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| Youichi (Ba.), Hideaki (Gt.), Kazuya (Vo.) & Eiji (Dr.) |
THE YELLOW
MONKEY (also known as YeMon) was a rock band formed in 1988. They
stopped their activities in 2001 but they officially disbanded on
July 7, 2004. The band's name was derived from the ethnic slur that
Japanese people look like monkeys and that Asian people are said to
have a “yellow” skin color. The music style of this band ranged
from hard rock to dance tunes to dark ballads. Overseas, the band is
best known for their song "Tactics". It was one of the many
ending themes of the anime series “Rurouni Kenshin”. Similar
bands are The Birthday and THEE MICHELLE GUN ELEPHANT.
The band was
formed by Kazuya 'Lovin' Yoshii in 1988 when his former band “Urgh
Police” disbanded. Originally Kazuya played bass but switched to
guitar when he found drummer Eiji 'Annie' Kikuchi, bassist Youichi
'Heesey' Hirose and a vocalist. Once the band was formed they started
to play at all kinds of live houses in Tokyo, but the vocalist took
off after a while. After the departure of the vocalist, Kazuya took
that role upon him and recruited Eiji's brother, Hideaki 'Emma'
Kikuchi as the new guitarist.
THE YELLOW
MONKEY started to play in the underground circuit and made themselves
known. Their songwriting and live performances stood out. While their
fanbase grew, the band was preparing for their first recordings in
the studio. When their first album “Bunched Birth” was released
on July 21, 1991, they got even more attention than before. Soon
after, THE YELLOW MONKEY signed a major deal with “Colombia Music”.
Their major debut album, “The Night Snails and Plastic Boogie”
hit the stores on June 21, 1992. But even with all the attention, the
band still had to work hard to gain recognition.
In 1993 the
second major album, “Experience Movie”, was released. The songs
from this album had a better production, they were stronger and had
emotional lyrics. From this point on people were admiring THE YELLOW
MONKEY's live performances because of the band's charisma and
Kazuya's extreme performances. They had gained more fans but the band
still wasn't a large public success.
Album
“Jaguar Hard Pain” was released on March 1, 1994. It was a
conceptual album which tells the adventure of Jaguar, a World War II
soldier who dies in combat and comes back to life trying to find his
love, Mary. This was the last album from the first period of the
band, when their songs did not have as much popular sound appeal.
The band
started building up their popularity with the release of their single
“Love Communication” in 1995. It debuted near the top of the
Oricon charts. February 1 was the release date of album “Smile”.
Like “Love Communication”, this was also a great success. The
tour to supported this album consisted of 40 shows in total. On April
11 they played their first show at the famous “Nippon Budokan”,
which is quite an achievement. After touring THE YELLOW MONKEY went
to London to record their new album called “Four Seasons”. The
album went on sale on November 1 and claimed the #1 spot on the
charts.
THE YELLOW
MONKEY held their first overseas concert in London on May 5, 1996.
They performed with the band “The Spiders from Mars”. When they
returned to Japan they held a massive tour of 43 shows. However, due
to problems with the record label, they switched from “Columbia
Music” to “FUNHOUSE”. The band also decided to take a one year
break. The decision was based on the stress Kazuya experienced from
the constant and exhausting work of the two previous albums. At the
end of 1996, however, the band put on a special show, the “Mekara
Uroko 7”. It was a concert for the oldest fans, in which they
performed older songs from before the “Smile” album.
On January
22, 1997, album “SICKS” was released. It was a mix of their
current sound and the sound of their first albums. The songs were
more complex and mature. Like the previous releases, “SICKS” was
also a best-seller. The single that followed, “BURN”, sold over a
million copies. Their song “Tactics” was used as the very first
ending theme for the first season of the popular anime series
“Rurouni Kenshin”.
The next
year, on April 3, 1998, they kicked off their new nationwide tour.
This tour was even bigger than before since there were 113 shows in
total. It was also around this time that THE YELLOW MONKEY released
some English versions of their songs. As if that wasn't enough, they
also held a small tour in the United Kingdom. After all the
exhausting concerts the band decided to take yet another one year
break towards the end of 1998.
The band
came back in 2000 with a new album called “8”. Throughout the
year they also released singles “Seinaru Umi to Sunshine”, “SHOCK
HEARTS”, “Pearl” and “Brilliant World”.
In January
2001, the band announced that they were taking a break for an
indefinite time. This break allowed the members to pursue various
projects. Kazuya began a solo career, while Youichi formed a band
called “HEESEY WITH DUDES”. Three years later, on July 7th, THE
YELLOW MONKEY officially disbanded.
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