History
Early years and debut (2007–2015)
Glim Spanky was formed in Nagano Prefecture by vocalist and guitarist Remi Matsuo during her first year of high school to perform a cover of Bump of Chicken's "Arue" at Matsukawa High School's 2007 cultural festival.[6][7] With the exception of the drummer, each member was a beginner musician.[8] The band's name comes from Matsuo's interest in Celtic culture and fantasy literature; she read a book describing a goblin's "glim" and added "spank" to describe their aggressive drive towards the music industry.[7][9] The bassist and other guitarist quit after the festival, but Matsuo wanted to play another live in a week and recruited an upperclassman to play bass as a three-piece.[6] Eventually, the bassist assumed it was difficult for Matsuo to play all of the guitar by herself and recruited another guitarist into the band without her permission; Hiroki Kamemoto, another upperclassman, worked at the same part-time job as the bassist and joined the band.[6][10] They then began writing their own material and started focusing on the band full time. On days off from school, they would practice from 8:00 in the morning, until 1:00 am at night.[8][10] Glim Spanky won the Rock Banchō held by Sony Music in December 2008 and were finalists at the 2009 teenage artists-only festival Senko Riot held by Sony, Tokyo FM and au.[5]
By 2009, Kamemoto was attending Aichi Gakuin University in Nagoya, but traveled back to Nagano once a week for band activities.[8][11] When their bassist and drummer quit in February 2010, Matsuo decided to enroll in Nihon University's art department and Kamemoto transferred to the closer Dokkyo University so they could continue the band in Tokyo.[11] The duo resumed activities with support musicians in April 2010. Glim Spanky had their first release in December 2013 when Space Shower Music released the mini-album Music Freak nationwide.[12] They went on their Freak on the Hill tour in March 2014. Matsuo stated that their first four years playing live houses in Tokyo as a duo were difficult, but because they were particular about their sound, stage presence, costumes and artwork, she was confident that the music industry would not leave behind a band with such a complete package.[10] They had received offers from various offices, but waited until they found the right one.[7]
In June 2014 the band released their second mini-album and their major label debut, Shōsō, via EMI R (later renamed Virgin Music).[13] It includes covers of "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele and "Hikōkigumo" by Yumi Arai.[14] They supported it with the Hello Freaks Tour, which ended with the group's first one-man live.[15] After Matsuo provided vocals to a cover of Janis Joplin's "Move Over" for a Suzuki commercial, Glim Spanky recorded their own version and released it as a 7-inch vinyl record limited to 300 copies on November 28.[16][17] That year, Matsuo contributed guest vocals to the song "Nightfever" by Analogfish.[18]
Glim Spanky's first single, "Homero yo", was released in February 2015 and was used as the theme song of the TV show Taiko Mochi no Tatsujin ~Tadashii no Home-kata~.[19] The band released a limited vinyl single for their song "Otona ni Nattara" in May 2015, which was used as the theme song of the film Children of Iron.[20][21] In July 2015, they released their next single, "Real Onigokko", written as the theme song for the movie of the same name,[22] and performed at that year's Fuji Rock Festival on the Red Marquee stage.[23] Their first full-length album Sunrise Journey was produced by Junji Ishiwatari and Seiji Kameda, and released in July 2015.[7] It also includes "Wonder Alone", the ending theme of the Himitsu Kessha Taka no Tsume DO anime, for which Matsuo and Kamemoto voiced characters based on themselves.[24] Glim Spanky performed a one-man concert at Akasaka Blitz in October,[25] and they were one of the recipients of that year's Miura Jun Award and nominated for Next Break Artist at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards Japan.[26][27]
Bizarre Carnival and Looking for the Magic (2016–2019)
After their third mini-album Wild Side wo Ike in January 2016,[28] Glim Spanky contributed a cover of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" for Hello Goodbye, a tribute album to The Beatles.[29] Their second album Next One followed on July 20 and its tour began in September.[30] "Ikari o Kure yo" was used as the theme song for One Piece Film: Gold,[31] "Hanashi o Shiyō" is the second ending theme of Kyōkai no Rinne,[32] while "Yami ni me o Koraseba" is the theme song of the film Shōjo.[29] I Stand Alone, their fourth mini-album, was released on April 12, 2017.[33] Their third album Bizarre Carnival was released on September 13, 2017, and the band embarked on its tour in October. They played their first overseas concert in Shanghai on December 16 and another in Taiwan on January 20, 2018.[34][35] Bizarre Carnival was nominated for the 2018 CD Shop Awards.[36]
