| truehappiness |
5th November 2006 05:14 AM |
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Formation and Anti-Nobunaga
The band started with the members MEG and SASSY working in a Metallica cover band. The two founding members played in this band for two years before they decided that they wanted to go further with their talents than just cover songs. After leaving the band, Sassy offered mACKAz the opportunity to join, he accepted and invited long time friend Kazuto to join the band as well. Oddly, the vocalist was the final member to join the original band. MEG sat in on a school performance one day and one voice stood out to him. MEG offered Yuusuke the chance to join the band; he initially rejected this due to wanting to be a solo singer, but joined after MEG reportedly asked him to join every day for nearly four months. The band, known as Anti-Nobunaga at this time, played mainly in small coffee shops and art theaters for about a year. They had relative success during this period and eventually wanted to reach a larger market than just the local market. SASSY, the band leader, sent demo tapes to every major Japanese label, all of whom rejected the band. It was not until a small Japanese label signed the band that they found their first big break. The band was now playing areas further from their local Okinawa until they landed a spot at the yearly music festival of Okinawa.
[edit] Maakii and the Music Festival
During the summer of 2003, at a yearly music festival in Okinawa, the band's label hyped their spot and eventually they ended up playing for a sold out crowd. Due to this festival being a "per show" ticket selling one, it meant that Anti-Nobunaga was the only band to play for a sell out crowd. A scout for a subsidiary of Sony Music Japan was in the crowd and offered the band the chance to produce their own album. The band then went hard to work on their first album and after three months released "Okinawa 2003". At another festival known as the "Music Picnic Festival", vocalist Maakii also grabbed the attention of the same scout that found Anti-Nobunaga. The scout felt that both projects on their own were not remarkable, but combined, the band could be something never before seen on the Japanese music scene. Maakii first rejected the offer due to wanting to go to Canada to study English and pursue a solo career. It was in fact Yuusuke, the band's other vocalist, that convinced her to join the band. With the addition of Maakii the band took on a new name, HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR (also called HiKara, HaMC, and Handmc). After six months of perfecting their craft, the band was moved up from SMJ's minor label to their major label, in league with bands such as Orange Range. They spent much of 2004 writing and recording, in late 2004 they released their first single, "Over" which was only sold through Tower Record stores. It sold out in the time frame of a month and became immensely scarce, thus it was re-released the next year. The album sat at number one spot of the Indy Oricon charts for an entire month.
[edit] 2005
During 2005, the band released their first official singled, titled "PRIDE", it was originally to be attached to a Japanese football event being held at the same time but was picked up for something else. A Sunrise music partner was looking for a song to use for Gundam SEED Destiny and PRIDE was chosen to be that song. At the time, Gundam SEED Destiny was the number one rated anime in Japan, and being attached to this helped PRIDE's sales immensely. With a final sell count of 223,208 copies, PRIDE remains the band's best selling single since the official start of their public career.
Over the next year, the band went on a media blitz, performing for shows such as Music Fighter, Music Station and HEY HEY HEY at various times. During August, the band released "Days", their 4th single and currently their lowest selling single, selling only 7,679 copies and not breaking the top 20 mark on the Oricon charts. Despite this setback, the band was still honored with the Japanese Record Grand Prix's Rookie of the Year award and Mākī's grandmother who had just passed away was given a tribute just before their performance.
[edit] 2006
In April 2006, the band released their second album after only releasing two singles for the album. The album sold less copies than their original album, but it stayed on the Oricon charts longer and managed to gain a higher peak position than their first album. The band's first single of the year was "Ichirin no Hana" (一輪の花, One Lone Flower) and was used as the third opening to the anime Bleach. This was the first and currently only single to break the top five mark on the Oricon charts since their debut with "PRIDE". They also played their first American concert at an anime convention on April 28th.
The band then went on a large scale Japanese tour. They played 65 venues over the course of the next five months. They released their 7th single, "DIVE into YOURSELF", in August. The song was used as the opening song for the video game Sengoku BASARA II. This was the band's second lowest selling single and was also their lowest ranking single among the Oricon charts, only managing to reach the 24th spot on the weekly charts. Their 8th single "Enrai~Tooku ni Aru Akari" was released on October 25th and entered the charts 12 spots higher "than DIVE into YOURSELF" at the 12th spot.
[edit] 2007
Maakii will be making her acting debut in December 2006 and the band will be doing the theme song for the movie. Tadoritsuku Basho/Okizarisu will be their 9th single, the first for 2007 and it will also be a double A-Side single.
[edit] Personal Information
The band is relatively low key with their personal information, releasing only minuscule amounts of information over the years. Maakii's real name is Masaki Itsushima, this was discovered as her name on the Japanese fan forums for the band. She has since confirmed that it is her real name. mACKAz's real name has been discovered to be Minei Masakatsu, while Yuusuke's real name is rumoured to be Yuusuke Kanashike.[citation needed] The band's other details are kept even more private, like most Japanese music stars, very little is known about their personal lives at all.
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