The Brilliant Green
the brilliant green, or buriguri for short, is a Japanese rock (or J-Rock) band. Tomoko Kawase (川瀬智子 Kawase Tomoko) is the vocalist; Ryo Matsui (松井亮 Matsui Ryo) plays electric/lead guitar; and Shunsaku Okuda (奥田俊作 Okuda Shunsaku) is on bass as well as acoustic/rhythm guitar. To his fellow band members and fans alike, Okuda is affectionately known as "Leader" as he composes the majority of the band's music. The band were formed in 1995 after Ryo and Shunsaku spotted Tommy singing "Sometimes Always" by The Jesus and Mary Chain, and The Rolling Stones written Marianne Faithfull hit "As Tears Go By" in a Kyoto karaoke bar.
The Brilliant Green take much of their influence from Western music, most predominantly The Beatles with over half their songs including English lyrics. They released their first single "Bye Bye Mr.Mug" in 1997 with little success, but their break came in 1998 when their third single "There Will Be Love There" was chosen as the theme song for popular Japanese Drama Love Again, and as a result went straight to the top of the charts. After another number one hit with "Tsumetai Hana" they released their self-titled debut album which sold over one million copies in just two days. On the back of this success their first national tour, There Will Be Live There, sold out across Japan in only three minutes. The Brilliant Green were suddenly one of the biggest bands in Japan.
In the following years, the band was prolific, releasing two more album, "Terra 2001" and "Los Angeles", along with seven more singles, and two clips DVD's and a superb live DVD entitled "Super Terra 2000".
In 2001,on the back of the "Los Angeles" album, Time magazine chose The Brilliant Green as one of the top ten contemporary acts outside the U.S.alongside such bands as Radiohead and Sigur Ros.
In 2001 Tommy embarked on her first solo project, Tommy february6. She released three singles, and a very successful self titled album, but this did not spell the end for The Brilliant Green.
The band returned with "The Winter Album", which was quite experimental, using samples and drum machines, but still retaining the core values of the band. Three very different singles also were spawned from this album, but the release of the final single, "I'M SO SORRY BABY" was the last we would hear from the band for almost five years,
The band members moved on to solo thier projects and producing songs for other artists. Despite rumours to the contary the group never officially broke up. Tommy resumed her career as a solo artist as Tommy february6 and now also Tommy heavenly6, her rockier alter ego. Under these two names she released a total of seventeen singles and four studio albums, as well as best of albums under each persona.
Ryo Matsui also started a new band named Meister, which saw him working with musical heroes from his past, both from the U.K and Scandanavia.
On November 22, 2003, band members Tomoko Kawase and Shunsaku Okuda announced their marriage.
On June 1, 2007, it was announced that after five years of inactivity, The Brilliant Green would be returning with a new single to celebrate their 10th anniversary. The song titled, "Stand By Me", was selected as the ending theme for the new series of TV drama, Detective School Q, which began on July 3, 2007. The comeback began in earnest on August 22, 2007, as the new single hit the stores.
The band appeared in their first proper live show since their comeback playing the Iwafune Mountain Cliff Stage on October 21, 2007. This performance was part of the Iwafune Cliff Stage Special 2007 with The Brilliant Green appearing alongside other musical acts including DxD, Sowelu, and Viagrade.
The second single release of their comeback, "Enemy", was given a Christmas release, on December 12, 2007. The following single, titled "Ash Like Snow" appears as an opening theme in the anime series, Mobile Suit Gundam 00. On February 20, 2008 a compilation album, titled Complete Singles Collection '97-'08 was released. The band has also mentioned in an online interview that a new studio album is currently in the works, consisting of previously unrecorded songs that were written over the previous ten years.
The return of the band seems to have been put on hold, at least for a while as Tommy has recently returned to solo project duty, with a contribution to the 'We Love Cyndi' Cyndi Lauper tribute album as Tommy february6, and a new single, 'PAPERMOON' as Tommy heavenly6. Whether the new Buriguri studio album will ever happen or not is only known by the band themselves, for now we'll just have to wait and see.
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