Go! Go! 7188 are an alternative rock trio who have built up a strong following by writing strong melodic songs and delivering solid rockin’ live shows. Go! Go! 7188 (pronounced Go Go Nana Ichi Hachi Hachi, or abbreviated as Go Go) were formed in Kagoshima in June 1998 by Yumi Nakashima (commonly “Yu”, vocal & guitar) and Akiko Noma (commonly “Akko”, vocal & bass), both of them high school students.  The two females were joined by male drummer Takayuki...

Go! Go! 7188 are an alternative rock trio who have built up a strong following by writing strong melodic songs and delivering solid rockin’ live shows. Go! Go! 7188 (pronounced Go Go Nana Ichi Hachi Hachi, or abbreviated as Go Go) were formed in Kagoshima in June 1998 by Yumi Nakashima (commonly “Yu”, vocal & guitar) and Akiko Noma (commonly “Akko”, vocal & bass), both of them high school students.  The two females were joined by male drummer Takayuki Hosokawa (known universally as “Turkey) in 1999, and made their recording debut Dasoku Hoko for EMI in 2000. The meaning of the band’s name is something of a mystery and has never been revealed.  Their sound is a mixture of many influences including punk, ska, surf, enka and metal.  They cite as amongst their favorite bands Weezer, CSS, White Stripes and Japanese bands The Spiders,  Boowy, The Boom and Polysics. The band have released albums at a roughly one a year pace, including two albums of covers - Tora No Ana (2002, Japanese for “Tiger Hole”) and Tora Ana 2 (2008), which include an eclectic mixture of song choices, anime themes, super idol Momoe Yamaguchi, group sounds bands like The Spiders and The Tigers,  80’s dance pop duo Pink Lady, and more recent pop rock from Spitz.  2006 was something of a landmark year for the band, as their album Parade hit Oricon’s #4 chart position, their highest to date, and they did a 22 city national tour dubbed “Michizure”. Later that year Best of Go! Go! was also released. In 2007 the band moved to BMG, where they released 569 and made their 28 city “sugoroku tour”. Also in 2007 the band made two visits to the States where they played a series of major city shows and picked up a sizable following from their spirited live shows, despite singing entirely in Japanese.  The band also frequently tour in Japan, at a mixture of venues ranging from small-ish 300 capacity livehouses, to the mighty 10,000 capacity Budokan. In 2008 did a tour with hugely popular Okinawa pop punk band Mongol 800. Go! Go! members also maintain a number of side projects. Yu has recorded a solo album and one with side band Chirinuruwowaka, Akko has released two solo albums under her maiden name Akiko Hamada, and Turkey has a t-shirt and jewelry company called Trico Roll Beauty, and is a very much in demand session drummer.  The album Antenna was released in February 2009, and their tenth full length album entitled Go! GO! GO! Go! was released June 2, 2010.