The vocalist had been singing blues and soul, and the band had been influenced by the Beatles, Neil Young & XTC.....their inevitable encounter in Osaka, was the beginning of this incredibly talented group.
The band's live performances and self-released cassette tape alone were enough to quickly get people's attention and offers from major records labels.
Grapevine - Kazumasa Tanaka - Vo/Gtr, Hiroyoshi Nishikawa - Gtr, Toru Kamei- Drums and Makoto Nishihara - Bass, signed to Pony Canyon in 1997 and in September of that year, released a 5-track E.P "Kakusei" (translated into English means 'awakening / disillusion'). In 1999, a second E.P "Slow" became a smash hit and the album "Lifetime“ entered at no.3 in the national chart - a remarkable and exceptional achievement for an up and coming band. Since then, every album that Grapevine has released, is always in the top 10 of the charts, backed up with large-scale nationwide touring by the band.
2002 saw the departure of bassist Makoto Nishihara but with the excellent support of Satoru Kaneto (Bass) and Isao Takano (keys), the band just keep on rolling!
Grapevine have come of age as a band on their album "Deracine" (2005) and you can catch their highly-praised live performance on the DVD "Sweet Home Adabana" (2006).
The band just released their 9th album "Sing" in July 2008.
![エロマティックミル [elomaticmill]](http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/97/s_c64765fa6bb7475a80a7095d698581c0.jpg)
