Awesome City Club

Overview

Awesome City Club (ACC, also known as "Awesome") is a Japanese three-piece band. They are managed by RENI Inc. and signed to cutting edge, a label within avex. Their sound blends the genres each member loves: power pop, funk, R&B, pop, rock, dance music, soul and synth-pop, and they are often associated with city pop. Their breakout song "Wasurenagusa" (勿忘) became a major hit, winning the Excellent Work Award at the 63rd Japan Record Awards and BEST VIRAL SONG at the SPACE SHOWER MUSIC AWARDS 2022, and earned them a first appearance on the 72nd NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen in 2021.

Career

Formation

The band began when Takumi Matsuzaka, a colleague at a music studio in Dogenzaka, invited fellow studio worker atagi to join, citing atagi's talent as a composer. atagi initially declined but found common ground in their musical tastes and agreed on December 28, 2012. Drummer Yukie was then scouted, and Morishy, who had helped with recording, joined on guitar. With no formal vocalist chosen, atagi, who had recorded guide vocals, became the lead singer.

Launch and PORIN joins

The band started activities in spring 2013 as atagi, Morishy, Takumi Matsuzaka and Yukie. Their first live show was on August 17, 2013 at Shindaita FEVER. In September they opened an official website, uploaded "Ai yue ni shindo fukai" and "Children" to SoundCloud, and on September 18 released the "Children" music video on YouTube. Studio colleague PORIN, who appeared in the video, joined as a support member, and in April 2014 became the official frontperson, making the band a five-piece.

In March 2014 they supported Australian band San Cisco's Japan show, and on December 9, 2014 supported Tahiti 80, a band they had long admired. Without a label or agency, they focused on raising the quality of their songs and releasing them online via SoundCloud and YouTube, gaining attention through web and overseas outlets such as The Guardian (UK) and MTV IGGY (USA).

Major debut on CONNECTONE

On January 15, 2015, at their first self-organized event "Awesome Talks -vol.0-", they announced their major debut as the first artist on Victor Entertainment's new label CONNECTONE. Their first album, Awesome City Tracks, produced by mabanua, came out on April 8, 2015 and topped the iTunes rock chart. They made their first festival appearance at VIVA LA ROCK 2015 on May 3, and from July crowdfunded their first single "Outsider" on CAMPFIRE. The second album, Awesome City Tracks2, followed on September 16, again produced by mabanua.

In 2016 they released the digital single "Vampire" (March 18), crowdfunded again for "Don't Think, Feel" (April), and issued Awesome City Tracks 3 in June. The fourth album, Awesome City Tracks4 (January 25, 2017), concluded the series. From April 2017 they toured with acoustic and full-band one-man shows, played their first overseas show at THE WALL in Taiwan on April 30, and appeared at ap bank fes (July 28) and RISING SUN ROCK FESTIVAL 2017 in EZO (August 12).

In 2018 their contract with CONNECTONE ended and they left the label, continuing as a band. Catch The One was released on December 19, 2018; "The One" references James Brown's use of the phrase for the importance of the downbeat in funk, and also stands for each person's own special something. The members describe 2018–2019 as two years of deep discussion within the band. Their set at RISING SUN ROCK FESTIVAL 2019 in EZO (August 16) was cancelled due to a typhoon.

cutting edge era

In 2020 they joined avex's cutting edge label, revived their indie-era YouTube channel after six years, and released new music for three consecutive months from January. The album Grow apart arrived on April 29, and "ceremony" on October 14.

On January 28, 2021, "Wasurenagusa" hit No. 1 on both the Uta-Net attention ranking and AWA's real-time rising chart. It was used as an inspired song in the trailer of the film Hanataba mitai na koi wo shita (released January 29), and its success boosted streams of earlier songs. The album Grower followed on February 18 and was a prize winner at the 14th CD Shop Awards, featuring PES (RIP SLYME) on "Wangan de Aimashou". They played the Green Stage at Fuji Rock Festival on August 22 and made their first Kohaku appearance that November, performing "Wasurenagusa" via a relay from NHK Broadcasting Center.

Get Set was released on March 9, 2022, and they played SUMMER SONIC's SONIC STAGE on August 20. On December 28, 2023 they appeared on the COSMO STAGE at COUNTDOWN JAPAN 23/24. Singles in this period include "Talkin' Talkin'" (March 2023), "Aiolite" (April 2023), "Hikari" (January 2024), "close:to" (March 2024) and "Shararan Devu" (October 2024).

10th anniversary and hiatus

On April 8, 2025 they launched their debut 10th anniversary project, "10 Consecutive Releases", with "STEP!", followed by one new song a month: "Shinkai" (May), "cosmos" (June), "Run and Run" (July), "Slow Summer" (August), "journey" (September), "Miracle" (October), "Fanfare" (November) and "100-nen go no Bokutachi e" (December 24). On April 11 they held the kickoff event Awesome Talks Cheers to 10!! at Ebisu LIQUIDROOM with guests ESME MORI, meiyo and Frederic. The 10th anniversary live house tour, Awesome Talks Live House Tour 2025-26, ran from September 12, 2025 to January 29, 2026.

In summer 2025, atagi and PORIN joined former member Yukie at the wedding of former member Takumi Matsuzaka, the man who started the band; the early lineup reunited for a day (Morishy was unable to attend) and performed to celebrate. Matsuzaka and Yukie also appeared as guests in the encore of the tour final at Ebisu LIQUIDROOM. On December 6 the full band made its first appearance on the radio show All Night Nippon 0 (ZERO), broadcasting live.

On January 5, 2026, the band announced a hiatus from musical activity effective April 1, 2026, a decision made when planning the 10-release project. atagi said he wants dedicated time to face music as an individual; PORIN said pausing may be an important step to continue the band longer and promised to return as a new version of themselves; Morishy likened a band to a car that needs refueling. Because the reasons are positive, the band has stated it will resume in the future. The album Cheers to 10!!, collecting the monthly releases, came out on January 30, 2026, and the two-disc best album Awesome City Club BEST II followed on April 1, including songs previously released only digitally. Its Blu-ray edition features the Tokyo Garden Theater one-man show Awesome Talks One Man Show and the LIQUIDROOM tour final, their last live before the hiatus.

Members

• atagi: vocals and guitar; handles composition, including demos, and lyrics.
• PORIN: vocals; also writes lyrics and plays synthesizer on some songs. Joined as a support member in September 2013 and officially in April 2014.
• Morishy: guitar.

Musical style

The band mixes power pop, funk, R&B, pop, rock, dance music, soul and synth-pop, reflecting each member's tastes, and is also associated with city pop and Japanese indie. Their first two albums were produced by mabanua, whose guidance atagi says supported the band's later songwriting. Songs center on atagi's demos, and the band has worked from the shared premise that PORIN is its icon. Since around 2020, all members have taken on a variety of instruments.