, is a
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
musician. Debuting as a member of the Hokkaido rock band
Galileo Galilei
Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...
in 2009, he left to form a new musical unit,
Folks.
Biography
Iwai was born in
Eniwa, Hokkaido
is a city in Ishikari Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is on the Ishikari plain, 8 km north of Chitose, and 26 km south of the prefectural capital Sapporo. It is reached through route 36 and the Chitose Railway Line. The town is s ...
in 1990. In junior high school, he and his friends formed a band called Guild in 2007.
The group performed at rock events in
Sapporo
( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...
from 2007 onwards, and self-produced an extended play, , in August 2008, followed by a self-released single called in February 2009.
The band entered the ''School of Lock!'' national teenage rock contest, ''Senkō Riot'', in 2008, and performed at the round three Sapporo semi-finals. The band did not make it to the national finals, but met the semi-final winner,
Galileo Galilei
Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...
.
In 2009 after Folks went on hiatus, Galileo Galilei vocalist
Yuuki Ozaki
, is a Japanese people, Japanese musician, best known as the leading vocalist and songwriter for the band Galileo Galilei (band), Galileo Galilei. In 2014, he began releasing solo material. He announced the new band "Bird Bear Hare and Fish" on h ...
told Iwai to come to
Wakkanai, Hokkaido
' meaning "cold water river" is a city located in Sōya Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital of Sōya Subprefecture. It contains Japan's northernmost point, Cape Sōya, from which the Russian island of Sakhalin can be seen.
As of 1 ...
, where Galileo Galilei members were going to high school, as their guitarist, Sōhei Funaya, had left. Iwai accepted, and lived at the house of band's bassist, Hitoshi Sakō.
Iwai joined the band on August 31, 2009 as a support member.
Galileo Galilei made their major debut with
SME Records
, often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is opera ...
in 2010, moving to Tokyo. Their debut full-length album, ''Parade'', reached number five on
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...
's album charts. In March 2011, the band relocated to Sapporo, and the bandmates started living together, calling their home Galileo House.
In Galileo Galilei, Ozaki was the main lyricist songwriter, and would give ideas to Iwai and other band members to work on further.
Iwai did not feel confident in his ideas and lyrics, however wrote the music for their 2011 single "Asu e", and worked on many of the songs on ''Portal'' (2012), including most of the work on the instrumental song "Blue River Side Alone". Iwai started to feel like he wanted to influence the Japanese music scene more by himself, and in July 2012, during the demo sessions for ''Baby, It's Cold Outside'', told Ozaki that he wanted to be the front man of his own band.
On September 13, 2012, it was officially announced that Iwai would leave the band with fellow member Kazumasa Noguchi, so that Iwai could challenge himself with something new musically.
In 2012, Iwai and Noguchi returned to Hokkaido to set up their own band, and asked former Guild member Yoshitomo Kobayashi to join. They moved to
Sapporo
( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...
to further their music career, and rented a house with Iwai's older brother Katsutoshi Iwai.
Iwai and Masatsugu Takahashi had a separate band at the same time, and after realising that both groups would work well together, the two bands merged in January 2013, forming
Folks and basing themselves at the Iwai household in Megumino.
The group released their first extended play, ''
Take Off'', digitally on March 29, 2013, and made their major label debut under
Ki/oon Music
is a Japanese record label, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan.
Artists
Their artists include L'Arc-en-Ciel, Asian Kung-Fu Generation, Home Made Kazoku, Puffy AmiYumi, Polysics, Supercar, Pushim, Chatmonchy, Denki Groove, Tomoe ...
in 2014 with the extended play ''
Newtown''.
Songwriting discography
*2011: "
Asu e
is a song by Japanese band Galileo Galilei (band), Galileo Galilei. It was used as the first opening theme song for the anime ''Mobile Suit Gundam AGE'', and was released as their sixth physical single on December 7, 2011.
Background and develo ...
" (Galileo Galilei) (music)
*2012: "Blue River Side Alone" (Galileo Galilei) (music)
*2013: "Replica" (Folks) (lyrics and music)
*2013: "Forever" (Folks) (lyrics and music)
*2013: "You're Right" (i.e. "Gaga") (lyrics and music)
*2014: "Everything Is Alone" (Folks) (lyrics and music)
*2014: "Two Young" (Folks) (lyrics and music)
*2014: "Good-bye, Friends" (Folks) (lyrics and music)
*2014: "
Hometown Story
is a 2013 life-simulation video game for the Nintendo 3DS directed by Yasuhiro Wada, produced by Toybox Inc. and distributed by Natsume for North America, Rising Star Games for Europe, and Spike Chunsoft for Japan. It was released for iOS on ...
" (Folks) (lyrics and music)
*2014: "Paradise" (Folks) (lyrics and music)
References
External links
Official website for Folks*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iwai, Fumito
1990 births
Japanese guitarists
Japanese male musicians
Living people
Musicians from Hokkaido
People from Eniwa, Hokkaido
21st-century Japanese singers
21st-century guitarists
21st-century Japanese male singers