ART-SCHOOL

ART-SCHOOL is a Japanese alternative rock band.

Members

• Riki Kinoshita (木下 理樹) － vocals/guitars
• Masafumi Todaka (戸高 賢史) － guitars
• Takeshi Uno (宇野 剛史) － bass
• Yuichi Sakurai (櫻井 雄一) －drums

History

The Band was formed by vocalist Riki Kinoshita who was at the time trying to pursue a solo career. He had the help from supporting musicians Sakurai Yuichi(drummer) and Hidekazu Hinata (bassist). With their help Riki was able to produce his 1st album Teenage Last. After this he asked Sakurai and Hinata to join his band that he was forming. Later after having Sakurai and Hinata joining the group guitarist Oyama Jun was recruited to join the group now known as ART-SCHOOL.

Finally ART-SCHOOL was formed with Riki on vocals,Jun on guitar, Sakurai on drums and Hinata on bass. ART-SCHOOL's 1st show was performed in Tokyo where they became popular, they released their 1st album titled Sonic Dead Kids under the indie label of 123 records. In 2001 ART-SCHOOl released their first mini album titled Mean Streets. After releasing this ART-SCHOOl released their 1st single MISS WORLD. ART-SCHOOL's popularity was rising even more which caught the attention of Toshiba EMI. ART-SCHOOl [released their single Diva under Toshiba EMI records.

2003 was a crucial year for ART-SCHOOL, guitarist Oyama Jun and bassist Hidekazu Hinata left ART-SCHOOl. Hinata left to pursue other projects, and Jun left because of fatigue. Hinata joined the band Straightener and Zazen boys shortly after his departure. After this the only two people in the group were Riki and Sakurai who the started searching for a new bassist and guitarist. After months of searching Riki and Sakurai finally found two replacements for their band. The two recruited guitarist Todaka Masafumi and bassist Takeshi Uno.

In 2006 ART-SCHOOL released their 1st Hit single Freesia under a label Pony Canyon/Rocker Room. The hit single Freesia has made ART-SCHOOl even more popular in Japan.

Trivia

• Riki Kinoshita was a solo Artist from 1997-1999
• ART-SCHOOL was formed in 2000
• Todaka Masafumi is the youngest of the group
• Todaka Masafumi even writes and sings his own songs. Some of his songs are on various ART-SCHOOl albums.
• Riki keeps a diary on ART-SCHOOL's official website titled The Diary Of Madman.
• Rikiplays the guitar and Sakurai plays the drums in the group KAREN a side project.
• Riki's mom use to send him money so he could pay his bills before he formed ART-SCHOOl.
• The drummer loves to eat banana's hence the reason why ALMOST all of ART-SCHOOl's music Videos have banana's in them.
• Sakurai and Riki are the only original members of ART-SCHOOl.
• Takeshi was the former bassist of the band Doruppotsu Kyoudai.
• Todaka was the former guitarist/Vocalist for SOMERHYME
• Riki drinks till he's sick

Discography

Albums

• [2002.11.27] REQUIEM FOR INNOCENCE
• [2003.11.12] LOVE/HATE
• [2004.03.17] BOYS DON'T CRY
• [2005.10.19] PARADISE LOST
• [2006.09.06] Missing
• [2007.02.28] Flora
• [2008.10.15] Ghosts & Angels

Mini-Albums

• [2000.09.08] SONIC DEAD KIDS
• [2001.04.06] MEAN STREET
• [2002.04.05] Charlotte.e.p (シャーロット.e.p)
• [2003.07.30] SWAN SONG
• [2004.08.04] SCARLET
• [2005.02.09] LOST IN THE AIR
• [2005.06.22] Ato 10 Byou de (あと10秒で)
• [2007.09.19] Hidari Kikino Kiki (左ききのキキ)
• [2008.10.15] ILLMATIC BABY

Singles

• [2001.09.07] MISS WORLD
• [2002.10.30] DIVA
• [2003.04.11] EVIL
• [2003.09.29] UNDER MY SKIN
• [2006.04.19] Freesia (フリージア)
• [2006.12.20] Teyupero Honey (テュペロ・ハニー)

DVDs

• [2005.12.21] sleep flowers
• [2007.09.19] Tour'07 'Flora' Live & Document

Cassettes

• [2001.02.23] SINGLE TAPE
• [2002.03.06] SPLIT CASSETTE TAPE (Split with STRAIGHTENER (ストレイテナー))

External links

• Official Website