Glay (band)
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| Glay | |
|---|---|
| Origin |  Hakodate, Hokkaidō, Japan |
| Genre(s) | Rock Pop |
| Years active | 1988 – present |
| Label(s) | lover soul Poly Gram (1994-1999) Mustard/Unlimited Records (1998-2005) |
| Members | |
| Teru Takuro Hisashi Jiro |
|
Glay (グレイ?) is a rock/pop band from Hakodate, Hokkaidō, Japan formed by guitarist Takuro and vocalist Teru during high school in 1988. Glay primarily composes songs in the rock and pop genres, but they have also composed songs using elements of different styles such as reggae and gospel. They have sold over 36 million records as of 2007.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Pre-major era
Glay started in 1988, when they were in high school, with Takuro as the guitarrist, Teru as the drummer and a bassist who quit when they decided to head to Tokyo. They needed a vocalist, so Teru made a tape of his singing to give to Takuro and was immediately recruited for the part. On the search for another guitarist, Hisashi was asked to join but turned down the offer, as he was already part of a locally well-known heavy punk/rock band called Ari, which better suited his taste in music. When Ari disbanded, Hisashi accepted Takuro's offer and became the lead guitarist of Glay[1].
By the time of Takuro and Teru's graduation, Glay had become more popular in their hometown of Hakodate and were playing in full live houses. Following Hisashi's high school graduation in 1990, the three of them moved to Tokyo to try and further expand their musical career. However things did not seem to improve for them in Tokyo. Their gigs only attracted a few people, and sometimes none at all[2].
During this time, members (particularly drummers) were constantly joining and leaving the band. When their bassist quit, Takuro had heard that Jiro, who was also from Hakodate and had played with the indie band Pierrot (different from the now disbanded Japanese rock band Pierrot, that enjoyed mainstream popularity), had moved to Tokyo and invited him to join Glay. He, too, declined the offer, insisting that he was already heading in the right direction for himself. It wasn't until Takuro asked him to play at just one show to fill in for their missing bassist that he decided to go. Following that show, Jiro continued to receive invitations to play with Glay, and in 1991 he had become Glay's official bass player, finalizing the official four member lineup[3].
They promoted the band by handing out flyers on the street and giving out demo tapes. Eventually they became more well known on the Tokyo live house circuit, and began drawing larger crowds. During one of these shows in October 1993, Yoshiki, then drummer and pianist for X Japan, saw their show and offered them a contract to his label Extasy Records. In 1994, their debut single "Rain" was produced.
[edit] 1995-2000
From the time of their debut, Glay steadily became more popular. Their 4th single "Freeze My Love" made it onto the Oricon, debuting at #19. Two months later their second album, Speed Pop, peaked at #8. Their first #1 hit was in 1996 with their third album Beat Out!, which was marked as a major turning point in Glay's career. Beloved was the first album to reach the million copies mark. In August 1997, their single However remained at the top of the charts for three weeks. In the same year they released the album Review - Best of Glay, which sold more than 4 million copies, becoming the all-time best selling album in Japan at the time[2], (at present, it is ranked at #3 spot, according to Oricon[4]).
In the next years to follow, Glay produced several hit singles, most of them reached #1 on the charts. Yuuwaku was the biggest selling single in 1998[4].Both Pure Soul(1998) and Heavy Gauge(1999) albums, along with the compilation album Drive~Glay Complete Best(2000), sold more than two million copies[4].
In 1998, Japan's telephone service was temporarily put out of order due to the mass number of fans trying to reserve tickets to their upcoming tour[2].
It was a period when they won many prizes. The song "Winter, again" won the Great Prize at the Japan Records Awards in 1999.
[edit] 2001-2004
In 2001, Glay's work took a turn from what it had been until then. Their 2001 album One Love got mixed feelings among the fans, due to it's diparities to their earlier works, with a different style of sound and songs that had reaggae and R&B influences. Their 2002 album Unity Roots & Family, Away, which was almost completely made of slow paced songs and also had elements from other types of music (gospel, rap and Okinawan typical music), was not welcomed by most fans[5].
