Do As Infinity
History
[edit]1999
Dai Nagao started out as a composer for an amateur band. After its disbanding, Nagao continued composing songs, sending demo tapes to more than fifty record companies in Japan.[3] Nagao was eventually hired by Avex Trax to work as a composer. He was immediately given a task to compose songs for Ayumi Hamasaki and Hitomi.
Eventually, auditions were held, and he chose Tomiko Van as lead singer, and Ryo Owatari as guitarist. Ryo turned up for the auditions in a red tracksuit with a Fender Jaguar and his effects pedals. He was asked to perform a small segment, but instead played three songs.[3] Tomiko sang "Heart" as a band member 42 hours after the Avex staff read her application. On September 29, 1999, the trio released their first single "Tangerine Dream", and held a live concert at the Shibuya AX.[4] They performed almost daily at a number of locations, ranging from Shibuya's 109 (which is famous for street performers),[4] to Yokohama Station and traveled to Fukuoka and other cities. Before "Tangerine Dream" was released, DAI and their fellow workers were giving out copies of their recordings for free to passers by.[3] At their one-hundredth concert, held at Shibuya AX for free, the members of DAI recognized that the fans were the same bunch that bothered to listen to them.[3]
The remainder of 1999 was spent performing both on the street and at in-store concerts at CD stores across the country. They also took part in choice events nationwide, including a festival in Tomiko Van's native Kumamoto prefecture. Their legendary streak of street concerts ended at one hundred, with a free concert for their fans, held at Shibuya Kokaido.[4] Photos of some of their street performances were compiled into a PV for the song "Field of Dreams" which can be seen on the PV Collection 8 as well as in the background of the Live in Japan during a performance of the song.
Do As Infinity released their second single, "Heart", in December. They continued to do public appearances all the way up to the year-end Avex Millennium Count Down 1999-2000 held on New Year's Eve in Roppongi's Velfarre club. Heart was actually written before Tangerine Dream, but was recorded together in July due to the complicated drum samples.[3] The band continued to appear on radio shows and at CD store events. Their third single, "Oasis", was released at the end of January. It was their first Top 30 hit and it was chosen as the official TV commercial song for Kanebo Cosmetics' Testimo line of products. This was the first time their song was chosen to become a theme song for advertising.
[edit]2000
The next single, "Yesterday & Today" was chosen as the theme song for the drama series Nisennen no Koi,[5] which starred popular actors Miho Nakayama and Kaneshiro Takeshi and was given the primetime slot. The c/w-track, "Raven", was used as the ending song to the horror movie Uzumaki, which gathered more mainstream audiences for the band.
Their first album, Break of Dawn, debuted on number three on the Oricon album charts in March of the same year, only a month after "Yesterday & Today". They continued to make public appearances and do numerous live performances all over Japan. In August of that year, the band released the single "Rumble Fish", which was used as the theme song for the hit movie Kamen Gakuen; the cover of "Rumble Fish" was taken in Taiwan, and the trip provided the inspiration for "Shinjitsu no Uta".[3] Also in August, the single "Summer Days" was released, which would go on to become a staple at all Do As Infinity live concerts, and was used as a theme song for Fuji TV's OL Police. "Summer Days" is also notable for being Do As Infinity's most well-known all-English song (following their first, "Break of Dawn", from their debut album). During November of that same year, the band released the festive single "We Are.", which Tomiko has often said is one of her favorite DAI songs. The band would end the year with another countdown live held at the Velfarre club in Roppongi.
Nagao resigned as front member on New Year's Eve in 2000, and concentrated on composition thereafter. After that, Nagao appeared in front of their fans as a member only twice more—the performance of the third debut anniversary held in September 2002, and a guest appearance in the second encore of their last live concert held on November 25, 2005. Nagao decided to work behind the scenes as he was unable to manage both the production of music and the live performance and promotional campaign. Nagao only wrote songs after he stopped appearing in public, and he hardly participated in recording.
