''Metafive'' (stylized as METAFIVE) was a Japanese band that consisted of

Yukihiro Takahashi Yukihiro Takahashi (高橋幸宏 ''Takahashi Yukihiro'', born June 6, 1952) is a Japanese musician, singer, record producer and actor, who is best known internationally as the drummer and lead vocalist of the Yellow Magic Orchestra, and as the fo ...

Keigo Oyamada , also known by his moniker , is a Japanese musician and producer who co-founded Flipper's Guitar, an influential Shibuya-kei band, and subsequently embarked on a solo career. In 1997, he released the album '' Fantasma'', which landed him prai ...

Yoshinori Sunahara is a Japanese record producer and DJ from Sapporo, Hokkaido. He is a former member of Denki Groove. He was also a member of Metafive. Discography Studio albums * ''Crossover'' (1995) * '' Take Off and Landing'' (1998) * '' The Sound of '70s'' ...

Towa Tei is a Japanese artist, record producer, and DJ. Born in Yokohama, Japan, Towa debuted as a member of Deee-Lite, from the US label Elektra Records in 1990 and shot to fame via their international hit single, "Groove Is In the Heart". He made his s ...

, Tomohiko Gondo, and Leo Imai.

History

originally assembled

, Tomohiko Gondo, and Leo Imai to serve as the backing band on his 2014 concert tour, for which they were billed as Yukihiro Takahashi & Metafive. In 2015, the band changed their name to Metafive. Takahashi has said that the name Yukihiro Takahashi & Metafive was a flippant reference to the band Hiroshi Uchiyamada & Cool Five. The band played live at the 2014, 2015, and 2016 World Happiness Festivals, with British drummer

Steve Jansen ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

performing with the band in 2016. Metafive's recordings charted in Japan, with their first studio album ''Meta'' (2016) reaching number 13 in the

Oricon Albums Chart The Oricon Albums Chart is the Japanese music industry standard albums popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Oricon originally published LP, CT, Cartridge and CD charts prior to the establishment of the Oricon Albu ...

, and their EP ''Metahalf'' (2016) reached number 12 in the same chart. 4 years after their debut album release, on July 24, 2020, Metafive released a single available for streaming and download, entitled "Kankyo to Shinri / Environmental". On May 17, 2021, Metafive announced that their second studio album ''METAATEM'' would be released on 11 August 2021. However, after controversy arose surrounding Oyamada's past history of bullying (resulting in his resignation from the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

opening ceremony committee), the band cancelled the "METALIVE 2021" concert event that they had scheduled for 26 July 2021 at KT Zepp Yokohama, which would have been their first live performance in over 4 years. The band then announced on 28 July 2021—just two weeks before the scheduled release date for ''METAATEM''—that the album release had been cancelled. Metafive performed at Fuji Rock Festival '21 on 20 August 2021 with an alternate lineup consisting of Imai and Sunahara backed by "support" musicians Seiichi Nagai of

Sōtaisei Riron is a Japanese rock band formed in Tokyo in September 2006. Summary The band consists of Etsuko Yakushimaru (lead vocals, producer, original instruments, artwork), Seiichi Nagai (guitar), Masaru Yoshida (bass), Motoki Yamaguchi (drums). The band ...

and Kenichi Shirane of

Great 3 Great 3, stylised as GREAT3, are a Japanese rock band formed in 1994. The trio is composed of guitarist Akito Katayose, drummer Kenichi Shirane and bassist jan (who replaced Kiyoshi Takakuwa in 2012). All members serve as composers and lyricist ...

and Imai's solo backing band. Metafive revealed on November 4 that they would stream a pre-recorded concert video entitled "METALIVE 2021" on November 20, and that people who purchase tickets to watch this stream would receive a CD or vinyl copy of the cancelled ''METAATEM'' album in the mail. The streamed concert video footage was recorded on July 26 at KT Zepp Yokohama with no live audience and a lineup consisting of Oyamada, Sunahara, Tei, Gondo, Imai, and Shirane (Takahashi announced on August 5 that he was taking a break from all musical activities to recover from brain surgery that he had undergone in the previous year). Customers who purchased tickets for the "METALIVE 2021" video stream received copies of the ''METAATEM'' album at the end of 2021. As the album was released exclusively to ticket-holders for the "METALIVE 2021" stream, copies were sold for high prices on secondhand marketplace websites such as

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and

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due to their scarcity. It was announced that the Fuji Rock Festival '21 lineup of Metafive (Imai, Sunahara, Nagai and Shirane) would perform again at the OTODAMA'22 music festival in May 2022 under the name "METAATEM". The lineup subsequently revealed that they had changed their name to "TESTSET" and would continue to perform live under this name, beginning with a concert at Ebisu Liquidroom on April 14 with THE SPELLBOUND. At this concert, TESTSET performed a new song entitled "Carrion". On 19 July 2022, Metafive announced that the ''METAATEM'' album would finally receive a wide release on September 14. However, the same announcement also referred to ''METAATEM'' as the band's "last album", confirming that they had broken up in the previous year. On 12 August 2022, TESTSET released their debut EP ''EP1 TSTST'' with no prior announcement. Takahashi died in January 2023 at the age of 70, following a case of pneumonia resulting from the preexisting health issues that kept him away from activities with Metafive.

Members

(of

Yellow Magic Orchestra Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO for short) is a Japanese electronic music band formed in Tokyo in 1978 by Haruomi Hosono (bass, keyboards, vocals), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums, lead vocals) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards, vocals). The group is conside ...

) * Keigo Oyamada (a.k.a. Cornelius) *

(formerly of

Denki Groove is a Japanese music group founded in 1989. It consists of Takkyu Ishino and Pierre Taki. History Denki Groove was founded in 1989 by Takkyu Ishino and Pierre Taki, both of whom are natives of Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture. The group's major-lab ...

) *

(formerly of

Deee-Lite Deee-Lite was an American house and dance music group formed in New York City. The group's best-known single is "Groove Is in the Heart", which was released in 1990 from their debut studio album ''World Clique'' (1990), and was a top-ten hit in ...

) * Tomohiko Gondo * Leo Imai

Discography

Studio albums

* ''META'' (2016) * ''METAATEM'' (2021)

Live albums

* ''Techno Recital'' (2014) * ''METALIVE'' (2016)

EPs

* ''METAHALF'' (2016)

Singles

* "Split Spirit" (2014) * "Environmental" (2020) * "The Paramedics" (2021)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Japanese musical groups Supergroups (music) Musical groups established in 2014 Musical groups disestablished in 2021 2014 establishments in Japan 2021 disestablishments in Japan