In spite of the "cold" reception these works had, the band was sucessful in their tours. They played for the first time outside Japan in 2002 (not counting one concert in Hawaii for their fanclub members), when they played a sold-out live performance for a 35,000 audience in Beijing. The concert is the most expensive in China’s history[6]. Glay also met then-Chinese President Jiang Zemin[7].
In 2003, they made a contract transfer from Pony Canyon to Toshiba EMI. It is the most expensive transfer in Japan's history, at 4 billion yen[6].
In 2003, an art gallery dedicated to Glay was opened in their hometown, Hakodate. "Art Style of Glay" was located in the Winning Hall, a famous building in the city. The gallery was closed in 2007.
During this period, Glay released six albums: Besides "One Love" and "Unity Roots and Family, away", Glay released the B-side collections "Rare Collectives Vol.1" and "Rare Collectives Vol. 2", in 2003, the album "The Frustrated", in 2004 and the Ballad collection "Ballad Best Singles- White Road". None of these works managed to cross the one million mark , although they have always managed to reach #1 or #2 spots on the charts, with the exception of Rare Collectives Vol. 1., which peaked at #3 [4].
[edit] Glay: Re-Birth (2005-2006)
In 2005, after years of touring, promoting, and recording, the four took a hiatus. Their only release as a group was the single "Scream", their first collaboration work, with the vocal/dance group Exile. "Scream", which was released under Exile's record company, was the fifth best selling single of the year[4].
During that time, Jiro created a side band with the pillows guitarist Yamanaka Sawao and Straightener's drummer Nakayama Shinpei called The Predators, in the summer of 2005. The Predators played in summer festivals at this time and released the mini-album Hunting!. Teru and Hisashi formed a band called Rally with The Mad Capsule Markets drummer Motokatsu and bassist Koji Ueno from Thee Michelle Gun Elephant. They did a Buck-Tick cover to "Aku no Hana" as part of a tribute CD.
Although it was believed that Glay took a break as a group to take a rest, it was later reported in the news that the band had split from their former agency, Unlimited Group. The reasons were obscure, but the event managed to delay the band's work. Information about the episode has always been unclear, as they just refer to it as a time when they "couldn't move forward" and "had thoughts of quitting" [8] [9].
In February 2006, Glay ended their silence by having a two day live performance in Zepp Tokyo and a three day live performance at Nippon Budokan, titled Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, which was produced as an independent event. Here, they played many of their old songs and introduced two new written songs as their new sound [10]. It was the start of a campaign called "Re-Birth", promoting the band's return to the music scene.
The band signed up with Amuse, Southern All Stars"s Keysuke Kuwata's office, in 2006[8]. On July 12, 2006, they released a new single titled "G4" after a year and seven months away from the limelight and returning to their rock and roll roots. In the following month, they collaborated with former Boowy vocalist, Kyosuke Himuro in their single, "Answer". Together, they performed in "Kyosuke Himuro + Glay Swing Addiction 2006," with "Answer" being one of the songs. In August, Glay performed at Southern All Stars's summer concert Mujintou alongside various artists. In September, "Natsuoto/Henna Yume -Thousand Dreams-" was released, their first ballad of 2006, with Natsuoto being the theme song to TV Show "Koi suru Hanikami."
Following the release of these singles was their tour,Rock 'n' Roll Swindle -Re-Birth- in November 2006 and going into early 2007.
[edit] 2007-Present
On January 31, 2007, Glay released their tenth full length album, Love is Beautiful, containing 14 tracks. Following the release of this album was their arena tour, titled after the album. After the tour, they released another single, "Kodou" as a tie-in with the movie Taitei no Ken. Over the summer, they performed at the 15th Anniversary Cue Music Jam-Boree in Yubari on July 1 and Rock Shock. Vol. 4 on August 23, 2007.
