Flower Travellin' Band -

Flower Travellin’ Band was a Japanese hard-rock/psych quartet that debuted with the 1970 Philips album Anywhere, followed by the 1971–73 Atlantic titles Satori, Made in Japan, and Make Up. Satori was a catalyst of maximalist rock in the Far East.

Members: 石間秀樹 [Hideki Ishima] (guitar), 小林ジュン [Jun Kobayashi] (bass), 和田ジョージ [Joji Wada] (drums), ジョー山中 [Akira “Joe” Yamanaka] (vocals, 1970-2011)

Background

Flower Travellin’ Band formed in February 1970 in Tokyo when producer Yuya Uchida reorganized the Flowers around singer Akira “Joe” Yamanaka, bassist Jun Kozuki (later Jun Kobayashi), drummer Joji “George” Wada, and guitarist Hideki Ishima. Uchida chose the new name for intended overseas activity.

Yamanaka sang with the group-sounds band 4.9.1 from 1966 until his 1968 departure. Ishima joined The Outlaws in 1966; the group became The Beavers for a 1967 debut on King Records and later released the album Viva! Beavers. Kozuki came from the Kyoto five-piece The Taxman, which cut the 1968 Columbia single “Nageki no King” (b/w “Futari no Yoake”). Wada drummed in the original Flowers lineup, which debuted at Shinjuku ACB and recorded the 1969 album Challenge! for Columbia.

The Flowers added Yamanaka and Ishima at the end of 1969 and featured both musicians at Rock ’n’ Roll Jam ’70 in Tokyo the following January, where Ishima used sitar. Soon after, singer Remi Aso and steel guitarist Katsuhiko Kobayashi left for the United States. The reconfigured band joined trumpeter Terumasa Hino for the May 1970 Nippon Columbia single “Crash” (b/w “Dhoop”), the first Flower Travellin’ Band release.

Discography: