Bow Wow -

Bow Wow was a Japanese hard-rock/metal band behind a 1976 album on Victor Musical Industries, followed by the 1977/78 Invitation titles Signal Fire, Charge, Guarantee, and Super Live. They reemerged with the 1980/81 SMS albums Glorious Road and Hard Dog, then closed out their first run with the 1982/83 albums Asian Volcano, Warning From Stardust, and Holy Expedition: Live on Vap and Roadrunner.

Members: Mitsuhiro Saito (vocals, guitar), Kyoji Yamamoto (guitar), Toshihiro Niimi (drums), Kenji Sano (bass), Genki Hitomi (vocals), Rei Atsumi (keyboards), Neil Murray (bass), Tetsuya Horie (vocals), Hiroshi Yaegashi (guitar), Shotaro Mitsuzono (bass), Eiji Mitsuzono (drums), Daisuke Kitsuwa (bass)

Background

Bow Wow formed in 1975 when Alto Kikaku producer Yoshimi Ueno assembled guitarist/vocalist Mitsuhiro Saito and drummer Toshihiro Niimi with guitarist Kyoji Yamamoto and bassist Kenji Sano.

Saito played beforehand with teenage rock group Do T. Doll, which Niimi joined just prior to the new group. Yamamoto came from Matsue, where he played in Zoom and Mad Rocker at high school. At age 18, he entered Nemu Music Academy. On January 7, 1975, Yamamoto played a one-off Matsue set with Sano, a bassist from Matsue Technical High School.

Ueno built the project around Saito and Niimi and searched Nemu Music Academy for a lead guitarist. For the audition, Yamamoto led a student group with bassist Ken Watanabe, later of Prism, through pieces from Jeff Beck’s Blow by Blow. Ueno chose Yamamoto and gave him control of the repertoire. Yamamoto learned Sano was in Tokyo and recruited him into the lineup.

Yamamoto directed a three-month mountain rehearsal camp and shifted the quartet toward hard rock. In 1976, Bow Wow played from a truck-mounted stage at Toei Oizumi Studio. Yoichi Shibuya then aired the English-language “Heart’s On Fire” on NHK-FM’s Young Jockey as a pre-release introduction to the group. Victor Music Industries set December 20 as the release date for the debut album 吼えろ! BOW WOW and the “Volume On” single.

Discography:

Bow Wow (1976)
Signal Fire (1977)
Charge (1977)
Guarantee (1978)
Super Live (1978)
Glorious Road (1980)
Telephone (1980)
組曲Ｘボンバー (1980)
Hard Dog (1981)
Asian Volcano (1982)
Warning From Stardust (1982)
Holy Expedition: Live (1983)

Sources

Kyoji Yamamoto — Official Biography. Gives Yamamoto’s March 23, 1956 Matsue birth, guitar start at 15, Nemu Music Academy enrollment at 18, 1975 Bow Wow formation, three-month mountain camp, Toei Oizumi stage-truck appearance, and December 1976 first album. (Kyoji Yamamoto Official Web Site)
Shiro Sano × Kyoji Yamamoto — 1998 classmate interview. The strongest source for the causal prehistory: Yamamoto describes Zoom and Mad Rocker, identifies Sano as a Matsue Technical High bassist in the January 7, 1975 one-off lineup, explains Ueno’s search at Nemu, names Ken Watanabe as another bass possibility, and says he contacted Sano once he knew Sano was in Tokyo. (佐野史郎の音楽的生活 — 山本恭司対談)
Billboard Japan — Kyoji Yamamoto interview. Yamamoto recalls the Nemu audition directly: Saito and Niimi were already selected, Ueno came to hear him, Ken Watanabe played bass in the audition group, and much of the set came from Blow by Blow. (Billboard Japan interview)
Rhythm & Drums Magazine — Toshihiro Niimi 2007 archive interview. Niimi states that Ueno initially envisioned a lighter youth-oriented band, that Yamamoto changed the musical direction toward hard rock, and that the pre-debut camp shaped Niimi’s own approach to the style. (Drums Magazine archive interview)
Nippon Broadcasting News Online — Bow Wow debut reconstruction. Supplies the Do T. Doll → Yamamoto audition → Sano recruitment sequence, the extended rehearsal camp, the 1976 Toei Oizumi truck-stage appearance, Shibuya’s pre-release airing of “Heart’s On Fire,” and the December Japan Youth Hall concert. (Nippon Broadcasting feature)
Original album data. The first pressing of 吼えろ! BOW WOW carries Victor catalog number SJX-10179 and a December 20, 1976 release date. The later 1977 Invitation pressing is VIH-6009, so Invitation should not be assigned to the original LP. (Encyclopaedia Metallum)