BLUE ENCOUNT

Formed: 2004 Genres: Rock (Mixture Rock, Indie Rock), Emo

Introduction: Blue Encount (stylized as BLUE ENCOUNT), alternatively known under the abbreviation BLUEN is a Japanese four-piece rock band under record label Ki/oon Records (2014-), who have previously been under record label 美音 (Mio) (2013-2014)

Biography: In 2003, Shunichi, Yuuya and Yoshihide met at a vocational school in the Kumamoto Prefecture, where they would later in 2004 form the band Blue Encount. The band's name derives from a jinx that says bands with a color in their name sells, as well as a movie that the vocalist Shunichi saw at a rental shop titled "Blue Encounter".

In 2006, at the TEENS' MUSIC FESTIVAL, which was sponsored by the Yamaha Music Promotion Association and Nippon Broadcasting, they participated in the Kyuushuu qualifying round as the Kumamoto Prefecture representative, but they did not advance to the national competition. The bassist at the time withdrew from the band to enter university, and after graduating from a certain college of technology Yuuya and Yoshihide came to Tokyo and began studying at the Tokyo School of Music College in Shibuya. Yuuta, a senior at a vocational school participated as a support member at the time.

In 2008, the band participated in Yamaha's "The 2nd Music Revolution JAPAN FINAL" as a representative of Tokyo FINAL. This is also when Yuuta officially decided to join the band.

In 2010, the band released their first mini album titled "The Beginning of the Beginning". The response on the album were not as expected, and the members of the band instead called it "The Dark Ages". After that, they went on a split tour with the bands ircle and SUPER BEAVER, and said that occasional advice from both of the bands was a large help to escape the "dark age" as they called it.

On April 11, 2012, the 2nd mini album "HALO EFFECT" was released. The title song "HALO" has helped increase the number of YouTube views, and the number of live shows started piling in for them as a band.

On November, 2013, they released a split album titled "BONEDS" with the bands MY FIRST STORY, AIR SWELL and SWANKY DANK.

On September 10, 2014, they made a major debut under Ki/oon Music with their EP titled "TIMELESS ROOKIE", this is also when they left their previous record label titled 美音 (Mio).

On October 9, 2016, the band made had their first one-man live show held at the Nippon Budokan. The tickets sold out the same day and had 11.000 people pending for the show. In addition, during this live performance, they directy spoke with the producer of the Japanese television drama "THE LaST COP/ラストコップ", and was then scheduled to perform the theme song for the show. The drama first broadcasted on the October 29, which is when they made their first appearance in a serial TV drama as a unit.

Members: - Shunichi Tanabe (田邊駿一) - vocalist, guitarist and in-charge of lyrics and composition (2004-) - Yuuya Eguchi (江口雄也) - guitarist (2004-) - Yuuta Tsujimura (辻村勇太) - bassist (2006-2008, as a support member) (2008-, as an official member) - Yoshihide Takamura (高村佳秀) - drummer (2004-)

(Source: Wikipedia (BLUE ENCOUNT), edited)