current bandmate Ai Hirasawa.

These include:


 * Ice Age Coming (1985)
 * Birdcall (1986)
 * The Discotheque (1993)
 * Returning to Miyagi (1995)
 * Slip (1997)
 * Sinclair Inlet (1999)
 * Off Your Wall (2004)
 * Streamline (2009)
 * Miss Mountains (2021)