SpyAir – Japanese Indie 2005 To Today…
SpyAir is a Japanese rock band from Nagoya formed in 2005. Previoulsy 5, the band now consists of only 4 members: Ike (vocals), UZ (guitar/programming), Momiken (bass) and Kenta (drums). The former member was the DJ Enzel. Until now, SpyAir has a total of three albuns, another old four that were self-produced and various singles released. Their name comes from the word, spyware.
In the time they were formed, the band produced all of their own music, making four entire records (‘’Can You Listen?’’, ‘’NEXT STAGE and Vol.1’’, ‘’Alive’’ and ‘’I’LL BE THERE’’) on their own that no one knew or heard of. The band held various free concerts, where they earned money by selling their CDs. However, that lasted until they were signed to U-Project, an Indie label. Under that recording label, SpyAir released the independent singles:”Japanication” and “Kanjou Discord”.
Even though, the band released those two songs, their first major debut-single was a track called, ‘’Liar’’, after they got signed to the major recording label, Sony Music, back in 2010. ‘’Liar’’ dropped in August 11 and it was the theme song of the drama, ‘’Hammer session!’’. Its follow-up single, ‘’Last Moment’’, was used as an ending of ‘’Bleach’’. SpyAir re-released ‘’Japanication’’ as an official single, in 2011, and dropped also their fourth one, ‘’Samurai Heart (Some Like It Hot!!)’’, which was used in the anime, Gin Tama. All those singles, plus ‘’BEAUTIFUL DAYS’’, were included on SpyAir’s first major record, ‘’Rockin’ the World’’, which was released in September, 2011. The album sold pretty well, peaking in the Top 10 of the Oricon weekly charts, for 7 consecutive weeks. Despite the album selling amazingly good, all the singles from it flopped miserably, with not even one song peaking under the Top 10 chart.
2012: New year, brand new tracks and a sophomore CD, as well. SpyAir began their newest chapter with the single, ‘’My World’’, which was used as the second ending theme of Mobile Suit Gundam AGE. Then, they were given a chance of participating on the official ‘’The Amazing Spider Man’’ OST, in 2012, with the song ‘’0 Game’’. SpyAir produced a second song for Gin Tama called, ‘’Genjou Destruction’’. Following the release of ‘’Naked’’, in September, 2011, the band announced all the details for their second album, ‘’Just Do It’’. ‘’Naked’’ was the official title-track of the record. Just like the previous ones, all the singles from ‘’Just Do It’’, flopped on the charts.
All those situations didn’t stop the band as they were just starting and the albuns sales were impressive. They released another theme song for a drama called, Koi Suru Hae Onna. That track is called ‘’Wendy ~It’s You~’’. However, the single didn’t come with good news as DJ Enzel announced its departure from the band, in December, 2012. Luckily, he still had a chance to perform one last night, at Nippon Budokan. The concert was a total success, which caused them to announce also a new single, “Sakura Mitsutsuki”. The song dropped in March of 2013 and served as the opening theme for Gin Tama. Another two singles, ‘’Niji’’ and ‘’Genjou Destruction’’, were released and their third album, ‘’MILLION’’, came afterwards. The album sold pretty well (peaking at number 2), in its first weeks, but started to drown slowly.
They released two new tracks, throughout the end of 2013 and the beginning of 2014, called, ‘’Just One Life’’ and ‘’Imagination’’, respectively. The latter became their first Top Ten hit, peaking at #9 on the Oricon weelky charts. ‘’Just One Life’’ was used as the theme song for Samurai Flamenco, while ‘’Imagination’’ served as the opening theme of Haikyuu. Unfortunatly, SpyAir isn’t recording anything new due to the vocalist, Ike, being diagnosed with Acute Chorditis and Vocal Chord Polyp.
We wish Ike a speedy recovery and much success for the band to continue to produce great music.