Nico Touches the Walls (stylized as NICO Touches the Walls) was a Japanese

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band formed in 2004. The band members were: Mitsumura Tatsuya, Sakakura Shingo, Furumura Daisuke & Tsushima Shotaro. In the same year, they won the Lotte Prize at the Yamaha Teen Music Festival. Rising quickly, they signed to "Senha & Co." before signing to

Sony Music Japan , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is opera ...

Ki/oon Records is a Japanese record label, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan. Artists Their artists include: L'Arc-en-Ciel, Asian Kung-Fu Generation, Polysics, The Gospellers, Denki Groove, KANA-BOON, Guitar Wolf, Sid, Group Tamashii, Unic ...

in 2007. Their debut single, in a major label, " Yoru no Hate", was released in February 2008. Along the career, the band has contributed to anime with their songs, such as “Mashi Mashi” being the ending theme for the 3rd season of '' Haikyuu!!''. "Broken Youth", " Diver", and "Niwaka Ame ni Mo Makezu", featured in '' Naruto: Shippuden''; their hit single "

Hologram Holography is a technique that allows a wavefront to be recorded and later reconstructed. It is best known as a method of generating three-dimensional images, and has a wide range of other uses, including data storage, microscopy, and interf ...

" chosen as opening theme for '' Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood'', as many others. In November 2019, the band announced that they were disbanding after 15 years.

History

Early years (2004–2007)

Formed in 2004, Nico Touches the Walls won the Lotte Prize at the 2004 Yamaha Teens' Music Festival. The quartet's success really picked up since they made their indie debut with Senha and Company in 2006. They released two indie mini albums that year: " Walls Is Beginning" and " Runova X Handover". In 2007, Nico Touches the Walls signed a deal with Ki/oon Records. They released their debut mini albums "Eden", in June, and " How Are You?" in November the same year.

''Who Are You?'' (2008)

The band raised quickly from the indie scene to a top label. In 2008, they featured in a television commercial for Glico's

Pocky is a Japanese sweet snack food produced by the Ezaki Glico food company. Pocky was first sold in 1966, and was invented by Yoshiaki Koma. It consists of coated biscuit sticks. It was named after the Japanese onomatopoeic word , which is suppo ...

. Their debut single " Yoru no Hate" was released in February 2008, being an introduction single for the rock quartet, which reached number 64 on the

Oricon Chart , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in N ...

. They kept raising, and later their second single " The Bungy" was released on June 4, being a very different song from their previous style. The band also had the song " Broken Youth" featured as ending theme for the anime series '' Naruto: Shippuden'', that year. " Broken Youth" became one of the band's most popular songs, reaching 24 on the chart in Japan. In the same year, their debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

'' Who Are You?'' was released on September 24 containing all their previous singles. " Who are you?" almost entered in the top 10, reaching number 11 in its first week. Later, Nico Touches the walls embarked on tour to promote the album, Titled "Tour 2008 Bon voyage, Etranger", the tour started in Shibuya, in a special concert named "We are Nico Touches the Walls. ～A Queen of the Night～", on October 15, and finished in Tokyo, on December 14.

''Aurora'' (2009–2010)

A new single titled " Big Foot" was released on May 13, nine months after the first album " Who Are You?". After getting people's attention thanks to their song for the anime ''Naruto: Shippuden'', the band made the most of their record company's business network and provided the opening song for '' Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood'', in August, with the song "

". The single became the band's highest ranking single on the Oricon music chart, and a steady stream of fans downloaded the song's ringtone version. During their performances in various summer music festivals, they proved why they have become known as one of the hottest bands in town. In October, they finished the recording of a new song. The track was released on November 4, titled " Kakera subete no Omoitachi he-", a mid-tempo song that was featured as the main theme for the Japanese TV drama series ''Bocho Mania 09'', on October 22, starring the popular actor Mukai Osamu. Right after the single, on November 24, the second studio album ''

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

'' was released. To promote the new album, they kicked off the Tour 2009-2010 & Auroras, on December 27, holding their first ever

Nippon Budokan The , often shortened to simply Budokan, is an indoor arena in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally built for the inaugural Olympic judo competition in the 1964 Summer Olympics. The Budokan was a popular venue for Japanese professional wres ...

performance on March 27, 2010.

