Do As Infinity

1999

A photo taken during the 100th free live concert.

Eventually, auditions were held, and he chose Tomiko Van as lead singer, and Ryo Owatari as guitarist. On September 29, 1999, the trio released their first single Tangerine Dream, and held a live concert at the Shibuyahttp://music.3yen.com/2005-03-02/do-as-infinity. They performed almost daily at a number of locations, ranging from Shibuya's 109 (which is famous for street performers), to Yokohama Station and travelled to Fukuoka and other cities^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}.

The remainder of 1999 was spent performing both on the street and at in-store concerts at CD stores across the country. They also took part in choice events nationwide, including a festival in Tomiko Van's native Kumamoto prefecture. Their legendary streak of street concerts ended at one hundred, with a free concert for their fans, held at Shibuya Kokaido. Photos of some of their street performances were compiled into a PV for the song Field of Dreams which can be seen on the PV Collection 8 as well as in the background of the LIVE IN JAPAN during a performance of the song.

Heart

A screenshot from Heart.

Do As Infinity released their second single, Heart, in December^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}. They continued to do public appearances all the way up to the year-end Avex Millennium Count Down 1999-2000 held on New Year's Eve in Roppongi's Velfarre club^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}.

The band continued to appear on radio shows and at CD store events. Their third single, Oasis, was released at the end of January. It was their first Top 30 hit and it was chosen as the official TV commercial song for Kanebo Cosmetics' Testimo line of products^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}. This was the first time their song was chosen to become a theme song for advertising.

Love 2000

BREAK OF DAWN

Moving onto bigscreen

Tomiko Van riding a Harley-Davidson.

On the following month they would release their first promotional video collection on DVD, simply entitled 9, and would go on tour throughout the month of May. After release of New World, Tomiko Van was contracted to advertise for Japanese haircare company LAVENUS. Van took part in all 6 commercials, including one which she rode a Harley-Davidson motorbike^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}. Van can also be seen riding the Harley-Davidson in the TAO promotional video^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}. The b-side of Tooku Made, "Signal" was used as the theme song for the first commercial^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}. 6 commercials were made in total, the other three songs included "Tsubasa no Keikaku", "Boukensha-tachi", and "Nice & Easy". "Boukensha-tachi" was used three times^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}.

Their ninth single was released at the end of May, Week!^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}. The following month would see the release of Fukai Mori (Deep Forest), which was chosen as the second ending theme song for the hit anime series InuYasha^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}. The song was a huge hit, and would soon become the band's signature song. The remainder of the year was spent in preparation for yet another live concert tour, which would begin in November, not long after the release of their eleventh single, Boukenshatachi, and their third album, Deep Forest, which debuted at number one on the charts^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}.

Asia tour

Tomiko Van and Ryo Owatari accepting Gold Disc award.

January 2002 started with Van appearing on the Avex charity album VARIOUS ARTISTS FEATURING songnation, and the release of the band's twelfth hit single, Hi no Ataru Sakamichi, the following month. Then the band went global. After releasing a best album, Do the Best in March, the band traveled to Taiwan and Hong Kong in April for a special campaign. Their following overseas was almost as huge as in their own country, drawing 500 fans ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}to their in-store event held at the HMV CD store in Hong Kong. They were nominated for the 17th Annual Gold Disc award in Japan for the best Rock & Pop album of the year and won ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}. The band took a short break upon returning to Japan, but released their thirteenth single in July, the double A-sided under the sun/under the moon^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}. In August the band participated in avex's a-nation tour, performing in eight venues all over Japan^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}.

True Song

A screenshot from Shinjitsu No Uta.

Do As Infinity's fourteenth single, Shinjitsu no Uta, was released in October, and sparked the beginning of a new project for the band. "Shinjitsu no Uta" was also chosen to be the fifth ending theme for InuYasha. In the booklet of Do The A-side, Kawamura stated that "Shinjitsu no Uta" was actually written 2 years before the actual release. Dai said that he left it as a demo because he felt that something was missing in the song^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}. Despite their success, Do As Infinity wanted to show their fans that they had not forgotten them. They advertised on their website for fans to send them short stories using the band's previous releases as themes and using the word shinjitsu (truth) somewhere in the story. Entitled Your Truth, these stories are now available in book form^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}. The band closed out the year with another live tour, understatedly titled Do As Infinity greatest year 02 ~ALL STANDING~, and the year-end release of their fourth album, True Song.

