FLAME

FLAME's history began at the annual JUNON SUPERBOY CONTEST of 2000, a contest with about 14,500 participants in which each participant's talent are measured against one another. People all across the country could choose for their favorites and Izaki Yusuku (age 16) managed to win the contest. Winning the contest, he had a choice between either having a career as solo artist or in a group, and he chose to be in a group. The other members who joined him were his twin brother, Hisato, and Koneko Kyohei (age 13). Both of them had received a special award from the judges. Kitamura Yu (age 15) joined as well because a member from the judges persisted that he should also join.

FLAME made their debut with their first single Mune no kodou in October 2001 and after this many releases followed. Amongst those were projects with w-inds, LEAD and other pop-groups. The group also traveled abroad to countries such as New York, USA, where they shot their first music video, and Taiwan, where they had a promo tour for their album Boy's quest.

The boys are not only represented in the music business, but also in the Japanese television shows and cinema. For example, you can find the Izaki brothers in the movie Devilman (Hisato as the main character Fudou Akira/Devilman), which won an award for ‘Best CG Movie' on the 49th Asia Pacific Film Festival in 2004.

The music of the group changed through the times. The pop-like songs at the beginning such as Mune no kudou and Truly gave way for more rap influenced songs such as Remind and Fundamental Loop, and in the end this rap influence also changed the group's look.

Around the summer of 2004, the first rumors about Kyohei wanting to leave FLAME started to arise. On October 23rd 2004, he published a last message to his fans in which he confirmed his departure from the group. His reason for leaving was because he felt he didn't get the chance to make music the way he would like to with FLAME. Afterward, he began his solo career.
On November 4th 2004, the name of Kyohei's replacement was officially published. Seigo Noguchi joined them and his first performance with FLAME was on December 24th in the Shibuya AX.

Throughout the years they continued with more releases and in their last single of 2006, Hanashitaku wa nai, the group's sound and look changed once again, but this time replacing rap with rock sounds.