Ezo (band)
Ezo (イーズィーオー, Iiziiō) was a Japanese heavy metal band originally formed as Flatbacker in the spring of 1982 in Sapporo, Japan out of the remnants of two high school bands, Power-Station and Scrap. Ezo has been named a "seminal influence by such artists as Steve McDonald of Redd Kross and Michael Steele of The Bangles."
History
Ezo consisted of Masaki Yamada (vocals), Taro Takahashi (bass), Shoyo Iida (guitar) and Hiro Homma (drums). They released one demo cassette (Minagoroshi) in 1984 and two albums (1985's Senzo and 1986's Esa) in Japan as Flatbacker in the mid-1980s before coming to the U.S. Rumor has it that Gene Simmons of Kiss, who produced their self-titled U.S. debut album, was behind the band's name change to Ezo, inspired by Ezo, an ancient name for Hokkaidō. They released two albums for Geffen Records, 1987's E-Z-O and 1989's Fire Fire, before being dropped from the label and internal differences led to the band's demise.
Vocalist Masaki Yamada joined fellow Japanese metalheads Loudness in 1992 and drummer Hiro Homma joined Loudness in 1994. In 2000, the original Loudness lineup reunited and Masaki and Hiro left the band. Hiro Homma is currently the drummer for the Japanese metal band Anthem and vocalist Masaki Yamada is now the bass player for the New York-based band FiRESiGN.
+/- (band)
+/-, or Plus/Minus, is an American indietronic band formed in 2001. The band makes use of both electronic and traditional instruments, and has sought to use electronics to recreate traditional indie rock song forms and instrumental structures. The group has released two albums on each of the American indie labels Teenbeat Records and Absolutely Kosher, and their track "All I do" was prominently featured in the soundtrack for the major film Wicker Park. The group has developed a devoted following in Japan and Taiwan, and has toured there frequently. Although many artists append bonus tracks onto the end of Japanese album releases to discourage purchasers from buying cheaper US import versions, the overseas versions of +/- albums are usually quite different from the US versions - tracklists can be rearranged, artwork with noticeable changes is used, and tracks from the US version can be replaced as well as augmented by bonus tracks.
History
Band
Band or BAND may refer to:
Science and technology
- Shortwave bands
- UMTS frequency bands used for cellphones
- LTE bands used for cellphone data
Computing and electronics
Organizations
Bandō
Bandō may refer to:
People
- Bandō Kakitsu I (1847–1893), Japanese kabuki actor of the Uzaemon acting lineage
- Bandō Shūka I
- Bandō Tamasaburō
- Bandō Tamasaburō V
- Bandō Mitsugorō III
- Bandō Mitsugorō VIII
- Bandō Mitsugorō X
Other
See also
Ezo (disambiguation)
Ezo can refer to:
This term can also refer to:
EZO (album)
EZO is the American self-titled debut album from the Japanese metal band Ezo. It was released in 1987 on Geffen Records and co-produced by Gene Simmons of KISS fame. Songwriters from the Kiss’ entourage contributed heavily to the songs of the album. Jody Gray, co-writer of Destroyer, co-wrote and co-produced the 2nd album, Fire Fire (Geffen).
Track listing
Personnel
Podcasts:
