Color

   COLOR was formed in 1985 by Dynamite Tommy in Osaka. In the original line-up, Dynamite Tommy actually was the guitarist and there was a keyboardist. During 1986, all of the other original members of COLOR left the band. Afterwards Dynamite Tommy recruited some new members, two of them included Cindy and Tatsuya. Tatsuya only joined COLOR since Dynamite Tommy was impressed with his skills on the guitar. It has been noted that Tatsuya's guitar teacher was You Adachi of Dead End fame. After that, Dynamite Tommy switched from being the band's guitarist to the vocalist. COLOR went through two more line-ups in '86 and one in ' 87. In 1987, they released their first single, "Molt Grain". In 1988, Toshi and Marry joined the band. This ended up being their final and most well known line-up.

   Each member of the band had their own persona, whether or not it was true to how they actually were is another story. Dynamite Tommy's persona was supposed to be the punk, usually dressed in worn out, ill fitting shirts and multi-colored hair. Cindy was casted as the feminist, his costume contained heavy amounts of makeup and glam metal inspired outfits. Tatsuya was the aspiring guitarist, usually sporting popular Japanese rock fashion. Toshi's character was a little bit more unique since it was based off of the Friday the 13th character, Jason. Ironically, Marry was the only member picked by his looks. Marry's role was to play the pretty boy, and before joining Color, Marry couldn't play bass.

   During Janurary 1988, COLOR released their Gekitotsu!! album, which was a huge success and sold as well as X Japan's Vanishing Vision. This is when the rivalry between X Japan and COLOR started. "East" X Japan had more of a metal sound while "West" COLOR had more of a punk sound. This is also where the whole "East Extasty V.S. West Free-Will" debate originated from. The ironic thing about the rivalry is that the members of X Japan did sing the chorus parts on many of the songs off of Gekitotsu!! Early 1989 saw the release of COLOR's Fools! Get Lucky! EP. After the success of that release, COLOR were signed to Crown Records (which later became Nippon Crown). At the end of 1989, Japan got the release of COLOR's first and only major album, Ask The Angels. Ask The Angels was originally written with Englsih lyrics and had a more violent theme. However, Crown Records wanted it to be more mainstream and made the band re-write some of the songs in Japanese and change a few lyrics in most of the songs. Also, Crown Records altered the stage persona of each member of Color to make them seem more normal.

   However, their popularity was short lived compared to their rival. In 1990, COLOR started their promotion tour for the Ask The Angels album. Their major label debut concert would be one of the few major concerts they would ever do. The concert was held in COLOR's "hometown", Osaka. The crowd was wild that night and during one of the songs, the crowd went a little too crazy. The crowd rushed to the stage and during the stampeding, a fan got stomped to death. After that concert, COLOR decided to lay low to avoid the media and ended up losing their record contract with Crown Records. COLOR were inactive for six months. During that time, Dynamite Tommy started Sister's No Future with C.D.N. Ken-chan (ex-Kamaitachi) while Marry started Goatcore with You Adachi (ex-DEAD END). COLOR returned to the scene back as an indes band with the now rare single, The Exhibition. 1992 saw the first COLOR album since Ask The Angels, Cherry's World. That would be their last album featuring their original sound. COLOR also released their self cover album, Remind, that same year which was step closer to the sound of what would appear on GALAXY.

   1994 saw the last tour by COLOR and their last album, GALAXY. GALAXY contained new songs and all of the songs are said to have a more of a techno dance sound. In 1995, their last live with the original line-up, well that was noted anyways, was the "Behind the Mask" concert. Other notable bands that played that concert were Kneuklid Romance and Rouage. After that, COLOR fell off of the face of the planet. A greatest hits album was issued in 1996. And in 1997, the now defunct jrock magazine, J-ROCK, published an article about COLOR being disbanded due to no actual activity since 1995.

   Sometime during the 2001-2002 period, Marry joined G. D. Flickers. On June 14, 2002, Marry died in a motor vehicle accident. That July and August, Dynamite Tommy reissued Gekitotsu!! and Fools! Get Lucky! as apart of the Free-Will Summit line. The reissued versions came with bonus tracks that were originally only found on their singles. A year after Marry died, the remaining members of COLOR held the first of many farewell concerts for him. Playing Marry's part in the original farewell concert was former COLOR roadie and good friend, Den (ex-BY-SEXUAL). At this concert, Dynamite Tommy announced that COLOR were officially disbanding. There has been a Marry Memorial concert every year since 2003. One of the unique bands that perform at the Marry Memorial concerts is Chibi Color, which is Cindy's Color-cover band. Remmy, the bassist before Marry, also plays in Chibi Color. In 2005, there was a tribute album for COLOR released.

Members

Tomika "Dynamite Tommy" Hiroshi [09/14/1966] (Vocals) - Original Member
Niimi Tatsuya [05/17/1969] (Guitar) - Joined in 1986
Cindy [08/26/1964] (Guitar) - Joined in 1986
Toshi [11/30/1963] (Drums) - Joined in 1988

Iku (Vocals) - Left in 1985
Bell (Bass) - Left in 1985
Hide (Drums) - Left in 1985
Ikuo (Bass) - Left in 1986
Hideki (Drums) - Left in 1986
Takahashi (Drums) - Left in 1988
Remmy (Bass) - Left in 1988
Nakano "Marry" Naotaka [05/03/1968] (Bass) - Deceased [06/14/2002]