Boøwy

Infobox musical artist
Name = Boøwy


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Origin = flagicon|Japan Gunma, Japan
Genre = Japanese rock
Years_active = 1979—1988
Label = Victor/Invitation (1982 – 1982)
Tokuma Japan (1983 – 1983)
Toshiba-EMI (1985 – 1988)

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Current_members = Kyosuke Himuro
Tomoyasu Hotei
Tsunematsu Matsui
Makoto Takahashi

Past_members = Mamoru Kimura
Kuniaki Fukasawa
Atsushi Moroboshi
Notable_instruments =

Boøwy (pron: bóui) was a Japanese rock group consisting of Kyosuke Himuro (vocals), Tomoyasu Hotei (guitar), Tsunematsu Matsui (bass) and Makoto Takahashi (drums). They were a rock band that reached legendary status in Japan during the 1980s. Their style of play varied from punk to pop rock and they had fans of all ages. The 1990s band movement was credited to Boøwy as they popularized the formation of musical groups, which caused musical instrument sales to hit an all-time high during the 90s and the record companies signed and debuted 80 bands during the 90s in hopes of finding a new Boøwy.

History

In 1979, Kyosuke Himuro was in a band called "Death Penalty". He won a band contest that was being held in his hometown of Takasaki in Gunma Prefecture. In the same contest was Tomoyasu Hotei's band "Blue Film" which came in 2nd place. After the contest Himuro signed with the record company "Being" and went to Tokyo. Things did not go as well as he expected and the band broke up. Himuro joined another band called "Spinach Power" as their vocalist but he had problems with them and decided to form another band after seeing an RC Succession concert in 1980.

Around the same time, Hotei was in Tokyo after being expelled from high school. He was expelled for saying "Jesus had long hair" when his teacher warned him about his hair being too long. He received a phone call from Himuro and even though they did not really know each other they decided to start a band called Nihongo|"暴威"|Bōi. They recruited Tsunematsu Matsui on the bass and Atsushi Moroboshi on the guitar from Death Penalty; Kuniaki Fukazawa on the saxophone from Blue Film; and Mamoru Kimura on the drums from Spinach Power.

They landed a gig once a month at the Shinjuku live house "Loft" but it didn't pay the bills. To earn a living they started working part-time jobs and sent demo tapes to various record companies. They finally signed with the record company Victor.

In 1981, Kimura said he wanted to leave Boøwy. He joined the band on a temporary basis so they looked for another drummer. Makoto Takahashi was brought to the Loft by a friend to watch Boøwy perform. He was impressed and tried out for the band when he heard they needed a new drummer. During the summer that year he replaced Kimura on the drums and "Bōi" went on to become the most popular band at the Loft.

In 1982, they changed their name to Boøwy and on March 21, they released their first album "Moral". At this time they took advantage of the punk movement in Japan and became a punk type band. For their concert in Shibuya on September 9, Hotei wanted to take a different approach to their music and become more pop but the fans didn't like the change. Fukazawa and Moroboshi mirrored the opinions of the fans and finally on October 9th after their performance at the Loft they left the band and Boøwy became a 4 member band.

In 1983, they cut ties with their production company and formed their own company "φ-connection" with Mamoru Tsuchiya former member of Blue Film as their manager. At the time this was unheard of and frowned upon in the music industry so the record company stopped promoting them and people started to forget Boøwy existed. Tsuchiya faced an uphill battle in promoting Boøwy. With no funds he gathered hand-made flyers, posters, character goods, the musical instruments and the band in an old Hi-Ace van with no AC and went on a trip around Japan looking for places to perform.

In 1984, they continued touring live houses in Japan for more exposure. Eventually it paid off and they started getting offers from different record companies. Not wanting to go through the same hardship they faced in 1983 they decide to sign with the production company "Yui". Which later signs them up with Toshiba-EMI. In preparation for their debut with this record company they take a 6 month break from touring.

Time went on and Boøwy became Japan's #1 rock band. They held a concert called "Case of Boøwy" in Yokohama, Kanagawa and Kobe, Hyogo on July 31 and August 7, 1987, where they played most of their songs from their debut to the present time for 4 hours straight. In the same year they announced their breakup in a concert at Shibuya Kōkaidō on December 24. There are many rumors concerning the break up but the most popular is the rift between Hotei and Himuro. An indication of the band's stature at the time is that at their farewell gigs ("Last Gigs"); two nights at the newly opened Tokyo Dome on April 4 and 5, 1988; they sold out all 95, 000 tickets in ten minutes. Scalpers were looking for 500, 000 yen a piece for the tickets.

Discography

ingles

*Honky Tonky Crazy (June 1, 1985)
*Bad Feeling (August 22, 1985)
*Wagamama Juliet ( _ja. わがままジュリエット) (February 1, 1986)
*B･Blue (September 29, 1986)
*Only You (April 6, 1987)
*Marionette (July 22, 1987)
*Kisetsu ga Kimi Dake wo Kaeru ( _ja. 季節が君だけを変える) (October 26, 1987)

Albums

*Moral (March 21, 1982)
*Instant Love (September 25, 1983)
*Boøwy (June 21, 1985)
*Just A Hero (March 1, 1986)
*"Gigs" Just A Hero Tour 1986 (Live) (July 31, 1986)
*Beat Emotion (November 8, 1986)
*Psychopath (September 5, 1987)

Albums after Breakup

*Last Gigs (live) (May 3, 1988)
*Singles (compilation) (December 24, 1988)
*Oorchestration Boøwy (August 9, 1989)
*Boøwy Complete Limited Edition (December 24, 1991)
*Boøwy Complete Required Edition (March 3, 1993)
*This Boøwy (compilation) (February 25, 1998)
*"Gigs" Case of Boøwy (live) (November 28, 2001)
*Boøwy Complete 21st Century 20th Anniversary Edition (March 29, 2002)
*Gigs at Budokan Beat Emotion Rock'n Roll Circus Tour 1986.11.11~1987.02.24 (live) (February 24, 2004)
*This Boøwy Dramatic 172368000 2007 (Blue album)
*This Boøwy Drastic 172368000 2007 (Red album)

Trivia

* The band's name, "Boøwy", is a reference to David Bowie, an artist Hotei is a fan of.
* Boøwy have been strongly inspired by The Stray Cats.
* Boøwy performanced at the Marquee Club on 12 March 1985.

External links

* [http://www.toshiba-emi.co.jp/boowy/ Boøwy Hunt Vol.5] official site ja icon