Chiba-Ken (band)
| Chiba-ken | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| General information | |
| origin | New York , United States |
| Genre (s) | Post-hardcore (earlier), alternative rock , post-grunge |
| founding | 2003 |
| resolution | 2010 |
| Founding members | |
| George William | |
| Jason D'Amelio | |
| Joshua Brain Jaffe (until 2006) | |
| Last occupation | |
| George William | |
| Justin D'Amelio | |
| Julian Ken (since 2008) | |
| Jason D'Amelio | |
| Elias Tannous | |
| former members | |
| Dan Casper (2006-2008) | |
| Eddie Delgado (2003-2006) | |
Chiba-Ken (named after Chiba Prefecture near Tokyo ) was a post-hardcore / alternative rock band from New York founded in 2003 . The band existed until 2010 before the musicians decided to found a new group, Save Our Souls .
Chiba-Ken released a demo, an EP and two albums. In 2009, a year before the band broke up, the musicians moved from New York to Los Angeles in order to be able to reach a larger audience there.
history
2001–2003: The prehistory
Singer George William started his musical career in 2001 when he started writing and recording songs in his apartment. He also studied at the University of Central Florida . He recorded a total of 24 songs, but over time he noticed that it would not satisfy his musical hunger if he worked alone on the music.
He started looking for musicians in various internet forums to found a band. Joshua Brain Jaffe - a professional graphic designer - joined William two weeks after he posted his ad. He would later develop the website as well as the cover of their EP and also the band's merchandising articles. Before joining Jaffe William, he played bass in several bands in the local music scene. Finding a drummer was more difficult.
After months of unsuccessful searching, William and Jaffe received an email from Jason D'Amelio, a Long Island drummer. Only a short time later, Elias Tannous joined the band. Eddie Delgado, on the other hand, joined the band by chance: He discovered the band while surfing the Internet at night, as he was looking for a new band. He lived in Dallas for some time, but moved back to New Jersey. Delgado was born in Venezuela.
2003–2005: First demos and debut EP Faces of the Moment
The first official line-up of the band consisted of the three founding members, singer George William , drummer Jason D'Amelio and bassist Joshua Jaffe , as well as the two guitarists Eddie Delgado and Elias Tannous . William lived in Chiba Prefecture for some time before moving back to the United States. There he first worked as an actor. He starred in the play Tony-n-Tina's Wedding on Broadway , had a guest role on All My Children , and was a cameraman and director on the documentary The Last Days of the Hate Bombs .
Just one year after the band was founded, the musicians released a demo with three pieces that could be downloaded for free from the band's website. However, this no longer exists today. A first EP with seven tracks and greatly improved sound quality was released in August 2005 as a download and a month later on CD. The EP is called Faces of the Moment and was financed out of pocket. The was sold worldwide via the shipping company Amazon . The Scratch Music Magazine evaluated the EP positive.
2006–2008: Record deal and debut album
At the beginning of 2006 a second demo appeared with The Winter Sessions , this time with four titles. By releasing this demo, the independent label Gotham Records from Santa Monica became aware of the band and finally signed them. On October 3, 2006, Are We Innocent? the debut album on the label. It sold around 7,000 times in the US alone. Shortly before the album was released, Eddie Delgado left the band and was replaced by Dan Casper as guitarist.
The group appeared in the television series Fearless Music , where the group played the song Faster Tonight on television. In early 2007 the band opened for God Forbid in Soho . In June 2008, the group supported Iron Maiden at Blossom Music Center in Ohio. Casper left the band just two years later and was replaced by Julian Ken on guitar. Ken was born in Kazakhstan , lived in Israel for some time and moved to the states where he received a visa .
2008–2010: Second album and dissolution
In November 2008, the group began work on the follow-up album for Are We Innocent? . In the same month the group won a newcomer contest at Famecast . Due to the success, the group made it into Spin magazine .
