is a Japanese music group formed in 1996. As of March 2021, the lineup consists of Shigeru Kishida and Masashi Sato. Their music is produced and distributed by

Victor Entertainment , also known as in Japan, is a subsidiary of JVCKenwood that produces and distributes music, movies and other entertainment products such as anime and television shows in Japan. It is known as JVC Entertainment in countries where Sony Music Ent ...

Career

After meeting at "Rock Commune,"

Ritsumeikan University is a private university in Kyoto, Japan, that traces its origin to 1869. With the Kinugasa Campus (KIC) in Kyoto, and Kyoto Prefecture, the university also has a satellite called Biwako-Kusatsu Campus (BKC) and Osaka-Ibaraki Campus (OIC). Tod ...

's music club, Shigeru Kishida, Masashi Satō, and Nobuyuki Mori formed the original three-piece band. The name "Quruli," an

onomatopoeic Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Such a word itself is also called an onomatopoeia. Common onomatopoeias include animal noises such as ''oink'', ''m ...

word expressing rotation, was taken from a sign in the

Kyoto Municipal Subway The , also known as Kyoto City Subway, is the rapid transit network in the city of Kyoto, Japan. Operated by the Kyoto Municipal Transportation Bureau, it has two lines. Lines The Kyoto Municipal Subway is made up of two lines: the long, 15 ...

. In October 1998, Quruli released the single on

. They released their first major label album, in 1999. Quruli released the albums in 2000, produced by Jim O'Rourke, and ''Team Rock'' in 2001. According to music critic Ian Martin, ''Picture Book'' remains one of the most frequently cited influences for Japanese alt-rock bands. During the production of the 2001 film ''The World is Mine'', Quruli added guitarist Tasshin Ōmura to its lineup. In 2002, Mori left the band. In 2003, after a trip to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, Quruli returned with a single, ''How to Go'', and created the soundtrack for . After working with a number of session drummers, Quruli officially added drummer

Christopher McGuire Christopher McGuire (born November 28, 1975 -) is an American drum set player, session drummer, drum teacher, and producer. He is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Early life and career Christopher McGuire was raised in a musical fa ...

to their lineup in November 2003. In 2003,

HMV Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV (for His Master's Voice), is a British music and entertainment retailer, currently operating exclusively in the United Kingdom. The first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company ...

Records Japan rated Quruli No. 74 in their "Top 100 Japanese pops Artists". In 2004 Quruli released the album . After the tour for the album was completed,

left the group. 2005 saw the release of several Quruli singles along with a new album, ''Nikki'', released in December of that year. At the last day of 2006, Tasshin Ōmura left the band. In 2007 Quruli released a new album, , recorded in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

with the Ambassade Orchester Wien. They joined forces again in 2008 to put out the live album ''Philharmonic or die''. Quruli first appeared on television performing on

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

. On September 9, 2005, Quruli appeared on the popular "

Music Station is a Japanese music television program. Broadcasting live weekly on TV Asahi since October 24, 1986, it currently airs from 9PM-10PM on Fridays. The program is also colloquially known as , , and . The show is currently syndicated throughout th ...

" program and performed their song, . The song was also featured as the theme song to a

Keikyu (), also known as or, more recently, , is a private railroad that connects inner Tokyo to Kawasaki, Yokohama, Yokosuka and other points on the Miura Peninsula in Kanagawa Prefecture. It also provides rail access to Haneda Airport in Tokyo. mea ...

commercial. On May 26, 2010, Quruli released the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

compilation , which also included their new song . The album reached No. 1 on the

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 ...

weekly album charts, becoming their first No. 1 album on the charts. On September 8, 2010, Quruli released their album , including the singles (with Matsutoya Yumi) and . Their songs continued to be used in TIOVITA drink commercials, starting with ''Jubilee'', followed by , , , until ''loveless'' in 2014. In 2014, those songs were compiled into . Quruli released the 10th album in 2012, the 11th album ''THE PIER'' in 2014, and the 12th album in 2018. In 2020, Quruli released their 20th album, ”thaw".

Members

Current members

* (born April 27, 1976,

vocal The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production i ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

), was born in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

, and is Quruli's primary

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

and leader of the band. * (born February 1, 1977,

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, was born in

Kameoka, Kyoto is a city in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 87,518 in 29,676 households and a population density of 390 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Kameoka abuts Kyoto to the east and is loca ...

. Besides his musical duties, he also serves as the president of Quruli's label, Noise McCartney Records. For most of his career, Satō used a

Fender Jazz Bass The Fender Jazz Bass (often shortened to ''J-Bass'') is the second model of Bass guitar, electric bass created by Leo Fender. It is distinct from the Fender Precision Bass, Precision Bass in that its tone is brighter and richer in the midrange a ...

