Orange Range

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Orange Range
The band's logo
Background information
Origin	Okinawa, Japan
Genre(s)	Alternative rock[1] Japanese rock[1]
Years active	2001–current
Label(s)	Spice Records (2002) gr8! records (2003–current)
Website	http://www.orangerange.com/ http://www.orangerange.net/
Members
Naoto Hiroyama Ryo Miyamori Ganeko Yamato Hiroki Hokama Yoh Miyamori
Former members
Kazuhito Kitao

Orange Range (オレンジレンジ, Orenji Renji^?) is a 5-member Japanese alternative rock band, based in Okinawa.^[1] Formed in 2001, the band began with Spice Music and later signed with Sony Music Japan's gr8! records division in 2003.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Indies 1.2 2003 1.3 2004 1.4 2005 1.5 2006 1.6 2007 1.7 2008 2 Members 3 Discography 3.1 Independent releases 3.2 Singles 3.3 Albums 3.3.1 Studio albums 3.3.2 Other albums 3.4 DVDs 4 References 5 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Indies

The band has roots in Okinawa. The area is famous for being the home of many well-known acts.^[2] Before they were signed by a major label, Orange Range played mostly in small art houses and clubs until they were found by a record agent. The band is mix of pop- and rock-style music as can be heard by the vocals and the instrumentals. Their style is also made up of many different cultures and musical styles from around the world. This is attributed to their hometown being Okinawa, a well-known station for American military bases and, thus, cultures and different styles often blend. Due to high sales of their works, Orange Range's singles are often attached to various movies, shows or Japanese products.^[3][4] This is usually seen as a sign of a band or singer having hit "the big time" in the Japanese media.

Originally, Orange Range was a cover band, doing mostly covers of songs by other artists. The band was started by childhood friends Kitao "Kat-chan" Kazuhito and Hiroyama Naoto, but Naoto has professed that Kazuhito was the one to come up with the idea of forming a band. Soon a longtime friend of Naoto, Miyamori Yoh, would join the band as a bassist. Unlike the current band members, the next band member to join, Hokama Hiroki, was relatively an "outsider" in the group of friends that made up the original band. Hiroki was also the first vocalist of the band. Next Miyamori Yoh invited his younger brother, Miyamori Ryo, to join the band as a low vocalist and the second overall vocalist. The band stayed like this for a few months before scouting high range vocalist, Yamato Geneko to the band.

Between the time that Yamato joined and the band being signed to Spice Music's Japanese division, Orange Range mainly did covers of already famous singers and bands, like Glay and Mr. Children, for school concerts and for small art houses. In early 2002, the band was signed to Spice Music and released their first official commercial work, the mini-album Orange Ball, which contained the single Michishirube. The single peaked at #250 on the Oricon charts.^[5] It was around this time that the band finally left their home of Okinawa and began touring across the country and opening for various Japanese acts such as Do As Infinity.

[edit] 2003

In June 2003, the band signed with Sony Music and released their first wide release single, Kirikirimai. The single only had a moderate amount of sales and peaked at #50 on the mainstream Oricon charts.^[6] The very next month though, any doubts of Orange Range being able to make it to the "big time" in the Japanese music scene were dashed when they released their second single, Shanghai Honey—the single peaked at #5 on the Oricon charts. This was seen as a large feat for the band as the single had almost no promotion due to the low sales of Kirikirimai.^[7]

The band then released two more singles, Viva★Rock, in which the title song was used as the third ending to the anime Naruto, and Rakuyō which was used as commercial song for Daiichi Kosho Mero Dam. 1st Contact, the band's first full album, was then released in late 2003. It entered the charts at #2 and was only able to stay there for a single week. The album's sales dropped by nearly double in the time frame of a month. Even with the low sales, the album became the 15th highest selling album of 2004.^[8]

[edit] 2004

In the time following their first album, the band re-released Michishirube and Kiririmai. During the same year, the band also performed Kirikirimai (Fantastic Four Remix) for the superhero film Fantastic Four and its soundtrack.

