Radwimps

Radwimps (ラッドウインプス^[5], Raddo'uinpusu, stylized as RADWIMPS) is a Japanese rock band, who debuted independently in 2003 and later on major label Toshiba EMI in 2005. The band achieved great commercial success in 2006 with their album Radwimps 4: Okazu no Gohan, and are best known for their later singles "Order Made" (2008) and "Dada" (2011), both of which hit number one on Oricon's single charts.

Biography

Radwimps first formed in 2001 in Kanagawa, Japan during their first year of high school.^[1][6] The five original members had been friends since middle school.^[7] Vocalist Yojiro Noda first became interested in music after hearing Oasis in middle school, when he would try to remember the guitar chords and sing to Oasis songs.^[6] He was asked to become the vocalist by a friend, and originally band activities were balanced with basketball.^[8] The band's name was formed from two English language slang terms, rad and wimp. According to the band, the coined word had several meanings, including "excellent weakling" and "superlative coward."^[5][9]

The band's activities began centred around Yokohama,^[1] with the band performing their first live at live house BB Street in Yokohama's Kannai district on February 5, 2002.^[8] At this point, guitarist Akira Kuwahara dropped out of high school in order to focus on the band.^[8] In September and August 2002, the band partook in the Yokohama High School Music Festival, and eventually won the grand prize for the competition with the song "Moshi mo."^[10] "Moshi mo" was released as the band's debut single in May 2003, with 10,000 copies pressed and sold for 100 yen each.^[7] Following this single, the band toured the Yokohama area, including a performance as the sole act at Yokohama's Club 24West.^[8] The band released their debut album Radwimps in July through independent label Newtraxx, featuring songs written by the band in middle school. The following August, after a guest appearance at the Yokohama High School Music Festival, the band went on hiatus for Noda and other members to focus on their school exams.^[6]

Radwimps returned from hiatus in March 2004, however members Kei Asō, Yūsuke Saiki and Akio Shibafumi did not decide to resume band activities. An audition was not held for new members, instead, acquaintances to the band members, drummer Satoshi Yamaguchi and bassist Yusuke Takeda, were added to the group without the members even having their skills trialled.^[7][8] Takeda met the band members in August 2003 as a member of a different band performing in the Yokohama High School Music Festival.^[8] The band immediately began recording songs, and by July released a second single, "Kiseki," and performed a three month Japan-wide tour.^[1][8] Immediately after the end of the tour, the band started work on their second album, Radwimps 2: Hatten Tojō, which was finalized by the end of the year and released in March.^[8] Directly after the release, the band departed on a five month tour, Radwimps Haruna Tour (はるなっTOUR), and also performed at high profile summer music festivals, such as Setstock, Rock in Japan and Summer Sonic.^[7][8] During this time, the band released a third single, "Hexun / Kanashi," which was the band's first charting release.^[11]

In November, the band made their major debut single under Toshiba EMI with the single "Nijūgoko-me no Senshokutai,"^[7] followed by "EDP (Tonde Hi ni Iru Natsu no Kimi)" in January, both top 50 singles.^[11] In shifting to a major label, Noda explained that the band took the same stance as they had as an independent band, and that "If we thought we were bigger on a major label, that would have been a big mistake."^[6][12] The band's third and first major label album, Radwimps 3: Mujintō ni Motte Ikiwasureta Ichimai in March 2006, was a landmark in establishing their popularity, debuting at number 13 on Oricon's album charts.^[11] Radwimps 3 saw a change in the band's musical style, allowing the band to be more experimental in their sound.^[13]

By the end of 2006 the band's popularity had exponentially grown: the band's album Radwimps 4: Okazu no Gohan, lead with the top 20 singles "Futarigoto" and "Yūshinron" and top five "Setsuna Rensa," debuted at number five^[11] and had an initial shipment of more than 100,000 copies.^[14] In this time, the band's older releases, such as Radwimps, Radwimps 2 and "Kiseki" began charting for the first time and continued to for extended periods, Radwimps even eventually being certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan.^[15] In the next three years, both Radwimps and Radwimps 2 charted for approximately 100 weeks, and as of early 2011, Radwimps 3 and Radwimps 4 still continue to chart.^[11]

In 2008, the band received their first number one single, with "Order Made", on the Oricon charts.^[11] Their 2009 album Altocolony no Teiri sold around 213,000 copies in its first week, debuting at number 2 on the Oricon charts.^[16] The band received their second Oricon number one single "Dada" in 2011.^[11]

In 2011 the band released their 6th album Zettai Zetsumei which debuted at number 2 on the Oricon charts and went on to be certified Platinum by the RIAJ. Following the release the band embarked on their "Zettai Enmei" Tour throughout Japan from April to August 2011.

On March 11, 2012 Radwimps released their new single "Hakujitsu" (白日, "Broad Daylight") on YouTube, commemorating the 1 year anniversary of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake.^[17]

Side projects

For the song "Jennifer Yamada-san" (ジェニファー山田さん, Jenifā Yamada-san, "Ms. Jennifer Yamada") on the band's 2006 single "Yūshinron," the band performed it under a pseudonym, Misoshiru's (味噌汁'ｓ, Misoshiruzu, "The Miso Soups"). The band has performed as this band on stage, in a loose disguise by wearing Groucho glasses and red t-shirts that spell out the band's name.^[2] The hidden track on the band's fourth album Radwimps 4: Okazu no Gohan, "Yonaki" (夜泣き, "Night Tears") is also performed by the band.^[2] The project was revived in 2013 with the song "Nipponpon" (にっぽんぽん, "Japan-pan") featured on their "Gogatsu no Hae / Last Virgin" single.^[18]