, but during the recording of Quruli's ''Antenna'' album, switched to a

Fender Precision Bass The Fender Precision Bass (often shortened to "P-Bass") is a model of electric bass guitar manufactured by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. In its standard, post-1957 configuration, the Precision Bass is a solid body, four-stringed instrum ...

Former members

* (born June 20, 1975-,

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

) 1996–2002 *

(born November 28, 1975,

) 2003–2004 * (born December 17, 1975),

), is from

Hyōgo Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and has a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to the southeast, an ...

. He uses a Flying-V guitar. It was announced on February 26, 2007 that Ohmura had quit the band. * (born October 28, 1980-,

) 2011 * (born March 14, 1980-,

) 2011-2013 * (born February 13, 1985,

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

electronic keyboard An electronic keyboard, portable keyboard, or digital keyboard is an electronic musical instrument, an electronic derivative of keyboard instruments. Electronic keyboards include synthesizers, digital pianos, stage pianos, electronic organs an ...

), was born in

Maizuru, Kyoto is a city in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 78,644 in 34817 households and a population density of 230 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Maizuru is located in northern Kyoto Prefe ...

. 2011-2015,2017-2021 (2015-2017:maternity leave)

Supporting musicians

*Takefumi Tsujimura (guitar) * Ahito Inazawa (drum set) *Taro Dai (drum set, percussion) *

Hirohisa Horie is a Japanese musician and multi-instrumentalist. He plays primarily keyboards and guitar. Horie is one half of the Shibuya-kei duo Neil & Iraiza, and is known for his work with artists such as Kahimi Karie and Cornelius (as a member of the C ...

(keyboards, guitar) *Cliff Almond (drum set) * Takashi Numazawa (drum set) *Yuya Kikuchi (drum set) * Soichiro Yamauchi (guitar) * Satoshi Mishiba (piano) *

Yuko Araki is a Japanese actress and fashion model represented by Stardust Promotion. Biography Araki was recruited when she was in elementary school. Her first leading film role was ''Ikari o Nagero'' in May 2008. Araki became an exclusive model for the ...

(drum set) *

Carwyn Ellis Carwyn Ellis (born Carwyn Meurig Ellis; 9 August 1973) is a Welsh musician, composer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is known as the frontman of British alternative band Colorama, as a member of The Pretenders and as a ...

(keyboards, guitar, banjo, bouzouki, piano) * Ren Takada (guitar) (special guest during their Fuji Rock 2011 performance) * Daiki Matsumoto (guitar) current member * Shun Ishiwaka (drums, piano) current member * Yasuhiro Nozaki (keyboards) current member

Discography

Albums

* (indies; November 21, 1997) * (indies; May 15, 1998) * (April 21, 1999) * (January 21, 2000) * ''Team Rock'' (February 21, 2001) * ''The World Is Mine'' (March 20, 2002) * (soundtrack; November 5, 2003) * (March 10, 2004) * ''NIKKI'' (November 23, 2005) * (best album; July 26, 2006) * (June 27, 2007) * ''Philharmonic or Die'' (live album; February 20, 2008) * (June 6, 2009) * (coupling best album; May 26, 2010) * (September 8, 2010) * (best album; June 29, 2011) * (soundtrack; November 9, 2011) * (September 19, 2012) * ''THE PIER'' (September 17, 2014) * (compilation album; December 17, 2014) * (extended play; July 26, 2016) * (best album; September 14, 2016) * (September 18, 2018) * ''thaw'' (April 15th, 2020) * (April 28th, 2021)

Singles

* (1998) * (1999) * (1999) * (1999) * (2000) * (2000) * (2001) * (2001) * (2002) * (2002) * "How To Go" (2003) * (2003) * (2004) * "Birthday" (2005) * "Superstar" (2005) * (2005) * "Baby I Love You" (2005) * "Juice" (feat.

Rip Slyme Rip Slyme (often stylized as RIP SLYME) is a Japanese hip hop group. In its best known incarnation, it was primarily composed of four MCs (Ryo-Z, Ilmari, Pes & Su) and a DJ, Fumiya. Pes and Su have since parted ways with the group. Their soun ...

; 2006) * "Jubilee" (2007) * (2007) * (2008) * (2009) * (2009) * (duet with Matsutōya Yumi; 2009) * (2010) * (2011) * "everybody feels the same" (2012) * "Remember Me" (2013) * (2013) * "There is (always light)/Liberty & Gravity - Special Edition -" (2014) * (2015) * "How Can I Do?" (included in Live Blu-ray/DVD, ; 2017) * (2018) * Sampo (2019) * Takarasagashi (2022) * In my pocket (2022) * August(2022) * Midsummer (2022)

References

External links

*
Quruli official MySpace pageHMV Japan "Top 100 Japanese pops Artists"
(in Japanese)
Ambassade Orchester official website
{{Authority control Japanese rock music groups Japanese alternative rock groups Musical groups established in 1996 Victor Entertainment artists Musical groups from Kyoto Prefecture