AAA

Like many J-pop bands, Attack All Around, better known as AAA, did not start out as a “traditional” band. In the west, most bands are formed in a garage and begin their struggle to the top. In Japan, however, many bands are formed by the corporate music world out of musicians who are looking for work. This is exactly how AAA started. It was originally begun to be a six member group. In 2005, Avex, a leading dance and J-pop company, announced that they were going to be releasing a new band. They promoted the band by saying that they had been trained at the “Avex academy” and that the band would become popular around the world.

Due, in part, to all of the hype that was started by Avex before the band even debuted; when AAA finally came out they were very well received and became popular quickly. They began releasing a single a month and, due to their busy recording and advertising schedule, were unable to have any live concerts.

AAA’s first members were all people who had either acted in commercials or who had been dancers for other popular J-pop stars. The lead singer of the band is Takahiro Nishijima, who, before becoming the lead singer of AAA was the lead singer of a vocal group called Japs. He received his singing training at the Hokkaido Junor Actors Studio and, thanks to his independent CD, managed to get into the Avex label in 2003. Naoya Urata, another band member, was a backup dancer for a number of different J-pop stars, while Mitsuhiro Hidaka was a member of a group called Mother Ninja. Shinjiro Atae and Shuta Sueyoshi make up the rest of the male members of the group.

Misako Uno was the only girl in the band when the group began, and is known the best for her role as Miyuki in The Grudge 2. Shortly before the band debuted, though, Avex decided that that they wanted to add Chiaki Ito and Yukari Goto to the band, making it a total of five men and three women. Yukari Goto, however, has since resigned from the band due to medical reasons, bringing the total amount of band members down to seven.

In 2007, the band traveled to Baltimore, USA to have their first American debut at Otakon, a fan convention of anime and manga that is held in Baltimore, Maryland once a year.

Albums

Attack • Released on January in 2006 • Spent 11 weeks on the chart

All • Released on January in 2007 • Spent 7 weeks on the charts

Around • Released in September 2007 • Spent one week on the charts

Website: http://www.avexnet.or.jp/aaa