The duo's third single, "Orokamono-tachi", was released on January 31 and is the theme song of the Funōhan live-action film adaptation.[37] It includes a cover of Carole King's "I Feel the Earth Move".[38] They also wrote the song "The Flowers" for the Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings film 2018 Hanabanasai Wild Flowers ~Hana o Aisuru Hitobito.[39] In a collaboration for the project, the band performed a concert on top of a building in Shinjuku on February 25 which was broadcast live.[40] "The Flowers" is included as a b-side on their fourth single "All of Us", released on May 9.[41] If ordered on certain websites, the single includes their cover of The Brilliant Green's "There Will Be Love There (Ai no Aru Basho)" from the February 17, 2018 episode of the BS-TBS TV show Sound Inn "S".[42] Glim Spanky performed at the Nippon Budokan for the first time on May 12.[43] They also performed at Makuhari Messe on June 23 as part of Luna Sea's Lunatic Fest. 2018, where they were joined onstage by Sugizo for "Orokamono-tachi", and on June 30 as part of SiM's Dead Pop Festival 2018.[44][45] The band returned to Fuji Rock Festival on July 27, this time playing the main stage, and played the Rock in Japan Festival on August 12.[46][47]
Glim Spanky were nominated for Best Japan Act at the 2018 MTV Europe Music Awards.[48] They released their fourth album Looking for the Magic on November 21 and began its tour in March 2019, which continued into June and included shows in Taiwan and Hong Kong.[49][50] The song "TV Show" was recorded in Los Angeles and features Jack White support members Jack Lawrence and Carla Azar on bass and drums respectively.[51] Glim Spanky collaborated with Sugizo again to cover Daisuke Inoue's "Meguriai" as the first ending theme of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin – Advent of the Red Comet.[52] The duo also provided Momoiro Clover Z with the song "Lady May", which they both composed the music for, while Matsuo wrote the lyrics and Kamemoto arranged it and contributed guitar.[53] Glim Spanky returned yet again to Fuji Rock Festival where they performed twice; once on July 26 as part of Route 17 Rock'n'Roll Orchestra, a session band also including Yūzō Kayama, Reichi Nakaido, Liam Ó Maonlaí and Shō Okamoto (Okamoto's), and then an acoustic set on 27.[54] They also performed at Rock in Japan Festival on August 11 and the Rising Sun Rock Festival on August 17.[55][56]
Walking on Fire (2019–present)
Glim Spanky contributed the track "Circle of Time" to October 2019's New Gene, Inspired from Phoenix, a compilation album featuring songs inspired by Osamu Tezuka's manga series Phoenix.[57] The band's fifth single "Story no Saki ni", which was written to be the theme song of the TV show Re:Follower, was released on November 20, 2019.[58] Its music video features the deepfake technique, using the faces of six other women, to express multiple personality disorder on its lead actress.[59] Glim Spanky wrote the song "From the Seeds" for Mone Kamishiraishi to sing as the opening theme for the March 2020 second season of the 7 Seeds anime. Both members composed the music, Matsuo wrote the lyrics and participated in the chorus, and Kamemoto arranged the song and provided guitar.[60][61] On June 24, 2020, the band released the song "Konna Yofuke wa" digitally after writing and recording it remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.[62] In October, they released their fifth album Walking on Fire and were recipients of the Shinmai Senshō award as natives of Nagano Prefecture who made important contributions to society.[63] Glim Spanky live streamed a concert on November 14.[64] The duo collaborated with Tomoyasu Hotei for the song "Savage Sun" on his November 2020 album Soul to Soul,[65] and wrote "Mikansei na Drama" for DISH; both members composed the music, while Matsuo wrote the lyrics, and Kamemoto arranged the song and provided guitar.[66] Kamemoto also provided guitar to the theme songs of the 2020 anime film Earwig and the Witch.[67] For the film's 2022 album Āya to Majo Songbook 13 Lime Avenue, which is credited to the fictional band "Earwig", Kamemoto played on every track and Glim Spanky contributed the songs "The House in Lime Avenue" and "A Black Cat".[68]
Glim Spanky's song "Kaze wa Yonde Iru" was selected to be the official theme of Asahi Broadcasting Nagano's 30th anniversary,[69] and was later released digitally in June 2021 with their own version of "Mikansei na Drama". They worked with Kamishiraishi again on covers of "Aozora" by The Blue Hearts and "Ikareta Baby" by Fishmans for her June album Ano Uta −2-.[70] The duo covered "Slow na Boogie ni Shite Kure (I Want You)" for July's Takashi Matsumoto tribute album Take Me to Kazemachi!.[71] In September 2021, they digitally released a cover of UA's 1996 song "Jounetsu".[72] Glim Spanky wrote the song "Kagami yo Kagami" for virtual singer KAF, while Matsuo wrote and produced the song "Candy Moon" for Maki Nomiya.[73][74] The band's sixth studio album, Into the Time Hole, was released on August 3, 2022. It was supported by an 11-date nationwide tour from November 2 to December 21.[75] Glim Spanky's "Fukō Are" (lyrics co-written by Junji Ishiwatari) is the theme song of the Sawako ~ Soreha, Hatenaki Fukushū TV drama, while their song "Last Scene" is the theme of the Paravi show Koi no Last Vacation.[76][77] Both songs are included on the band's seventh studio album, The Goldmine, which was released on November 15, 2023.[78] The duo also contributed a version of "Manatsu no Yoru no Yume" to Yumi Matsutoya's 2023 album Yuming Kanpai!!, which features new versions of the singer's songs created by artists, chosen by Matsutoya herself, adding their own performances to her original recordings.[79]