Gates of Heaven

The band got busy on the concert tour of TRUE SONG and new recordings, their fifteenth single, Mahou no kotoba ~Would You Marry Me?~ released as their first single in 2003. It became one of the most frequently played songs in the weddings in Japan^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}, becoming one of the band's most publicized single of the year. Honjitsu wa Seiten Nari followed the popularity of its precedent single, it was previewed in their annual summer activity, a-nation. During this promotion period it was the first time the vocalist cut her hair short and with a bright blonde dye^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}, she changed it back to a dark brown dye after the release of this single. The single's promotional video was filmed during their a-nation 2003 activity and combined many different a-nation 2003 visits in different areas in Japan, marking another success for the band. Hiiragi was released in November of the same year and the announcement of the 5th album followed^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}. Tomiko met with famous American singer, Michelle Branch, during her visit in Japan to promote her album Hotel Paper, for a magazine interview and photoshoot^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}. After the release of Gates of Heaven the group took a short break and performed in New York City, New York and Dallas, Texas in the summer of 2004 as a small warmup for their next album. They performed in Korea during the Korea & Japan Friendship Week in JEJU along with JTL^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}.

In early 2005, the band were in the midst of yet another live concert tour, showcasing their brand new album Need Your Love. Along with video collections and recorded live concerts, Do As Infinity were still going strong. Although Dai Nagao wasn't as active as he was in the beginning (he didn't participate in promotional events anymore, such as video clips or photo shoots)^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]} he was still the main composer and the brain behind the band. He did, though, appear in concerts from time to time.

TAO

TAO, the last single released.

The release of the band's 20th single on July 27,2005 became the last single Do As Infinity would be releasing. The lyrics of TAO described about friends parting ways and this caused many rumors among the fans about the disbanding of Do As Infinity^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}. TAO was also the main theme of Tales of Legendia, a RPG videogame released in Summer 2005 and developed by Namco^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}. The band announced on September 14, 2005 that they would disband on September 29, 2005, exactly 6 years to the day since their first single, Tangerine Dream, was released. Their last concert was at the Nippon Budokan on November 25, 2005http://www.japan-zone.com/news/archives/2005_09.shtml. Three days before the final concert, Dai Nagao released the Do As Infinity last song called Trust on the official website through internet streaming^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}. The vocal featured in this song is Mizushima Utana from one of Nagao's side project artists I-lulu. Many fans hoped for a CD release of the song recorded with Do As Infinity, however, it has yet to happen.

Tomiko Van, the lead singer, will be pursuing a solo career. Her major debut is scheduled to be early 2006. Ryo Owatari, the guitarist, has already started work on his next band, Missile Innovation, they are scheduled to release their first single on February 1, 2006. Ryo has also been working with other avex artists such as Ayumi Hamasaki, Otsuka Ai and . Dai Nagao currently works with Amasia Landscape and other artists under the TRUE SONG MUSIC label, writing songs for various artists^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}.

Trivia

• Before Tangerine Dream was released, DAI and their fellow workers were giving out copies of their recordings for free to passers by (Dai was very good at giving recordings to girls waiting at the traffic lights!)^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

• Tomiko sang "Heart" as a band member 42 hours after the avex staff read her applicationhttp://www.do-as-infinity.com/index.php?z=band.html.

• Heart was actually written before Tangerine Dream, but was recorded together in July due to the complicated drum samples

• At their 100th concert, held at Shibuya AX for free, the members of DAI recognized that the fans were the same bunch that bothered to listen to them (in section 2.)

• Desire was actually named M-42, which was used in their street performances

• The cover of "rumble fish" was actually taken in Taiwan, and the trip provided the inspiration for Shinjitsu no Uta^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}.

• Shinjitsu no Uta actually became famous in China in July 2002 and also translated into Mandarin.

• A couple actually met while listening to DAI's earlier street performances; the members of the band were invited to their wedding.

• Ryo turned up for the auditions in a red tracksuit with a Fender Jaguar and his effects pedals. He was asked to perform a small segment, but instead played three songs^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}.

• Do As Infinity and Every Little Thing are the only two bands that have done 3 theme songs for Japanese anime InuYasha^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}.

• Do As Infinity performed in Dallas and New York in the summer of 2004, footages can be found in the DVD, LIVE YEAR 2004^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}.

