Monkey Majik

Monkey Majik is a Japanese band composed of two Canadian brothers, Maynard and Blaise Plant, who both perform vocals and guitar, drummer Tax and bassist DICK. The band is sometimes referred to as a "hybrid-band", as two members are Canadian and the other two Japanese, and the lyrics are sung in both English and Japanese.
Much of the band's music has been cross-promoted via television programs, commercials, and movies. The band has been chosen as “Goodwill Ambassadors” for the 80th anniversary of Japanese-Canadian relations^[2].
Monkey Majik is managed by Edward Limited and are signed to Binyl Records, an Avex subsidiary. Their live recordings are handled by Under Horse Records (a subsidiary of Edward Limited), where the band was signed on to before their major label debut.
The band, even after mainstream success, is still based in Sendai, located roughly 350 km from Tokyo. This is contrary to the majority of musicians in Japan, who often move to Tokyo after mainstream success.

Band members

Current members

• Maynard Plant (born August 6, 1975 from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada): Vocals and guitar. Monkey Majik Founder. Graduated from Queen's University. Fluent in English, French, and Japanese, also able to speak in the nanbu dialect (なんぶべん). While living in Canada Maynard wrote songs as a hobby, but only performed privately. Moved to Japan to work as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT). Initially formed Monkey Majik in 2000 with Thomas Pritchard, Chad Ivany, and Misao Urushizaka. When Pritchard and Ivany quit the band, Maynard decided to invite his younger brother to join the band. He has high respects for Godiego, the band whose song "Monkey Magic" became the inspiration for the band's name, and even goes so far as to refer to them as "gods". Other Japanese musicians which he mentions in high regard include UA, Oda Kazumaza, and Spitz. Maynard's solo project blanc., which started as far back as 2003, has gained recognition across Asia. blanc.'s collaborations with freeTEMPO and other Japanese underground artists have given him particular recognition in Korea and China. His father is also a professional musician who has played with Paul Anka.
• Blaise Plant (born March 18, 1980 from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada): Vocals and guitar. Maynard's younger brother whose full name is Blaise Joseph Anthony Plant. Fluent in English, French, and Japanese. Plays on a local ice hockey team in Sendai. He was active as a singer songwriter since he was in high school performing at clubs. While in Canada he studied at The University of Lethbridge and was a solo musician, while also pursuing an acting career. Blaise continued the band with Maynard in 2001 where they released their first EP Tired. In 2007 he began his own label, daydream PRODUCTIONS,and started his official blog. On March 3, 2008 he launched his solo project "The Alphabet Project" where every song released hit Number 1 on the Syncl Download chart. Singing in English, Japanese, and French, "The Alphabet Project" has built a reputation across Canada, the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Blaise will be releasing his first full album "Painting Music" sometime this fall, and is currently working on a film, which he will be directing.
• tax tax (Takuya Kikuchi, 菊池拓哉) (born August 31, 1975 from Sendai, Miyagi, Japan): drums. tax partakes in the majority of songwriting. He had worked as a dental technician for five years, after which he switched to becoming a salaryman. He was introduced to Maynard and Blaise through a friend. Before becoming Monkey Majik's full-time drummer his drumming experience only consisted of two years spent drumming during junior high school.
• DICK (born March 10, 1978 from Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan): bass. Has previously been part of a funk soul band called Soul Addiction under the name Hideki Dick Mori. Also was a member of a jazz band called Private Kitchen. The 3 members invited DICK, who had become a well-known bassist in Sendai, out to a bar in Kokubun Cho "The Party District of Sendai" and forced him to drink until he agreed to join Monkey Majik. Joined the band to switch in with Urushizaka with the release of the band's second indie album "eastview".

Past members

• Misao Urushikaka (漆坂ミサオ), bassist: Left the band with the release of the second independent label album, "eastview". Songs which credit Urushikaka with songwriting have been released even after his departure.
• Jan Kuypers, drummer: A British exchange student at Prof. Masayoshi Esashi's lab who was part of the original band in 2001 and recorded the first album "Tired" sold by Tower Records. He is now a leading researcher in MEMS/nanotechnology and working at a small start-up company (Sand9) in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• Tom Prichard, drummer: An Englishman responsible for the naming the band Monkey Majik. Still known to visit Japan on occasion and meets with the members when doing so.

History

Maynard Plant moved to Japan in 1997^[3] to teach English after graduating from Queen's University where he was president of the Alma Mater Society. He was able to learn Japanese while working as an Assistant Language Teacher. Blaise moved to Japan in 2001 to continue the band, after studying Drama at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta and spending some time as a solo-artist. His Japanese came quickly as a result of memorizing Japanese songs. The band started off as a hobby but quickly turned serious when in 2001 they released their first EP called TIRED, a self-financed release limited to 1,000 copies available at Tower Records in Sendai. The EP attained the number one sales position for the store for six straight weeks. In 2002, they signed with the record label UNDER HORSE RECORDS. In 2003 the band released the first full-length album "SPADE", once again only available at Tower Records in Sendai. The album retained the number one in-store sales position for 13 consecutive weeks. "SPADE" was released nation-wide in 2004. The band's second full-length album, "eastview", was released in 2005. In the fall of the same year the band signed on to major label avex.
Their first major release single through avex was "fly" in 2006. The single was commercially successful, reaching #19 on the Oricon charts. "Fly" was quickly followed by the release of their second single, "Around the World", which was used as the drama Seiyuuki's theme song. "Around the World" became their break out single, reaching #4 on Oricon charts and charting for 13 weeks. "Around the World" sold 164,299 copies in 2006, becoming the 62nd most selling single of the year in Japan.
In 2007 Monkey Majik released their fourth full-length album "Sora wa maru de", where the titled song "Sora wa maru de" became the first song in Japanese History to reach #1 on USEN Request Chart before being released. Since "Tired" the band has sold out every venue across Japan, and is often seen signing autographs after the shows.
Their most recent album "TIME" opened its first week at #2 on the Oricon Chart.
In 2010, their songs "Fast Forward" and "Sunshine" were used as the first and second (respectively) opening themes for the anime Nurarihyon no Mago.

Band name

The band was named by a former band member Tom Pritchard, an English drummer, who was a part of Monkey Majik before their debut. The name is a tribute to the song "Monkey Magic" performed by Godiego, which was the theme song to Saiyūki, which was dubbed into English for broadcast in Great Britain as Monkey. The former drummer had watched the series as a child growing up in Britain and was a fan of the show and its theme song.