Penicillin (band)

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Penicillin
Origin Flag of Japan Tokyo, Japan
Genre(s) Rock, Hard Rock, Visual Kei
Years active 1992- Present
Label(s) Pioneer LDC, East West Japan, Omega A.T. Music, HiBOOM, Avex Trax, Crown Records (Current)
Website Penicillin.jp
Members
Hakuei
Chisato
O-Jiro
Former members
Gisho

Penicillin is a Japanese rock band formed in 1992.

Contents

[edit] History

Formed by friends at Tokai University in Kanagawa, Japan on February 14, 1992 Penicillin went on to become one of the largest acts in the Japanese Visual Kei scene and is still thriving today, fifteen years later. The band formed with Chisato on Vocals, Gisho on Bass, O-Jiro on drums and both Yuuji and Shaisuke on guitar.[1] Before anything was recorded however the bands line up changed to Hakuei on vocals, Gisho on Guitar, O-jiro on drums and both Shaisuke and Chisato on guitar. This line up stayed for the first single of PENICILLIN SHOCK which was produced by Kiyoshi of then Media Youth. [2] After PENICILLIN SHOCK however, Shaisuke left the band to join Deshabillz.

The band made their major debut in 1996 with Blue Moon on PIONEER LDC. They stayed on Pioneer until 1998 when they changed to east west japan where they were dropped in 2001 and then to omega A.T.music (an indies label) in 2001. Omega happens to be under Omega Project Holdings which Yoshiaki Kondou (Gisho) is the CEO of. [3] However they were only on Omega for a year before being picked up by HiBOOM, which was an indies subsidiary of Avex trax. In 2005 when HiBOOM was closed, they were picked up by Avex TRAX and once again on a major label for the first time since they were dropped from east west.

On February 12, 2007 Penicillin celebrated its 15th Anniversary as a band. On March 9, 2007 Gisho announced that he would leave the band. [4] His last live was his birthday on May 20, 2007 at Shibuya O-East. Since then the band has continued on as a three piece unit. During the February 11, 2008 live, it was announced the Penicillin would once again change labels, this time to Nippon Crown. [5]

[edit] Member info

Information from the Japanese Wikipedia page. [6]

Hakuei: (Vocals) Born December 16, 1970 in Miyazaki Prefecture, Kushima City. However his parents were divorced and he moved with his mother to Aomori prefecture Hirosaki City. At Tokai University he got his degree from the general education department. In 1996 he made his solo debut with the single Zeus. In 1997 he worked as an actor in the movie -Thirty 30- and in 1998 he played Hamlet in Penicillin's Rock Opera Hamlet (written by Kiyoshi). 1999 he joined up with Kiyoshi once more for the band Machine which is currently active. [7] Hakuei currently is a model for Black Peace Now and draws a comic strip featured monthly in Fool's Mate called Susume! Tonosama. He's a member of a secret band called Kaizoku which only does secret lives. He's also currently producing a young Mexican man named IVAN. When Penicillin performs live on his birthday it's known as 'Super Heart Core'

Chisato: (千聖, Guitar) Born October 4, 1971 in Tokyo, Japan. He attended Tokai University and received a degree in per-law. In September 1996 he made his solo debut with "Dance with the wild things". During his solo career he's played notable places such as Nippon Budokan. In the late 1990's he wrote music for and produced the band /\ucifer. In the past he's worked on "R" with the likes of Kiyoshi & O-jiro, Crack-Z with friend Satoro from ZZ, and nano with Hakuei. Currently he's doing solo project work under the alias MSTR with the band Crack6, as well as under Chisato doing live guitar support for Acid Black Cherry. When Pencillin performs for his birthday it's known as "Rock x Rock"

O-Jiro: (Drums) Born September 14, 1972 in Chiba, Japan. He attended Tokai University as well, but did not graduate from it. He has done side projects of "R"- with Chisato and Kiyoshi. 808 with Yasumichan of Sleep My Dear, and Starman, with Gisho, as well as Yasumichan and Ken from Sleep my dear. When Penicillin performs on his birthday it's known as "Tono!Gig"

Gisho: (ex-Bass) Born May 20, 1971 in Hyogo Prefecture. Gisho attended Tokai University and got a degree in Economics. He used the name Ootaki Jun for his solo career. He stared in the movie Shonan Bakuzo Zuku Arakure Knight[8]. In 2001 he joined Omega Project Holdings and later became their CEO. He's a fan of Keanu Reeves and the Matrix and because of that his birthday lives were titled "Gishorix Revolution" his last live with the band was on May 20, 2007 at Shibuya O-East and it was known was "Gishorix Revolution -Never ending story-"

[edit] Discography

Singles[9]

Albums[10]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Yunisan
  2. ^ Penicillin Shock: Tears Music: TEC-0013
  3. ^ Omega OHP.
  4. ^ Pencillin's Blog Post
  5. ^ Media news
  6. ^ http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/PENICILLIN
  7. ^ Machine's OHP
  8. ^ Movie Jacket
  9. ^ From Penicillin's Official Website
  10. ^ Penicillin's OHP
  11. ^ Released on Tears Music, catalogue number: TEC-0013
  12. ^ Note: Missing Link was released three times the catalogue numbers for them respectively are: (TEC-0019A) , (TEC-0019B) , and (TKCF-77006) respectively

[edit] External links

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