In 2001 [Alexandros] (previously known as [Champagne]) was initially formed by vocalist Yoohei Kawakami and bassist Hiroyuki Isobe. Being brought up in Syria, Yoohei speaks fluent English with a unique Middle Eastern accent. He sings both in English and Japanese, not only aggressive rock numbers but sweet and mellow tunes he creates. Hiroyuki, spending most of his childhood in the US contributes to the band‘s sound that stands out from the other Japanese local bands. These two young talents got together to form what is to become one of the most original bands to emerge from the land of the rising sun. Guitarist Masaki Shirai joined the group in 2007.
In January of 2010, picked up by RX-RECORDS just a couple of years after, the band released their first-ever recording and a near-perfect debut album “Where's My Potato?". Regardless of the album coming from a yet-anonymous rookie band, this one gem of a record received great reviews and spread all over the country through word of mouth. The word was out. This is where it all began. In March that same year, the band contributed a Mary Poppins cover track for a Walt Disney compilation "DISNEY ROCKS!!" distributed exclusively via Village Vanguard, a subculture merchandise/book store chain. This helped the band gain great recognition. A month later, Satoyasu Shomura who had occasionally supported the band became the official drummer. This led to the now four band members to move to Tokyo, sharing one house together to focus on their musical career. The band released a couple of EP's during the rest of the year including "city" on July 7th, which was chosen as heavy rotation on a music channel Space Shower TV for July, and “You're So Sweet & I Love You" on Nov. 24th. The band concluded 2010 with their performance at famous Countdown Japan event.
The band released their sophomore album "I Wanna Go To Hawaii." on Feb. 9, 2011. Just like 1st album, new album got rave reviews from the press that triggered even more buzz to spread across the country and the album debuted at No. 14 on Oricon Weekly Album chart. Shortly after the release, the band went on tour in support of the release, out of which the last date was shot to make a very first live DVD released on Oct. 17th entitled "It's Me And Me Against The World". The band also released 2 singles in 2011, “Ie" on July 20th and “spy" on Dec. 14th.
On January 16, 2012, [Alexandros] supported the UK rock band KASABIAN for their Japan dates as an opening act, gaining recognition and acceptance from the international music. Soon after, on April 4th the band released their 3rd full-length album "Schwarzenegger", which debuted at No.10 on Oricon weekly album chart immediately after release. After another single release of "Kill Me If You Can" from the album in July, the band released a 2DVD entitled "I thought it was only one day" consisting of the live footage of their Schwarzenegger tour final show on June 30th at Shibuya and a collection of their music videos.
The year 2013 was a busy year for the band. They started off by being the supporting act for MUSE on their Japan show on Jan. 11th at the Saitama Super Arena. Soon after, their double A-side single “starrrrrrr / Namida ga Koboresou" was released, containing a natural mineral water GEROLSTEINER tie-in track. Reaching out to a wider range of audiences, the single marked No. 11 on the Oricon Weekly Single chart. On May 16th, the band performed on the UK‘s prestigious THE GREAT ESCAPE festival, receiving a positive reaction from the UK crowd. Following the festival, the band released brand new studio album “Me No Do Karate." on Jun. 26th which debuted at No.7 on Oricon Daily album chart. The band embarked on an extensive tour “We Don't Learn Anything Tour" visiting all over Japan soon after in support of the new release. This tour gathered 20,000 fans altogether, with ALL dates completely sold out immediately after tickets went on sale! One thing led to another, and the next step-up opportunity was a supporting act for PRIMAL SCREAM on their Japan show on Nov. 5th followed by a double A-Side, double tie-in EP “Run Away / Oblivion" on Dec. 25th. On the video of “Run Away“, the band collaborated with Nike + FuelBand, while the other track "Oblivion" was chosen for the theme song for fall/winter 2013 collection of an apparel brand LITHIUM HOMME. Appearances on music TV programs "Music Station" and "Countdown TV" also helped spread their name and keep the buzz going for 2013 and on to 2014.
In Jan. 2014, singer Yoohei participated on a song written for an annual campaign called ACCESS hosted by FM 802. He also went on to hook up with m-flo and collaborated on “m-flo + Yoohei Kawakami / FLY" which was released on Mar. 26th. The band decided to travel across the Pacific and performed at SXSW in Austin, TX on Mar. 12th and 13th. Soon after their return to Japan, they played a SOLD OUT show at prestigious Nippon Budokan gathering 11,000! And on this very day, the band announced their new band name as [Alexandros] (formerly known as [Champagne]). The band hosts a regular program “Welcome! [Alexandros]" on Space Shower TV. Collection of footages from this program was released on DVD titled “SPACE SHOWER TV presents Welcome! [Alexandros]" on Christmas Eve.
[Alexandros] signed and announced a partnership deal with Universal Music to kick off 2015 and released a double A-side single “Wataridori / Dracula La" on Mar. 18th including tie-in singles for a movie and a drama. The band plans to release a new studio album in June and another show at Nippon Budokan in July is confirmed followed by a nationwide album tour in fall. We are all to witness what the future holds for this promising band
There is no schedule or ticket right now.
日本、〒540-0002 大阪府大阪市中央区大阪城３−１ Map
日本、〒062-0905 北海道札幌市豊平区１ 豊平５条１１丁目１−１ Map
日本、〒733-0833 広島県広島市西区商工センター３丁目１−１ Map
日本、〒812-0031 福岡県福岡市博多区沖浜町７−１ Map
日本、〒455-0848 愛知県名古屋市港区金城ふ頭２丁目 Map
日本、〒330-9111 埼玉県さいたま市中央区新都心８ Map
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Osaka", "Tokyo", "Kyoto", "Sapporo", "[ALEXANDROS]", "Osaka Prefecture", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.
Content listed above is edited and modified some for making article reading easily. All content above are auto generated by service.
All images used in articles are placed as quotation. Each quotation URL are placed under images.
All maps provided by Google.