Asian Kung-Fu Generation Finally Kicks InBy Rori Caffrey (Special to the Daily Yomiuri)My earliest memory of Asian Kung-Fu Generation, Japan's current buzz band, is when they played at Summer Sonic 2003--not that I actually saw them perform. Heavens no. I doubt many people did. But, hey, you don't forget a name like that too easily.
At the time they were a greenhorn band who, out of nearly 30 groups playing that day, had drawn the short-straw job of being first up on the smallest of four stages. When Asian Kung-Fu Generation were playing their final song, most concert-goers weren't even through the front gate. Those that were inside had made beelines for the main arena, or the other stages, or the T-shirt stalls. There were probably more people lining up for ice cream bars than to see Asian Kung-Fu Generation.
As for me, I had never heard their music and was more than a bit dubious of that name. Asian Dub Foundation--an established British act with huge following. Asian Kung-Fu Generation--struggling Japanese band seeking a following. A coincidence? An homage? An in-joke? Whatever the case, I thought a band that employed so little creativity in naming themselves would put even less into writing their songs. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who took a pass on them that day.
Fast-forward a year and a bit to today. Asian Kung-Fu Generation have just kicked off a 12-date national tour, with all but one show completely sold out. Their latest album Sol-fa debuted at No. 1 on the national chart three weeks ago and is yet to budge. According to Ki/oon Records it's already sold 600,000 copies, way more than their debut Kimi Tsunagi Five M. There doesn't seem to be a music shop without an Asian Kung-Fu Generation display or a magazine rack without the quartet on a cover.
Going from rock festival-opener to one of Japan's biggest bands in little more than a year is a quick rise to say the least. This surge in popularity is even more dramatic when you consider the band's slow beginning. Vocalist-guitarist Masafumi Goto, guitarist Kensuke Kita, bassist Takahiro Yamada and drummer Kiyoshi Ijichi have been plugging away as Asian Kung-Fu Generation since their college days in 1996. It was four years before they released a CD, and five before they got radio airplay.
In November 2002, they entered the Oricon charts with their mini-album Hokai Amplifier. The independent release piqued the interest of Ki/oon, who re-released it months later. By then, the gluey English lyrics and alternarock 101 stylings of their early work were gone. They had honed an urgent, emotional sound that rested somewhere between that of Weezer and Bump of Chicken. Fans of both bands started to take notice.
Their latest, Sol-fa, binds their last four singles ("Siren," "Loop & Loop," "Rewrite" and "Kimi no Machimade") with eight new songs to create their most balanced and mature release yet. Goto credits this to songwriting duties being shared more equally between band members than ever before.
Their singles "Rewrite" and "Haruka Kanata," used respectively as the themes to cartoon series Fullmetal Alchemist and Naruto, have managed to snag Asian Kung-Fu Generation an international fan base. With anime being Japan's hottest cultural export, Asian Kung-Fu Generation has hitched a ride around the world. On English Web sites dedicated to the band, fans from as far away as Norway, Brazil, New Zealand and Puerto Rico discuss the group's latest videos, and at an anime convention in California, "Haruka Kanata" was banned from the karaoke room after being requested too many times.
Sol-fa is available now on Ki/oon Records.
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