MAN WITH A MISSION

Overview

MAN WITH A MISSION (stylized in all caps and abbreviated MWAM) is a Japanese five-piece rock band signed to FYD, with Sony Music Records as its label. The band presents itself as five "ultimate life forms" with wolf heads and human bodies, wearing differently designed wolf masks at concerts and in music videos. The name means "a man with a mission" in English. Many of their songs have been used as themes for anime, live-action films and video games.

Members

• Tokyo Tanaka: lead vocals, leader
• Jean-Ken Johnny: guitar, vocals, rap, lyrics and composition
• Kamikaze Boy: bass, backing vocals, lyrics and composition
• DJ Santa Monica: DJ, sampling, composition
• Spear Rib: drums
• Support member E.D.Vedder: guitar

According to the official back-story, the members were created by the scientist Jimi Hendrix, frozen in Antarctica, and inspired by the sound of AIR JAM 1997 to pursue music; they revived in 2010 when global warming melted the ice. The band's actual formation date has not been disclosed.

Career

The project was officially announced on March 7, 2010, with a first live show the same day at Shibuya eggman. In June they sold a three-song self-produced single, "MAN WITH A MISSION", exclusively at venues, and on November 3 they made their nationwide debut with the mini-album WELCOME TO THE NEWWORLD, limited to 10,000 copies, on FROM YOUTH TO DEATH RECORDS. A US tour followed that month.

In March 2011, after the Great East Japan Earthquake, they released the charity single "RAIN OF JULY". In April they issued "NEVER FXXKIN' MIND THE RULES" and launched the MAN WITH A MISSION JAPAN MARKING TOUR 2011. They made their major debut on June 8, 2011 with the full album MAN WITH A MISSION, played SUMMER SONIC 2011 in August, and on October 5 released the Halloween-themed mini-album Trick ot Treat e.p., which includes a cover of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit".

In 2012 the debut album was selected for the 4th CD Shop Awards, and the band won the 48th Nippon Crown Hit Award in the J-POP category. Their first major-label single "distance" came out on April 4, and their second full album, Mash Up The World, on July 18. "Emotions", a theme for the live-action Hentai Kamen film, was released on February 20, 2013. Later, "Seven Deadly Sins" (theme of The Seven Deadly Sins) and "Raise Your Flag" (opening of Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans) each peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100. The fourth studio album, The World's On Fire, followed on February 10, 2016. On January 25, 2017 they released "Dead End in Tokyo", co-written and co-produced by Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy, and on June 27 "Dog Days".

More recently, they released "Merry-Go-Round" and "yoake" and the album Break and Cross the Walls Ⅰ (November 2021); "More Than Words", "Blaze" and Break and Cross the Walls Ⅱ (May 2022); "Fantasista", "絆ノ奇跡" and "コイコガレ" (2023); "I'll be there" (2024); and "REACHING FOR THE SKY", XV e.p. and "Against the Kings and Gods" (2025), alongside the original soundtrack for the Demon Slayer Swordsmith Village arc in February 2025. In May 2022, bassist Kamikaze Boy announced a suspension of activities following a magazine report.

Musical Style

The band draws heavily on Foo Fighters, Nirvana and Hi-STANDARD; Jean-Ken Johnny has called Dave Grohl the musician he respects most in the world. Lyrics are written mainly by Jean-Ken Johnny and Kamikaze Boy, who set the chord progressions, rhythm patterns and imagery before the whole band works out the detailed arrangements together. Most songs feature Jean-Ken Johnny on the verses and Tokyo Tanaka on the chorus.