[edit]2001
2001 was a whirlwind year for the band. With an album and six singles under their belts, the trio was well on their way to becoming seasoned veterans in the business, but they still had not appeared on national television. That changed with the release of their first single in the new millennium, "Desire"; "Desire" was once named M-42, which was used in their street performances.[3]The single was performed on the hit TV show "Music Station". However, for some reason Van represented the band by herself. Nevertheless, the song and the band got national exposure. The televised performance brought Do As Infinity to an even wider audience, and helped to make their new album, New World, debut at number one on the Oricon charts.
In the following month they would release their first promotional video collection on DVD, simply titled 9, and would go on tour throughout the month of May. After release of New World, Tomiko Van was contracted to advertise for Japanese haircare company Lavenus. Van took part in all six commercials, including one which she rode a Harley-Davidson motorbike. Van can also be seen riding the Harley-Davidson in the "Tao" promotional video. The B-side of "Tōku Made", "Signal" was used as the theme song for the first commercial. Six commercials were made in total, the other three songs included "Tsubasa no Keikaku", "Bōkenshatachi", and "Nice & Easy"; "Boukensha Tachi" was used three times.
Their ninth single was released at the end of May, "Week!". The following month would see the release of "Fukai Mori" (Deep Forest), which was chosen as the second ending theme song for the hit anime series InuYasha. The song was a huge hit, and would soon become the band's signature song. The remainder of the year was spent in preparation for yet another live concert tour, which would begin in November, not long after the release of their eleventh single, "Bōkenshatachi", and their third album, Deep Forest, which debuted at number one on the charts.
[edit]2002
January 2002 started with Van appearing on the Avex charity album Various Artists Featuring Songnation, and the release of the band's twelfth hit single, "Hi no Ataru Sakamichi", the following month. Then the band went global. After releasing a best album, Do the Best in March, the band traveled to Taiwan and Hong Kong in April for a special campaign. Their following overseas was almost as huge as in their own country, drawing 500 fans to their in-store event held at the HMV CD store in Hong Kong. They were nominated for the seventeenth annual Gold Disc Award in Japan for the best Rock & Pop album of the year and won. The band took a short break upon returning to Japan, but released their thirteenth single in July, the double A-sided "Under the Sun / Under the Moon". In August the band participated in Avex's A-nation tour, performing in eight venues all over Japan.
Do As Infinity's fourteenth single, "Shinjitsu no Uta", was released in October, and sparked the beginning of a new project for the band. "Shinjitsu no Uta" was also chosen to be the fifth ending theme for InuYasha. "Shinjitsu no Uta" became famous in China in July 2002 and was also translated into Mandarin.[3] In the booklet of Do The A-side, Kawamura stated that "Shinjitsu no Uta" was actually written two years before the actual release. Dai said that he left it as a demo because he felt that something was missing in the song. Despite their success, Do As Infinity wanted to show their fans that they had not forgotten them. They advertised on their website for fans to send them short stories using the band's previous releases as themes and using the word shinjitsu(truth) somewhere in the story. Entitled Your Truth, these stories are now available in book form. The band closed out the year with another live tour, understandably titled Do As Infinity greatest year 02: All Standing, and the year-end release of their fourth album, True Song.
[edit]2003-2004
The band got busy on the concert tour of True Song and new recordings, their fifteenth single, "Mahou no Kotoba: Would You Marry Me?" released as their first single in 2003. It became one of the most frequently played songs at weddings in Japan, becoming one of the band's most publicized singles of the year. "Honjitsu wa Seiten Nari" followed the popularity of its precedent single, it was previewed in their annual summer activity, a-nation. During this promotion period it was the first time the vocalist cut her hair short and with a bright blonde dye, she changed it back to a dark brown dye after the release of this single. The single's promotional video was filmed during their a-nation 2003 activity and combined many different a-nation 2003 visits in different areas in Japan, marking another success for the band. "Hiiragi" was released in November of the same year and the announcement of the fifth album followed. Tomiko met with famous American singer, Michelle Branch, during her visit in Japan to promote her album Hotel Paper, for a magazine interview and photoshoot. After the release of Gates of Heaven the group took a short break and performed inNew York City, New York and Dallas, Texas in the summer of 2004 as a small warm-up for their next album; footage of this can be found in the DVD Live Year 2004. They performed in Koreaduring the Korea & Japan Friendship Week in JEJU along with JTL.
