Music of the Week

When things are looking their darkest, a light shines through to show the way to a new revolution in music! Back from the depths, we are JET SET RADIO! And guiding the way is the ray of hope known only as the JSRevolution!

Well, after a week hiatus, we return with a new music of the week! This week's band isn't very big on the music scene, but fans of the Gundam SEED series as well as Bleach should recognize them very well. From Japan, I present High and Mighty Color!


The band started with the members Meg and Sassy working in a Metallica cover band. The two founding members played in this band for two years before they decided that they wanted to go further with their talents than just cover songs. After leaving the band, Sassy offered Mackaz the opportunity to join, he accepted and invited long time friend Kazuto to join the band as well. Oddly, the vocalist was the final member to join the original band. Meg sat in on a school performance one day and one voice stood out to him. Meg offered Yuusuke the chance to join the band; he initially rejected this due to wanting to be a solo singer, but joined after Meg reportedly asked him to join every day for nearly four months. The band, known as Anti-Nobunaga at this time, played mainly in small coffee shops and art theaters for about a year. Sassy, the band leader, sent demo tapes to every major Japanese label, all of whom rejected the band. It was not until a small Japanese label signed the band that they found their first big break. The band was now playing areas further from their local Okinawa until they landed a spot at the yearly music festival of Okinawa.

During the summer of 2003, at a yearly music festival in Okinawa, the band's label hyped their spot and eventually they ended up playing for a sold out crowd. Due to this festival being a "per show" ticket selling one, it meant that Anti-Nobunaga was the only band to play for a sell out crowd. A scout for a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan was in the crowd and offered the band the chance to produce music for an upcoming various artists album entitled Okinawa 2003. The band then composed their two and only completely original songs under the name of Anti-Nobunaga entitled Meaning and Hate You!. At another festival known as the "Music Picnic Festival", vocalist Maki also grabbed the attention of the same scout that found Anti-Nobunaga. The scout felt that both projects on their own were not remarkable, but combined, the band could be something never before seen on the Japanese music scene. Maakii first rejected the offer due to her wanting to study English abroad but was later convinced by her future band-mates to join. With the addition of Maakii the band took on a new name, High and Mighty Color (H and MC). After six months of perfecting their craft, the band was moved up from SMJ's minor label to their major label, in league with bands such as Orange Range. High and Mighty Color is some times referred to as the sister band of Orange Range, because they are both from the Okinawa area, an area known for musical fusion thanks in part to various military bases stationed there and were both discovered at the same music festival. They spent much of 2004 writing and recording, in late 2004 they released their first single, "Over" which was only sold through Tower Records stores. It sold out in the time frame of a month and became immensely scarce, thus it was re-released the next year. The album sat at number one spot of the indie Oricon charts for an entire month.

The band is relatively low key with their personal information, releasing only minuscule amounts of information over the years. Maki's real name is Maki Onaga (翁長麻紀), as was discovered as her name on the Japanese fan forums for the band. She has since confirmed that it is her real name. Kazuto's real name is Kazuto Taisano (平識和人), Mackaz's real name has been discovered to be Makkatsu Minei (嶺井政克), and Yuusuke's real name is Yuusuke Kuniyoshi (国吉祐輔). Bandmate Meg also shares the same first name as Yuusuke with a slight variation in spelling. The band's other details are kept even more private, and like most Japanese music stars, very little is known about their personal lives at all.

For more information about High and Mighty Color, visit their official website and their info page on Oricon.

Be sure to keep a look out in the future JSRevolution posts, as we will reveal a brand new logo! What will it look like? You're just going to have to stay tuned to find out! As for us, we're going to keep this revolution moving! We're JSRevolution, and we're Shaping The Future With Music!