Moonriders | Artist
Moonriders is a Japanese rock band formed 1975 in Tokyo by Keiichi Suzuki (vocals, guitar), Tohru Okada (keyboards), Tetsuro Kashibuchi (drums), Masahiro Takekawa (violin), Hirobumi Suzuki (bass), and Kazuo Shiina (guitar). Ryomei Shirai replaced Kazuo Shiina as guitarist in 1977. They are one of Japan's most influential and long-running experimental rock and art-pop bands. Led by visionary musician Keiichi Suzuki, they are celebrated for their innovative blend of new wave, synth-pop, rock, and avant-garde styles. They have heavily shaped the landscape of modern Japanese alternative music for decades. The band began as folk-rock ensemble Hachimitsupai (Honey Pie), which formed in 1972, also led by Keiichi Suzuki. He and several other members went on to Moonriders. Hachimitsupai released two excellent studio albums, one soundtrack, and one album backing popular psych-folk artist Morio Agata. Moonriders kicked-off strongly with their self-titled debut album in 1977. With its delightfully postmodern and offbeat sound, they immediately attracted comparisons to the likes of XTC and 10cc. The following RYM review is typical of the much of the critical appraisal: "These guys stand tall in their own diverse and very Japanese way, sounding both, and pretty much exactly like one would expect a Japanese art rock album from 1977 to sound all at once, full of neat analogue synths and sophisticated string inflections. The cover is great too, perfectly capturing that retro swinging sixties flair that some of these tracks evoke." The band has since gone on to release over 30 studio albums, many with differing exotic musical styles such as jazz-funk, zolo, latin, lounge jazz, and cabaret. A selection of standout albums includes Moonriders (1977), Nouvelles vagues (1978), Mania manièra (1982), Amateur Academy (1984), Don't Trust Over Thirty (1986), Christ, Who's Gonna Die First? (1991), and Moon Over the Rosebud (2006). One of the key elements of the band's success is their collaborative approach. Each of the six members is a multi-instrumentalist, and each penned songs and lyrics, wrote the arrangements and produced the music. Look at any album's songwriting credits, and you see different members credited for each song's lyrics, melody, and arrangements — with each one's contribution named explicitly. As they approach their 50th anniversary, the band continues to release new work, albeit with 75 year old bandleader Keiichi Suzuki juggling time between Moonriders and his own active solo career. As a matter of interest, in their early days, to earn a living, the Moonriders worked as backing band for pop singer Agnes Chan.
Artist Website: moonriders.net
Featured Albums: Moonriders
Related Artists: Hachimitsupai, Keiichi Suzuki, Ryomei Shirai