Taking a look at the world’s number 1 rock band, [Alexandros], and their ever-growing development

02.August.2016 | FEATURES / MUSIC

Having gone major in 2015, rock band [Alexandros] have rapidly begun to gain more and more attention. The band began their real activity back in 2007. They released their first full album, “Where’s My Potato?”, in 2010 which, despite their anonymity, sold out in many shops. They became known as the dark horse, and were a big name in the indie rock scene. Let’s take a look at the charm of [Alexandros] and their work which has grown to a wide scale.

Just who is the band’s ringleader, Yoohei Kawakami?
[Alexandros] is currently made up of 4 members: guitarist and vocalist Yoohei Kawakami, bassist Hiroyuki Isobe, guitarist Masaki Shirai, and drummer Satoyasu Shomura. Yoohei looked for members to form the band while he was at university, taking charge while carrying out his activities. In 2010, then support member Satoyasu joined as an official member and is still part of the band to this day.

Yoohei, who has led the band since its inception, lived and was raised in Syria from 9-years old until he was 14. He is in charge of the lyrics and songwriting. He twists melodies with pop and brings forth some very addictive music. He is proficient in English and is skilled in effectively combining both the English language and Japanese language within the band’s lyrics.

Yoohei is also known for having been a crazy lover of movies, having written columns about them, as well as other things, which demonstrates his great talent in a variety of areas. Not only that, he has also captured the hearts of his fans for having a high fashion sense and working as a model in male model magazines.

 

Overcoming the crisis of the band’s name-change!
The band’s new name still probably feels new to you even now, right? The band’s original name was [Champagne] until it was changed in March 2014 to [Alexandros]. It originates from the Japanese branch of Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (C.I.V.C.), who the band received a request from. The band changed their name at their first arena one-man live show at the Nippon Budokan. At a time when the band feared their force and power up to that point had the possibility of stalling, they decided to be reborn as [Alexandros] and up their game even more.

Also, the band’s former name [Champagne] holds within it the meaning of “We want you to get drunk on our music”, a concept taken from Oasis’s song “Champagne Supernova”. Yoohei even used the name [Champagne] for his band during middle school. His dream back wasn’t shaken at all, was it?

 

They won’t shut their big mouths any time soon; their dream is to be worldwide rock musicians!
[Alexandros] say that they are aiming to be the best rock stars in the world. They have exclaimed their aspirations to head straight in that directions and that they won’t change their mind. They say that their final aim is to be able to play at the Glastonbury Festival in England, the largest greenfield festival in the world. Their song “Untitled” from their early days expresses this dream in its lyrics: “I’m gonna be a star”.

The guys are frequenters of summer festivals. They are still on the road to becoming the world’s best rock band… but there is no doubt that they want to show us that they will continue towards their dream.

 

The band’s new single “Swan” will be released on Wednesday August 24th. They plan to release a DVD of their live show at SXSW 2016 in America on the First Press Limited Edition. There is also footage of the members at the event, so be sure to look forward to this!

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[Alexandros]

URL: https://alexandros.jp/

 

Original Text: Ishimizu Noriko (SHUTTER)

 

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