Ichiro Yamaguchi was destined to be a musician. Starting out with a band in highschool, the vocalist pursued his dreams as a DJ. In 2005, after being asked to participate in an omnibus, Yamaguchi went in search of a guitarist and found Motoharu Iwadera. With spare time on their hands, the two decided to make a band, and began performing throughout venues around Sapporo under the name sakanaction. Before long, their music gained popularity throughout the indies scene in Hokkaido.
By the spring of 2006, the duo was joined by Ami Kusakari on bass, Emi Okazaki on keyboards and Keiichi Ejima on drums. The official line up of the band was complete and sakanaction came to life. By the summer, they began receiving recognition not just in the music fan base but by the industry as well. Appearing at the RISING SUN ROCK FESTIVAL in Ezo, the band attracted a much broader audience, and the band's name began spreading.
Later that year, the band's self-recorded song, Mikazuki Sunset, climbed its way up the local college radio charts, and Shiranami Topwater began getting more air play on the radio. With listeners intrigued, music stores were flooded with inquiries about sakanaction.
While they continued to steadily tour, it wasn't until May 2007 that they released their first album, GO TO THE FUTURE.
By New Years 2008, the band released their second album and embarked on their first national tour, NIGHT FISHING IS GOOD. In August, they performed as a headlining band at the SUMMER SONIC FESTIVAL 2008, one of Japan's largest music events. In December, the band closed out the year with their first single, century. The boys rung in the new year in celebration, having watched the new single climb to #9 on Billboard Japan's Hot 100 chart.
On January 10, 2009, sakanaction released their third album, senshiro, before hitting the road on a nation wide tour, SAKANAQUARIUM. The band held a steady tour schedule through the better part of the summer, including a stop at Zepp Tokyo on July 14, before heading back to the recording studio to prepare for 2010.
sakanaction kicked off the new year with their single, Aruku Around, which quickly climbed to #3 on the Oricon charts. Their fourth album, Kikuuiki, launched in March resulted in their highest sales yet, hitting over 56,000 copies sold. By August, the band debuted their fifth maxi-single and played on and off throughout the rest of the year including a few large events, such as World Happiness 2010 and New Audiogram ver.4 -1123coast-.
The band is scheduled to perform at FM802 ROCK FESTIVAL RADIO CRAZY and has announced their 2011 three-man tour, version21.1 third, which is scheduled to begin at the end of January. Shortly thereafter, the band will be releasing their first live DVD. With sakanaction ready for the new year, fans can eagerly look forward to what the band has up their sleeves next!
