HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR Biography

HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR is a Japanese rock group signed to Sony Music Japan.

HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR is made up of six members; Maakii (lead vocals), Yusuke (vocals), Kazuto (guitar), MEG (guitar), mACKAz (bass), and SASSY (drums) are its members. HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR is often referred to as the "sister-band" of popular Japanese band Orange Range. This is attributed to the fact that both come from the Okinawa area of Japan and both bands were discovered in the same music festival. The band started with the members Meg and Sassy working on a cover of a Metallica song, in time they were joined by Yusuke, Kazuto and mACKAz. At this time the band was known as Anti-Nobunaga.

In the summer of 2003 at a yearly music festival in Okinawa, the band played for a sold out crowd. The response was tremendous and made many major record labels take notice. Because of this, the group was able to produce an album titled "Okinawa 2003"
. At another festival known as the "Music Picnic Festival" vocalist Maki also grabbed the attention of record labels. Eventually Maki met the band through their labels and joined them. With the addition of Maki the band took on a new name, HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR(also called HiKara, HaMC, Handmc.) In time, the band was picked up by the Sony Label in Japan. They spent much of 2004 writing and recording, in late 2004 they released their first single "Over" which was only sold through Tower Record stores, it sold out in the time frame of a month and became immensely scarce, thus is was released the next year. In 2005 the band released their first "Official" single titled "Pride" which was also used as the second opening for the anime Gundam SEED Destiny. Since then the band has been riding a wave of relative success.
In April of 2006 the band released their second album titled "Gou On Progressive".


BIOGRAPHY

Their Early Days and the formation of ANTI-NOBUNAGA
While attending High School in Okinawa, Japan, members MEG and SASSY were continuously performing in a Metallica cover band. They soon sought to make music beyond cover songs and decided to form a new band. They recruited fellow classmates Kazuto, mACKAz and Yuusuke who all used to be in their own bands. Together they formed the band ANTI-NOBUNAGA and started to impress the Okinawan rock scene with their impressive musical talents.

In the summer of 2003, ANTI-NOBUNAGA made an outstanding performance in a rock festival hosted by Spice Records (The label who had formerly introduced ORANGE RANGE to the Okinawan audience) and earned themselves a spot in the "Okinawa 2003 Compilation". At this point, the band was beginning to gain recognition in the music industry, but little did they know that they were about to take a leap of faith that would change their fate forever. 

The Maakii Miracle

At the time, a teen-vocalist-in-training by the name of Maakii was inside Spice Records' studios discussing her plans to go to Canada in order to improve her English speaking skills. It was at that time that she was asked by ANTI-NOBUNAGA to watch them perform. Maakii was half-nervous and half-anxious about the whole thing, but as she saw the band's energetic performance, she realized she had never experience anything like it. With that, Maakii was able to identify with the band's dream of creating their own style of music, one that is unique and expressive. Putting behind all her previous plans of becoming a solo female artist, Maakii placed her trust into the band's determination and decided to join them in their journey to create the strongest band in the nation. 

The HIGH and the MIGHTY

With the addition of Maakii into the band, the members felt that the band's formation has changed too much to remain being ANTI-NOBUNAGA. So with that, a new name for the band was proposed to be made. SASSY suggested the name "High Color" or "HAIKARA", which in Japanese also means to be "stylish" or "fashionable". However Yuusuke thought it was missing something and came up with "High and Mighty", which felt close to the kind of music they were going to be making. They combined the two suggestions to make HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR, and thus the band was born.

Being newly formed, the band spent the best part of 2004 tuning-up and perfecting their music style with pre-recordings and studio rehearsals. Spice Records kept the doors tightly shut to protect their newly-found secret weapon. In September of that year, Spice Records hosted the "Music Picnic" rock festival. HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR was unleashed in this festival and took the music industry by storm. The new combination certainly proved to create an extravagant and electrifying performance. 

The Phantom Record

In that way, HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR started their career as J-Rock Indie artists. In November 2004, Spice Records brought Haikara to their debut CD single OVER. Although the single was sold only at Tower Records' main branches and major CD stores in Okinawa, all 1,500 copies were sold out in just about a month. This was huge success for an indie artist and proved that Haikara wasn't there to play games. As a result of this momentum, H&MC soon found themselves enjoying massive media exposure. The single, only existing in those 1,500 sold out copies, is now dubbed The Phantom Record among fans because of its rareity.

The Destiny that awaits

Seeing the huge success of Haikara's debut, Sony Music Entertainment took action and licensed HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR in December 2004 as their label's newest J-Rock group. With their Indie days flying past them just like that, HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR were on their way to becoming Professional J-Pop artists.

