Vocal : Arimura Ryutaro
Guitar : Nakayama Akira
Bass : Hasegawa Tadashi
Drums : Sasabuchi Hiroshi
PROFILE
Although Plastic Tree has been around for more then ten years, one could say they’re an underrated band.
In their early years they sounded very much like a new-wave band, but through the years their sound has changed. Now their music can be described as guitar rock, characterized by the vocalist’s amazing voice.
Author : Kay (2006-06-29)
BIOGRAPHY
Plastic Tree started in December 1993, and after switching drummers a few times, the line up finally settled on Ryutaro on vocals, known for his sweet voice and gloomy lyrics, which can often be quite worrying.
Tadashi on bass, who took the position as leader of the band, and was responsible for most of the music. Akira on guitar, who also wrote a good deal of their music, and Takashi on drums.
After several singles that were handed out for free at their concerts at livehouses, they released their first mini-album, “-Strange fruit- kimyou na kajitsu” in 1995. It had a dark sound, and the influence from bands like The Cure and Radiohead was very obvious.
In 1997 they went major, and in the same year they released their second album, “Hide and seek”. This album, along with their third album, “Puppet Show” (released in 199 cool , is considered as the best Plastic Tree albums amongst fans.
In September 2000 their fourth album “Parade” was released. Although this is a great album, some of the older fans can’t appreciate anything from the 'era' after this album. “Parade” had the same dark sound as the former albums, although it became a little easier to get into, as it was a little more poppy.
In 2001 they released a Best of and a Singles compilation album, called “Cut” and “Single Collection”. Although some of the songs were given a different mix, or they were a different version, there were no new songs on these albums.
Around that time, they changed drummers yet again. Early 2001 Takashi left the band, and later that year Sasabuchi Hiroshi (Buchi for short) joined. It seemed like a new start for Plastic Tree. This wasn’t just because of the change of drummers, but also because their music started changing more and more, turning more into pop and they almost completely lost the gloomy sound they used to have.
”Träumerei” was released late 2002 and a few months later another compilation album, “Premium Best” was released.
While they were losing fans that didn’t agree with their new, more pop sound, they did start to interest other people that had never really liked this darker sound. In 2003 they released two cover songs, “Baka ni natta no ni” and “Moshimo piano ga hiketa nara”. These songs were so incredibly different from the ‘Normal’ Plastic Tree sound that the older fans were disappointed.
Their fifth album “Shirochronicle” was released in October of that year
In 2004 they released a few singles, each of them related to one of the seasons. "Yuki Hotaru" was the winter release, "Harusaki sentimental" was the spring release, and "Melancholic" was the summer release. However, an autumn single was never released.
After a period that was considered as the ‘commercial period’ to some people, Plastic Tree went back to their roots with their sixth album "Cell" released in August. This came as a really pleasant surprise.
A new sound engineer was hired, giving the band a new sound, but now it seemed that Plastic Tree were making music again because they liked to, not because they wanted to make money.
A while after the release of "Cell" in end 2004/early 2005, the band announced that they left their record company SWEETHEART, and moved over to the record company J-ROCK. Some other changes were made; the official website moved, and their fanclub changed from "Sickroom" to "Jellyfish breed".
It seems this was a really positive change, and the fans are wondering what the band will bring them in the future. Hopefully we get some more pleasant surprises!