[edit]2005
In early 2005, the band were in the midst of yet another live concert tour, showcasing their brand new album Need Your Love. Along with video collections and recorded live concerts, Do As Infinity were still going strong. Although Dai Nagao was not as active as he was in the beginning (he did not participate in promotional events anymore, such as video clips or photo shoots) he was still the main composer and the brain behind the band. He did, though, appear in concerts from time to time.
"Tao" became Do As Infinity's twentieth single released on July 27, 2005, and the last before disbanding later that year. The lyrics of "Tao" described about friends parting ways and this caused many rumors among the fans about the disbanding of Do As Infinity. "Tao" was also the main theme of Tales of Legendia, an RPG video game released in summer 2005 and developed byNamco. The band announced on September 14 that they would disband on September 29, 2005, exactly six years to the day since their first single, "Tangerine Dream", was released. Their last concert was at the Nippon Budokan on November 25, 2005. Three days before the final concert, Dai Nagao released the last Do As Infinity song called "Trust" on the official website through Internet streaming. The vocals featured in this song is sung by Mizushima Kana from one of Nagao's side project artists I-lulu. Many fans hoped for a CD release of the song recorded with Do As Infinity, however, it has yet to happen.
Tomiko Van, the lead singer, pursued a solo career and debuted on March 29, 2006 with her album, Farewell. Ryo Owatari, the guitarist, worked with his band, Missile Innovation, and released their first single on February 1, 2006. Owatari also worked with other Avex artists such as Ayumi Hamasaki, Ai Otsuka and AAA. Dai Nagao went on to work with Amasia Landscape and other artists under the True Song Music label, writing songs for various artists.[6]
[edit]2008-present
The band played a reunion show at the final show of 2008's A-nation, as stated on the official BBS and blog entries of supporting musicians. Reportedly, Do As Infinity rehearsed for a month. As "secret guests" during the A-nation live concert on August 30, 2008, the band announced they would officially reform on September 29, 2008 and that they would be holding a free concert in Yoyogi Park on September 30, 2008.[1][7] They would eventually embark on a nationwide tour once more to celebrate their reunion. The band released their 21st single, "∞1", on June 17, 2009; it included four new songs. On September 30, 2009, the band released their seventh studio album, Eternal Flame. Do As Infinity provided the opening theme song, "Kimi ga Inai Mirai", to InuYasha: The Final Act in 2009; the single for "Kimi ga Inai Mirai" was released on January 20, 2010.
Do As Infinity debuted their song "Everything Will Be All Right" on December 24, 2009 as the official 2010 promotional theme song for professional Kyōtei boat racing.[8] "Everything Will Be All Right", as well as three other songs, was included on the band's 23rd single, "∞2", released on June 16, 2010. Do As Infinity released their 24th single "Jidaishin" on September 29, 2010. The single commemorated their 11-year anniversary and the physical copies were exclusively sold on the online music retailer Mu-mo, where they subsequently sold out.[9] Do As Infinity held their 11-year anniversary live convert at Shibuya AX on the same day.[10] It was broadcast live via Internet streaming through Nico Nico Douga for free.[11] The band released their eighth studio albumEight on January 19, 2011.[9] Do As Infinity released their 25th single "Chikai" (誓い) on July 27, 2011. The band's 26th single "Ariadne no Ito" (アリアドネの糸) was released on September 7, 2011. Do As Infinity's 27th single "Tasogare" (黄昏) was released on November 16, 2011. Do As Infinity released their ninth studio album Time Machine on February 29, 2012. The band will release their tenth studio album Do As Infinity X on October 10, 2012.
LiSA
LiSA began her singing career in 2005 while still in high school when she formed the indie rock band Chucky.[1] After Chucky broke up in July 2008,[2] LiSA formed the band Love is Same All with members from the indie band Parking Out; LiSA derived her stage name as an acronym of Love is Same All. In 2010, LiSA made her major debut singing songs for the TV anime Angel Beats! as one of two vocalists for the fictional in-story band Girls Dead Monster.[3][4] LiSA was the vocalist for the character Yui, and the second vocalist, Marina, sung songs as the character Masami Iwasawa.[4] As Girls Dead Monster, LiSA put out three singles and one album in 2010 on Key's record label Key Sounds Label. The first single "Thousand Enemies" was released on May 12; the second single "Little Braver" came out on June 9; and the third single "Ichiban no Takaramono (Yui final ver.)" (一番の宝物 〜Yui final ver.〜?) was sold on December 8.[5] The album, Keep The Beats!, was released on June 30.[5] LiSA made her first appearance at the 2010 Animelo Summer Live on August 28.[6] LiSA made her solo debut on April 20, 2011 with the release of her mini-album Letters to U by Aniplex under Sony Music Artists. The songs on the album were composed by dōjin and major artists, and LiSA composed the first song "Believe in Myself"; LiSA wrote all the lyrics for the album, too.[7][8] On November 12, 2011, LiSA made her first appearance in Singapore at Anime Festival Asia, South East Asia's largest anime and pop culture convention.[9] LiSA released her solo debut single "Oath Sign" on November 23, 2011, which is used as the opening theme to the 2011 TV anime Fate/zero. She released her first full solo debut album Lover"s"mile on February 22, 2012. LiSA attended as a guest of honor at Anime Expo 2012 and performed her first concert in North America at the event on July 1. LiSA will release her second single "Crossing Field" on August 8, 2012, which is used as the opening theme to the 2012 TV anime Sword Art Online.
VIVID
HISTORY
2009–2010: Formation and early career
Vivid was formed in March 2009 by the rhythm section, Iv (ex-Kisnate) and Ko-ki (ex-Novelis). Later in March they acquired vocalist Shin (ex-Dennou Romeo), and guitarists Reno (ex-Novelis) and Ryoga. In early April, the Indie-PSC website announced that Vivid had been signed to the label. On April 19, the band started official activities with their first live performance at Takadanobaba Area in Tokyo. With their own official website opening later in April, the band announced in May that their first releases were to be released July and August.
During May and June, they performed a total of five live performances, starting with Shibuya O-West on May 11, and ending with Shibuya O-West on June 24. Vivid's debut single, "Take-off", was released on July 8. The single reached number 2 on the indies Oricon charts, and number 63 on the major charts where it charted for a week.[1] Before their next single, they played a string of three live concerts; on July 18, July 24, and August 9 all at Takadanobaba Area.
Their second single, "Dear", was released on August 19, 2009. It was first released in a CD+DVD only format and featured their first promotional video. "Dear" reached second on the indies Oricon charts, and number 44 on the major charts where it charted for a week. It subsequently sold out and was re-released on February 1, 2010 as a CD-only format. The month was finished off with a live appearance at Takadanobaba Area on August 31, 2009.
In September and October 2009, Vivid took part in seven "Chichū Rōkaku" events organized by the PS Company, beginning with the 94th volume at Takadanobaba Area on September 19. The 95th to 97th volumes all took place at Takadanobaba Area: one on September 20, the second on September 26, and the last on September 27. The three volumes in October were at different venues; 98 was at Nagoya E.L.L on October 9, 99 was at Umeda Akaso on October 10, and 100 was at Kawasaki Club Citta on October 17.
On October 21, 2009, the band released their debut mini-album, The Vivid Color. It was their first release to be available in two different versions. The mini-album reached number 34 on the major Oricon charts, where it charted for two weeks.[2] Also on October 21, they appeared at the "H'evn no Omatsuri Tenmade Tobō!" event organised by H'evn magazine at Shibuya O-West. Three days later, Vivid at the "V-Rock Festival '09" mega-event at Makuhari Messe exhibition center in Chiba. Concluding the month was the special Halloween event "Area Halloween Special Live 2009" at Takadanobaba Area.
November began with a concert titled "The Vivid Color" at Shibuya O-West. During the next two months, Vivid participated in six events. The first was v[Neu]'s "Time-Limit Vol.1" sponsored event presented by Loop Ash Records at Takadanobaba Area on November 22. The last event in November was the 101st volume of the "Chichū Rōkaku" events at Takadanobaba Area on November 28. December started with the "Absolute Domain Zettai Ryōiki" event at Esaka Muse on the 8th. The next day there was another "Absolute Domain Zettai Ryōiki" event at Nagoya E.L.L. The last two events of the year were the 103rd "Chichū Rōkaku" at Takadanobaba Area on the 26th and the "Final 2009" event also at Takadanobaba Area on the 31st.
