Wakusei

Wakusei were initially formed in Shizuoka following a chance meeting of former classmates Kishida, Shimizu and Hirata at a live house in Kouenji, Tokyo in 1995. In the early stages of their musical career, the group toured throughout Japan and gained relative popularity due to their rock’n’roll style. However, Kishida was currently a part of the theatre performance troupe Tasogare no Vaudeville, which meant that Wakusei took the stance of a side-project.

Following the dissolution of the theatre troupe in 1996, Wakusei rose in prominence within the live music scene until the group officially began activities in 1997. It was only in 1999 however, that the group released their first album Acoustic. The following year, Wakusei contributed a cover of the song Gigantic to the compilation album Tribute to The Pixies.

In 2001, Wakusei embarked on their first national tour, which saw the group perform extensively throughout Japan. Throughout this heavy schedule, which led into 2002, Wakusei continued to produce music and released two albums ku-ro-i-h-shi and shi-ro-i-to-ri in April. The group also performed at the FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL ‘02 along with Western artists such as Lostprophets, The Libertines and American Hi-Fi.

In 2003, Wakusei released three split-singles with MORPHINE and in June became a major act, releasing their debut album Wakusei under the UNIVERSAL J/Kitty label. The group also released the album Noise (a compilation of their first two mini-albums) under English record company Cherry Red Records. That summer also saw the group perform at the RISING SUN ROCK FESTIVAL 2003 in EZO, KOIWAI ROCK FES and MONSTER baSH.

Throughout January, Wakusei supported Australian based band Jet on the leg of their own tour throughout Japan. In July 2004, Wakusei made their second appearance at the FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL. Later that year in November, after working with musician and sound producer Tsuchiya Masami, the group released their second studio album Wakusei II. The album saw Wakusei shift into a new work ethic and consequently a new sound, incorporating the genre of alternative rock into their work.

In the summer of 2005, Hirata announced that she would be parting ways with the band and following an announcement at a live performance in September that bassist Shimuzu would also be leaving Wakusei due to “musical differences”, reduced the group to a solo unit.

Kishida continued Wakusei as a solo unit, with friends from the music industry rallying around to support him at various live performances and in 2007, the now solo-unit released the mini-album MY BRAND NEW PLANET. The album featured contributions from Aoki Hiroshi (VOLA&THE ORIENTAL MACHINE, downy), Akiyama Takahiko (downy, KAREN, fresh!) and Chibamegu (Sportsmen).

Following the release of MY WAY on December 5th 2007, Kishida brought an official close to Wakusei.