abingdon boys school is a J-Rock/Pop band whose music has been featured on many Japanese-based video games and animated series.
The band began in 2005 when Takanori Nishikawa, known for his pop music as T.M.Revolution, decided to try his hand at rock music, alongside guitarist Sunao and Hiroshi Shibasaki. They continued to discuss forming a band until an offer came to record a song for manga series Nana. The three presented a demo to producer Toshiyuki Kishi who became the fourth member of the band
The band is named after a school in Oxfordshire, the school most known for the location where the band Radiohead was established. But the band is also named after frontman Takanori Nishikawa's (and this is completely true) love of the automobile's "Anti-lock braking system" and due to the acronym A.B.S sounding similar to the Tokyo district "Ebisu".
Discography:
- Abingdon Boys School (2007)
- Abingdon Road (2010)
Notable Themes performed:
- Their very first single, "Stay Away" was used in the tribute album for the Nana manga.
- D.Gray-Man's Opening, "Innocent Sorrow"
- "Fre@k $HoW" was the b-side of the single, and used in a tribute compilation CD for Death Note: The Last Name.
- The first opening from Darker than Black; "Howling", and the second season ending "From Dusk Til Dawn".
- "Nephilim" for the PlayStation 3 game Folklore.
- "Blade Chord","Jap" & "WE aRE" for the Sengoku Basara series.
- The b-side of "Jap"; "Valkyrie-Lioleia Mix" was featured in the video game Monster Hunter tribute album.
- "Strength" for Soul Eater.
- "Kimi no Uta" for Tokyo Magnitude 8.0.
abingdon boys school provides examples of:
- all lowercase letters: How the band likes to write their name.
- Anime Theme Song: several, see above.
- Audience Participation Song: When they perform live, Takanori will often hold up the mic and let the crowd sing part of or even all of the chorus of a song.
- Cover Version: Covered the BUCK-TICK song "Dress" on their first album.
- Which led to this absolutely awesome duet
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- Which led to this absolutely awesome duet
- Triple Meaning Title: see above.
- I Am the Band: Abingdon is Takanori Nishikawa's band, without him it just wouldn't work...
- Let's Duet:
- They have performed a duet of their song "蒼焔 -SOUEN-" with UVERworld at the 2010 Inazuma Rock Festival.
- The performance of "Dress" with BUCK-TICK's frontman, Asushi Sakurai.
- "Lost Reason" featuring Home Made Kazoku's Micro from ABS Japan Tour 2008.
- Man in a Kilt: Often wear them during performances.
- Metal Scream: Takanori can do Type 3 (high-pitched guttural, such as the one in "Howling") and Type 4 (wailing but clean) screams.
- Older Than They Look: You'd hardly think these were a bunch of guys in their forties would you? See the incredibly young-looking, glasses-wearing Takanori Nishikawa pictured above? He's the oldest member of the band.
- Performance Video: "HOWLING", "WE aRE", and "STRENGTH"'s P Vs don't have much else.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: A majority of promotional photos (including the one above) feature them in suits. They've yet to perform them though.
- Technician Versus Performer: The two guitarists, Hiroshi Shibasaki and SUNAO. SUNAO is often the one who gestures to the audience for shouts.
- Translated Cover Version: They covered their song "Jap" in English and re-released it as "Stealth", but Takanori's accent is so thick, we wish you good luck in understanding it.
- Translation Convention: A majority of their songs feature a Switch to English.
- Visual Kei: They do not explicitly refer to themselves as a VK band, but this is Takanori Nishikawa's project, so expect to see the rest of the band
following his image. Also, they are known for playing alongside VK artists and covering some VK songs (see Cover Version, above)
