Thee Michelle Gun Elephant

Thee Michelle Gun Elephant
Origin	Japan
Genres	Garage rock Blues rock Punk rock Garage punk Punk blues
Years active	1991–2003
Labels	Nippon Columbia Universal Music Group Alive Records
Associated acts	Rosso Radio Caroline The Birthday Midnight Bankrobbers
Website	Rockin' Blues
Past members
Yusuke Chiba Futoshi Abe Kōji Ueno Kazuyuki Kuhara

Thee Michelle Gun Elephant (often abbreviated to TMGE) was a Japanese garage rock band formed in 1991.^[1]

History

The band was formed in 1991,^[2] while the members were students at Tokyo's Meiji Gakuin University. They later drew influence from The Roosters. Their unusual name originated when a friend mispronounced the title of an early jam session recording; featuring cover songs of Thee Headcoats (one of the band's main influences) and from The Damned's album, Machine Gun Etiquette.^[3] After an independently-released EP in 1995, they signed to Nippon Columbia's Triad label, releasing the album Cult Grass Stars in 1996, followed later that year by High Time, the band enjoying chart success in their home country.^[2] Chicken Zombies (1997) gave them a top five hit.^[2] The band's 1998 album Gear Blues was the first to be reelased in the US (in 2000).^[2]

The band announced that they would break up on October 11, 2003, after their Last Heaven tour of Japan. On July 22, 2009, guitarist Abe Futoshi died of an acute hematoma.^[4]

Song titles and lyrics

The majority of the band's songs have English titles, which often appear to be a random selection of words cobbled together - 'Pinhead Cranberry Dance', for example.

The lyrics are almost entirely Japanese, with the odd English phrase or word thrown in.

Side projects

All four members have had other musical projects or played with other bands both while in TMGE and after its break-up. Some of these are as follows:

Yusuke Chiba

• ROSSO (Vocals, Guitar and Songwriting on all releases)
• The Birthday (Vocals, Guitars and Songwriting on all releases)
• The Midwest Vikings (Vocals, Guitars and Songwriting under the alias 'LACOSTE')
• Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra (Vocals on one song on the album 'Stompin' On Down Beat Alley')
• Raven
• Bugy Craxone
• Midnight Bankrobbers

Kazuyuki Kuhara

• ROSSO (Drums on some live appearances)
• The Birthday (Drums on all releases)
• The Midwest Vikings (Drums and Pianica under the alias 'HANG TEN')
• Yoko Utsumi's YOKOLOCO BAND (Drums on later releases)
• Shigeki Hamabe (Drums on first two albums)
• M.J.Q (drums on all releases)

Koji Ueno

• Radio Caroline (Bass on all releases)
• The Hiatus (Bass on all releases)

Futoshi Abe

• KOOLOGI (Guitar on first album)
• Barebones
• Strawberry Jean (Guitar - This was Futoshi Abe's pre-TMGE band - their one album is sometimes available via Japanese online auctions)

Discography

Albums

• Maximum! Maximum!! Maximum!!! (1993) Self-released
• Cult Grass Stars (1996) Triad
• High Time (1996) Triad
• Chicken Zombies (1997) Triad
• Gear Blues (1998) Triad
• Casanova Snake (2000) Triad
• Rodeo Tandem Beat Specter (2001) Triad
• Sabrina Heaven (2003) Island
• Sabrina No Heaven (2003) Island

Live albums

• Casanova Said "Live or Die" (2000) Triad
• Last Heaven's Bootleg (2003) Island

Singles

• Sekai no Owari (1996) Triad
• Candy House (1996) Triad
• Lily (1996) Triad
• Culture (1997) Triad
• Get Up Lucy (1997) Triad
• The Birdmen (1997) Triad
• G.W.D (1998) Triad
• Out Blues (1998) Triad
• Smokin' Billy (1998) Triad
• GT400 (2000) Triad
• Baby Stardust (2000) Triad
• Abakareta-Sekai (2001) Triad
• Taiyou wo Tsukande Shimatta (2002) Island
• Girl Friend (2003) Trippin' Elephant
• Electric Circus (2003) Island

B-sides compilations

• Rumble (1999) Triad

Best of compilations

• TMGE 106 (2000) Triad
• Collection (2001) Alive Records (US release)
• Grateful Triad Years (2002) Triad
• Thee Greatest Hits (2009) Columbia

Other releases

• Wonder Style (1995) Trippin' Elephant
• Wonder Style (reissue) (1997) Triad
• Vibe On! (1998) Trippin' Elephant
• Kwacker (with Mick Green) (2001) Trippin' Elephant

DVDs

TMGE have released a number of live and PV DVDs.

A box set of some of these will be released by Universal on the 20th January 2010, consisting of 10 discs under the title of 'THEE LIVE'^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ Oricon listing
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Strong, Martin C. (2003) The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, ISBN 1-84195-335-0, p. 1025-6
3. ^ http://shine1771.exblog.jp/11439023/ Transcription of interview, ROCKIN' ON JAPAN. VOL.144　1998.02
4. ^ Bounce News

External links

• AllMusic.com: Biography
• Official Site