Biography
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Members
- Anis Shimada
- 森泉アリ
In 1999, Anis/Aniss (Vocal, Guitar, songs, arrangements) and Ali (Bass, Guitar, songs, arrangements) met at MTV Japan and ended up forming MONORAL. They debuted with “In Stereo” in 2001 and performed at the FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL two days after the release.
Their second mini album “Ammonite” (2003) debuted at #3 on the national indie chart and remained in the top 30 for six months. After their first successful nationwide tour, they started to attract the attention of major artists in the Japanese music industry, such as Fumiya Fujii, M-Flo, Sons Of All Pussys , L’Arc~en~ciel, Mondo Grosso, Love Psychedelico, and Anna Tsuchiya. After releasing their first album “Petrol”, they survived an intense label battle with minimum damage and decided to sign with HYDE’s label within Sony. Their major debut single “Visions in my head” was used for Canon IXY’s TV commercial starring Hidetoshi Nakata, and they appeared at all of the major rock festivals in Japan. MONORAL achieved worldwide success with the song “kiri” which became the opening theme (the ending theme was provided by Radiohead) for the animation “Ergo Proxy”. By the time they released their second album, “Turbulence”, they were selling out most of their tours in Japan. While recording new material, MONORAL began receiving offers to play abroad. Releasing their long-awaited third album, “Via” on October 29, 2008, they launched their “MONORAL VIA LATIN AMERICA TOUR 2008” tour, journeying through Mexico, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina, and their nationwide“MONORAL VIA JAPAN TOUR 2009” sold out .
In April, MONORAL kicked off their European tour, “MONORAL VIA SPAIN TOUR 2009” and ”MONORAL VIA FRANCE TOUR 2009” in six cities throughout Spain and France. They concluded their 15 month endeavor in the city of Shanghai. Inspired by this overwhelming experience on the road, MONORAL penned “70 HOURS” and embarked on ELECTION TOUR 2009. In 2010 MONORAL released their latest single, ”Origin”, and went on a tour called “This Tour Has Not Begun”.
MONORAL’s two mini albums and three full-length albums are currently on sale.
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