Ellegarden

Ellegarden (stylized as ELLEGARDEN) is a Japanese rock band formed in December 1998 in Chiba, Japan.[2] Ellegarden consists of drummer Hirotaka Takahashi, vocalist/guitarist Takeshi Hosomi, guitarist Shinichi Ubukata, and bassist Yuichi Takada. In 2008, Ellegarden announced an indefinite hiatus, which lasted almost 10 years. In May 2018, Ellegarden announced a reunion with their first national tour since the hiatus.[3]

Ellegarden
OriginChiba, Japan
Genres
Years active1998–2008, 2018-present
LabelsDynamord/Growing Up Inc.
Denka Secca
Nettwerk (NA)
Associated actsThe Hiatus
Nothing's Carved in Stone
MONOEYES
Websitehttp://www.ellegarden.jp
MembersTakeshi Hosomi
Shinichi Ubukata
Yuichi Takada
Hirotaka Takahashi

Background

The English lyrics of the band's songs, which are mostly written by Hosomi, are usually grammatically sound and well pronounced. In the Summer 2006 issue of the American Japanese rock magazine Purple Sky, Hosomi accredited this to the time he spent working as a computer engineer in Oakland, California and later in Japan, where he had English-speaking co-workers.[1]

History

Ellegarden generated a tight, punchy but muscular sound reminiscent of North American bands such as Blink-182, Sum 41 and Good Charlotte, while also displaying the influence of Hosomi's favorites, Weezer.[1] In the fall of 2001, Ellegarden signed with the Japanese Dynamord label, and released their first EP, Bare Foot, with a full-length album, Don't Trust Anyone But Us, following in the spring of 2002. The album was a hit, and Ellegarden followed with a new LP every year. In 2004, they took part in the Synchronized Rockers tribute album to The Pillows. 2006's Eleven Fire Crackers became the band's first North American release when it was issued by Nettwerk in the summer of 2007. Accustomed to playing major shows in Japan, where they've shared stages with the Foo Fighters and Sum 41,[1][2] Ellegarden made their American live debut in 2006 with a seven-city tour as part of Japan Nite, which included a stop at the South by Southwest Music Conference.

In 2006, Ellegarden performed in numerous Japanese Summer Music Festivals, such as Fuji Rock, Summer Sonic, Nano Mugen Festival and Rising Sun Rock Festival.[2] Their final tour of the year featured the American band Allister, who they became acquainted with during SXSW 2006. In addition, they supported Foo Fighters in their concert at Osaka Castle Hall.

On May 2, 2008, it was announced that the band would be going on hiatus when the following message was posted on the band's official website:[4]

"Ellegarden has been in the process of creating a new album since last year, however, during the band’s activities, there arose a difference in opinion regarding the motivation for creating a new album. We no longer feel we are able to create an album that we would be satisfied with, and after much discussion we arrived at the conclusion to end the creation of the album and suspend the band’s activities indefinitely. All previously decided shows (including shows not yet announced) up until early September 2008 will still be performed.

We want to thank everyone who has supported Ellegarden from the bottom of our hearts. In order to once again create new music as Ellegarden, each of us wants to work on our own personal growth and development. Thank you for everything." – Ellegarden leader, Shinichi Ubukata

Following the recording hiatus announcement, the band has continued to perform live and announced a greatest hits album entitled Ellegarden Best (1999-2008).[4] The album consists of 21 songs and was released on July 2, 2008. After appearances at several high-profile festivals (including Rock in Japan Fest, Sky Jamboree, Nano Mugen Fes, and Treasure 05x: The Greatest Riot Returns), the band performed four one-man shows in early September to give its fans a send-off before the hiatus; two performances at Zepp Osaka followed by two performances at Shinkiba Studio Coast in Tokyo.

In 2018, Ellegarden announced their first tour in 10 years, ending their hiatus. The tour, titled "THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN", kicked off in August 2018 at Shinkiba Studio Coast, the same venue as their send-off concert. In 2020, the group had announced scheduled performances at several music festivals in Japan, but most of them had been cancelled or postponed due to effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Band members
  • Takeshi Hosomi (細美 武士, Hosomi Takeshi) – vocalist, rhythm guitarist
    • Hosomi is the main songwriter. He writes almost all the lyrics and music.
    • He announced in October 2008 that he was active as a solo artist on his official blog, and that he formed The Hiatus.
  • Shin’ichi Ubukata (生形 真一, Ubukata Shin’ichi) – lead guitarist, backing vocals
  • Yuichi Takada (高田 雄一, Takada Yuichi) – bassist, backing vocals
    • Takada is part of the band Meaning.
    • He is also a member of the band the End, with former BiS member Nakayama "UK" Yukiko.
  • Hirotaka Takahashi (高橋 宏貴, Takahashi Hirotaka) – drummer, backing vocals
    • Takahashi is the godparent of the band.
    • He formed Scars Borough after the group's hiatus.

