Tokyo Jihen Hello everybody! ^-^
I hope you're doing well! I am a bit tired, this morning I got up at 5.30 am to wake up my mother, so I decided that I've sleep enought.
I will try to give a sense to this blog, presenting all the new (or old 8D) Japanese group that I discover.
I don't know if I've wrote it already, but I'm doing some translation for JAME italian website, so sometimes I discover some really good groups and I want you to know them.
Here is the first one.
Tokyo Jihen
Video
Origins
[ edit ] Phase 1
Shiina came to think that she wanted to work with a band while working on her last solo album, Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana . She began looking for members of her backing band to support her solo tour "Sugoroku Ecstasy" in the Autumn of 2003. The musicians she selected became the core of what would become Tokyo Jihen.
The tour band was introduced as Tokyo Jihen during the tour for the first time, featuring guitarist Hirama, keyboardist HZM, drummer Hata, and familiar bassist Kameda.
After the tour, she announced her retirement from her solo career, and that she was joining her backing band, Tokyo Jihen as a member of them.
Mikio Hirama ( 晝海 幹音 Hirama Mikio ? ) , or Micky , had released two mini-albums on indie labels as a solo musician, and he also was in the band "peppermints kiss cafe" as a guitarist at that time. Shiina Ringo had met him before from a certain audition. She decided to look for him, and she just employed him.
H ZETT M ( H是都M HZM ? ) had already come out on a major label as a member of the Japanese jazz instrumental band " PE'Z ", a five-man group.
Toshiki Hata ( 刄田 綴色 Hata Toshiki ? ) had played the drums as session musician and tour musician of various musicians, such as Mika Nakashima , Dreams Come True . Moreover, he was the drummer in the band of Junpei Shiina ( 椎名 純平 Shiina Junpei ? ) , her elder brother.
Seiji Kameda ( 亀田誠司 Kameda Seiji ? ) , whom Shiina Ringo calls "Shisho"(=master), is a producer and music arranger of many musicians, and session bassist. He knew Shiina Ringo before her debut, and had supported her since her debut. He rose to fame with her.
The real names of Hirama and Hata are "平間 幹央" and "畑 利樹" respectively, but, Shiina Ringo gave them stage names, using Kanji which is not usually used for their names, but as they are the phonetic equivalent, the pronunciation is not changed.
On July 1, 2005, keyboardist H ZETT M and guitarist Hirama Mikio left Tokyo Jihen. HZM returned to his duties as pianist for PE'Z and Hirama returned to his solo career. It was decided that they would withdraw from the band before the "dynamite!" tour started.
[ edit ] Phase 2
After the departure of the band's former guitarist and keyboardist, Shiina began a search for new members.
She was going to have at least a keyboard player join because two people left the band at the same time. She began visiting music clubs to look for the musician who could play the keyboard instrument. [ 1 ] She decided to invite Keitaro Izawa ( 伊澤 啓太郎 Izawa Keitaro ? ) , a friend and former bandmate of HZM. Shiina planned to give him a stage name, but he refused and chose one for himself - Ichiyo Izawa ( 伊澤 一葉 Izawa Ichiyo ? ) .
On the other hand, the search for guitarist ran into difficulties. She invited some guitarists, but she was declined by all of them. They might have disliked considering them as her backing band. [ 2 ] At worst, she planned to choose a different guitarist each time without having a regular guitarist. However, the other members who listened to the 1st album " Kyouiku " demo by chance were pleased with the guitarist who played it, and asked Shiina his name. The guitarist was Ryosuke Nagaoka ( 長岡 亮介 Nagaoka Ryosuke ? ) / Ukigumo ( 浮雲 Floating cloud ? ) . Shiina and Ukigumo had been friends since her days as a soloist, and he had played in a band with Ringo's elder brother Junpei Shiina , with Hata and Tabu Zombie before, and also participated in the production of her third album. Also when the former members left her, he had given her advice. He turned down the offer to join Tokyo Jihen at first, but finally accepted just before recording began for " Adult ".
With so many members replaced Shiina considered changing the name of the band, but decided against it in the end.
In September 2005, keyboardist Izawa Ichiyou and guitarist Ukigumo joined Tokyo Jihen. After this, the lineup including the former members came to be called 第一期 ( Dai-Ikki Phase 1 ? ) , with the current one referred to as 第二期 ( Dai-Niki Phase 2 ? ) .
Ukigumo and Izawa are members of other groups; Ukigumo's is " ペトロールズ "(PETROLZ) and Izawa's " Appa ". Kameda and Hata also do some side work, Kameda as a producer and Hata as a session musician. Shiina has also resumed her solo career, but this is by no means the end of Tokyo Jihen.
On May 25, 2009, it was announced that Izawa joined " the HIATUS " which Takashi Hosomi (ex- Ellegarden ) formed newly. They define the HIATUS as "a project of music, arts, and depicters" in their site. The recording artists and the tour artists are made public there, respectively. Izawa appears as a tour artist.
[ edit ] History
In 2004, Tokyo Jihen appeared in Fuji Rock Festival.
The music video of "Killer Tune" was chosen as "BEST TECHNICAL WORKS VIDEO" of SPACE SHOWER MUSIC VIDEO AWARDS 08 of Space Shower TV which is the first pay channel specialized in music in Japan on March 15, 2008.