Their third single, titled "Across the Border", was released on February 17, 2010 in three different versions and topped number 22 on the Oricon singles weekly chart.[3]
On July 3 and 4, 2010, Vivid performed at the J.E. Live House in Paris, France, during the Japan Expo 2010.[4][5][6] This was the first time that Vivid had performed outside Japan.[6]
Their fourth single, "Precious", was released on July 7, 2010, reaching number 15 on the Oricon Weekly Chart.[3] In August 2010, it was announced that Vivid would sign with Sony Music Japan's Epic Records label.[1][7]
[edit]2011–present: Going major
Their fifth single and first major label single, "Yume Mugen no Kanata" (「夢」～ムゲンノカナタ～), ending theme song to the Level E anime, was released on January 19, 2011.[1][7]
Their sixth single, "Blue", was released on July 13, 2011, was used as the 14th opening theme of the Bleach anime from episodes 317 to 342.
Vivid embarked on a Asia tour 2011, appearing in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore.[8][9]On August 2, 2011, Vivid performed at the 13th annual ACGHK 2011 Heart Beat Seinen Music Festivalin Hong Kong, China.[10][11] Vivid performed at the V-Rock Festival 2011 in Makuhari Messe on October 23.[12] Vivid held their live concert at The Wall, Taipei on November 18 and 19. Vivid performed live at the Sundown Festival in Singapore on November 26, 2011.[13][14]
The title song for Vivid's 7th single, "Fake", was used as the theme song for the dating simulation game Koi to Shigoto to Kimi no Produce[15] while the single was released on November 9, 2011.
"Vivid Live 2012 Take Off: Birth to the New World" took place at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo on January 7, 2012.[16]
Vivid's 8th single, "Message", was released on January 11, 2012.
"Real", Vivid's 9th single and third opening for Mobile Suit Gundam AGE, was released on May 16, 2012.
Life and career
Nishino studied English from an early age, and went to America twice. She became interested in various genres of music, including hip-hop, R&B and reggae, but she also enjoyed Japanese literature, and started singing Japanese folk songs. Her dream of becoming a singer started in junior high school. When she was 16, her mother secretly sent a demo tape of hers to the Miss Phoenix Audition, and she was rated the top singer entrant out of approximately 40,000 applicants. A year later in 2006, she was signed to SME Records.
In 2007 while preparing to be a singer, she was also studying English literature at college. At the time she met Australian duo Nervo, who offered Nishino a song called "I Don't Wanna Know" for use in her music project. Nishino rewrote the song's lyrics into Japanese herself, and re-titled it "I". Since her debut, she had done most of the lyrics herself. She had no experience of writing lyrics before until her debut, debut single "I" Coupling "Just a friend" was the first lyricist to work. Her writings are mostly from experiences or heard from friends, and deliberation rewritten many times. Every time after hearing some songs, the listenings will become visible color which is like color, the movie phrase, and have finally turn into script and act like filmmaking.
In December 2007 her official site opened, and from that time onwards "*I* ~Merry Christmas ver.~" was available as a digital download from several Japanese sites, including Mora. Interestingly, the original version of the song "I Don't Wanna Know" was available as a digital download on the American iTunes site from New Year's Day onwards. The physical version was released two months later, on February 20, 2008.
Nishino's second single was called "Glowly Days". Her third single "Style" was used as the second ending theme song for the anime series Soul Eater and her fourth single "Make Up" is used in the ONA Chocolate Underground from UK's miniseries Bootleg with one of its b-sides, "Kirari", as an insert song.
After her first four singles, her music took a more R&B feel to it. Her fifth single "Tōkutemo feat. Wise" was released as a full-track digital song (Chaku Uta Full) on March 11, 2009. The physical CD was released on March 18, 2009. It is her first physical single to enter the top 50 in the Japanese Oricon single charts. Wise's digital single "Aenakutemo feat. Kana Nishino" debuted at number 9 on the RIAJ Digital Track Chart.[2]
Nishino released her sixth single "Kimi ni Aitaku Naru Kara" on June 3, 2009. The single hit number 14 on the Oricon weekly single charting, being her best single release of the six. The digital version of the single debuted at number 5 on the RIAJ Digital Track Chart.[3]
Her album Love One. was released on June 24, 2009, and features all six singles, a b-side, "Celtic", a pro and epilogue (featuring "kirari"), along with five completely unreleased songs: "doll" (track 3), "Girlfriend" (track 4), "Kimi no Koe o feat. Verbal (M-Flo)" (track 5), "Life goes on..." (track 7), and "candy" (track 9). "Kimi no Koe o" reached number 5 on RIAJ's digital track charts.
