#Tokyo Jihen #Shiina Ringo #experimental rock #avant-pop #acid jazz #alternative rock #progressive J-Rock #Japanese
Tokyo Jihen started as Ringo Sheena's backing band at first for her last concert tour before ending the first half of her solo career. Sheena was contemplating working with a band while working on her last solo album, Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana. She began looking for members of her backing band to support her solo tour "Sugoroku Ecstasy" in the Autumn of 2003. The tour band was introduced as Tokyo Jihen during the tour for the first time, featuring guitarist Mikio Hirama, pianist H Zett M, drummer Toshiki Hata, and familiar bassist Seiji Kameda. The musicians she selected became the core of what would become Tokyo Jihen. After the tour, she announced that she would stop her solo career to join Tokyo Jihen as a full-fledged member.
Ringo Sheena (椎名 林檎, Shiina Ringo)
Instruments: Lead vocals, Electric guitar, Acoustic guitar, Piano, Electronic keyboards, Melodica, Kazoo
Real name: Yumiko Shiina (椎名 裕美子, Shiina Yumiko)
Sheena is an acclaimed singer-songwriter who has enjoyed enormous popularity since her debut at the age of 18. She is the founder and the leader of the group, and initially wrote almost all their songs, but later shared songwriting duties with the other band members.
Seiji Kameda (亀田 誠治, Kameda Seiji)
Instruments: Bass guitar, Upright bass, Electric upright bass
Kameda is a music producer and music arranger for many Japanese musicians. Kameda is also a famous session bassist. He participates in many musicians' recording, or plays a bass as a member of various solo singers' backing band. Kameda knew Ringo Sheena before her debut, and he has supported her since then. Ringo Sheena calls him "Shisho", meaning master or teacher. He rose to fame along with her and became a famous producer, but he concentrates on playing a bass guitar in Tokyo Jihen.
Toshiki Hata (刄田 綴色, Hata Toshiki)
Instruments: Drums, Percussion
Real name: Toshiki Hata (畑 利樹, Hata Toshiki)
Hata had drummed as session musician and tour musician for various artists, including Mika Nakashima, Dreams Come True, and Fujifabric. He was also a member of a band headed by Junpei Shiina (椎名 純平, Shiina Junpei), Sheena's elder brother. Hata frequently plays as a support member of his former band Scoop, as well as forming the band Kotoho (コトホ) with Hideaki Yamazaki, another ex-Scoop member and current bassist for School Food Punishment.
Ukigumo (浮雲, The Drifting Cloud)
Instruments: Electric guitar, Acoustic guitar, Backing vocals, Rapping
Real name: Ryosuke Nagaoka (長岡 亮介, Nagaoka Ryosuke)
Ukigumo is an old friend of Sheena's. He has also played music with Junpei Shiina before, as well as Hata and Tabu Zombie of Soil & "Pimp" Sessions; he also played on Sheena's fourth solo album, Sanmon Gossip. He gave Sheena advice when the former members of Tokyo Jihen left the band. He has his own band, Petrolz (ペトロールズ).
Ichiyō Izawa (伊澤 一葉, Izawa Ichiyō)
Instruments: Piano, Electronic keyboards, Electric guitar, Background Vocals
Real name: Keitaro Izawa (伊澤 啓太郎, Izawa Keitaro)
Izawa and former Tokyo Jihen pianist HZM are alumni of the Kunitachi College of Music, and have been in a band together before. He has his own band, Appa (あっぱ), and has more recently played with the band The Hiatus as a tour member.
H Zett M (H是都M, H ZETT M)
Instruments: Piano, Electronic keyboards, Background Vocals
Real name: Masayuki Hiizumi (ヒイズミ マサユ機, Hiizumi Masayuki)
HZM is a core member of the Japanese instrumental jazz band PE'Z, which made their major debut before the formation of Tokyo Jihen. After the release of Tokyo Jihen's first album, he decided to leave to devote himself to PE'Z full-time.
Mikio Hirama (ヒラマ ミキオ (晝海 幹音), Hirama Mikio)
Instruments: Guitars, Background Vocals
Real name: Mikio Hirama (平間 幹央, Hirama Mikio)
Hirama had released two mini-albums on indie labels as a solo musician, and was also in the band "Peppermints Kiss Cafe" as a guitarist at the time he joined Tokyo Jihen. Sheena had met him before at an audition, and subsequently searched for him in hopes of adding him to the band. After the release of Tokyo Jihen's first album, he decided to return to his career as a solo musician.
The real names of Hirama and Hata are 平間 幹央 and 畑 利樹 respectively, but, Ringo Sheena gave them stage names, using Kanji which is not usually used for their names, but as they are the phonetic equivalent, the pronunciation is not changed. Since Ryosuke Nagaoka always drifted unsteadily and nobody knew where he would go, Sheena named Nagaoka "Ukigumo" which means the drifting cloud. Sheena planned to give Keitaro Izawa a stage name, but he refused and chose one for himself, Ichiyō Izawa.
The band members have different writing styles. Sheena Ringo and Ichiyo Izawa write their songs using musical notation. Seiji Kameda uses different methods, recording himself humming, using musical instruments, or using a computer. Ukigumo, on the other hand, cannot write musical notation, Izawa or (less frequently) Sheena transcribe his tunes in the studio. Since Ukigumo writes music without considering a song, it is hard for Sheena to put the words to his music, so he often writes the lyrics to his own songs. Finally, Toshiki Hata stubbornly refused to write music, even declining to write lyrics when Sheena asked him to. He finally did contribute one song to the band's last EP before their split, Color Bars, and the first EP since their reunion.
From: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Tokyo_Jihen