While planning the release of their 1st official single, PRIDE, samples of the song found its way to the animation studio behind Gundam SEED Destiny and the song was chosen to become the anime's 2nd Opening Theme because the lyrics fitted perfectly with the storyline of the series.

In January 26 2005, PRIDE was released and marked HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR's debut as Professional J-Pop artists. The single reached #2 in the Oricon sales charts, making HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR one of the very few artists who have managed to reach the Top 3 of the charts within their first appearance in the industry. The success of PRIDE showed that HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR was rapidly gaining recognition in the whole of Japan. 

GooVER era

After debuting as Professional Artists, the band was determined more than ever to show everyone what they are made of. 2005 saw a river-full of releases from HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR, including 5 full singles, a remix single and their first full-length album.

The hit Indies single OVER was re-recorded in Sony's studios and re-released in April as Haikara's 2nd Single. Following that, H&MC wanted to show everyone that they have the potential to do a wide range of songs, not just the heavy-rock they've been known for. Their singles RUN?RUN?RUN and Days proved Haikara to be versatile in all kinds of music, from rock to up-tempo to slow ballads.

Less than a month after their 4th Single's release, the band unveils their 1st album, G8VER which again emphasizes the range of musicality within the band. The album was welcomed warmly by the fans, sailing up to the #5 position in the Oricon charts, but apart from the strong singles within the album, the full potential of HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR was yet to be seen. 

Getting BLEACHed

Still in the year 2005, a mere 2 weeks after the release of G8VER, everyone was caught off-guard when Haikara opened the curtains announcing their 5th Single, STYLE ~get glory in this hand~. With a brand-new music video airing as an MTV-exclusive, only a few days had passed when news came that Haikara's 6th Single Ichirin no Hana was also about to air for BLEACH anime's 3rd Opening Theme. Piling releases on top of one another, HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR came to grab the attention of everyone in the J-Pop and J-Rock music industry; fans were growing ecstatic from the amount of new releases they were going to get.

Gou On PROGRESSIVE era

Both STYLE and Ichirin no Hana brought H&MC back to their hard-edge roots, displaying powerhouse performances and expressive vocals. As HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR busied themselves promoting their newest singles, STYLE came into stores in November as the year 2005 came to a close. Ichirin no Hana saw huge success once again as the publicity and anticipation from the hit anime BLEACH led to a whole new wave of fans because of its large base of viewers. The single marked the #2 spot on the Oricon charts once again, just like its predecessor PRIDE, making this one of their most successful singles.

Meanwhile, the release of HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR's 1st DVD titled Video G8VER was drawing near. It featured all the music videos from the singles of G8VER and extras such as a DIRECTOR'S CUT version of Days as well as a never-before-seen music video of OVER (Indies Version) showcasing H&MC's indie days and performances.

February 2006 came as the wave of new-releases finally came to an end, and the fans were thinking that H&MC would take a short break before releasing their next single. Despite how hard the band has worked in 2005, H&MC came out to surprise everyone again with a 2-week countdown on their site to the announcement of their brand-new 2nd full-length Album. This came to be a really pleasant surprise as no one suspected an album after only two single releases. Furthermore, the Album was to feature 14 songs, which meant the fans will be getting 12 new songs, more than ever before!

On April 2006, the 2nd Album, Gou On PROGRESSIVE was released, along with a music video for the song "Here I am" to help promote the album. This album proved to be Haikara's best yet, showcasing their talented works in pure rock edged songs. Meanwhile, despite all the work they've done thus far, the band's musical gifts seemed to be improving with every release. Both Maakii and Yuusuke were taking lessons from professional vocalists to improve their singing skills, and the result stood out tremendously in the second album showcasing fresh unique vocals in almost every track of the album.

Beyond 2006

With that, 2006 already looks like it's going to be another great year for HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR. The fans are expecting many great things from this powerhouse rock band, and with continual improvements, who knows what kind of music they will be capable of bringing to us next.

In late July, the band released its newest single entitled "DIVE into YOURSELF". It shows a more pop-ish side of the band, but at the same time provides the same rock sound because of SASSY's incredible drumming with Kazuto and Meg's outstanding guitar performances. 

In late October. the band release their 8th single 'Enrai~Toku ni Aru Akari~'
Enrai ~Tooku ni Aru Akari~ will be used for the ending of 'Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny SPECIAL EDITION'
Kaerimichi no Orenji will be used in the commercial for the Bleach WII game.
The music video for Enrai ~Toru ni Aru Akari has a totally different complex and very different from the rest.

In mid December, HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR premiered the music videos for their two new singles, Tadori Tsuku Basho and Okizarisu, to be released on January 24th, 2007. Both singles follow the pop-rockish sound they've had in most of their 2006 releases. Tadori Tsuku Basho is also the theme to the upcoming movie Anata wo Wasurenai starring Maakii, the female vocalist of HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR.


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