Nishino released her seventh single "Motto...". The full-track ringtone digital download of the song began on October 14 and the physical CD was released on October 21, 2009. The song debuted at the number 1 spot on the RIAJ Digital Track Chart.[4] She released the double A-side single "Dear.../Maybe" on December 2, 2009. After releasing two more singles "Best Friend" and "Aitakute Aitakute", she released her second album To Love on June 23, 2010.
On August 4, 2010, Kana Nishino released her eleventh single, "If." This song was used as the theme and ending song of the movie "Naruto Shippuden 4: The Lost Tower".The single reached number 5 on the Oricon charts and sold over 85,000 copies. Her 12th single, "Kimi tte", was released on November 3, 2010.
Kana competed in the 61st Kohaku Uta Gassen, which took place on December 31, 2010, with "Best Friend." On February 9, 2011, the single "Distance" was released. She also collaborated with Wise on the single "By your side" which was released on March 16, 2011.[citation needed]. Two months later on May 18, 2011 her new single 'Esperanza' was released.
[edit]Discography
[edit]Albums
| Year | Album Information | Chart positions | Total sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Love One.
| 4 | 222,000 |
| 2010 | To Love
| 1 | 724,265 |
| 2011 | Thank You, Love
| 1 | 374,276 |
| 2012 | Love Place
| TBA | TBA |
[edit]Singles
| Release | Title | Notes | Chart positions | Oricon sales total | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OriconSingles Charts | BillboardJapan Hot 100 | RIAJ Digital Track Chart* | |||||
| 2008 | "I" | 155 | 10 | – | 481 | Love One. | |
| "Glowly Days" | 126 | 22 | – | 1,044 | |||
| "Style." | 57 | 67 | – | 2,787 | |||
| 2009 | "Make Up" | 119 | 39 | – | 698 | ||
| "Tokutemo" (遠くても) feat. Wise | 40 | 39 | 18 | 9,536 | |||
| "Kimi ni Aitaku Naru Kara" (君に会いたくなるから) | 19 | 7 | 3 | 12,412 | |||
| "Kimi no Koe o" (君の声を) feat. Verbal (M-Flo) | Radio single | – | 55 | 5 | – | ||
| "Motto..." (もっと…) | RIAJ #1 for two weeks | 6 | 3 | 1 | 65,220 | To Love | |
| "Dear.../Maybe" | 7 | 3 | 1 5 | 52,792 | |||
| 2010 | "Best Friend" | RIAJ No. 1 for three weeks | 3 | 3 | 1 | 70,883 | |
| "Aitakute Aitakute" (会いたくて 会いたくて) | RIAJ No. 1 for two weeks | 2 | 4 | 1 | 97,103 | ||
| "if" | RIAJ No. 1 for three weeks | 5 | 6 | 1 | 91,409 | Thank You, Love | |
| "Kimi tte" (君って) | RIAJ No. 1 for three weeks | 3 | 3 | 1 | 98,113 | ||
| 2011 | "Distance" | RIAJ No. 1 for two weeks | 3 | 3 | 1 | 61,175 | |
| "Esperanza" | RIAJ #1 for one week | 5 | 5 | 1 | 46,718 | ||
| "Tatoe Donna ni..." (たとえ どんなに…) | RIAJ #1 for one week | 5 | 5 | 1 | 60,712 | Love Place | |
| 2012 | "Sakura, I Love You?" | RIAJ #1 for two weeks | 6 | 4 | 1 | 50,651 | |
| "Watashitachi" | RIAJ #1 for three weeks | 6 | 7 | 1 | 52,678 | ||
| "Go for It!!" | RIAJ #1 for one week | 7 | 6 | 1 | 35,189 | ||
* established April 2009.
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