Maximum The Hormone
Maximum the Hormone is:
- Maximum the Ryo (マキシマムザ亮君, Ryo Kawakita?) - Guitars/Vocals
- Daisuke (ダイスケはん, Daisuke Tsuda?) - Vocals
- Nawo (ナヲ, Nawo Kawakita?) - Drums/Vocals
- Ue-chan (上ちゃん, Futoshi Uehara?) - Bass Guitar
Official site (Japanese): http://www.55mth.com/
Maximum
the Hormone live up to their name, a full-on punk band with feral,
provocative music. Maximum the Hormone was formed in 1998 in the
suburbs of Tokyo. The group currently consists of Ryo-kun on guitar,
Daisuke-han on screaming vocals, Ue-cyan on bass, and Nao on drums and
vocals.
Nao, the younger sister of Ryo, plays the drums adroitly
and ferociously despite her petite size, and her high voice adds a
distinct contrast to the bellows of the front men.
Their bass
player Ue is also an exceptional musician, and says he is most
influenced by Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. His bass style (and
his hair), if influenced by Flea, is so only in that it is wild yet
solidly cool.
However Maximum the Hormone does not play to show
off their chops; they seem more bent on venting their feelings and
having a good time.
Ryo is the group’s main songwriter, and he
lists as amongst his inspirations System Of A Down, the Ramones, Mike
Patton, NOFX, Suicidal Tendencies and Snot.
Maximum the
Hormone’s debut mini-album Ootori was released in February 2001 on the
indie label Sky Records, owned and operated by fellow punk rockers
Nicotine, their friends and family. This early configuration of the
band often sang in English, but after some lineup changes they became
more Japanese oriented, and adopted their famous katakana (Japanese
lettering) logo.
While singing mostly in Japanese, their lyrics
tend to be lewd, ridiculous and do not in an obvious way make sense.
Maximum music is punk based, but also includes funk and other
influences, with their mainstays being high energy performances and
humor. The band furthered their reputation playing a rambunctious set
in August 2006 at the Summer Sonic festival’s beach stage, and today
rank as one of Japan’s best punk bands.
Other signs that they
were reaching a larger audience include their music being used as the
ending theme of the animation Akagi and a Portuguese language fansite.
In 2007 the band’s career took off in a big way, with their supplying
the opening and closing themes (“What’s up, people?” and “Zetsubon
Billy” respectively) for the popular animation Death Note.
Their album, Bu Iki Kaesu, which contains these songs, debuted at #5 in
Oricon, and sold a not too shabby 70,000 CD’s in the first week of
release, by far their biggest sales to date.
– Nippop.com
——————————————————–
Since
i heard their two Opening and Ending songs for the Death Note anime, I
fell in love with the band. This is my dream band actually. They have
everything i want — A screamo main vocalist, a kick-arse guitarist
that also has a kick-arse voice, a Flea-infested slapbassist, a
drummer-girl who can beat the drums like crazy, a
punkrock-slash-metal-slash-hardcore-slash-funk-slash-comedy all in one
for the sound they produce. And they really do know how to have some
fun with their music, especially during their live performances.
Here are some of their videos:
– Koi No Mega Lova (http://youtube.com/watch?v=FC5r7GLGeuQ)
This is my favorite 
. Dance party into a mosh pit.
– Rock And Roll Chainsaw [Live] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNecfsYqbk4)
"Blood, blood, blood, love, rock and roll chainsaw! "
– Zetsubou Billy (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Km1×8BocDCs)
The 2nd Ending theme of Death Note. Also one of my favorites.
For more of their videos, you can go to YouTube and do a search there.
Maximum the Hormone!!! \m/,(O_o).\m/
EDIT: I recently made a Friendster Group for Maximum The Hormone.