On April 9th, 2009 the second album was released, called Hard to Be Human . It was produced by Mike Watts, who already works with As Tall as Lions , Hopesfall and The Scenic , and by Rich Liegey (including Wheatus , The Smashup ). In the summer, the group moved to Los Angeles . With the release of the album, the group became one of the best newcomer bands in Los Angeles. The group was voted Band of the Month by Whiskey A Go-Go and was featured several times in LA Weekly .
At the end of January 2010, George William, Julian Ken, Elias Tannous, Justin D'Amelio and Jason D'Amelio formed the progressive metal band Save Our Souls , which meant the end for Chiba-Ken.
style
music
The music of the band is characterized above all by a, in most cases, very melodic, memorable and catchy singing, which has clear influences from pop music .
The style is also characterized by a classic song structure, as can be found in pop-rock and pop. In addition, stronger influences from alternative rock and grunge can be seen in the instrumental part . A stronger dominance of post-hardcore elements can also be seen in earlier songs by the group .
According to the band's former guitarist Elias Tannous, it doesn't matter whether you describe the music style as emo or post-hardcore .
Texts
In terms of content, most of the band's songs are about social grievances (example: Hard to be Human ) and the war (example: The War ). The official music video for the song Hard to be Human (German: It's hard to be human ) shows several opposites, such as poor and rich, healthy and sick, domineering and friendly. The video is a photo montage and can be viewed on ChibaKenTV on YouTube .
In the band's lyrics you can clearly see the singer's anger and anger towards society. He processes socially critical issues in a dark, satirical way.
Discography
Demos
- 2004: Chiba-Ken
- 2006: The Winter Sessions
EPs
- 2005: Faces of the Moment
Albums
- 2006: Are We Innocent? ( Gotham Records )
- 2009: Hard to Be Human
Music videos
Until it was dissolved, Chiba-Ken released two official music videos. Unlike most bands, these consisted mainly of photo montages and excerpts from live concerts. The selection of photo montages should further clarify the effect of the texts by using images that match the texts and text passages.
For the song The War , the band used film clips showing scenarios of the First and Second World Wars , the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki , as well as scenes of the current conflicts in the Gaza Strip (see: Gaza War ) and Iraq (see: Iraq War ). At a concert by the band in the Whiskey A-Go-Go, a screen was set up showing these scenarios.
A music video with photo montage was also released for Hard to Be Human .
The song What Do We Do Now? was used for the production of the DVD Guide to Living of the softcore pornography portal SuicideGirls . Since the band cannot be seen in the video, it is not considered an official music video.
The band also produced their own YouTube program under the name ChibaKenTV . The episodes were supposed to tell the band history of Chiba Ken and sometimes contained running gags . The videos, according to the band, were uploaded under the comedy genre. An episode lasts approximately 5 to 6 minutes. However, only two episodes were shot because there was no time for more episodes of the Internet series.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b The Beginnings of Chiba-Ken localbandnetwork.com , written on August 1, 2005 by Elias Tannous , accessed on August 14, 2010
- ↑ Band biography ( Memento of the original from June 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on PureVolume
- ↑ George William Information ( Memento of the original from July 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ George William in the Internet Movie Database
- ↑ Information in the cover of the CD cover Faces of the Moment
- ^ Scratch Music Reviews ( October 29, 2009 memento on the Internet Archive ) from May 2006 on scratchmagazine.com
- ↑ Chiba-Ken ( Memento of the original from July 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at her label Gotham Records
- ↑ Faster Tonight played at Fearless Music , Youtube video
- ↑ Flyer Concert Chiba-Ken with Iron Maiden ( Memento of the original from October 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at the Blossom Music Center in Ohio
- ↑ Interview with George William on harmonyontap.com from Aaya Lawhorn Youtube (Part 2) video
- ↑ Chiba-Ken biography on Facebook
- ↑ All Winners of the Famecast Contest ( Memento of the original from November 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 23, 2010 from famecast.com
- ↑ On Winning Famecast SPIN Magazine Feature and Our New Album Article on the blog on the old MySpace presence
- ↑ The War official music video of the band Chiba-Ken recorded during a concert at Whiskey A-Go-Go - Youtube video
- ↑ Review Guide to Living by SuicideGirls on 17world.com (already listed as Save Our Souls)