''Passenger'' (2010–2011)

After their first experience playing at the Budoukan, Nico Touches the Walls took on a new challenge. On May 16, 2010, the band embarked on a live house tour named "Tour 2010 Michi Naki Michi", visiting all the locations they'd never been before and playing different songs at each show. In each one of these days they produced many new songs and anecdotes. The final day of the tour, June 12, at Yokohama Blitz, was recorded, where a new single was revealed. It was "Sudden Death Game" and was released on August 11, 2010. The song was chosen for the audience good reaction during the shows, being the only release that year. In November, it was announced a split tour with the band

Flumpool Flumpool (stylized as flumpool) are a Japanese rock band. The band, originally from Osaka Prefecture, was formed in January 2007. The band's name is a portmanteau of the words ''four'' (from the number of members in the band), ''lump'', and '' ...

for January 2011. The single " Diver" was released on January 12, along with the DVD from the Michi Naki Michi tour, titled "You Say No Way, We Say Go Way". The song was used as the eighth opening for the

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network. The single was the most successful, reaching number 7 on the

Oricon chart , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in N ...

in Japan, becoming the band's first top 10 single. The split tour with the band

also started in January. It took place at Zepp Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, which was the first time they embarked on a joint tour. On April 4, 2011, their third studio album ''

Passenger A passenger is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The vehicles may be bicycles, ...

'' was released, over one year since their previous record ''

''. Also in April, the song "Matryoshka", from the album, was featured as opening theme for the anime '' C - the Money of Soul and Possibility Control'', aired by

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

. To promote the album, a national tour called "Nico Touches the Walls Tour 2011 Passenger: We Are Passionate Messenger" was launched. The tour started at the Kashiwa Palooza, on April 13, and had its final concert at Zepp Tokyo, on June 10.

''Humania'' (2011–2012)

On the concert of June 10, at Zepp Tokyo, Nico Touches the Walls announced a new summer single called " Te o Tatake". The song was released on August 17 and was featured on the LISMO TV commercial. On August 21, they delivered a live program on

Ustream IBM Watson Media (formerly Ustream and IBM Cloud Video) is an American virtual events platform company which is a division of IBM. Prior to the IBM acquisition, it had more than 180 employees across San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Budapest office ...

, called ''Minnade tsukurou Te o Tatake Network and Acoustic Live'', towards fans who purchased the latest single,which the theme song "Te o Tatake" was shown in collaboration with the hand clapping videos sent by fans through the special website. In September, the band has the song " Endless Roll", written by the bassist Shingo Sakakura, featured on the film ''Switch o Osu Toki'', released on September 17. As of October, they provided the song "Bicycle" to be theme song for the drama ''11 Nin mo Iru!''. The drama was screen written by Kudo Kankuro and began airing in the same month. After only eight months from their previous record, they announced an album, '' Humania'', to be released in December the same year, as a nationwide tour for 2012 titled "Tour2012 Humania". On December 3, Nico Touches the Walls was one of the guests in the Fuji TV's music program "Music Fair". In the episode, the band performed the song "Dramatic Rain" with the singer "Inagaki Junichi", and then the show also aired their performance for the song "Bicycle". On December 7, the fourth album " Humania" was released and debuted at number 10 on the

, being the band's first top ten album on career. On January 13, 2012, they started the first leg of "Tour 2012 Humania", in Yokohama Blitz. On March 10, the band kicked off the second leg, "Ground of Humania", in

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

. The tour ended on March 20, in Chiba.

Algorhytmique and ''Shout to the Walls!'' (2012–2013)

During the Chiba concert, on March 20, the band revealed the new song " Natsu no Daisankakkei" for the first time. They also have the song featured on the Calpis Water commercial, first broadcast on the same day. On May 16, 2012, the single "Natsu no Daisankakkei" and the second music video collection "Library 2" were released. To celebrate the new single, that day, the band held an outdoor concert at Yoyoga Park, Tokyo, where they also recorded live a music video for the song "Rappa to Musume". The concert was streamed live on Ustream. The band was set to publish their first interview book titled: ''Nico Touches the Walls Trip Tragetory - Interview and Photo Chronicle 2007-2012'', on May 25, 2012, but it was changed to July 25. It contains all their interviews from the indie "Eden" (2007) to "Humania" (2011). From September 27, Nico Touches the Walls started the Tour 2012 "Algorhytmique", being the largest tour on their career to date, in total of 23 concerts, from September to December. During the tour, the band revealed their 11th single " Yume 1 Go" to be released in December; a concert on October 28 was also postponed to November 20, due to one member being in poor health. On November 16, they made a web broadcast in four different channels, to premier their new song, new music video and live performances of the tour, at the Zepp Tokyo. On December 19, the single " Yume 1 Go" was released. On December 20, the Tour 2012 "Algorhytmique" had its final concert presented in Osaka. A new song, "Runner", written by Mitsumura during his high school years, was featured in the TBS program ''Ekiden'' and had limited release through digital download, from December 26 until January 8. Nico Touches the Walls' first single in 2013 was announced during the regular web program Jamboriii Station, on January 25. " Mr. Echo" was released on March 27, along with the coupling track "Chain Reaction", previously played during the last tour, used as the

