Credits

I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Thursday, December 16, 2021

Flower Companyz -- Shin'ya Kousoku(深夜高速)

 

If I'm not mistaken, I first saw the rock band Flower Companyz(フラワーカンパニーズ)on an episode of "Uta Con"(うたコン)several months ago. Usually the hard rock acts don't show up on the NHK program so it did make their performance of "Shin'ya Kousoku" (Midnight High Speed) all the more noticeable.

Just a bit of background on Flower Companyz, according to their J-Wiki profile, the band covers blues rock, punk and hard rock, and they consist of vocalist Keisuke Suzuki(鈴木圭介), bassist and leader Great Maekawa(グレートマエカワ), guitarist Kenichi Takeyasu(竹安堅一)and drummer Mister Konishi(ミスター小西). Hailing from Nagoya, they first teamed up in 1989 and they've been swinging between indies and major periods with many singles and albums under their belt as of 2020.

In September 2004, Flower Companyz released their 16th single, "Shin'ya Kousoku", a paean to teenage exuberance and lust for life. The music and lyrics were by Suzuki as he exhorts all the young folks out there to grab the gusto when they can since the days of freedom and youth are fleeting. It sounds like just the song to grab a motorcycle or a car and hit the highways like a ball of fire. And it apparently and certainly hit a chord since thirteen different artists decided to cover that one song through a 2009 tribute album titled "Shin'ya Kousoku ~ Ikitete Yokatta no Tsudoi"(深夜高速 -生きててよかったの集い-...A Gathering of "I'm Glad I'm Alive"). Some of those folks paying tribute include folk-rock singer Shigeru Izumiya(泉谷しげる)and the band GO!GO!7188. All of this information is ironic in that before an official single was released that year, Flower Companyz had only been releasing the song at concert performances only which garnered some shaking of heads from staff and other associated people.

"Shin'ya Kousoku" can also be found on Flower Companyz's November 2004 album "Setagaya Yoake Mae"(世田谷夜明け前...Setagaya Before Daybreak).

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