Maximum The Hormone - Biography
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2001-
Biography
Maximum The Hormone was founded in Hachiōji, Tokyo, in 1998 by Daisuke Tsuda and Nawo Kawakita. Later, they recruted Sugi on guitars and Key on bass. After a couple of regional shows, the band signed with Sky Records and released their first album, "A.S.A Crew", and Punk/Alternative album composed by Daisuke Tsuda with all lyrics written in english. Sugi and Key left the band in 1999. This album is the only one featuring the first line-up.
Nawo little brother, Ryo Kawakita joined the band playing Guitars in place of Sugi, and also vocals. Uehara Futoshi joined later playing bass in place of Key.
With this new line-up, Maximum The Hormone also changed their style. Now, Ryo "Maximum The Ryokun" Kawakita had the role of writting the lyrics, this time, in Japanese mixing some english. The music written by Maximum The Ryo-kun has both fierce, heavy sound and impressing pop, catchy sound. And the lyrics he writes appear to be meaningless but huge amount of metaphors and sarcasm are hidden behind. The words are mostly Japanese and are very well placed and make songs rhythmical and streamy. And this makes Maximum The Hormone one of a kind in the Japanese music scene.
Moreover, he now shares lead vocals with Daisuke "Daisuke Han" Tsuda. Ryo makes melodic vocals while Daisuke does the screams and the rap vocals. Nao and Uehara "Ue-Chang" Futoshi shares the backing vocals. Maximum The Hormone then release their first single "Bullpen Catcher's Dream" in 2000 and their first EP, "Otori", in 2001.
The band left Sky records and sign with Mimikajiru records. Then, the band records the single "Niku Cup", followed by another full lenght, "Mimi Kajiru". The band release in the following year the single "Enzui Tsuki Waru". The next album, "Kusoban", released in 2004, showed another change in the band sound, now more heavy and hardcore punk, drawing more attention from the mainstream.
The band left Mimikajiru and signed with VAP, a major record label. Then, the band record two singles "Rock Bankurawase / Minoreba Rock" and "Houchou Hasami / Rei Rei Ma Ma Ma". In 2005, thee band released "Rokkinpo Goroshi". The song "Rolling 1000tOOn" was featured as the ending of the anime "Air Master", making the band being well-know all over Japan, selling more shows and albums and eventually recording an DVD: "Debu Vs. Debu". Now the band fanbase was big than ever. But the sucess came in 2007, with their song "Koi No Megalover" reaching number nine on the Oricon charts during the summer - their first top-ten hit in Japan. The band had two of their songs featured in anime series; "What's Up, People?!" and "Zetsubou Billy" are featured as the opening and ending tracks, respectively, in the second season episodes of the Death Note anime series, and "Akagi" is featured as the ending theme for the Akagi anime series. Now Maximum The Hormone exploded around the world.
The next album, "Buiikikaesu" was a big sucess, reaching number five on Oricon charts selling 400,000 copies and still now keeps selling. In japan, the album went gold. The band released the DVD "Deco Vs. Deco" in 2008, peaking at number 1 in the oricon, and the single "Tsume Tsume Tsume / [F]" later, reaching number 2 at Oricon, selling 150.000 copies.
MTH has attended many big music festivals in Japan including SUMMER SONIC 06, 07, 08, 09, PUNK SPRRING 07, 08. The band shared stages with Metallica, Nofx, The Ofspring, Rancid and so on. At these shows, more than 10,000 of audience gather before their stages so some audience cannot enter to the stage areas. MTH plays about 100 shows a year and all the tickets have been sold out at any venues in Japan. Some fans expect to see their shows at stadiums but MTH doesn't want to play at venues larger than 2,000 to 3,000 people capacity for reasons. It is quite hard to get tickets to MTH shows since more than 30,000 of fans try to buy tickets for each show. MTH hold a lottery for purchasing the tickets for each show, every time to make it as fair as possible.
Later it was announced that Daisuke would require corrective surgery on his throat, causing the band to go on temporary hiatus while he recovered. The hiatus started in December and lasted for several months. After Daisuke had recovered from his throat surgery the band went on to headline several shows in Japan with support from Bring Me The Horizon and Blessed By A Broken Heart in May 2009, as well as going on to win the award for "Best Rock Video" for "Tsume Tsume Tsume" in the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards Japan.
On November 19, 2009, the band released a statement via their official website stating that Nao had fallen pregnant in September. The band continued with their tour, but November 3, however, Nao fell ill and was transported to hospital, where she was told that it would be unhealthy for her and the baby to continue performing. The band went on Hiatus and cancelled their show in Soundwave Festival 2010 in Australia.
