Over the last 20 years, the girl group scene in Japan has been one of the world's most fertile, spawning the likes of
Shonen Knife,
The 5,6,7,8's,
Super Junky Monkey, Mescaline Drive,
Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her, and many more acts with their own unique sound and look. So while the idea of a supergroup is usually a recipe for disaster (remember The Power Station, Asia, Damn Yankees?), the thought of a Japanese all-girl supergroup loaded with girls who rock out and look cute doing it is also enticing. Mean Machine may be the first. Made up of Chara (solo artist), Yuki (solo artist, former vocalist of
Judy and Mary), Yukarie (saxophonist from The Thrill), Ayumi Chiwaki (musician, DJ), and Ayumi Ito (actress), Mean Machine plays blues-edged, grungy rock and roll, and looks cool doing it. The band got together in 1998 when Chara and Chiwaki decided they wanted to form an all-girl band. The requirements were simple, if somewhat bizarre - have fun; cute and pheromone; play an instrument you have never played before. After the addition of the other three members and a decision regarding what instruments each girl would play, Mean Machine started casually rehearsing in 1999, and released their first single "Suha" - a track penned by Chara and influenced by the Lamaze breathing technique she had learned for childbirth - in the summer of 2001. Their debut album,
Cream dropped in...
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Over the last 20 years, the girl group scene in Japan has been one of the world's most fertile, spawning the likes of
Shonen Knife,
The 5,6,7,8's,
Super Junky Monkey, Mescaline Drive,
Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her, and many more acts with their own unique sound and look. So while the idea of a supergroup is usually a recipe for disaster (remember The Power Station, Asia, Damn Yankees?), the thought of a Japanese all-girl supergroup loaded with girls who rock out and look cute doing it is also enticing. Mean Machine may be the first. Made up of Chara (solo artist), Yuki (solo artist, former vocalist of
Judy and Mary), Yukarie (saxophonist from The Thrill), Ayumi Chiwaki (musician, DJ), and Ayumi Ito (actress), Mean Machine plays blues-edged, grungy rock and roll, and looks cool doing it. The band got together in 1998 when Chara and Chiwaki decided they wanted to form an all-girl band. The requirements were simple, if somewhat bizarre - have fun; cute and pheromone; play an instrument you have never played before. After the addition of the other three members and a decision regarding what instruments each girl would play, Mean Machine started casually rehearsing in 1999, and released their first single "Suha" - a track penned by Chara and influenced by the Lamaze breathing technique she had learned for childbirth - in the summer of 2001. Their debut album,
Cream dropped in November of the same year, followed the next month by the maxi-single "Knock on You". While the releases didn't break any sales records, the group did garner some hype, and appeared in the high profile Tower Records "No Music No Life" campaign poster in 2001, as well as several compilations.
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