Michishirube was used as the ending theme to the popular J-Drama, Fire Boys ~Megumi no Daigo~, this version of the single went straight to #1 on the Oricon charts.^[9] It marked the first single from the band that was able to reach the coveted spot on the charts. The band's next single was Locolotion, which rocked the group with plagiarism controversy and accusations.^[10] Even with what was seen as "bad media light" for the band, the single still reached the #1 spot, as would their next seven singles, making Orange Range the band with the longest streak of consecutive number one singles since the start of the new millennium.

The band's 8th single, Hana, went on to become the highest selling single from the band; to date, the single has sold nearly 800,000 copies. This single also went on to become the number four highest selling single of 2004 and was able to stay on the Oricon charts for nearly 50 weeks.^[11] Their second album, MusiQ, debuted at the #2 spot on the Oricon charts. It only stayed at the spot for one week, as its second week saw the album climb to the number one spot. This would go on to become Orange Range's best selling album, claiming the number one spot for 2005.^[12]

[edit] 2005

The band's next single, *~Asterisk~, was used as the first opening theme to the anime Bleach and went straight to #1 on the charts and was able to stay in the top 20 for 22 weeks. Because it was released in late 2005, it was counted as a 2005 album; often album sales for albums released late in the year are counted for next year's charts. Asterisk, however, was counted in both 2005 and 2006. The album's chart run ended with over 900,000 sales and was the 11th highest selling album of 2005.^[13]

The band then somewhat slowed down as they had what many fans called a "face change". This was because founding member, Kitao Kazuhito, left the band in the middle of 2005. At first it was reported by the Japanese media that he left the band due to tendinitis that had increased in severity. It was later revealed that he left the band due to "creative differences", it was said that Kazuhito did not like that the band was moving more and more to hip-hop and away from rock. As of December 2006, the band has yet to find a replacement member.

[edit] 2006

The band finally returned to the studio and release their first single of 2006, Champione, in mid-2006. The single became the official song of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. Un Rock Star, the band's next single, would break the string of consecutive number one singles. The single debuted at #3 and never rose higher. However, it should be noted that this single had a limited release, as only 100,000 copies were made.^[14]

The band's 16th single is titled Sayonara, contrary to rumors of this being the band's final single, this is supposed to mark the second phase of the band's life, thus they are saying goodbye to the first phase. Sayonara was used as the theme song for the TBS drama Teppan Shōjo Akane!!.^[15] In addition, the band has also created new songs with commercial tie-ins, one titled Dance Dance to be used in a Pocky advertisement and the other called Hello, which will be used by the Disney Channel.

Their fourth album, the self-titled Orange Range was released on December 6, 2006; it contained 17 tracks; three were re-releases and 14 were new tracks. Even with a #2 peak, this was the band's lowest charting album in four years, as well as their lowest selling album to date.^[16]

Orange Range performed at Music Station Super Live 2006 on December 22. Music Station is a long-running Japanese music television program that holds a "Super Live" extended edition to celebrate Christmas and the end of the year every December. This was the second year in a row that Orange Range was invited.

[edit] 2007

Their 17th single, Ika Summer, was released in April and had a weekly peak of #3 on Oricon. This was the band's lowest selling and charting single in years, only staying in the top five for one week.^[17]

July saw three major releases from Orange Range. To celebrate their 5th anniversary, the band released two separate best albums entitled Orange and Range, each containing a different selection of their hit singles and popular album tracks. On the first day of their release, Orange and Range would obtain the top two spots on the Oricon charts and the same spots on the weekly charts. Two weeks later, the albums would go on to obtain the top two spots in the United World Music charts.^[18][19] Their next single, Ikenai Taiyō, was used as the opening theme to the J-Drama adaptation of the popular manga series Hana-Kimi. Ikenai Taiyō would go on to have to obtain the #3 spot on Oricon in its first week, obtaining the band's highest sales in a year.

[edit] 2008

The band's first single of the year, Kimi Station, was released on March 5, 2008. Also in 2008, the band will perform the opening and ending themes to the Sunrise anime series, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2. They are titled O2 (02~ｵｰ･ﾂｰ~, Ō Tsū^?) and Shiawase Neiro (シアワセネイロ, Shiawase Neiro^?). The song "O2" was released as a single late May. "Shiawase Neiro" will be included on Orange Range's fifth studio album, PANIC FANCY, to be released in July.

