AN CAFE BIOGRAPHY FOUND ON JAME WORLD

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* Vocal : Miku
* Bass : kanon
* Drums : Teruki
* Guitar : takuya
* Keyboard : Yu-ki

* Guitar : Bou [gone : 2007]

PROFILE
An Cafe embodies the oshare kei style perfectly with their colorful, cute image and merry sounding music. The band's large following doesn't end in Japan, but extends all over the world; they have performed in Europe and the USA.

The band stands out, not only because of their music, which consists of catchy, upbeat rock songs, but also because of their unique characteristics. The band is known for their made-up words such as "nyappy" (meaning _"happy"), cheerful nature and cute appearance.

Author : Kay (2008-08-13)
BIOGRAPHY
An Cafe was formed in May 2003 by vocalist Miku, guitarist Bou and bassist kanon. Miku's former band, Revirii, had disbanded two months earlier in April, and, even though the band did not have a drummer at this point, they started to perform at several events. By performing at these events next to other largely unknown indie bands, An Cafe managed to gain a little publicity. The band released two demo-tapes, Opu-ngu and Uzumaki senshokutai/Hatsukoi, both of which were very limited and only sold at these early live shows.

Teruki was still with his former band, Feathers-blue, around this time, but he left in August and became a full member of An Cafe instead. An Cafe spent the remainder of the year performing at various events. Their cute image and upbeat songs soon garnered a small, but very enthusiastic, fan base.

2003 seemed to be more of a "try-out" year for the young members of An Cafe, but 2004 was really the start of their serious musical career. Through a record deal with Loop Ash --also the label of bands such as Mask and Scissor-- the band released their first maxi-single, Candy Holic, in March. Within a week of its release, the single was ranked as the second biggest seller on the Oricon indie charts. This was quite an amazing feat for a band's debut single!

An Cafe's first one-man performance was in May at Takadanobaba AREA, which was, despite the small size of the live house, an important concert for the band. The concert, titled Happy Birthday Tsuyu, was a sold out event where the band distributed the single Hatsukoi for free.

The subsequent months were quite busy for An Cafe. They toured, released two singles and two more live-only singles. In addition to these releases, the band was featured on no less than six omnibus albums. SHOXX magazine also released a DVD/VHS special featuring the band. In December, An Cafe closed their successful year by taking to the road for a short one-man tour, which ended with performances at Takadanobaba AREA and Yokohama akarenga hall.

February 2005 saw An Cafe release their first mini-album, Amedama rock, which was a compilation of their previously released singles. The mini-album was followed by a maxi-single, Karakuri hitei, a month later.

In the summer of 2005 the band released a trilogy of one-track singles, Tekesuta Kousen, Escapism and Merrymaking. They were released one at a time over a three month period and all the songs were also featured on Shikisai moment, their first full length album, which was released in November 2005.

The new album showed a slightly new side of An Cafe. The songs still had the typical An Cafe sound, but it seemed they had matured a bit as the band experimented with new styles and instruments. The successful album was followed by four new singles and another album in 2006; the popularity of the band was only increasing.

2007 was an important year for the band as several important happenings took place. First of all, the band announced that they would make an appearance at the American anime convention, A-KON, which was an exciting event for their American fans. Unfortunately, only a short time later, another announcement was made; guitarist Bou would leave the band. This news saddened many fans worldwide. Bou's last performance with the band was on April 30th and the blonde guitarist's future plans are currently unknown.

In mid-May 2007, An Cafe announced their new line-up. Instead of simply replacing Bou's position with another guitarist, they added two new members, guitarist Takuya and keyboardist Yu-ki, who both brought their own colors to the band.

An Cafe continued to storm the music scene as a quintet and soon after the line-up change, they also expanded their activities to Europe, performing at the European event J-SHOCK in Germany. After the release of three more singles, the band returned to Europe in March 2008, this time with a full tour, taking them to six European countries.

In April, their third album was released and during the summer they held their ANCAFESTA'08 - SUMMER DIVE live to celebrate their fifth anniversary.

An Cafe has already charmed many people all over the world with their catchy music and cute appearance, and they show no signs of slowing down, so we can be sure they'll manage to keep fans entertained for many years to come!