POSSIBILITY

POSSIBILITY was formed in 1999 by MCs 43K (or “SHIMI K”) and EIG (“Eiji”), guitarist KAZU-O, bassist SHIMADA and drummer HAYATO. Influenced by groups such as YAMAARASHI and their proximity to the resort area of Shounan, they quickly developed an upbeat, summery rap-rock sound. While their songwriting has become more refined over the years, the core elements of their music were already in place on their very first release, a self-titled maxi-single that came out on March 23, 2002.

The band’s first national tour came later that year, followed by the mini-album Thanks Giving Day.

In 2003, the band’s popularity received a major boost when 43K and EIG were featured on Dragon Ash’s song United Rhythm, and POSSIBILITY was invited to take part in Dragon Ash’s House of Velocity TOUR, serving as the band’s opening act for 29 shows. One of their performances can even be found on the DVD documenting the tour.

Riding on the momentum from this tour, their second single mornin’ came out that September and managed to stay on the Oricon indie charts for six weeks. The song Night Light Insect off this release was selected to be the ending theme to the TV Asahi program “Purachina London Boots”. All of this progress helped lead to POSSIBILITY’s first one-man live at Shibuya Club Asia.

In 2004, the band released their third maxi-single, Myself, which debuted at number six on the Oricon indie charts. That July, their first full-length album Now or Never was released, claiming the same spot.

The band was soon signed by Sony Music Records / MASTERSIX FOUNDATION, and they made their major debut with the single NAME / Runner on February 14, 2007.

The year 2008 was an exciting one for POSSIBILITY, as they released their first major album, New World, which featured a number of guest vocalists, including their old friend Kj from Dragon Ash, SHUN from SBK, Hawaiian vocalist Aaron from fellow Shounan-based band START FROM SCRATCH and PASSER from mach25. One of the singles from this album, sanagi, also went on to be chosen as the theme to the popular anime series “Gintama”, earning the band valuable exposure both nationally and overseas.

Bolstered by its connection with “Gintama”, sanagi managed to reach the 17th spot on the Oricon charts, easily the highest ranking of the band's career. Sadly, their next single Sayonara, which was released in January 2010, failed to replicate this success, and 2010 would turn out to be a year of “goodbyes” in more than one way for POSSIBILITY. In December EIG and KAZU-O announced that they would retire from the band in order to pursue goals outside of the music industry. They both left detailed messages on the band’s blog thanking the fans and expressing their hopes for the future.

In 2011, the remaining members decided to press on as POSSIBILITY, although, surprisingly, without recruiting another MC. However, since all of the band’s songs feature vocals from both 43K and EIG, often simultaneously, performing with one MC became difficult, and their activities quickly slowed. 43K also launched a solo career soon after, which took more time away from the band. He released his first mini-album we live in love in 2012, which, while still embodying the beach atmosphere and optimistic outlook of POSSIBILITY, featured a more relaxed acoustic sound. After he began to assemble a backing band, he changed the name of the project to 43K & Cheapsongs, and continues to perform under this name, usually at very intimate venues, bars and cafes.

In early 2013, 43K suddenly announced that EIG would return to POSSIBILITY for a concert on March 23rd. After the success of that show, the band welcomed support guitarist Oohashi Hiroyuki as an official member and announced the beginning of a new chapter for POSSIBILITY. A number of other performances soon followed, along with a new website and Twitter and Facebook accounts.

POSSIBILITY performed three shows called Otokaze NIGHT ~COME BACK~ in August, October and November and, while they have not announced any plans to record new music, the future looks bright.