Jiro's side band, The Predators, performed at the Rising Sun Rock Festival in Ezo on August 17 and 18 while Teru and Hisashi's side band, Rally, performed at the Buck-Tick Fest 2007 in September.
They performed the Highcommuncations Tour 2007-2008 in November 2007 and into March 2008.
[edit] Name
Officially, the name "Glay" is a deliberate misspelling of the word "gray" and represents the style of music they wanted to play: a mixture between rock (black) and pop (white)[2]. However, it is thought by many English-speaking residents that the misspelling of the band's name may actually have been due to a genuine error, and the official reason was only decided in retrospect[citation needed] . In support of this, they point out that confusing the R and L is a very common mistake amongst Japanese speakers of English, because the Japanese language does not distinguish between the retroflex ("r") and lateral ("l") phonemes of the liquid morpheme.
[edit] Members
[edit] Main members
All members were born in Hakodate, Hokkaidō except Hisashi, who was born in Hirosaki, Aomori. When he was in elementary school, he moved to Hakodate.
- Takuro: real name Takuro Kubo : guitar (leader and primary songwriter)
- Teru: real name Teruhiko Kobashi : vocals
- Jiro: real name Yoshihito Wayama : bass
- Hisashi: real name Hisashi Tonomura : guitar
[edit] Past and current support members
- Seiichiro Nagai: keyboard (2007-)
- Yuta : real name Yuta Saitou : Keyboard (2004 – 2005)
- Toshi : real name Toshimitsu Nagai : drums (1995 – present)
- Sakuma : real name Masahide Sakuma : guitar, keyboard, producer (mid-1994 – present)
- Shige : real name Shigeo "sk55" Komori : keyboard (1998 – 2004)
- D.I.E. : real name Daijiro Nozawa : keyboard (1995 – 1998)
- Nobumasa : drums (1994 – 1995)
- Akira : drums (1993 – 1994)
[edit] Glay Expo
From time to time, not in a regular basis, Glay holds a concert called Glay Expo, which is always expensively produced and lures greater audiences than their normal stadium concerts. The first edition of the event was held on July 31, 1999. The “Glay Expo 1999 - Survival" at Makuhari Messe, gathered a total audience of 200,000 people, making it the largest single concert to ever be held in Japan[11]. The second edition was held in 2001. “Glay Expo 2001- Global Communication” was divided into three performances: one in Tokyo, one in Ishikari, (Hokkaido), which was an all-night long performance, and another one in Fukuoka, which featured artists from other countries of Asia. This Expo accumulated a total audience of over 280,000[citation needed]. Glay "Expo 2004" celebrated their 10th anniversary, and was held in the parking lot of Universal Studios Japan selling out the 100,000 tickets in under 15 minutes[11].
[edit] Media Exposure
Glay has appeared on several TV programs and front covers of many famous band/music magazines in Japan, such as "Gigs", "What's In?", "BPass", "Ongaku to Hito", "PatiPati", "Newsmaker", etc. Kadokawa Shoten has also produced two "Glay only" special edition books. To promote the “Expo’99”, at the peak of their mainstream popularity, they had their faces printed on the sides of Japan Airlines jumbo jets[12].
Every member of Glay (excluding Teru) has written a book of their own (Jiro has made two). Besides appearing in magazines and on TV, Teru, Hisashi and Jiro each have their own personal weekly radio shows (aired on bayFM, FMFuji, and FM802, respectively).