Equipment
  • Takeshi Hosomi (vocal & guitar)
    • Gibson Les Paul Std./ Gibson Historic Collection 1956 Les Paul Gold Top
    • Diezel Herbert/ Marshall JCM-800
  • Shinichi Ubukata (guitar & chorus)
    • Gibson ES-355 (with no Varitone control)/Gibson Shinichi Ubukata ES-355.
    • VHT. Pittbull Hundred CLX/ Marshall JMP 2203
  • Yuichi Takada (bass & chorus)
    • Fender Precision Bass/ Ampeg SVT-810 E
  • Hirotaka Takahashi (drums & chorus)
    • Ludwig Classic Maple Drum Set/ SD Gretsch G4160
    • Paiste 2002 Series/ Stick Pearl Standard Hickory 190 STH[5]

Discography
Studio albums
Year Album Details Oricon charts[6] Sales
2002 Don't Trust Anyone But Us
  • Released: April 3, 2002
 94 —
2003 Bring Your Board!!
  • Released: July 2, 2003
 75 —
2004 Pepperoni Quattro
  • Released: May 26, 2004
 17 —
2005 Riot on the Grill
  • Released: April 20, 2005
 3 227,000
2006 Eleven Fire Crackers
  • Released: November 8, 2006
 1 341,000
Compilation albums
Year Album Details Oricon charts Sales
2004 Synchronized Rockers
  • A tribute album to The Pillows featuring Ellegarden
  • Released: September 16, 2004
 — —
2007 Figureheads Compilation
  • Released: July 31, 2007
 — —
2008 Ellegarden Best (1999–2008)
  • Released: July 2, 2008
 2[6] 277,886
EPs
Year Album Details Oricon charts[6]
2001 Ellegarden
  • Released: May 23, 2001
 240
2002 My Own Destruction
  • Released: October 16, 2002
 206
Maxi singles
Year Title Oricon charts[7]
2001 "Bare Foot"
  • Released: October 12, 2001
 —
2002 "Yubiwa"
  • Released: February 20, 2002
 —
2003 "Jitterbug"
  • Released: November 12, 2003
 75
2004 "Missing"
  • Released: November 3, 2004
 16
2005 "Space Sonic"
  • Released: December 7, 2005
 5
2006 "Salamander"
  • Released: August 9, 2006
 3
Videos
Year Title Oricon charts[8]
2003 My Own Destruction Tour Bootleg VHS
  • Released: March 20, 2003
 —
2004 Bring Your Board!! Tour Bootleg II DVD
  • Released: May 26, 2004
 —
E.V.Junkie Lives 2004 - King of Punk Adventure
  • Released: November 17, 2004
 —
2005 Bad for Education Tour Bootleg III DVD
  • Released: February 26, 2005
 17
2006 Doggy Bags
  • Released: August 9, 2006
 3
2007 Eleven Fire Crackers Tour 06-07 - After Party
  • Released: October 24, 2007
 1

Tours

Dates shown are announcement dates

  • First tour (August 2002) – 20 stop tour through Japan
  • My Own Destruction Tour (October 16, 2002) – 30 stops in Japan to promote album of same name
  • Bring Your Board!! Tour (July 10, 2003) – 25 stops in Japan with one extra live performance
  • Jitterbug Live Tour (November 12, 2003)
  • Pepperoni Quattro Tour (June 12, 2004) – toured 19 cities in Japan
  • Bad for Education Tour 2004 (November 2, 2004) – 15 cities
  • Riot on the Grill Tour (May 5, 2005) – 39 stops
  • Space Sonic Tour 2005-2006 (December 3, 2005) – 36 stops
  • Japan Nite Tour 2006 (January 16, 2006) – first US tour with appearance at SXSW followed by 7 cities
  • Ellegarden Tour 2006-2007 (October 12, 2006) – 54 stops, first half featuring Allister
  • Supporting Act for Foo Fighters (December 5, 2006) – Osaka Castle Hall
  • Ellegarden Tour 2007 (June 10, 2007) – 31 stops in Japan
  • First Korean Show at Melon AX (October 7, 2007)
  • THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN TOUR 2018 (May 10, 2018) – 3 stops in Japan to promote return, guest act ONE OK ROCK
  • NANA-IRO ELECTRIC TOUR 2019 – 3 stop reunion tour with fellow bands Asian Kung-Fu Generation and Straightener
gollark: Your thing will be running in a CraftOS environment instead of the BIOS one, so presumably you can use the `keys` library and make it easier.
gollark: This is adapted slightly from the keyboard shortcuts daemon in potatOS.
gollark: ```lualocal keys_down = {}local keyboard_commands = { -- whatever}local function keyboard_shortcuts() while true do local ev = {coroutine.yield()} if ev[1] == "key" then keys_down[ev[2]] = true if keyboard_commands[ev[2]] and keys_down[157] then -- right ctrl keyboard_commands[ev[2]]() end elseif ev[1] == "key_up" then keys_down[ev[2]] = false end endend```
gollark: Oh, right. I'll pull up the PotatoBIOS code for that.
gollark: You mean, musical keys or something?

References
  1. AllMusic. Ellegarden | Biography & History
  2. Barks. ELLEGARDEN : Biography
  3. "活動休止していたELLEGARDEN 約10年ぶりとなるライブツアー開催へ - ライブドアニュース". ライブドアニュース (in Japanese). Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  4. Ellegarden official site Archived 2008-11-09 at the Wayback Machine; each instance of "ELLEGARDEN" converted to "Ellegarden".
  5. Source for all: Ellegarden site Archived 2008-11-09 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. Oricon. ELLEGARDENのランキング
  7. Oricon. ELLEGARDENのランキング
  8. Oricon. ELLEGARDENのランキング
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.