Brahman | Profile Brahman are a popular ska punk band from Ibaraki prefecture, who mix in odd bits of world and folk music to achieve their own sound. Formed in 1995, the band's current line-up is Toshi-low on vocals, Kohki on guitar, Makoto on bass and Ronzi on drums. They started with a different guitarist, and for awhile played as a trio but the current line-up has been stable since 1998. They released their first mini-album in 1996, and soon were attracting attention, including the interest of the singer from the famed punk band the Cokehead Hipsters. This led to an indie label deal and the release of their second mini-album, Wait and Wait, which did exceptionally well for an indie of this era, selling over 30,000 copies. The band continued to grow in stature as a live band, and in 1998 played before 30,000 people at the Hi-Standard organized indies/ alternative festival Air Jam. Soon after they released A Man Of The World on the indie 1138 records. Brahman is primarily punk band, but the group also is inspired by Okinawan, folk, and gypsy music. Also included in their setlist is a cover version of a Bulgarian nursery song. They sing in both Japanese and English, but have a policy of not mixing them in a single song. Their singer Toshi-low is something of an eccentric character. He is famous for not speaking on stage, only singing. They are against their music being sung at karaoke, which most artists encourage for business and other reasons, but Toshi-low says that he does not want other people sing their songs. He is a fan of the French bands Mano Negra and Les Negresses Vertes, and his mentioning them repeatedly in interviews is said to have noticeably increased sales by these groups. Brahman has had a substantial number of foreign fans from their earliest days, and their music is licensed in the US and elsewhere. They have also toured internationally. While doing fairly well overseas, they have also had their difficult moments overseas. In October 2003 they played a show in China, a country with a rocky relationship with Japan, at that time made worse by a scandal involving a Japanese company who hired a group of Chinese prostitutes for a company-sponsored outing. Brahman nonetheless took the stage, only to be loudly booed, pelted with eggs, bottles, and rocks and treated to shouts of "Japanese go home!". The band however managed to finish their nine song set, however, and even won some people over by the end. Brahman's newest album is Middle Way, released in September 2004 on Toy's Factory. In the States, Revelation Records issued their album A Forlorn Hope in January 2005, which was released in Japan on Toy's Factory in June 2001. by Keith Cahoon
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