Dragon Ash
Dragon Ash (ド ラ ゴ ン ア ッ シ ュ) is one of the leading bands in Japanese hip hop . She is led by Kenji Furuya. In Japan she is one of the first bands to become known with hip-hop and has accordingly become a symbol of music in her country. Mixing rap , punk rock elements and R&B , the musicians introduced the American style to mainstream Japanese music. Her best pieces include Grateful Days , Life Goes On and I Love Hip-Hop . Dragon Ash used a wide variety of samples from various American bands, including the Smashing Pumpkins , of whom they recorded the bass line in Cherub Rock and the opening sequence of Today in Grateful Days . In 2003 Dragon Ash founded the label Mob Squad with the Japanese bands SOURCE and Mach25, where they are still under contract today. Mach25 has since been replaced by the band Endive.
Outside Asia, the band gained a certain degree of popularity through the piece Shizuka na Hibi no Kaidan Wo , which was used for the film Battle Royale .
Members
- Kenji "Kj" Furuya, guitar and vocals
- Makoto Sakurai, drums
- Tetsuya "DJ Bots" Sato, turntables and drum computers
- Hiroki Sugiyama - guitar
- Masaki "Dri-V" Chiba - dance
- Atsushi Takahashi - dance
- Former member
- Ikuzo "Iküzöne" Baba, electric bass , died on April 21, 2012 of heart failure.
Discography
- 1997: Mustang!
- 1998: Buzz Songs
- 1999: Viva la Revolution
- 2001: Lily of da Valley
- 2003: Mob Squad
- 2003: Harvest
- 2004: Harvest Remixes
- 2005: Rio de Emocion
- 2006: Resound (for Fast and Furious)
- 2007: Independiente
- 2009: Freedom
- 2010: Mixture
- 2014: The Faces