New Balance New Balance Athletics, Inc. (NB), doing business as New Balance, is one of the world's major sports footwear and apparel manufacturers. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the multinational corporation was founded in 1906 as the New Balance Arch Su ...

collaboration song. Following the single, in early April, a new song "Niwaka Ame ni Mo Makezu" is featured as the '' Naruto: Shippuden'' opening theme, becoming their third contribution to the anime. On April 24, the fifth album ''Shout to the Walls!'' was released. To celebrate it, the band held a special concert at Zepp Tokyo, which was broadcast live on internet via their official channel on YouTube. ''Shout to the Walls!'' became their first top 5 album on career, with over 10,000 sales in the first week. On May 16, to promote the new album, the band launched their first national tour in halls, sponsored by

, titled: "New Balance presents Nico Touches the Walls Tour 2013 Shout to the Walls!", playing the last dates, at the

NHK Hall The NHK Hall is a concert hall located at the NHK Broadcasting Center, the main headquarters of Japan's Public broadcasting, public broadcaster NHK. The hall is the main venue for the NHK Symphony Orchestra, but it has also played host to other e ...

, in Tokyo.

''Nico Touches the Walls no Best'' (2013–2014)

Near the end of the '' Shout to the Walls!'' tour, on July 10, the band released a new single " Niwaka Ame ni Mo Makezu". The song was previously featured as opening theme for '' Naruto: Shippuden''. From January 14, 2014, they toured for 3 dates under the title Nico Touches the Walls no Fest., along with the bands BigMama, lexandrosand Creephyp. A song titled "Pandora" was featured in the Japanese movie ''Genome Hazard'', released on January 24. As of February 1, they kicked off their project Himitsukichi "Kabe Ni Mimi", performing live 20 concerts in Tokyo, during the whole month, and releasing their first best-of album, tilted '' NICO Touches the Walls no Best'', on February 5. A month later, on March 5, the 14th single "Rawhide" was released, while its coupling track was the song "Tayou ga Warattera", featured in the movie ''7 Days Report''. The band held 5 concerts for their zepp tour NICO Touches the Walls no Zepp, starting in Osaka, on May 31 to June 15, in Tokyo. After being aired as the ending theme for the TV series Haikyuu, Nico Touches the Walls released their song "Tenchi Gaeshi" as the 15th single, on June 11. A new song titled "Bakemono" had its music video unveiled on June 19, on the band's official YouTube channel. The song was featured as theme song for the drama ''Hensachi 70'', which was first aired on July 2. The song had a digital release on July 1. On August 19, Nico Touches the Walls played for the second time at the

, in a special concert titled Nico Touches the Walls no Budokan, gathering more than 9000 people, in a sold-out venue. According to the members, the concert was supposed to be a revenge to the previous one, held in 2010. A day later, on August 20, the new single "Tokyo Dreamer" was released, while the title track was featured in the anime '' Captain Earth'', aired by

MBS MBS may refer for: People * Mohammed Ben Sulayem (born 1961), president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile * Mohammed bin Salman (born 1985), crown prince and prime minister of Saudi Arabia * Mohan Bikram Singh (born 1935), Nepales ...

''Howdy!! We are ACO Touches the Walls'' (2015)

During the encore of their annual concert "1125", on November 25, atClub Citta, in

Kanagawa is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

, the band announced the release of their first acoustic album, titled '' Howdy!! We are ACO Touches the Walls''. On February 4, ''Howdy!! We are ACO Touches the Walls'' was released, reaching number 7 on the oricon charts, in its first week. On February 12 and 14 Nico Touches the Walls held their ''Billboard Live: Howdy We are ACO Touches the Walls'', in Tokyo and Osaka.