Yojiro Noda in 2008 acted as a music producer for the first time, writing and producing the song "Labrador" for singer Chara, which was used as the leading promotional track for her album Honey.^[19] During the recording sessions, Noda collaborated with musicians such as Nobuaki Kaneko (Rize), Yoshifumi Naoi (Bump of Chicken), Susumu Nishikawa (Diamond Head) and Koichi Tsutaya.^[20]

In 2010, Radwimps took part in a special band called Terrakoya, a commemorative band formed for the EMI Rocks 50th anniversary of EMI Music Japan rock concert,^[21] featuring Radwimps along with Acidman, Fujifabric, Atsushi Horie (Straightener), Susumu Nishikawa, The Telephones and Kazuya Yoshii. The band released a song in November, "Emi," written by Noda in collaboration with Yoshii, which recorded with at Terra Studio in June.^[21][22]

Yojiro Noda made his solo debut under the name Illion in 2013, and released his debut album Ubu on February 25, 2013, in the United Kingdom.

Popularity

In a survey in 2006 conducted by Oricon on what musical acts were likely to become popular in the next year, Radwimps were voted as the second most likely male artist.^[23] Radwimps' audience is primarily made up of younger people, according to an Oricon survey conducted in 2008. The findings were that the band had extremely low name recognition for groups such as 30-something women or 40-something men, but were exponentially higher among teenage survey participants, especially teenage women.^[24] Oricon noted how popular the band was, despite their lack of any major television publicity (such as television drama theme songs, or advertising commercial songs), and further linked their popularity to their performances at summer festivals, as well as their live tours.^[25] In a 2011 survey conducted by the Coca Cola Happy Teens Club, asking teenage respondents who their favorite musician was, Radwimps were ranked as the 10th highest musical act.^[26]

Several of Radwimps songs have high viewer impressions when asked about in non-Radwimps based surveys. "Enren," despite not being promoted as a single or promotional track, has been singled out in two separate surveys as a popular long distance relationship-themed song in 2008 and 2010.^[27][28] The 2010 survey of Joysound users listed the song as the most popular response in the survey. "Futarigoto" came 10th in a 2010 survey asking Recochoku users to rank the songs with the most touching lyrics. The song was by far the oldest song ranked in the top 10 of the survey.^[29] Furthermore, at Uta Map Mobile in 2008 (Japan's most popular cellphone lyric searching site at the time), "Futarigoto" was the 6th most accessed lyrics for the year, despite being released in 2006.^[30]

Many celebrities have listed Radwimps as one of their favorite musicians, including Chara,^[19] Shunsuke Daito,^[31] Misono,^[32] Miwa,^[33] Aya Takigawa^[34] and Aya Ueto.^[35] Kazutoshi Sakurai of the band Mr. Children selected "Yūshinron" as a song he respected enough to cover, for his side project with Takeshi Kobayashi, Bank Band, on their 2010 album Sōshisōai 3.^[36]

Musicianship

Vocalist Yojiro Noda writes all of the band's music and lyrics (the only exception currently is the bonus track "Yonaki" from Radwimps 4, written by Akira Kuwahara). Almost all of Noda's lyrics are based on events he experienced, or non-fictional events.^[6] "Enren" from Radwimps 4: Okazu no Gohan, released in 2006, was the first time Noda has written a fictional song since the band formed.^[37] He personally finds lyric writing a chore, as while he writes lyrics, he constantly questions each phrase, asking if that was exactly what he wanted to say.^[6]

Line-up

Yojiro Noda (野田洋次郎) - Vocals (2001–present), guitar (2005-present)
Akira Kuwahara (桑原彰) - Guitar, backing vocals (2001–present)
Yusuke Takeda (武田祐介) - Bass, backing vocals (2003–present)
Satoshi Yamaguchi (山口智史) - Drums, backing vocals (2003–present)

Previous members

Yūsuke Saiki (斉木祐介) - Guitar (2001-2002)
Kei Asō (朝生恵) - Bass (2001-2002)
Akio Shibafuji (芝藤昭夫) - Drums (2001-2002)

Discography

• Radwimps (2003)
• Radwimps 2: Hatten Tojō (2005)
• Radwimps 3: Mujintō ni Motte Ikiwasureta Ichimai (2006)
• Radwimps 4: Okazu no Gohan (2006)
• Altocolony no Teiri (2009)
• Zettai Zetsumei (2011)
• Batsu to Maru to Tsumi to (2013)

Tours

• Radwimps Haruna Tour (RADWIMPSはるなっTOUR) (2005)
• Radwimps to Iku Mujintō Tour Nisengohyaku-en? Drink-dai wa Betto Itadakimasu. (RADWIMPSと行く無人島ツアー2500円? ドリンク代は別途頂きます。) (2006)
• September Niisan (セプテンバーにぃさん) (2006)
• Sonata to Iku Fuyu no Tour (ソナタと行く冬のツアー) (2006)
• Tour 2007 "Harumaki" (TOUR 2007 "春巻き") (2007)
• Radwimps "Iru Tokoro Nii Tour 09" (RADWIMPS "イルトコロニー TOUR 09") (2009)
• Radwimps Zettai Enmei Tour (RADWIMPS 絶対延命ツアー) (2011)
• Radwimps Live Tour 2014 (2014)

Awards

References

External links

• Radwimps official site (Japanese)
• Radwimps webcast Rad Locks! (Japanese)
• Radwimps on Myspace (Japanese)