River and Road Front Cover

River and Road

The Bachelors

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The Bachelors, who have been called Japan's oldest neo-acoustic band and will celebrate their 40th anniversary in 2023, will release their first CD studio album "River and Road" from the independent label "miobell records" run by the music website "popsicleclip.com" in December 2024.

The Bachelors' work is characterised by a sound that later became known as 'neo-acoustic' (Japanese English, abbreviated as neo-aco), a style of music that became a localised movement loved by some enthusiastic music listeners in the mid-1980s and 1990s. It is a style of music with beautiful melodies and lush guitar sounds derived from the British post-punk stream, with glimpses of folk, soul, jazz, bossa nova and other elements. In Japan, Lollipop Sonic (later Flipper's Guitar), who were active at the same time as The Bachelors and played opposite them at events at the time, and Penny Arcade, who are still active today, are well known.

The album features songs from their first mini-album RIVER AND ROAD, which was released exclusively on cassette tape back in 1988 (re-released on cassette by the Blueberry label in 2019), a compilation of songs from the legendary hand-made magazine "Eikoku Ongaku", and songs from the then This seven-song studio album includes six songs that were only released live and unreleased at the time, plus a new song, 'Wait for me', which was produced for this album. All songs are new material recorded in 2024 by the current band members, and this is the band's first nationally distributed CD release.

The original member and songwriter EB [real name: Mitsunori Sasaki] (Vo&G) passed away in 2003, so the new line-up consists of the original members Satoshi Amamiya (Vo&G), Katsumi Kobayashi (Dr) and Mayumi Ikemizu (Key), plus Yoshihisa Oda (B) (ex. Monkey Dance Club/Revue Parle) and ex-Johnny Dee member Hiroshi Tsutsumida (Vo.) have newly joined the band, making a five-piece line-up. Guest musicians include Ishida Masato (G) and Oda Mami (Vo) (ex. Monkey Dance Club/Bracelet), who have also worked with Penny Arcade and Venus Peter.

Artist Profile

  • The Bachelors

    Formed in 1983 by EB [Mitsunori Sasaki] (Vo/G) and Katsumi Kobayashi (Dr). Released a cassette compilation "Katsumi's World vol.1" in May 1985, which included their first song "(Waiting in the) Ferry Boat". Later, Satoshi Amemiya (G) and Hideto Honma (B) joined the band, and in December of the same year they played their first live show at an all-night event in Ueno with their allies Penny Arcade, and released a cassette compilation "Katsumi's World vol.2" on the same day, which included their second song "Bachelor Again". EB and Katsumi Kobayashi originally met in a new wave band called Monkey Dance Club (MDC for short) from 1983, and Penny Arcade and later Venus Peter's Masato Ishida also joined MDC. Mayumi Ikemizu (Key), who had come to see the event, joined The Bachelors in 1987. Honma then left, but Shunsuke Kida (B) joined in February 1988. The band then released their first mini-album "RIVER AND ROAD" with six songs on cassette in May 1988. At the time, it was the dawn of neo-acoustic music in Japan, and the album was included on a sonosheet accompanying the legendary mini-comic magazine "EIKOKU ONGAKU", along with Lollipop Sonic and Penny Arcade, and appeared at a record launch live performance at Harajuku Crocodile. The following year, 1989, they also played at Kyoto's Anorak Party with Lollipop Sonic, Philips and Osaka neo-acoustic band Debonaire. The Bachelors then went on hiatus when guitarist Amemiya declared a hiatus. EB passed away in 2003. Activities resumed in 2019 with the re-release of RIVER AND ROAD ('88-'19) on cassette with six additional bonus tracks on the blue-very label. In addition to the original members Satoshi Amemiya (G), Katsumi Kobayashi (Dr) and Mayumi Ikemizu (Key), Yoshihisa Oda (B) from Revue parlée and ex-Johnny Dee Hiroshi Tsutsumida (Vo) joined the band to form a new five-man line-up. In addition, Masato Ishida (G) (Penny Arcade/Venus Peter) and Mami Oda (Vo) (Breathlet) joined as guest musicians in October 2023 for the music news website "Popsicle Clip." The band performed live for the first time in 34 years at the POPS Parade event, which was organised under the auspices of the POPS Parade. This led to the re-recording of all songs with the current members this year, and the release of the long-awaited seven-track studio album 'River and Road' (CD) with new songs on the 'Popsicle Clip.'s music label, Miobell Records, is scheduled for release in December as a nationally distributed disc.

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