Megatera Zero (メガテラ・ゼロ)

Overview

Megatera Zero (メガテラ・ゼロ) is a Japanese male singer and singer-songwriter born on September 12, 1991 in Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture, and now based in Osaka. He is the vocalist of the rock bands Mr.FanTastiC and THE STARVERS, and also works as part of the music unit BLUES DRIVER. As a "utaite" (cover singer), he has posted "I tried singing" videos on Niconico and YouTube.

Career

Early life and move to Tokyo

He played soccer from elementary school through high school and entered high school on a sports recommendation. Music was what he really wanted to do, however, and in his third year he walked out in the middle of a match. He then kept his name on the judo club roster only, spending club hours doing strength training. He also formed a band in high school. After graduating he chose neither a job nor further study; at 19 he moved to Tokyo and began street performances. Life there was hard: with no food, he reportedly ate snow, and he became friends with a homeless man with whom he got through the winter.

Niconico and band activities

On December 16, 2011 he began posting to Niconico under the name "Last Haru" (ラスト・はる), switching to his current name in July 2013. In 2016 he formed the rock band Megaro (メガロ) with guitarist Shiro, bassist Roman Nishino and drummer Kazuma Daitatsu, serving as guitarist and vocalist; the band disbanded in 2018 when Daitatsu's chronic illness worsened. In June of that year he formed Mr.FanTastiC with guitarist and Vocaloid producer Nanahoshi Kangengakudan and others. The band made its major debut on Pony Canyon in June 2019 and moved to For Life Music Entertainment in 2021. In April 2020 he formed the unit BLUES DRIVER with Roman Nishino.

Vocaloid producer and VTuber work

As of August 2024, his most-viewed cover is "Charles" (Balloon), with 12 million views on Niconico and 42 million on YouTube. In September 2021 he posted "Boku no Shunkashuto" and began working as a Vocaloid producer. In February 2022, subscription streaming of self-covers of songs he had written and composed as a Vocaloid producer began through For Life Music Entertainment, marking his major debut under his own name. On September 1, 2022 he started activity as the VTuber "Whale Taylor" (ホエール・テイラー).

Recent activity

On September 1, 2023 he released "IKI," a new song written for the TV drama Black Postman, his first drama theme song. On September 26, 2023 he suddenly deleted his cover of "Yoidore Shirazu" (Kanaria), then his most-viewed cover at about 70 million views. On his official X account he explained that "singing covers" is a world of singing songs and artists one has come to love, that he was saddened to hear that world spoken of badly, and that he deleted the video because of the state of its comment section.

In July 2024 he formed the band THE STARVERS with Jon Kanda (guitar, PENGUIN RESEARCH), Nakanishi (guitar, HoneyWorks), Igarashi (bass, Hitorie) and SHiN (drums, GRANRODEO support / Gero BAND), and released the music video for "I'm sorry" on the band's official YouTube channel. He was also confirmed to appear at "YouTube Music Weekend 8.0 supported by docomo" on August 23–25, 2024, where four new songs were to be unveiled: "Nautica," "Open," "Kazoeru no," and "Gyoko."

Musical style

His voice is marked by an electric-guitar-like texture and a growling, shouting delivery. Fellow singer Ado, who is also known for a gritty vocal style, said on TV Tokyo's Achikochi Audrey (broadcast July 31, 2024) and TV Asahi's EIGHT-JAM (August 18) that she was strongly influenced by his singing. He cites Aerosmith among his influences and has said he wants to become Steven Tyler.

Personality and trivia

The name "Megatera Zero" was chosen to mean "from top to bottom," with Megatron from Beast Wars being the deciding inspiration. He is a big fan of Akira Toriyama and his manga Dragon Ball.