Now let me introduce to you ORANGE RANGE. Before anything else, I would first like to say that my knowledge of the band are based from what I've learn from their official sites (orangerange.com, orangerange.net), other OR fansites (mostly in japanese) and fanlistings, other OR fans (through online forums), personal observations and whatever informations I could extract from DVDs and magazines with the help my basic understanding of the Japanese language.
Introduction | Members | other infos
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ORANGE RANGE is a japanese music band consisting
of 5 (used to be 6) members. They are a group of talented
21-23 yrs old individuals from Okinawa, Japan. Their music style
is a variety and mixture of different music genre--rock, ballad,
techno, pop, reggae, etc. that are then incorporated with
rap lines :D I really don't know the exact details of their hometown, only that OR's
place in Okinawa is quite near from a US military base which
means pubs and lives and music and more music of many genres
(mostly american)... err~ my point is, this is how OR got their music
influences. They debuted on June 4, 2003 with their single
"Kirikirimai" (a 2005 remix of the song was included as a soundtrack for the Fantastic Four movie!) and the rest is history. Their other
hits included songs used for commercials, tv dramas, movies
and even anime themes.
Personally, I think the reason why ORANGE RANGE is so loved
is because of their wide range of music that cover almost
all genres... That and the fact that they're such a fun group--
both in their music and personality ^o^
All of their Lyrics and Music are by ORANGE RANGE unless credited
otherwise. From what I understand, though their songs are created through group effort, most of the Lyrics are by Hiroki and music by Naoto.
(read more about ORABE RANGE here, read the first post by blue_cat ^^)
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Members:
ORANGE RANGE actually consists of close childhood friends-- schoolmates/ classmates in highschool, a pair of siblings are siblings :D ...ehem~ now, let me introduce: Hiroki, Naoto, Ryo, Yamato, Yoh and former
drummer Katchan.
HIROKI (Hokama Hiroki) (Mid Vocal)
June 29, 1983 | blood type A | zodiac Cancer | 169.5cm | 55kg
ayano's comment: okay, try to think of an Orange
Range song and try to sing the chorus... the tone and pitch
that you may be singing now would be more or less Hiroki's
part ^^ Hiroki's part is usually the "normal" melody
in chorus and he usually sings the first stanza ^^ ...He looks
like a fun guy , he's usually the band's main speaker during
interviews and you would mostly likely see him doing a traditional
Okinawan dance (eisa) in their PVs and live performances than
any of the other OR members ^o^ . For sure, Hiroki is a funny story-teller and a really funny guy
who's not afraid to pull-off silly antics ^^
(read
more about Hiroki here...)
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NAOTO (Hiroyama Naoto) (Guitar,
Programming, other instruments)
May 8, 1983 | blood type A | zodiac Taurus | 175cm | 58kg
ayano's comment: And now we have the band leader,
Naoto. Normally, you would see him playing the guitar or shamisen
or assisting in vocals but what we don't normally see behind
that expressionless face of his is that he also does a bunch
of other things for the band's songs such as programming,
Vocoder, Synthesizer, etc. Not to mention that he also composes
those instrumental tracks like Anbienta, Padimonmahe and even Yuugu
Red. Naoto has a twin older brothers who are also known as the duo "RYUKYU DISKO" (some of their works are remixes of OR's songs). Also don't get fooled by the restrained smile we
usually see in PVs and photo shoots, Naoto just might be the
nuttiest member of OR (alongside Hiroki and Yamato) but in a quiet kind of way...
:D
(read
more about Naoto here...)
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RYO (Miyamori Ryo) (Low Vocal)
October 1, 1985 | blood type O | zodiac Libra | 170cm | 60kg
ayano's comment: who wouldn't love Ryo? He has a
very sexy voice *coughandbodycough* and I personally love
singing along with his lines. He's usually the one singing
those low pitched melody and breathtaking long rap lines.
Specially in OR's slow songs, Ryo has this ability to touch you with his singing, he may be saying his lines in rap but he delivers it strongly with so much emotions. During live performances, he usually does those short speeches
and introductions before a song. Don't let the moustache and
goatie fool you, he's actually the youngest member of the
band. Ryo is Yoh's younger bro.
(read
more about Ryo here...)
