Thee Michelle Gun Elephant (often abbreviated to TMGE) was a Japanese
garage rock
Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The sty ...
band formed in 1991.
History
The band was formed in 1991,
[Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 1025-6] while Chiba, Ueno, and Kuhara were students at
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
's
Meiji Gakuin University
is a Christian university in Tokyo and Yokohama that was established in 1863. The Reverend Dr. James Curtis Hepburn was one of its founders and served as the first president. The novelist and poet Shimazaki Toson graduated from this colleg ...
. They later drew influence from
The Roosters
are a Japanese rock band formed in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1979. Their music has mixed rock and roll, punk rock, British blues, ska, and new wave. Originally active from 1979 to 1988, they performed at the 2004 Fuji Rock Festival before restar ...
. Their unusual name originated when a friend mispronounced the title of an early
jam session
A jam session is a relatively informal musical event, process, or activity where musicians, typically instrumentalists, play improvised solos and vamp over tunes, drones, songs, and chord progressions. To "jam" is to improvise music without exte ...
recording; featuring cover songs of
Thee Headcoats
Thee Headcoats was a band formed in Chatham, Kent, England in 1989, that was well known for its garage rock sound, explicitly sticking to this style on almost all of their albums. The band's signature sound as well as their prolific writing has ...
(one of the band's main influences) and from
The Damned's album ''
Machine Gun Etiquette
''Machine Gun Etiquette'' is the third studio album by English punk rock band the Damned, released on 2 November 1979 by Chiswick Records.
Background
The album was the group's first since reforming with Dave Vanian on vocals, Captain Sensibl ...
''. Some years later Futoshi Abe joined the band. After an independently released
EP in 1995, they signed to Nippon Columbia's Triad label, releasing the album ''Cult Grass Stars'' in 1996, followed later that year by ''High Time'', the band enjoying chart success in their home country.
''Chicken Zombies'' (1997) gave them a top five hit.
The band's 1998 album ''Gear Blues'' was the first to be released in the US (in 2000).
A lot of their songs were also used in ''
Blue Spring'', a Japanese movie made in 2002.
The band announced that they would break up on October 11, 2003, after their ''Last Heaven'' tour of Japan. On July 22, 2009, the guitarist Futoshi Abe died of an acute
hematoma
A hematoma, also spelled haematoma, or blood suffusion is a localized bleeding outside of blood vessels, due to either disease or trauma including injury or surgery and may involve blood continuing to seep from broken capillary, capillaries. A he ...
.
Song titles and lyrics
The majority of the band's songs have English titles, which often appear to be a random selection of words cobbled together - 'Pinhead Cranberry Dance', for example.
The lyrics are almost entirely Japanese, with the odd English phrase or word thrown in.
Side projects
All four members have had other musical projects or played with other bands both while in TMGE and after its break-up. Some of these are as follows:
Yusuke Chiba
*
ROSSO
Rosso is the major city of south-western Mauritania and capital of Trarza region. It is situated on the Senegal River at the head of the river zone allowing year-round navigation. The town is 204 km south of the capital Nouakchott. The ...
(Vocals, Guitar and Songwriting on all releases)
*
The Birthday (Vocals, Guitars and Songwriting on all releases)
*
The Midwest Vikings (Vocals, Guitars and Songwriting under the alias 'LACOSTE')
*
Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra
, commonly abbreviated by fans as Skapara or TSPO, is a Japanese ska and jazz band formed in 1988 by the percussionist Asa-Chang, and initially composed of over 10 veterans of Tokyo's underground scene. At the time, the band's sound was unlike t ...
(Vocals on one song on the album 'Stompin' On Down Beat Alley')
* Raven
* Bugy Craxone
* Midnight Bankrobbers
Kazuyuki Kuhara
*
ROSSO
Rosso is the major city of south-western Mauritania and capital of Trarza region. It is situated on the Senegal River at the head of the river zone allowing year-round navigation. The town is 204 km south of the capital Nouakchott. The ...
