Thee Michelle Gun Elephant (often abbreviated to TMGE) was a Japanese

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The sty ...

band formed in 1991.

History

The band was formed in 1991,Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 1025-6 while Chiba, Ueno, and Kuhara were students at

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

's Meiji Gakuin University. They later drew influence from The Roosters. Their unusual name originated when a friend mispronounced the title of an early

jam session A jam session is a relatively informal musical event, process, or activity where musicians, typically instrumentalists, play improvised solos and vamp over tunes, drones, songs, and chord progressions. To "jam" is to improvise music without ext ...

recording; featuring cover songs of Thee Headcoats (one of the band's main influences) and from The Damned's album ''

Machine Gun Etiquette ''Machine Gun Etiquette'' is the third studio album by English punk rock band the Damned, released on 2 November 1979 by Chiswick Records. Background The album was the group's first since reforming with Dave Vanian on vocals, Captain Sensib ...

''. Some years later Futoshi Abe joined the band. After an independently released EP in 1995, they signed to Nippon Columbia's Triad label, releasing the album ''Cult Grass Stars'' in 1996, followed later that year by ''High Time'', the band enjoying chart success in their home country. ''Chicken Zombies'' (1997) gave them a top five hit. The band's 1998 album ''Gear Blues'' was the first to be released in the US (in 2000). A lot of their songs were also used in '' Blue Spring'', a Japanese movie made in 2002. The band announced that they would break up on October 11, 2003, after their ''Last Heaven'' tour of Japan. On July 22, 2009, the guitarist Futoshi Abe died of an acute

hematoma A hematoma, also spelled haematoma, or blood suffusion is a localized bleeding outside of blood vessels, due to either disease or trauma including injury or surgery and may involve blood continuing to seep from broken capillaries. A hematoma is ...

Song titles and lyrics

The majority of the band's songs have English titles, which often appear to be a random selection of words cobbled together - 'Pinhead Cranberry Dance', for example. The lyrics are almost entirely Japanese, with the odd English phrase or word thrown in.

Side projects

All four members have had other musical projects or played with other bands both while in TMGE and after its break-up. Some of these are as follows: Yusuke Chiba *

ROSSO Rosso is the major city of south-western Mauritania and capital of Trarza region. It is situated on the Senegal River at the head of the river zone allowing year-round navigation. The town is 204 km south of the capital Nouakchott. The A ...

(Vocals, Guitar and Songwriting on all releases) * The Birthday (Vocals, Guitars and Songwriting on all releases) * The Midwest Vikings (Vocals, Guitars and Songwriting under the alias 'LACOSTE') *

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra , commonly abbreviated by fans as Skapara or TSPO, is a Japanese ska and jazz band formed in 1988 by the percussionist Asa-Chang, and initially composed of over 10 veterans of Tokyo's underground scene. At the time, the band's sound was unlike t ...

(Vocals on one song on the album 'Stompin' On Down Beat Alley') * Raven * Bugy Craxone * Midnight Bankrobbers Kazuyuki Kuhara *

(Drums on some live appearances) * The Birthday (Drums on all releases) * The Midwest Vikings (Drums and Pianica under the alias 'HANG TEN') * Yoko Utsumi'
YOKOLOCO BAND
(Drums on later releases)
Shigeki Hamabe
(Drums on first two albums)
M.J.Q
(drums on all releases) Koji Ueno
Radio Caroline
(Bass on all releases) *

The Hiatus The Hiatus is a Japanese rock supergroup formed by Takeshi Hosomi, lead vocalist of Ellegarden. Members * – vocals, guitar ( Ellegarden, MONOEYES) * Masasucks – guitar (Fullscratch) * – bass (Radio Caroline, ex- Thee Michelle Gun Elep ...

(Bass on all releases) Futoshi Abe (died 2009) * KOOLOGI (Guitar on first album) * Barebones * Strawberry Jean (Guitar - This was Futoshi Abe's pre-TMGE band)

Discography

Albums

* '' Maximum! Maximum!! Maximum!!!'' (1993) Self-released * '' Cult Grass Stars'' (1996) Triad * '' High Time'' (1996) Triad * '' Chicken Zombies'' (1997) Triad * '' Gear Blues'' (1998) Triad * '' Casanova Snake'' (2000) Triad * '' Rodeo Tandem Beat Specter'' (2001) Triad * ''Sabrina Heaven'' (2003) Island * '' Sabrina No Heaven'' (2003) Island

Live albums

* ''Casanova Said "Live or Die"'' (2000) Triad * ''Last Heaven's Bootleg'' (2003) Island

Singles

* ''Sekai no Owari'' (1996) Triad * ''Candy House'' (1996) Triad * ''Lily'' (1996) Triad * ''Culture'' (1997) Triad * ''Get Up Lucy'' (1997) Triad * ''The Birdmen'' (1997) Triad * ''G.W.D'' (1998) Triad * ''Out Blues'' (1998) Triad * ''Smokin' Billy'' (1998) Triad * ''GT400'' (2000) Triad * ''Baby Stardust'' (2000) Triad * ''Abakareta-Sekai'' (2001) Triad * ''Taiyou wo Tsukande Shimatta'' (2002) Island * ''Girl Friend'' (2003) Trippin' Elephant * ''Electric Circus'' (2003) Island

B-sides compilations

* ''Rumble'' (1999) Triad

Best of compilations

* ''TMGE 106'' (2000) Triad * '' Collection'' (2001) Alive Records (US release) * ''Grateful Triad Years'' (2002) Triad * ''Thee Greatest Hits'' (2009) Columbia

Other releases

* ''Wonder Style'' (1995) Trippin' Elephant * ''Wonder Style'' (reissue) (1997) Triad * ''Vibe On!'' (1998) Trippin' Elephant * ''Kwacker'' (with Mick Green) (2001) Trippin' Elephant

DVDs

TMGE have released a number of live and PV DVDs. A box set of some of these were due to be released by Universal in January 2010, consisting of 10 discs under the title of 'THEE LIVE'.

References

External links

* AllMusic.com: Biography
Official Site
* *
ミッシェル・ガン・エレファント
- 日本コロムビア内の公式ページ
THEE MICHELLE GUN ELEPHANT
- ユニバーサルミュージック内の公式ページ {{DEFAULTSORT:Thee Michelle Gun Elephant Japanese punk rock groups Japanese garage rock groups Universal Music Japan artists Nippon Columbia artists Alive Naturalsound Records artists Musical groups established in 1991 Musical groups disestablished in 2003 1991 establishments in Japan 2003 disestablishments in Japan