High and Mighty Color
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| High and Mighty Color | |
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| Background information | |
| Also known as | Haikara, HandMC, H&MC |
| Origin | Japan |
| Genre(s) | Pop rock |
| Years active | 2004–Current |
| Label(s) | SME Records |
| Members | |
| Maakii Yuusuke Kazuto Meg Mackaz Sassy |
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High and Mighty Color (ハイ・アンド・マイティ・カラー Hai ando Maiti Karā?) is a Japanese rock band signed to Sony Music Entertainment Japan.
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[edit] History
[edit] 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. 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. [1]
[edit] Maki 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 Entertainment Japan was in the crowd and offered the band the chance to produce music for an upcoming various artists album entitled Okinawa 2003. The band then composed their two and only completely original songs under the name of Anti-Nobunaga entitled Meaning and Hate You!. At another festival known as the "Music Picnic Festival", vocalist Maki 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. Maki first rejected the offer due to her wanting to study English abroad but was later convinced by her future band-mates to join. With the addition of Maki the band took on a new name, High and Mighty Color (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. High and Mighty Color is some times referred to as the sister band of Orange Range, because they are both from the Okinawa area and where both discovered at the same music festival. They spent much of 2004 writing and recording, in late 2004 they released their first single, "Over" which was only sold through Tower Records 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 indie Oricon charts for an entire month. [2]
[edit] 2005
During 2005, the band released their first official single, titled "Pride." It was originally going 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 Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny and "Pride" was chosen to be that song. At the time, the show was the number one rated anime in Japan, and being attached to this helped the single'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 formal career. [3]
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. [4] During August, the band released "Days," their fourth 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 Maki's grandmother who had just died 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) and was used as the third opening to the anime adaption of 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 in Houston, Texas on April 28.
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 seventh 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 ~Tōku ni Aru Akari~ (遠雷~遠くにある明かり) was released on October 25 and used as the ending theme for the third Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny: Special Edition compilation movie. The single entered the charts 12 spots higher than "Dive into Yourself" at number 12. Energy, a b-side song from the Style~get glory in this hand~ single was used in a tribute compilation album composed for Death Note: the Last Name.
[edit] 2007
Maki made her acting debut with the December 2006 movie, Anata wo Wasurenai (I won't forget you). The band performed two songs for the film, "Tadoritsuku Basho", the film's theme song and "Oxalis," an insert song. The two songs were be released as a doubled A-side single. When Anata wo Wasurenai was released, it entered the Japanese box offices in the 10th position. [5] Also, another song "Resistance" was used as the theme song for a Nintendo DS game based on Bleach, Kokui Hirameku Requiem.
On February 4, the official High and Mighty Color website released various 30 second previews of songs from the band's third album, San (参), which was released on February 21. The album contained 15 tracks with ten being new releases. The album was ranked number ten on the Oricon daily rankings during its first day and 16th on the weekly charts.
In March it was announced that Yuusuke would work with former Porno Graffitti bassist, Masami Shiratama. Yuusuke provided vocals for the joint single entitled "Honno" (本能), the single was released on May 23 featured Yuusuke using what the band describes as his machine gun vocals. [6]
The band also made their second American performance on May 11 and May 12 during 2007's Anime Central anime convention. [7] The band performed 12 songs and were opened by the Spiral Spiders.
The 10th single from the band was released on August 1, 2007. The title track of the single, entitled Dreams, was used as the second ending theme to the anime Darker Than Black. [8][9] During its first week, the single entered the Oricon charts at the 24th place.
On September 24, 2007 it was announced on the band's official page that the 11th single from the band will be released on December 12, 2007. On October 5, 2007 it was announced on the band's official page that the 11th single is to be named Amazing. On November 4, 2007 it was announced that the band would be releasing a single collection album entitled 10 Colored Singles featuring the first 10 singles and a bonus track title Ichirin no Hana Live Studio version.[10] It also includes a DVD with the PVs that never made it to DVD like Style, Dreams, Here I am, and the new PV for Mushroom. The band also contributed to a Luna Sea memorial album, performing the song Rosier. The song was released on the album in December 2007.
[edit] 2008
The 12th single "Flashback" was released on February 27, 2008. It will be the second double-a side single from the band and will be used in promotion with the anime series Hero Tales. [11] [12] Their 4th album ROCK PIT was released on March 19 and became their lowest selling album to date.
The band began their 4th volume in their LIVE BEE LOUD tour on March 17, 2008 at the famous Club Quattro of Japan. [13] They then went on to preform at 13 other venues across the country with the final venue being their hometown of Okinawa. Their next single will be a cover of T.M. Revolution's early single, Hot Limit.
[edit] Personal information
The band is relatively low key with their personal information, releasing only minuscule amounts of information over the years. Maki's real name is Maki Onaga (翁長麻紀?), this was discovered as her name on the Japanese fan forums for the band. She has since confirmed that it is her real name. Kazuto's real name is Kazuto Taisano (平識和人?), Mackaz's real name has been discovered to be Makkatsu Minei (嶺井政克?), Yuusuke's real name is Yuusuke Kuniyoshi (国吉祐輔?). Bandmate Meg also shares the same first name as Yuusuke with a slight variation in spelling. 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.
[edit] Members
- Maki – vocals
- Yuusuke – vocals
- Kazuto - lead guitar
- Meg – rhythm guitar
- Mackaz – bass
- Sassy – drums
[edit] Discography
[edit] Awards
- 47th Japanese Record Grand Prix Rookie of the Year Award for 2005
[edit] Performances in the United States
- April 28, 2006: Shiokazecon, anime convention, Houston, Texas
- May 11-13, 2007: Anime Central, anime convention, Rosemont, Illinois
[edit] References
- ^ Biography from High and Mighty Color's official site.
- ^ Oricon's official High and Mighty Color profile and history section.
- ^ Oricon's Pride profile.
- ^ Official information page listing live performances.
- ^ Box Office Mojo's sales Japanese sales list.
- ^ Blog entry from Tama stating he will work with Yuusuke.
- ^ Tofu Records news section announcing the band's second US performance.
- ^ Release date and track listing. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
- ^ Description of the Dreams single. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
- ^ Release date for 10 Colored Best. Retrieved on 2007-11-16.
- ^ Amazon catalog listing. Retrieved on 2007-12-30.
- ^ Information regarding usage on the Hero Tales anime. Retrieved on 2007-12-30.
- ^ Club Quattro band profile. Retrieved on 2009-04-07.
[edit] External links
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