(Drums on some live appearances)
*
The Birthday (Drums on all releases)
*
The Midwest Vikings (Drums and Pianica under the alias 'HANG TEN')
*
Yoko Utsumi
Yoko Utsumi is a Japanese musical artist. Her solo music is a blend of punk, rock and ska influences, with some blues and jazz thrown in. During her long career, she has also played Japanese traditional music.
Utsumi has been a member of a few ...
'
YOKOLOCO BAND(Drums on later releases)
Shigeki Hamabe(Drums on first two albums)
M.J.Q(drums on all releases)
Koji Ueno
Radio Caroline(Bass on all releases)
*
The Hiatus
The Hiatus is a Japanese rock supergroup formed by Takeshi Hosomi, lead vocalist of Ellegarden.
Members
* – vocals, guitar (Ellegarden, MONOEYES)
* Masasucks – guitar (Fullscratch)
* – bass (Radio Caroline, ex-Thee Michelle Gun Elephant ...
(Bass on all releases)
Futoshi Abe (died 2009)
*
KOOLOGI (Guitar on first album)
* Barebones
* Strawberry Jean (Guitar - This was Futoshi Abe's pre-TMGE band)
Discography
Albums
* ''
Maximum! Maximum!! Maximum!!!'' (1993) Self-released
* ''
Cult Grass Stars'' (1996) Triad
* ''
High Time'' (1996) Triad
* ''
Chicken Zombies'' (1997) Triad
* ''
Gear Blues'' (1998) Triad
* ''
Casanova Snake'' (2000) Triad
* ''
Rodeo Tandem Beat Specter'' (2001) Triad
* ''Sabrina Heaven'' (2003) Island
* ''
Sabrina No Heaven'' (2003) Island
Live albums
* ''Casanova Said "Live or Die"'' (2000) Triad
* ''Last Heaven's Bootleg'' (2003) Island
Singles
* ''Sekai no Owari'' (1996) Triad
* ''Candy House'' (1996) Triad
* ''Lily'' (1996) Triad
* ''Culture'' (1997) Triad
* ''Get Up Lucy'' (1997) Triad
* ''The Birdmen'' (1997) Triad
* ''G.W.D'' (1998) Triad
* ''Out Blues'' (1998) Triad
* ''Smokin' Billy'' (1998) Triad
* ''GT400'' (2000) Triad
* ''Baby Stardust'' (2000) Triad
* ''Abakareta-Sekai'' (2001) Triad
* ''Taiyou wo Tsukande Shimatta'' (2002) Island
* ''Girl Friend'' (2003) Trippin' Elephant
* ''Electric Circus'' (2003) Island
B-sides compilations
* ''Rumble'' (1999) Triad
Best of compilations
* ''TMGE 106'' (2000) Triad
* ''
Collection
Collection or Collections may refer to:
* Cash collection, the function of an accounts receivable department
* Collection (church), money donated by the congregation during a church service
* Collection agency, agency to collect cash
* Collectio ...
'' (2001) Alive Records (US release)
* ''Grateful Triad Years'' (2002) Triad
* ''Thee Greatest Hits'' (2009) Columbia
Other releases
* ''Wonder Style'' (1995) Trippin' Elephant
* ''Wonder Style'' (reissue) (1997) Triad
* ''Vibe On!'' (1998) Trippin' Elephant
* ''Kwacker'' (with Mick Green) (2001) Trippin' Elephant
DVDs
TMGE have released a number of live and PV DVDs. A box set of some of these were due to be released by
Universal
Universal is the adjective for universe.
Universal may also refer to:
Companies
* NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company
** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal
** Universal TV, a ...
in January 2010, consisting of 10 discs under the title of 'THEE LIVE'.
References
External links
*
AllMusic.com: BiographyOfficial Site*
*
ミッシェル・ガン・エレファント- 日本コロムビア内の公式ページ
THEE MICHELLE GUN ELEPHANT- ユニバーサルミュージック内の公式ページ
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thee Michelle Gun Elephant
Japanese punk rock groups
Japanese garage rock groups
Universal Music Japan artists
Nippon Columbia artists
Alive Naturalsound Records artists
Musical groups established in 1991
Musical groups disestablished in 2003
1991 establishments in Japan
2003 disestablishments in Japan