The Mad Capsule Markets were formed in Tokyo in 1990, consisting of Hiroshi Kyono on vocals, Yakeshi Ueda (who early on called himself Cray) on bass, Motokasu Miyagami on drums and Shin on guitar. From the beginning they carved out a unique position in the Japanese music market with a mixture of punk, metal, techno and industrial influences, without fitting neatly into any of those categories. The band began on its own Insect Noise label, but moved up to Victor in 1991, where the first released
P.O.P.. Their sound was primarily punk at this time, but with a very tight aggressive sounding rhythm section (in contrast to often sloppy punk bands), and intense, distorted vocals. After the first album Shin left the band, and a number of guitarists have filled in since, although current guitarist Toru, once of the famed Japanese punk band Star Club, has been with the group since 1996. From early in the band’s career they went out of their way to play on bills with foreign bands, and in addition to large festivals, have done gigs with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, Helmet, Korn, Fear Factory and Atari Teenage Riot. For the recording of their
Digidogheadlock album the band in fact worked with Alec Empire of Atari Teenage Riot, and his influence seemed to have taken hold as the band became increasingly hard, distorted and machine influenced. By this time the band had also established an affiliation with sci-fi graphics,...
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The Mad Capsule Markets were formed in Tokyo in 1990, consisting of Hiroshi Kyono on vocals, Yakeshi Ueda (who early on called himself Cray) on bass, Motokasu Miyagami on drums and Shin on guitar. From the beginning they carved out a unique position in the Japanese music market with a mixture of punk, metal, techno and industrial influences, without fitting neatly into any of those categories. The band began on its own Insect Noise label, but moved up to Victor in 1991, where the first released
P.O.P.. Their sound was primarily punk at this time, but with a very tight aggressive sounding rhythm section (in contrast to often sloppy punk bands), and intense, distorted vocals. After the first album Shin left the band, and a number of guitarists have filled in since, although current guitarist Toru, once of the famed Japanese punk band Star Club, has been with the group since 1996. From early in the band’s career they went out of their way to play on bills with foreign bands, and in addition to large festivals, have done gigs with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, Helmet, Korn, Fear Factory and Atari Teenage Riot. For the recording of their
Digidogheadlock album the band in fact worked with Alec Empire of Atari Teenage Riot, and his influence seemed to have taken hold as the band became increasingly hard, distorted and machine influenced. By this time the band had also established an affiliation with sci-fi graphics, primarily robot warriors, who would become part of their image, marketing, album covers and videos. The band also weaved futuristic passages into their lyrics, a mix of often obtuse English and Japanese. The band had played a few gigs in California in 1995, but after
Digidogheadlock their international profile began to grow, and the band have released albums and done tours internationally since. The band have toured extensively in the States and England (were they have won rave reviews Kerrang! magazine and been included on the Ozzfest tour), and in more recent times has released CD’s and toured in Korea. The band signed with Chris Blackwell’s ill-fated Palm Pictures label in 2001, and while this helped their profile the label ultimately collapsed. While some bands lose their Japanese fan base when they venture overseas, The Mad Capsule Markets are more popular than ever in Japan, as was demonstrated by the success of their 2004 album
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