The Ricecookers

In 2004, Tomomi Hiroishi asked Kota Fujii and Masaki Minami to start a rock band, hoping to bring together their interest in different genres of music.[2] The original members of The Ricecookers were Tomomi Hiroishi (vocals, guitar), Kota Fujii (guitar), Masaki Minami (guitar), Daisuke Wakabayashi (bass), and Tom Ulichny (drums). The band performed at a wide range of venues in Boston and surrounding areas, with most of their music inspired by groups like Rage Against the Machine, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Maceo Parker and Audioslave. In 2006, Masaki Minami decided to leave the band to go back to Japan, and Sohei Oyama replaced Tom Ulichny as the official drummer.[3] That same year, they released their first self-produced album, 1st Blood in the United States.

In 2008, The Ricecookers met New York producer Shunji Okada, and collaborated to record their first EP, Four of Our Songs. They participated in events such as Japan Day @ Central Park[4] to broaden their horizons.

As they worked towards becoming known in the New York area, they made their Japanese debut with a Tokyo tour in the spring of 2010 in Japan. There, film director Yukihiko Tsutsumi saw their performance and quickly bought the rights to their song Nami No Yukisaki for his upcoming television drama series, “Spec” on Tokyo Broadcasting System Television Network in Japan.[5] The Ricecookers made history in Japan by becoming the first unknown indie band to be featured as the theme song for a drama series.[6] They were also the first band to custom produce different versions of the same song to fit each episode of the series.

After the tour, The Ricecookers returned to the United States and relocated to New York City from Boston, where they recorded their second EP, Chacmool. Soon after its release in September 2010, Chacmool became the number 1 selling alternative rock album on iTunes Japan. The Ricecookers once again traveled to Japan for their second tour, this time hitting 5 different cities throughout the country.

The Ricecookers performing at the Under the Shoes event

The Ricecookers started a two-band event called “Under the Shoes”[7] with fellow Japanese rock band Response. Their final event at Star Lounge in Tokyo was filmed and aired on BS Fuji TV Network and later released on DVD.

On October 8, 2010, their single Nami No Yukisaki aired on a Friday night weekly drama series on TBS Network, “Spec” as its theme song. Along with the premiere of the program, the band became the number 7 most searched keyword on GOOGLE Japan. In December 2010, Anchor Records released the 10 different bilingual versions of Nami no Yukusaki and its music video as a CD-DVD set titled Nami no Yukusaki TV Special Collection. This CD ranked number 1 on the Indie Album & Single Sales Chart on the Billboard JAPAN[8] and number 6 on Oricon Charts. During the same month, The Ricecookers travelled to Japan for their last tour of the year, and once again hosted “Under the Shoes Vol. 2” event in Tokyo. They ended the tour headlining for the “Spec Final Episode Event” at Akasaka Blitz in Tokyo. Live recordings from this performance along with their new single, “Lost Raven”, was released by Anchor Records as a mini album titled, Eat, Breathe and Live in April 2011.

Shortly after its release, “Lost Raven” was featured as the theme song for the Japanese variety show, “Summers no Yaritaga☆ga~ri~” airing weekly on Thursday nights on the TBS Network. The release of this album caught the eye of a renowned bilingual magazine called Commons & Sense Man, who interviewed The Ricecookers, furthering the band's exposure to a wider audience.[9]

In July 2011, The Ricecookers released their first album entitled sélf. The album was produced by Shunji Okada, recorded by Ted Young and Kabir Hermon, and was mastered by George Marino. During the same month, The Ricecookers went on their fourth tour to Japan and held their first 90-minute solo-performances titled, “The Ricecookers self-ish” at La.mama in Tokyo and Taku Taku in Kyoto. Following their solo performance, they returned to New York and attended their first CMJ Music Marathon, which was followed by a nomination in the “Independent Artist of the Year 2011” category by Billboard Japan.[10]

In April 2012, they released Showtime in Japan, and Paradise in the US at the same time. This release was followed by another Japanese CD release, under the title Pied Piper.

Live performance by The Ricecookers during the Spec movie event

In 2012, the TV drama series "Spec" debuted its first movie, in which The Ricecookers performed yet another version of Nami No Yukusaki. Due to the band contributing the theme song for the movie as well as the TV series, they were invited to the movie premiere event, which was held in Tokyo.[11] 2012 was also the year they performed at Rising Sun Rock Festival in Japan, becoming one of the many celebrated artists from Japan, performing at this highly recognized event.[12] Later in the year, The Ricecookers appeared on a famous Japanese year end countdown TV show titled Count Down TV, broadcast live throughout Japan, ringing-in 2013 on live TV.

Starting in 2013, The Ricecookers have been participating in a charitable music event in New York every March, to raise fund for the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami victims and survivors. of the real was also released in 2013. The band got Akihiro Nishino, a notable Japanese comedian/clay animation artist to create a music video for their album.[13] 2013 was also the year in which The Ricecookers went on the "Standing Egg Tour", where they toured 4 major states in the East Coast, including their home ground New York, and the band's birthplace Boston. The Ricecookers went on the Standing Egg Tour with Uzuhi, another New York based punk rock band and Kagero, a punk jazz band directly imported from Japan for this tour. The event was covered by various Japanese media.[14][15] After performing at CMJ Music Marathon again that year, they released their latest full album parallax in Japan and America in 2014.

In 2014, the band was invited to perform for the long running charity event held in New York City titled Rock For Hope, where all the proceeds were donated to fund the educational programs for financially underprivileged children in China.[16] The summer of 2014 also marked the bands Otakon debut at the Baltimore Convention Center. The convention was kicked off with an event titled "Matsuri", which the band performed in. The next day, the band performed again, with an acoustic set. Their performance at the Otakon collided with the release of The Ricecookers' newest EP titled "Again and Again".

In January 2015, the band was invited to perform at KotoriCon at Rowan College at Gloucester County in Sewell, New Jersey.