On May 6, 2010, the band released another statement through their website stating that Nao gave birth to a healthy baby girl and that they would no longer be on hiatus. Later in February 7, 2011, the band released a video for the songs "Chiisana Kimi No Te" and "Maximum The Hormone" on their official website. The band's newest single titled "Greatest the Hits 2011-2011" was released on March 23, debuting at number 1 spot on the Oricon weekly singles chart.
So far they have not announced any plans for a new album.
Nawo little brother, Ryo Kawakita joined the band playing Guitars in place of Sugi, and also vocals. Uehara Futoshi joined later playing bass in place of Key.
With this new line-up, Maximum The Hormone also changed their style. Now, Ryo "Maximum The Ryokun" Kawakita had the role of writting the lyrics, this time, in Japanese mixing some english. The music written by Maximum The Ryo-kun has both fierce, heavy sound and impressing pop, catchy sound. And the lyrics he writes appear to be meaningless but huge amount of metaphors and sarcasm are hidden behind. The words are mostly Japanese and are very well placed and make songs rhythmical and streamy. And this makes Maximum The Hormone one of a kind in the Japanese music scene.
Moreover, he now shares lead vocals with Daisuke "Daisuke Han" Tsuda. Ryo makes melodic vocals while Daisuke does the screams and the rap vocals. Nao and Uehara "Ue-Chang" Futoshi shares the backing vocals. Maximum The Hormone then release their first single "Bullpen Catcher's Dream" in 2000 and their first EP, "Otori", in 2001.
The band left Sky records and sign with Mimikajiru records. Then, the band records the single "Niku Cup", followed by another full lenght, "Mimi Kajiru". The band release in the following year the single "Enzui Tsuki Waru". The next album, "Kusoban", released in 2004, showed another change in the band sound, now more heavy and hardcore punk, drawing more attention from the mainstream.
The band left Mimikajiru and signed with VAP, a major record label. Then, the band record two singles "Rock Bankurawase / Minoreba Rock" and "Houchou Hasami / Rei Rei Ma Ma Ma". In 2005, thee band released "Rokkinpo Goroshi". The song "Rolling 1000tOOn" was featured as the ending of the anime "Air Master", making the band being well-know all over Japan, selling more shows and albums and eventually recording an DVD: "Debu Vs. Debu". Now the band fanbase was big than ever. But the sucess came in 2007, with their song "Koi No Megalover" reaching number nine on the Oricon charts during the summer - their first top-ten hit in Japan. The band had two of their songs featured in anime series; "What's Up, People?!" and "Zetsubou Billy" are featured as the opening and ending tracks, respectively, in the second season episodes of the Death Note anime series, and "Akagi" is featured as the ending theme for the Akagi anime series. Now Maximum The Hormone exploded around the world.
The next album, "Buiikikaesu" was a big sucess, reaching number five on Oricon charts selling 400,000 copies and still now keeps selling. In japan, the album went gold. The band released the DVD "Deco Vs. Deco" in 2008, peaking at number 1 in the oricon, and the single "Tsume Tsume Tsume / [F]" later, reaching number 2 at Oricon, selling 150.000 copies.
MTH has attended many big music festivals in Japan including SUMMER SONIC 06, 07, 08, 09, PUNK SPRRING 07, 08. The band shared stages with Metallica, Nofx, The Ofspring, Rancid and so on. At these shows, more than 10,000 of audience gather before their stages so some audience cannot enter to the stage areas. MTH plays about 100 shows a year and all the tickets have been sold out at any venues in Japan. Some fans expect to see their shows at stadiums but MTH doesn't want to play at venues larger than 2,000 to 3,000 people capacity for reasons. It is quite hard to get tickets to MTH shows since more than 30,000 of fans try to buy tickets for each show. MTH hold a lottery for purchasing the tickets for each show, every time to make it as fair as possible.
Later it was announced that Daisuke would require corrective surgery on his throat, causing the band to go on temporary hiatus while he recovered. The hiatus started in December and lasted for several months. After Daisuke had recovered from his throat surgery the band went on to headline several shows in Japan with support from Bring Me The Horizon and Blessed By A Broken Heart in May 2009, as well as going on to win the award for "Best Rock Video" for "Tsume Tsume Tsume" in the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards Japan.
On November 19, 2009, the band released a statement via their official website stating that Nao had fallen pregnant in September. The band continued with their tour, but November 3, however, Nao fell ill and was transported to hospital, where she was told that it would be unhealthy for her and the baby to continue performing. The band went on Hiatus and cancelled their show in Soundwave Festival 2010 in Australia.
On May 6, 2010, the band released another statement through their website stating that Nao gave birth to a healthy baby girl and that they would no longer be on hiatus. Later in February 7, 2011, the band released a video for the songs "Chiisana Kimi No Te" and "Maximum The Hormone" on their official website. The band's newest single titled "Greatest the Hits 2011-2011" was released on March 23, debuting at number 1 spot on the Oricon weekly singles chart.
So far they have not announced any plans for a new album.