[edit] Discography
For a detailed discography, information on singles, videos and other releases, see Glay discography
[edit] Albums
| Album # | Album name | Album year |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 灰とダイヤモンド(Hai to Diamond) | 1994 |
| 2nd | Speed Pop | 1995 |
| 3rd | Beat Out! | 1996 |
| 4th | Beloved | 1996 |
| 5th | Pure Soul | 1998 |
| 6th | Heavy Gauge | 1999 |
| 7th | One Love | 2001 |
| 8th | Unity Roots & Family, Away | 2002 |
| 9th | The Frustrated | 2004 |
| 10th | Love is Beautiful | 2007 |
[edit] Awards
- 1996
- "Gold Request Award" for the single "Beloved" at the "29th All Japan Cable Broadcast Awards"
- 1997
- 1998
- Grand Prize winner at the "35th Golden Arrow Awards"
- Best Selling Japanese Artist at the World Music Awards
- Best Rock Album of the Year at the "12th Annual Gold Disk Awards"
- Best Musical Video of the Year at the "12th Annual Gold Disk Awards"
- Best Artist of the Year at the "12th Annual Gold Disk Awards"
- 40th Annual Japan Record Awards "Best Album" - Pure Soul[14]
- 40th Annual Japan Record Awards "Excellent work prize" - Soul Love[14]
- 1999
- Grand Prize winner at the "32nd All Japan Cable Broadcast Awards"
- Most Requested Artist at the "32nd Japan Cable Broadcast Awards"
- 41st Annual Japan Record Awards "Grand Prize" - Winter, again[15]
- 41st Annual Japan Record Awards "Excellent work prize" - Winter, again[15]
- 41st Annual Japan Gold Disc Awards "Song Of The Year" - Yuwaku[16]
- 13th Annual Japan Gold Disc Awards "Song Of The Year" - Soul Love[16]
- 13th Annual Japan Gold Disc Awards "Song Of The Year" - Be with you[16]
- 13th Annual Japan Gold Disc Awards "Rock Album Of The Year" - Pure Soul[16]
- 2000
- 2001
- 2003
- 16th Annual Japan Gold Disc Awards "Song Of The Year" - Way of Difference[16]
- 2005
- Special prize for their career at the "Space Shower Music Video Awards"
[edit] References
- ^ Hisashi's interview for GROOVY Magazine - translation (English). Retrieved on 2008-05-23.
- ^ a b c d The Day the Phones Died (English). Retrieved on 2008-05-23.
- ^ Jiro's interview for GROOVY Magazine - Translation (English). Retrieved on 2008-05-23.
- ^ a b c d e Oricon Website (Japanese).
- ^ Shiroi Heiya article (English). Retrieved on 2008-05-28.
- ^ a b The Japan Zone Newsletter Japan-zone note (Japanese). Retrieved on 2008-05-24.
- ^ Japantimes article (English). Retrieved on 2008-05-24.
- ^ a b Nikkansports note (Japanese). Retrieved on 2008-05-23.
- ^ Daily Sports note (Japanese). Retrieved on 2008-05-23.
- ^ 3.15.2006 "WHAT's IN," issue #225, p.58-59. Published by Sony Magazines
- ^ a b Barks (Japanese). Retrieved on 2008-05-23.
- ^ Picture of the plane
- ^ a b 第39回日本レコード大賞 (The 39th annual Japanese record prize) (Japanese). jacompa.or.jp. Retrieved on 2008-01-01.
- ^ a b 第40回日本レコード大賞 (The 40th annual Japanese record prize) (Japanese). jacompa.or.jp. Retrieved on 2008-01-01.
- ^ a b 第41回日本レコード大賞 (The 41st annual Japanese record prize) (Japanese). jacompa.or.jp. Retrieved on 2008-01-01.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Japan Gold Disc Award Official Website (Japanese). golddisc.jp. Retrieved on 2008-01-01.
Glay Official Homepage. HAPPY SWING SPACE SITE. (Article information)
[edit] External links
- Happy Swing Space Site - Official site (Japanese)
- [1] - Ofical Teru's radio website (Japanese)
- Buggy Crash Night - Jiro's radio website (Japanese)
- Cyber Net City - Hisashi's radio website (Japanese)
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