[edit] Members

Current

• Naoto Hiroyama - guitar (born May 8, 1983)
• Ryo Miyamori - low vocals (born October 1, 1985)
• Yamato Ganeko - high vocals (born January 14, 1984)
• Yoh Miyamori - bass (born December 11, 1983)
• Hiroki Hokama - mid-range vocals (born June 29, 1983)

Past

• Kitao Kazuhito "Katchan" - drums (born June 19, 1983) (Left the band due to tendinitis on his left little finger around the end of July, 2005, though his illness was apparently not the direct cause of his decision to leave)

[edit] Discography

[edit] Independent releases

• Orange Ball (オレンジボール) (April 21, 2002, Okinawa-only released album)
• Orange Ball (オレンジボール) (February 22, 2002, nation-wide release album)
• Michishirube (ミチシルベ Guidepost) (August 25, 2002) (single)

[edit] Singles

1. Kirikirimai (キリキリマイ) (June 4, 2003)
2. Shanghai Honey (上海ハニー) (July 16, 2003, 222,385 copies sold)
3. Viva Rock (ビバ★ロック) (October 22, 2003)
4. Rakuyō (落陽) (November 27, 2003)
5. Michishirube ~A Road Home~ (ミチシルベ～a road home～) (February 25, 2004, 278,193 copies sold)
6. Locolotion (ロコローション) (June 9, 2004, 487,267 copies sold)
7. Chest (チェスト) (August 25, 2004, 116,206 copies sold)
8. Hana (花) (October 20, 2004, 999,322 copies sold)
9. *~Asterisk~ (＊~アスタリスク~) (February 23, 2005, 628,329 copies sold)
10. Love Parade (ラヴ・パレード) (May 25, 2005, 447,393 copies sold)
11. Onegai! Señorita (お願い！セニョリータ) (June 8, 2005, 417,464 copies sold)
12. Kizuna (キズナ) (August 24, 2005, 410,924 copies sold)
13. Champione (チャンピオーネ) (May 10, 2006, 220,955 copies sold)
14. Un Rock Star (August 30, 2006, 79,683 copies sold)
15. Sayonara (October 25, 2006, 102,737 copies sold)
16. Ika Summer (イカSUMMER) (April 25, 2007)
17. Ikenai Taiyō (イケナイ太陽) (July 18, 2007)
18. Kimi Station (君station) (March 3, 2008)
19. O2 (02~オー･ツー~) (May 28, 2008)

[edit] Albums

[edit] Studio albums

1. 1st Contact (December 17, 2003, Oricon #2, 690,282 copies sold)
2. musiQ (December 1, 2004, Oricon #1, 2,630,763 copies sold)
3. Иatural (October 12, 2005, Oricon #1, 919,650 copies sold)
4. Orange Range (December 6, 2006, Oricon #2, 347,832 copies sold)
5. PANIC FANCY (July 9, 2008)

[edit] Other albums

• Squeezed (April 12, 2006, remix)
• Orange (July 25, 2007, Oricon #2, 210,804 copies sold, compilation)
• Range (July 25, 2007, Oricon #1, 214,149, compilation)

[edit] DVDs

1. Video la Contact (ヴィデオ・ラ・コンタクト) (July 28, 2004)
2. Video de Recital (ヴィデヲ・DE・リサイタル) (April 27, 2005)
3. Live musiQ - from LIVE TOUR 005 "musiQ" at MAKUHARI MESSE 2005.04.01 (December 21, 2005)
4. Live Иatural - from Live Tour 005 "Иatural" at Yokohama Arena 2005.12.13 (September 20, 2006)
5. Orange Range Live Tour 006 ~Fantazical~ (December 5, 2007)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Orange Range's official website (Japanese)
• Sony Music's official website for Orange Range (Japanese)

v • d • e Orange Range Independent releases Orange Ball | Michishirube Singles Kirikirimai | Shanghai Honey | Viva Rock | Rakuyō | Locolotion | Chest | Hana | *~Asterisk~ | Love Parade | Onegai! Señorita | Kizuna | Champione | Un Rock Star | Sayonara | Ika Summer | Ikenai Taiyō | Kimi Station | O2~O・Two~ Studio albums 1st Contact | musiQ | Иatural | Orange Range Other albums Squeezed | Orange | Range