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YAMATO (Ganeko Yamato) (High Vocal)
January 14, 1984 | blood type A | zodiac Capricorn | 170cm
| 56kg
ayano's comment: First of all, let me admit that Yamato is my most fave member of the band ^^. Anyway, Yamato is
the high vox, he's the one singing those high pitched second,
or should I say- third voice, in the chorus. In solo part,
Yamato doesn't usually sing the fast raps but rather he mostly
sings those unique-sounding bridges in the songs. In recorded
tracks, you still have to listen carefully at first to hear
Yamato's voice in the chorus but during live performances,
his voice stands out and he always performs ad-libs which
makes the songs more dynamic. He loves throwing a baseball and also, he is quite fond of
fashion which explains the hats, playful outfits and his ever
changing hairstyle (neatly short, long, afro, pigtails, pony
tails, etc~). But for now, he wants to keeping it long~
(read
more about Yamato here...)
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YOH (Miyamori You) (Bass)
December 11, 1983 | blood type O | zodiac Sagittarius | 177.5cm
| 55kg
ayano's comment: Yoh looks like the quiet type, then
again, almost all band basses are-- yup, he does speak... sometimes ^_~ One thing that really draws me to OR
is the really cool bass~ I just love it! Just listen to "Viva
Rock", "Chest" or "Funk
Tune" to know what I mean... the bass kicks *ss!!
There are particular OR songs that whenever I listen to, I
try to disregard the other sounds and try to single out and
listen to Yoh's bass only :D . Yoh looks really quiet and
simple but you could still notice that he likes to play around
with his visual appearance like changing his hairstyles--
long hair (as in loong), short, curly, long mohawk? corn-rows,
etc. He also wears his sunglasses most of the time and he
manicures his fingernails black ^O^ ...and before I forget,
he's Ryo's older brother :D
(read
more about Yoh here...)
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KATCHAN (Kitao Kazuhiko) (ex-Drummer)
June 19, 1983 | blood type A | zodiac Gemini | 173cm | 50kg
ayano's comment: Katchan used to be the drummer but he left the band during the 2nd half of 2005. I believe no one will
disagree with me when I say that Katchan was OR's "Mr.
Smiley"-- Everytime you see him performing with the group,
he either have this HUGE smile on his face or singing along
with the vocals, or doing both.
Anyway, a lot of people were asking me why Katchan left? Honestly,
I'm really quite unsure of the *real* reason, Wikipedia states "due to tendonitis on his left little finger.........
though his illness was apparently not the direct cause of
his decision to leave" and there're other rumors
as well but I don't have enough sources to back those up.
Anyway, Katchan posted a note at orangerange.com when he left. It was written in japanese, so I really don't
understand what it says (Watashi wa nihongo ga sukoshi
wakarimasen kara >_< ) but if you understand nihongo,
here's a copy
of the note and read for yourself what Katchan has to
say. The other members of ORANGE RANGE also left a note with their thoughts on the issue, so I leave the judging to
you ^^ Though I'm pretty sure that they parted in good terms
^o^ (OR even included a "TO KATCHAN" note
on the credits of Natural album)
There's still no news of who'll replace Katchan as permanent
drummer and honestly, I don't think that OR is even
planning on recruiting a replacement. As of now, MASAHIRO SAKURAI (support musician) is the one in-charge of the band's drums :D
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Other Informations:
***Awards Received***
-Best Album of the Year "Natural" (MTV VMA 2006)
-Best Video of the Year "Hana" (MTV
VMA 2005)
-Best Album of the Year "MusiQ" (MTV VMA 2005)
-Best Buzz Asia from Japan "Locolotion" (MTV VMA
2005)
-New Artist of the Year (18th annual Japan Gold Disc Award)
***Chart Ratings***
In Oricon Style's annual
tally on Music Rankings 2005:
»2005 Singles Chart: no.4 *~Asterisk
| no.8 Love Parade | no.11 Onegai! Señorita | no.12
KIZUNA | no.21 Hana
»2005 Album Chart: no.1 musiQ | no.11
Natural
»2005 Artist Total Sales Ranking: no.1 ORANGE
RANGE
***Other facts***
- They have already performed twice at NHK's Kouhaku Utagassen on 2004 and 2006.
So there~ I hope you learned something more
about Orange Range. If you don't mind my reading more blabbers about Orange
Range, read more of my thoughts in the Orange
Thoughts section^^)
If you could actually read and understand
Nihongo, then I strongly suggest that you drop by orangerange.net for more decent infos, also be sure to check out the Links and browse for more Orange Range stuffs :D
(sources: orangerange.com, orangerange.net, oricon style, okinawanmusic.org,
ayanosuke's personal observations ^^)
last updated: April 2007
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