Abingdon Boys School (アビングドンボーイズスクール abingudon bōizu sukūru?, abbreviated as a.b.s, typeset as abingdon boys school) is a Japanese rock band fronted by Takanori Nishikawa (T.M. Revolution). Formed in 2005, the band was named after Abingdon School, the all-male school where English rock band Radiohead was established.
Takanori Nishikawa (西川貴教 Nishikawa Takanori?) – vocals (T.M. Revolution)
Sunao – guitar
Hiroshi Shibasaki (柴崎 浩 Shibasaki Hiroshi?) – guitar (ex-Wands & ex-al.ni.co guitarist)
Toshiyuki Kishi (岸 利至 Kishi Tushi?) – keyboard and programming
Support members
Ikuo – bass guitar
Kozy Hasegawa (長谷川 浩二 Hasegawa Kōji?) – drums
“Stay away”, an English-language song written by Nishikawa and composed by Shibasaki, was on Love for Nana ~Only 1 Tribute~, a tribute album to the shōjo anime and manga series Nana. The band also recorded a cover of the Buck-Tick song, “Dress” (ドレス Doresu?), featured on Parade ~Respective Tracks of Buck-Tick~, an album featuring covers of Buck Tick songs by various artists.
The band performed their first live concert, “CD Data Present Music Evolution ’06″, on November 24, 2005, alongside other bands UVERworld and Tsubakiya Quartet (椿屋四重奏 Tsubakiya Shijūsō?). CD Data (CDでーた?) is a Japanese music magazine.
The band announced on September 3, 2006 that they would make their official debut through Sony Music Japan’s Epic Records (also T. M. Revolution’s record label). Their first single, Innocent Sorrow, used as the first opening to the anime D.Gray-Man, was released on December 6, 2006 and peaked at #5 on the Oricon music charts.
The b-side song off their Innocent Sorrow single, Fre@k $HoW, was used in a tribute compilation CD for the movie Death Note: the Last Name.
Their second single, Howling, was released on May 16, 2007. It was used as the first opening to the anime Darker Than Black and peaked at #4 on the Oricon charts in its first week. Their third single, entitled Nephilim, was released on July 4, 2007, and was used as the main theme to the PlayStation 3 game Folklore. The single reached a peak of #5 on the oricon music charts.
On July 7, 2007, a.b.s performed their three singles as well as the b-side from their latest single Nephilim “Lost Reason” at the Japanese leg of Live Earth in Tokyo.[1]
The band’s first full studio album was released on October 17, 2007. [2] Their 4th single, Blade Chord, was also released on December 5, 2007 and was used as the theme song to Sengoku Basara: Heroes. They have also recorded a song for the Luna Sea: Memorial Cover album, a full album of Luna Sea covers dedicated to the defunct rock band. The song they covered is called “Sweetest Coma Again”.
On 16 July 2008, Abingdon Boys School will release a live DVD from the Live concert they held in February 2008. The DVD will be sold in two versions, a limited edition with two DVDs, different packaging, pictures, and stickers. The normal edition will contain only one DVD. The price will be 5,565 yen for the limited edition and 5,040 yen for the normal edition.[citation needed]
A new abingdon boys school song called “JAP” will be the main theme song of the latest game in the “Sengoku Basara” series: “Sengoku Basara battle heroes” which will be released spring 2009. The song had its radio premiere on October 23.
The band is set to release their 5th single “Strength” on February 25th 2009, making it their 1st single release in over a year and 2 months. “Strength” will be used as the ending theme for the anime “Soul Eater”. More details about the single will be announced shortly, but the band has already confirmed that the song JAP, theme song for the PSP game “Sengoku Basara battle heroes”, will not be included. “Freedom” will be the b-side to their single “Strength”.
~ 世愁歌
Recent Comments