RADWIMPS

J-rock

Radwimps is a Japanese rock band that formed in their first year of highschool in 2001 in Kanagawa, Japan. They play an eccentric mix of rock, punk, funk and jazz. The band achieved great commercial success in 2006 with their album Radwimps 4: Okazu no Gohan, and are best known for their later singles Order Made (2008) and Dada (2011), both of which hit number one on Oricon's single charts. The five original members had been friends since middle school. Vocalist Yojiro Noda first became interested in music after hearing Oasis in middle school, when he would try to remember the guitar chords and sing to Oasis songs. He was asked to become the vocalist by a friend, and originally band activities were balanced with basketball. The band's name was formed from two English language slang terms, rad and wimp. According to the band, the coined word had several meanings, including excellent weakling and superlative coward. The band's activities began centred around Yokohama, with the band performing their first live at live house BB Street in Yokohama's Kannai district on February 5, 2002. At this point, guitarist Akira Kuwahara dropped out of high school in order to focus on the band. In September and August 2002, the band partook in the Yokohama High School Music Festival, and eventually won the grand prize for the competition with the song Moshi mo. Moshi mo was released as the band's debut single in May 2003, with 10,000 copies pressed and sold for 100 yen each. Following this s...