• In a performance of Fukai Mori, which was one week after the release of Fukai Mori, Tomiko Van, the lead singer, broke into tears near the beginning but managed to finish the song^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}.

• Do As Infinity had a little known back-up band (you can see 2 members of the band in the music video "Mahou no Kotoba ~Would you marry me?~". They're called the GREAT TOUR BAND http://www.globemoon.net/dai/index2.html

Discography

For more information, see the article about Do As Infinity discography.

Albums

1. Break of Dawn (March 23, 2000) — #3 320,000 copies sold
2. New World (February 21, 2001) — #1 354,000 copies sold
3. Deep Forest (September 19, 2001) — #1 609,000 copies sold
4. True Song (December 26, 2002) — #5 272,000 copies sold
5. Gates of Heaven (November 27, 2003) — #3 294,000 copies sold
6. Need Your Love (February 16, 2005) — #3 137,000 copies sold

Note: how the albums start with the final letter of the previous album.

Singles

1. Tangerine Dream (September 29, 1999) — #58
2. Heart (December 8, 1999) — #56
3. Oasis (January 26, 2000) — #25
4. Yesterday & Today (February 23, 2000) — #10
5. rumble fish (August 2, 2000) — #20
6. We are. (November 29, 2000) — #16
7. Desire (January 24, 2001) — #8
8. (April 25, 2001) — #12
9. Week! (May 30, 2001) — #8
10. (June 27, 2001) — #5
11. (September 5, 2001) — #7
12. (February 27, 2002) — #5
13. under the sun/under the moon (July 31, 2002) — #5
14. (October 30, 2002) — #5
15. (June 11, 2003) — #4
16. (September 25, 2003) — #4
17. (November 6, 2003) — #7
18. (December 15, 2004) — #2
19. For the Future (January 19, 2005) — #6
20. TAO (July 27, 2005) — #11

Note: that the first 4 singles all had names of famous rock bands.

Compilations

1. Do The Best (March 20, 2002) — 831,000
2. Do The Best + DVD (March 31, 2004) — 12,000
3. Do The B-side (September 23, 2004) — 49,000
4. Do The A-side (September 28, 2005) — 140,000
5. Do The A-side + DVD (September 28, 2005) — 140,000
6. Do As Infinity Do The Best "Great Supporters Selection" (March 15, 2006)
7. MINUS V (instrumental collection) (March 15, 2006)

Live

• Do the Live (March 12, 2003) — 32,000
• Do As Infinity LIVE IN JAPAN (March 31, 2004) — 17,000
• Do As Infinity -Final- (March 15, 2006)

Box set

• Do The Box (March 15, 2006)

Others

• again / TOMIKO VAN from Do As Infinity (from the Songnation album)
• Drive me nuts / Cyber X feat. Tomiko Van — #27
• El Dorado / atami (Guest Vo. tomiko van, Guest EG.ryo owatari) (from the Doppler album)
• COME ON NOW! / NORTHERN BRIGHTS (大渡亮ゲストコーラス参加)
• I miss you? / Do As Infinity for BLACK STONES (from the LOVE for NANA ~Only 1 Tribute album)

DVDs

DVD singles

• (April 25, 2001)
• (December 26, 2002)

Video clips

• 9 (March 7, 2001)
• 5 (September 27, 2001)
• THE CLIP SELECTION (December 11, 2002)
• 8 (January 7, 2004)

Live

• Do As Infinity LIVE TOUR 2001 ~DEEP FOREST~ (March 20, 2002)
• Do As Infinity LIVE IN JAPAN (March 31, 2004)
• Do As Infinity LIVE YEAR 2004 (March 3, 2005)
• Do As Infinity LIVE IN JAPAN II (September 28, 2005)
• Do As Infinity ~Final~ (March 15, 2006)

VHS

Video clips

• 9 (March 7, 2001)
• 5 (September 27, 2001)

References

External links

Official links

• [Do As Infinity Official Website (Japanese)]
• [Nagao Dai's Amasia landscape]
• [Tomiko Van] Official Website
• [Ryo Owatari's Missile Innovation]
• [TRUE SONG MUSIC]

Non-official links

• [do-as-infinity.com]
• [The Do As Infinity English forum]
• [Do As Infinity's Unofficial Site V.7]
• [] at MusicBrainz
• [We are For the Future fansite]

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