LITE

LITE is a band that plays instrumental rock with catchy melodies. The band managed to forge a reputation on the independent Japanese and European rock scenes despite having music that is not very accessible to most people.

In May 2003, Kouzou Kusumoto and his class mate Nobuyuki Takeda decided to form a band, giving birth to LITE. Based in Tokyo, the band consists of Kouzou Kusumoto and Nobuyuki Takeda, both guitarists, drummer Akinori Yamamoto and Jun Izawa on bass. The band's music is a style called "math rock," an experimental one with complex rhythms that are largely based around the guitar melodies. Right from the start, LITE found their way by combining the power and precision of this style with touching compositions. Nearly one month later, LITE played their first concert at Shinjuku Club Doctor in Tokyo and continued in to areas surrounding Tokyo. The band self-produced two demos, one in 2003 and another in 2004. In July 2005, the band released their first mini-album, LITE, under NMNL records, a subsidiary of Tower Records Japan.

2006 was a busy year, barely a month passing in which the band didn't have a concert scheduled somewhere. The band kicked off a nation-wide tour by playing as the support act for, STRAIGHTENER. In March, the band played in the SOUND SHOOTER event at ZEPP Tokyo, along with artists such as DOPING PANDA, ELLEGARDEN and The Back Horn. May marked the release of their first album, filmets.

The band later recorded a cover of Radiohead's Everything In Its Right Place for the tribute album, Radiohead Master's Collection, which was released in July and also included TRICERATOPS, LINKHEAD and other independent artists. In July, an Irish label, Transduction Records, released the band's first mini-album, making it available in Europe via the independent distribution company Cargo Records. With increasing interest in performing overseas, their label scheduled a tour, LITE UK/Ireland 2006, just a few months later, in September.

In February 2007, LITE released a live EP, Live in Limerick, which was only sold at lives and was recorded at the Boat Club in September 2006. February also saw the release of their album, filmets, in Europe. As proof of their success, they were invited to participate in the FUJI ROCK'07 festival in Japan. On September 3rd they released A Tiny Twofer, a collaboration between LITE and Funanori (band of Mike Watt, bassist for Iggy and the Stooges and Kaori Tsuchida from The Go! Team), in Europe. Additionally, September saw the band's return to the United Kingdom for a promotional tour, simply named filmets Tour 2007. One month after its European release, A Tiny Twofer was released in Japan.

The band teamed up with Mike Watt and his new band, Brother's Sister's Daughter, in February 2008, joining him on his fourteen date Japanese tour. In May, the band released its second album, Phantasia, which features Takaaki Mino, guitarist of toe. The album was later released on the band's European label. To promote this album, the band went on another European tour, this time traveling outside the borders of the United Kingdom.