biography
asian kung-fu generation was formed in 1996 by masafumi, kensuke and takahiro in university.
kiyoshi, who was active as a drummer at this time, joined the band a bit later, and they did their first live performance in the yokohama center playing english songs written at school.
in 2000 they released their first indie work, a mini-album named the time past and i couldn't see you again containing 6 tracks all in english which was sold over the internet.
they had a sponsorship event at yokohama club24 on december 30, 2001, as a so called end of the year special.
later, when masafumi had completed kona yuki, their first japanese song, they sent it to the fm channel's indie's program and it happened to be their first tune that ever was on air.
after that, they announced their second independent cd, i'm standing here, now also containing songs in japanese, and they became more busy doing live events. during that time, they also had their first live performance at shimokitazawa.
in 2002 they participated in a compilation cd from under flower records, and in november of the same year they released their first mini-album: houkai amplifier, which ranked #1 on the high line record sales and #35 at oricon.
on april 23, 2003, after they were signed by sony, houkai amplifier was re-released by ki/oon records.
during the summer 2003 they performed at the fuji rock festival, at the mtv summer sonic 2003 and in osaka.
also, from march 26 to october 8, haruka kanata gained popularity as it was featured as the opening theme for naruto, a world-wide known anime: ajikan also reached the anime fans...
their first full album, kimi tsunagi five m, released on november 19, sold over 20.000 copies.
on march 11, 2004, they won the best new artist video award at the space shower music video awards for the video of kimi to iu hana.
during 2003 and 2004, asian kung-fu generation released something like 6 singles, and one of them, rewrite, is now being aired as the opening theme for fullmetal alchemist, another famous anime.
during the summer 2004, they performed at 8 important japanese rock festivals.
remember... it's a long way to the top, if you wanna rock'n'roll! ... but ajikan seem to be covering it very quickly!
personal profiles
masafumi gotou
vocals & guitar
date of birth: december 2, 1976
place of birth: chuubu
favorite bands: weezer, teenage funclub, number girl, eastern youth
kensuke kita
guitar & vocals
date of birth: january 24, 1977
place of birth: tokyo
favorite bands: radiohead, xtc, manic street preachers, supergrass
takahiro yamada
bass & vocals
date of birth: august 19, 1977
place of birth: chuubu
favorite bands: the beatles, oasis, the smashing pumpkins, pet shop boys
kiyoshi ijichi
drums
date of birth: september 25, 1977
place of birth: tokyo
favorite bands: brian setzer, hi-standard, link