hime ichigo

hime ichigo was officially formed on October 1st, 2004 in Sapporo. Their debut live took place a few months later - on March 29th, 2005. During the live in Sapporo's Messe Hall, their first single was distributed free of charge.

During the following months the band performed several gigs in their home town, gradually gaining popularity. In September, they organized their first sponsored live, and on October 1st, the 1st anniversary of the band's creation, they played their first one-man live. Later that same month, they played two more lives before falling silent for months.

Somewhere at the beginning of 2006, they released a single entitled hime hajime, although the exact release date is unknown. On April 23rd, they released a newly recorded version of their last release, enriched with an additional song, hime hajime ~shaya no himegoto~. September witnessed the release of their second maxi, and the band started playing lives outside Hokkaido. hime ichigo's popularity continued to grow and by October their song was released on an omnibus, Shock Edge 2006. It was around the same time they participated in events organized by TUXEDO Productions and Speeddisk. On New Year's Eve, they also participated in the Stylish Wave Countdown event.

2007 began in a very promising light. On January 8th they played their first one-man live in Tokyo and released a new maxi-single. By February, they participated in a Nagoya E.L.L & Speeddisk event. They spent the rest of the spring touring as well as held an event tour with indies band Charlotte.

Things got even better for hime ichigo in June, as they released their first full album, hime ichigo hakusho. Through the summer, they participated in the annual Stylish Wave event tour and were slated to team up with Charlotte again to play at their first overseas live in Rio, Brazil on August 5th. Unfortunately, the event was canceled and while Charlotte later went to Brazil, hime ichigo has yet to tour overseas.

During 2008 the band had a busy tour schedule and they only released one CD that year. Hitting the shelves in July, their single Sherry reached 4th on the Oricon indies chart, a substantial achievement for the little known band from the north.

Now in 2009, hime ichigo will continue touring Japan, starting with their oneman tour promoting their new single, re:alice, which will be released on February 11. In March they will participate in the Stylish Wave '09 circuit.

Even though the band is not widely known yet, it seems very promising. Their popularity continues to grow, so keep an eye out for them!