"Uzu to Uzu" and ''Yuuki mo Ai mo Nai Nante'' (2015–2016)

The band embarked on their first national tour in two years. Starting May 21, the Tour 2015 "Massuguna Tour" had 21 concerts in total. Their 17th single "Massuguna Uta" was released on June 24. The tour final presentation was held for the first time at the Tokyo International Forum A, on July 19. Nico Touches the Walls provided their new song "Uzu to Uzu" as the second opening theme for the animation '' The Heroic Legend of Arslan'', aired by TBS. The band announced their first ever Osaka-Jo Hall arena concert titled Live Special 2015 Uzu to Uzu ~Nishi no Uzu~, scheduled for December 23, and their third Nippon Budokan concert, titled Uzu to Uzu ~Higashi no Uzu~, for January 9. On September 2, their new single "Uzu to Uzu" was released. On November 13, the band announced through their official website and Twitter account that the guitarist Daisuke Furumura had injured his right hand and, therefore, could not join the band to continue their scheduled concerts. As a result, the band's activities for the rest of the year were immediately canceled and postponed. Their concert at Osaka-Jo Hall was postponed to May 2016, as "Live Special 2016 Uzu to Uzu ~Nishi no Uzu~". On January 8, 2016, the band played for the third time at Nippon Budokan, with the concert Special Live 2016 Uzu to Uzu ~Higashi no Uzu~. At the concert, three songs were played for the first time. In the same day, they announced their first studio album in three years, ''Yuuki mo Ai mo Nai Nante''. The album was released on March 16. The band provided the song "Strato" to be the theme song of the Japanese movie ''Hero Mania ~Seikatsu~''. The single is released on May 3, along with their third music video collection DVD, ''Library Vol. 3''. Their single "Mashi Mashi" was released on November 30, 2016, and was used as the ending theme of third season of anime '' Haikyuu''.

''Oyster'' and ''Twister'' (2017–2018)

On November 25, 2017, a live event "1125/2017" was held at Makuhari Messe International Exhibition Center in Chiba Prefecture. It was held in the form of a festival with guest artists such as the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra. On December 6, The new CD "Oyster-EP-" was released. This is a set of two CDs, consisting of a main CD containing five new songs and a bonus disc containing an acoustic version of each song. The national tour "Nico Touches the Walls "N X A" Tour" was held from June, 2018. On July 25, The new CD "Twister-EP-" was released. Like "Oyster-EP-" released last December, "Twister-EP-" consists of 2 discs, Disc 1 which contains 5 new songs and bonus disc which contains acoustic version of Disc 1 songs.

Members

* Tatsuya Mitsumura (光村龍哉, born September 8, 1985) – vocals, guitar * Daisuke Furumura (古村大介, born March 1, 1985) – guitar * Shingo Sakakura (坂倉心悟, born July 24, 1985) – bass guitar * Shotaro Tsushima (対馬祥太郎, born January 28, 1985) – drums

Supporting members

* Kousuke Noma (埜間浩介, born 1974) – keyboards

Discography

* '' Who are you?'' (2008) * ''

'' (2009) * ''

'' (2011) * '' Humania'' (2011) * '' Shout to the Walls!'' (2013) * ''Yuuki mo Ai mo Nai Nante'' (2016) * ''Quizmaster'' (2019)

Live performances

Tours

*Tour 2007–08 A Queen Of The Night *Tour 2008 Bon voyage, Etranger *Tour 2009–10 "& Auroras" *Tour 2010 Michi Naki Michi *Tour 2011 Passenger ~We are Passionate Messenger~ *Tour 2012 Humania / Ground of Humania * Tour 2012 "Algorhytmique" *

presents Nico Touches the Walls Tour 2013 Shout to the Walls! *Tour 2015 Massuguna Tour *Tour 2016 "Yuuki mo Ai mo Nai Nante"

Single-day performances

*"Walls Is Auroras" at

*Day of Apollo / Night of Luna *Nico Touches the Walls no Budokan *Live Special 2016 Uzu to Uzu ~Higashi no Uzu~ *Live Special 2016 Uzu to Uzu ~Nishi no Uzu~

Awards

References

External links

*
A-Sketch's website for Nico Touches the Walls
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nico Touches The Walls Japanese alternative rock groups Ki/oon Music artists Anime musical groups Musical groups established in 2004 2004 establishments in Japan Musical groups disestablished in 2019 2019 disestablishments in Japan Musical groups from Tokyo