STRAIGHTENER

Straightener function less as a conventional band than as an embedded fixture within Japan’s rock infrastructure, their network of associations reaching across many of the country’s prominent acts. Bassist Hinata Hidekazu, who came aboard in 2003, had previously played with Art-School, one of the stronger domestic acts echoing U2, and remained with the off-kilter Zazen Boys through 2007; drummer Shinpei Nakayama maintains the side project Predators alongside the vocalist from the Pillows and the bassist from Glay; vocalist and guitarist Horie Atsushi shares a concurrent outfit, Fullarmor, with Hinata that has been active since 2002; and the group forms a central part of the Nano-Mugen Music Festival, the occasional yet widely attended punk and alternative-rock gathering curated by Asian Kung-Fu Generation. Framing them solely through these connections, however, overlooks their independent viability as a capable and commercially effective unit. Their debut EP, Straighten It Up, appeared in 2000 and immediately drew notice for its punk-tinged alternative-rock approach, even though it failed to elevate the band into the uppermost tier of the Japanese music landscape. In 2002 they established Ghost Records and soon issued the maxi-single Silver Record on that imprint. Strong independent sales led to a major-label contract with Toshiba EMI in 2003, a pivotal step for any act in the J-rock field. From that point the quartet maintained a brisk release schedule, delivering the album Rock End Roll in 2004, followed by Title in 2005 and Dear Deadman in 2006, the last of which proved especially popular and prompted an extensive tour along with a run of singles. Two further substantial projects arrived in 2007—Linear in March and the EP Immortal in November—before the full-length Nexus surfaced in 2009.