Rice (band)


Rice are a Japanese visual kei rock band formed by ex-Raphael members Yuki and Hiro. Like Raphael, a lot of rice's music is in the rock genre although instead of guitar the cello is a much more prominent instrument in their work.
The band, although not as visual as they used to be in Raphael, still keep a very distinct fashion from that of a lot of other bands.

Band members

Yuki Sakurai: Lead vocalist, main lyricist, main composer and bass guitarist.
Kazuhiro "Hiro" Murata: Backing vocalist, percussionist, drummer
Although technically not members of the band, many session instrumentalists have contributed both to album recordings and live shows including Hiroshi Egami, Fumiaki Nishiyama, Toshihiko Nagayama and Ayumi Hashimoto.
Something that is common on a lot of Rice releases is the inclusion of the same song, "Air", on a number of releases. "Air" is a song with no lyrics; it consists of a vocal melody, a cello melody and a percussion accompaniment. It appears on every album and single they have released, re-recorded each time, with the exception of "はるか", "刑事ヒロンボ" and "There is…".
In October 2012, Rice announced that they will be going on an indefinite hiatus. They will be performing their last show before their hiatus at the Akasaka Blitz on December 25. They resumed activities in late 2013, however, and released their comeback single, "僕はここに居る", that December.

Discography

Albums