AA=

As the main composer in The Mad Capsule Markets, Takeshi Ueda helped to develop a sound that was instantly recognizable and brought the band huge success, both in Japan and abroad. In March 2006, when the band announced that they would be going on an indefinite hiatus, all of the members began working on their own projects, both musical and otherwise.

While Ueda’s clothing line "FUZZ REZ ZWEEP" had been established in October 2005, he took the opportunity to expand the line by setting up an online store with clothes that had the concept of "MUZIK+Earth+Peace." He also kept busy remixing songs from other artists, most notably MERRY's Japanese Modernist. In 2007, he worked with the duo Lynchburg Lemonade on the song RADIO SWEETS under the project name Takeshi Ueda x Lynchburg Lemonade. This was for the collaboration album PINK & BLACK, which celebrated the tenth anniversary of the clothing brand "Katie."

In late 2008, Ueda formed a new solo project titled AA=. The name is short for "all animals are equal," a reference to George Orwell's book Animal Farm, and a theme that is also prevalent in the band's lyrics. To bring his vision to life, he recruited three seasoned musicians: Takayoshi Shirakawa (BACK DROP BOMB) on vocals, Nobuaki Kaneko (RIZE) on drums and Minoru Kojima (ex-Creature Creature, DIES IN CRIES, The Mad Capsule Markets) on guitar. The project signaled the first time that Ueda and Kojima had worked together in almost 20 years, as Kojima left The Mad Capsule Markets shortly after the release of their debut album.

In October 2008, the first single from AA=, the anthemic PEACE!!!, was released. The song and accompanying music video quickly garnered excitement from both his longtime fans and many new listeners.

Due to Ueda’s reputation on the rock scene, AA= were quickly invited to perform at COUNTDOWN JAPAN 08/09 events in Tokyo and Osaka alongside acts such as Shonen Knife, HALCALI and POLYSICS, starting the band’s career off with a bang in front of several thousand people.

The group’s debut album, #1, was released in February 2009. The release of the CD also highlighted Ueda’s altruistic and environmentally conscious side with 100 yen from each sale being donated to the charity WWF, the album production being carbon neutral and the album’s packaging being certified by the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) as being environmentally friendly. The band released its first live DVD, TOUR #1 that September.

That year also saw Ueda produce horror punk band BALZAC’s mini-album Paradox, helping them to develop the digital hardcore aspect of their sound. He has maintained a close relationship with the members of the band over the years, working with them on music and special goods and distributing AA= merchandise through their Shocker!! store.

Ueda has also shown a strong interest in reaching out to a global audience throughout his career. He took a major step towards this goal in 2011 when he signed a deal with German label Gan-Shin Records to distribute AA=’s third album #3 worldwide.

After the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Ueda launched a charity project called AA=Aid. He gathered his friends from the rock scene, including Hirosuke from BALZAC, Shinichi Ubukata from Nothing’s Carved In Stone, Kj from Dragon Ash, K from Pay money To my Pain and more, and they recorded the song We’re not alone, which was released as a free download to support people suffering from the disaster and encourage fans to act to support the reconstruction. The project sold T-shirts Ueda had designed to raise funds for the reconstruction efforts as well.

The year 2012 saw AA=’s song The Klock used as the ending theme to the popular film “Helter Skelter”, which earned the band new fans both in Japan and overseas. Riding on this momentum, Ueda intensified his focus on AA= the following year, cranking out two successful digital singles, WARWARWAR and HUMANITY2.

Confident in the strength of his newest batch of songs and eager to share them with as many people as possible, Ueda organized a special feature on New Audiogram’s website with interviews and photos revealing the band’s recording progress and a USTREAM program called Power Down Shita GGTV no AATV to promote them. AA= ended the year with the release of two albums, which combined to form #4. The albums were split conceptually between the two main aspects of AA=’s sound, with # (pronounced “sharp”) encapsulating the harsh, electronic, forward-looking side and 4 capturing the nostalgic, melodic and human side. In addition to all this activity with AA=, 2013 saw Ueda venture into creating music for idols, producing the song STUPiG for BiS.

2014 saw # and 4 released worldwide via iTunes, again showing Ueda’s eagerness to reach out to the widest possible audience. Ueda also churned out another successful idol collaboration, composing the song Gimme Chocolate!! for BABYMETAL.

With such an impressive career behind him and so many talented musicians at his side, it seems safe to say that fans can continue to expect great things from AA= and all of Takeshi Ueda’s other projects in the future.