Q&A

31/01/2010: 'We are...' was sadly not featured on BACK-ON's new single, and has not been released anywhere to the best of my knowledge, so the only way to listen to it is to watch the IAMS Japan documentary video at present it seems. Fingers crossed it will make it onto one of their albums.

Interesting idea, D~Vine. Maybe someone could re-write some of their Japanese lyrics in to English and do a cover if BACK-ON doesn't.

There are a number of reputable online internet retailers that stock the most recent BACK-ON releases (and occasionally the earlier ones). We have personally used Play-asia.com, Yesasia.com and HMV.co.jp without any problems. Depending on how much you're spending and how long you're willing to wait for the delivery, one of these sites will give you the best value for money.

As at the end of June 2009, we've just heard BACK-ON's new song called 'We are...' as the background theme for an IAMS TV documentary on animal centres/shelters, so I guess this means that although it has been a long break since 'flyaway', BACK-ON have been working on new songs (or a new song)

This is a great question, Edward. Truth be told, if you had asked this question several years ago, I would have said 'Yes, I think they do.' and pointed to the band name at the bottom left-hand corner of 'Baby Rock'. But now I'm not so sure anymore...; although, on a side note, Teeda did design their mascot for the Adachi Tribe album. Update 28/10/09: I think it's safe to say that BACK-ON's new logo is what is featured on their T-shirts and the background of their official blog.

Great find, Kia! I think this is probably a new version of one of the songs that TEEDA worked on as part of the LOUD 69 PUNX group. The original song is called 'TWISTER' and was in the album [HOUSE OF PUNK featuring 69 REMIX] and you can listen to a sample of the original song on their Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/ld69px The full title is: TWISTER feat. TEEDA, SHINJI a.k.a. S-48, ANIMAL-K

Imho, the possibilities are endless. It seems BACK-ON are really gaining more momentum/hitting the mainstream in Japan. One of their songs was used in a DyDo coffee ad, which I understand to be a very popular brand in Japan for instance. Perhaps this is one step to building enough 'local' support for international tours abroad?

As far as we're aware, BACK-ON and GReeeeN are still both singing as BAReeeeeeeeenN in the LA mix version of Ashiato and Color. Unfortunately my copy of the album has been too safely hidden away by me, so I can't actually find the cover jacket to check the credits, but I vaguely remember spotting 'BAReeeeeeeeeeN' or something when I last looked on that last page.

UPDATE 03 JAN 2009: The Limited Pressing/Jacket B edition of the CD has been confirmed to be a limited edition of the single 'flyaway' and will feature a special jacket cover similar to the design of the game CD 'Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2'. Aside from extra downloads for gamers, the single will also feature a remix version of the title track, flyaway, and will be called 'flyaway (Tales of) Remix'. The official website states that this remix is special as it will include contributions from the voice cast of characters from the game, and mix in background music (BGM) from battle scenes as well. The standard 'flyaway' cover will feature a group photo of BACK-ON in what seems to be an urban environment against a backdrop of the rising sun. p/s: where is the future? - the second track on the CD is the ending ED for Radiant Mythology 2.

As far as we know, BACK-ON are creating the new theme song for the game sequel 'Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2' which is due out on January 29th 2009, so chances are we might find out about it this year! Of course, they also collaborated with GReeeeN recently to form BAReeeeeeeeeeN and released 'Ashiato'.

I did a search around, and sadly, it seems that none of the main online stores (including Amazon.jp and Hmv.co.jp) stock this album anymore. It might still be possible to find some less well-known sites that still have the album in stock though.

This is a fantastic question! :) I have to admit I don't know the answer to this yet but I'll definitely try and find out!

I would definitely like to! However, unfortunately I don't understand Japanese well enough yet to be able to interpret it from the song (and am still awaiting the CD) so please check back with us again!

Apparently they're going to be on a late night TV programme called '音流' or 'On Ryu' sometime today. However, I can't seem to find many references to the actual programme itself, although apparently TVXQ have also been one of the guests at some point.

The song 'Tanuema' is by G.F.S and hopefully we will be able to put it up very soon!

This is a really good question! According to a good source (gangangan03) one of the first songs ever made by Back-on was 'Dreamer'.

As far as we know, there isn't an 'official' music video for ZERO. There was, however, a music video for 'flower' from that same single. Even Butterfly didn't seem to get one (just a promotional commercial or CM - this has been confirmed on the official message board on BACK-ON.com)

It would be great if they could! We're keeping our fingers crossed at the moment. So far Back-on have not announced any news about their international performances this year.

We don't know about Back-on's forthcoming plans yet, but hopefully as their name and music becomes even more well known, they will be invited to visit/tour different countries around the world!

Hopefully! If, one day, BACK-ON could hit the mainstream in America, we would be absolutely ecstatic! At the moment you can buy their CDs from online stores that are in America. However, those stores tend to charge alot more for the imported CDs compared to online retailers such as CDJapan, Play-asia and Yesasia. There is a rumour that soon, in the future, we might hear about BACK-ON's international plans!

The actress is 早瀬英里奈 (Hayase Erina) and we've written more about her here.

A source (see comment by MoogleSniperz) has said that the 3 most recent Back-on albums are already available on iTunes, so hopefully this means that flower and Butterfly will soon make their way to the American iTunes as well!

We're not sure about this one! Maybe we'll find out during the next major interview with them! :)

Back-on is collectively credited for the music, but Teeda and Kenji03 are always credited for the lyrics.

Hmm... not sure about this one. I think there are a few people on the Forums who are probably better placed to answer this, but for the sake of the band's privacy, would probably not disclose it. If we find out anything from an interview, we'll try and and let everyone know!

Anime Matsuri was an anime convention held in Houston, Texas, America in April 2007. It is particularly notable as this is the venue where Back-on made their international debut and received a lot of positive reviews.

It turns out the 03 indicates the area code where Back-on originate from (Adachi, Tokyo) but is used as 'san' (the onyomi pronunciation?) so one would pronounce Kenji03's name as 'kenji-san'. More information is available from the Forums. However, Kenji03 now seems to pronounce it as 'three' during interviews, so maybe both work.

Yes. Anime Matsuri staff have said that there will be an autograph session as well as a Q & A panel. The concert time will be updated as we find out a bit more about the schedule.

It might interest you to know that all the current band members were born in 1984, so they are at present all around the ages of 22-23.

Back-on 's next single Sands of Time is due out on May 21st 2008 and will feature 3 songs. The first is the title track 'Sands of Time', which featured as the OP of Keitai Sousakan 7. The other tracks are 'message for kidz' and 'fifty/50'. The single cover is very simple, with a rather exotic hour-glass on a simple black and blue background. You can see the cover in the Discography section.