Read the story of this young rock band from Kawaguchi, Saitama.
universe was formed in June 2002 by five schoolfriends from Kawaguchi, all in their freshman year of high school. Their early activities included street performances outside Saitama's Omiya Station, performances at charity events and lives in clubs around Kantō.
In November 2005, vocalist haru won the Special Jury Award in the 18th JUNON SUPER BOY contest. In January 2006, drummer KEIICHI's twin brother YUSUKE joined the band as a second guitarist. Lead guitarist HIDE and bassist KAZUYA rounded out this permanent line-up.
In 2009, universe won the Grand Prix in auditions organized by Lotte x Sony Music "Uta no aru Gum Project". Beating over 5000 other participants, they won the opportunity to have their song Haru iro featured in a marketing campaign for Lotte's Ghana Milk Chocolate.
On May 5th 2010, the same song became their major debut single, with DefSTAR RECORDS. This was followed on August 4th the same year by their second single echoes, the title track of which served as the 24th ending theme for anime series "BLEACH", broadcast by Tokyo TV.
On October 26th 2011, universe celebrated the release of their first mini album Reload. The band then embarked on the nationwide Re:road tour in promotion of the mini album. Beginning with a one-man live at Shibuya O-WEST on October 27th, the tour saw them perform across 47 prefectures.
The band's one-man lives won them huge popularity in their hometown Saitama, and their "uni-rock fes" events constantly sold out. In 2012, they released the live house-distributed singles BINETSU and Misty days, on October 10th and November 14th respectively. Then on December 19th came the release of their second mini album Garage days, which topped the weekly charts run by Tower Records Kawaguchi NACK5town, beating artists such as Golden Bomber, Mr.Children and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu.
On August 21st 2013, universe's long-awaited 1st album COSMO MUSEUM was released, and topped the Tower Records Kawaguchi chart. The album was supported by the nationwide souvenir note tour, which kicked off August 17th with a one-man live at Nishikawaguchi HEARTS. The tour included a further 16 concerts. On November 10th, the band held Release gakkyoku zenkyoku ensou LIVE〜across the universe〜 at Nishikawaguchi HEARTS, a day-long live in which they performed all 43 of their songs.
From November 28th, haru performed as Kentaro in "Orange Note", a stage show by theatre troupe TEAM-ODAC. The project proved a huge success, with every show selling out.
In early 2014, guitarist YUSUKE left the band, and universe became a quartet.
