Ellegarden

A Japanese group that formed in December of 1998 in Chiba, Japan. It includes drummer Hirotaka Takahashi, vocalist Takeshi Hosomi, guitarist Shinichi Ubakata, and bassist Yuichi Takada. Their names are usually abbreviated and is called "Elle". Ellegarden has a sound strikingly similar to some American pop punk bands, and sings in both Japanese and English. Their English lyrics (mostly written by Hosomi) are usually grammatically correct and generally perfectly pronounced. In the Summer 2006 issu... (more)

A Japanese group that formed in December of 1998 in Chiba, Japan. It includes drummer Hirotaka Takahashi, vocalist Takeshi Hosomi, guitarist Shinichi Ubakata, and bassist Yuichi Takada. Their names are usually abbreviated and is called "Elle". Ellegarden has a sound strikingly similar to some American pop punk bands, and sings in both Japanese and English. Their English lyrics (mostly written by Hosomi) are usually grammatically correct and generally perfectly pronounced. In the Summer 2006 issue of American J-rock magazine purple Sky (p.24), Takeshi was quoted as saying his English skills were improved by the time he spent working as a computer engineer in first Oakland, California and later in Japan where he had English speaking co-workers.

Ellegarden has been compared to famous artists of a similar pop-punk style, most notably Sum 41 (Ellegarden was the band's opening act on February 2005 during the Sum 41 Japan Tour 2005), Blink 182 and Good Charlotte. Their popularity comes from the sounds that they bring which has an emotional punch to it. One criticism of their music is that a few of their English songs contain grammar that is a bit awkward and sometimes unintelligible to English speakers. This, however, is not considered too significant or bothersome by some fans.

In 2006 Ellegarden performed in numerous Japanese Summer Music Festivals, such as Fuji Rock, Summer Sonic, Nano Mugen Fes and Rising Sun Rock Festival.

Their final tour of 2006 features the American band Allister - the bands became friends during SXSW 2006. They also supported Foo Fighters in their concert at Osaka Castle Hall, with the band expressing their surprise at being personally requested by Foo Fighters for the supporting role, indicating the high regard that they are held in by Western bands.