Wednesday Campanella (水曜日のカンパネラ, Suiyōbi no Campanera) is a Japanese music group formed in 2012 combining musical elements of the EDM, J-Pop, and Hip Hop genres. The trio consists of KOM_I, Kenmochi Hidefumi, and Dir.F.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Formation 1.2 Career 2 Members 3 Name 4 Live Performances 5 Music 6 Discography 6.1 Albums 6.2 Extended Plays 7 References 8 External links History Formation

In 2011, Dir.F and Kenmochi first met at Design Festa Tokyo. As a label manager at Tsubasa Records, Dir.F wanted to launch a new music project with provisional female members,[1] while Kenmochi wanted to produce new music differing from his instrumental music under Nujabes's Hydeout Productions label after the 3.11 Disaster in Japan. The two decided to form a group and named the project ‘’Suiyōbi no Campanella’’. In 2012, Dir.F met KOM_I at their videographer friend’s house party and invited her to join the group. KOM_I had no prior music experience until she joined the group and joined while in high school. Originally, Kenmochi and Dir.F sought a trio of girls for the group, but the idea quickly was abandoned. For their initial debut, another female singer appears on the cover and sings but there are no credits within the liner notes. Eventually, KOM_I became the only vocalist. She was chosen as a vocalist originally because Kenmochi liked the mismatch between her voice and the rap music he was producing.

Career

The group uploaded its first songs, "Oz" and "Kūkai", on YouTube in July 2012. Their first CD Suiyōbi no Campanella Demo 1 was sold at Design Festa Tokyo Autumn in November of the same year.[2]

On 11 March 2013, KOM_I held her first live performances alone representing the group. It took place at Shimokitazawa ERA, a nightclub in Tokyo.

Their first mini album entitled Crawl to Sakaagari (クロールと逆上がり) was released in May 2013.[3] It was exclusively sold at Village Vanguard Shimokitazawa.

In September 2013, the group won a right to join in the Ringo Ongakusai Festival, to which many Japanese music groups went. KOM_I performed in several shows with “Ringo-ame Man," an apple-candy-headed character. The following month, their second mini album Rashomon (羅生門) was released and sold exclusively at Tower Records.[4]

In March 2014, the group's third mini album, Cinema Jack (“シネマジャック”), was released.[5] The group conducted serial web interviews with online music store OTOTOY to promote the release of the album.

On 5 August 2014, the group launched an outstanding single, "Momotarō", on J-WAVE, for their fourth mini album, Watashi wo Onigashima ni Tsuretette (私を鬼が島に連れてって, "Take me to Onigashima Island"), which was released on 5 November 2014 in die-cut CD edition.[6]

In 2015, Wednesday Campanella released their first EP, Triathlon. Unlike its previous works, all three songs on the EP were produced by a different producers: Kenmochi, OORUTAICHI and OBKR from N.O.R.K.[7] Later that year, the full album Zipangu was released continuing with a gradual shift to a J-pop sound with elements of Electronic dance music.

In March 2016, KOM_I announced that their next album would be released around June at their first American show at SXSW. The mini-album entitled UMA, conceptually based upon unknown mythical animals, was released on 22 June 2016 under Warner Music Japan, their major label debut.[8]

The single, SUPERKID, was released as a teaser for their first proper album with Warner, SUPERMAN in 2017.[9][10][11] KOM_I performed at the Nippon Budokan in March 2017, her largest show and highest budget production with a Blu-Ray released in July 2017.[12] KOM_I also collaborated with the Japanese Derby for the digital single "Melos" and a live streaming concert on their Youtube channel entitled "Time to Play".[13][14][15][16] They later wrote a theme song, entitled "Ei sei", for a real-life adventure game, based upon the Kingdom manga, taking place across multiple prefectures simultaneously.[17] The song received a widespread digital release in June 2017.[18] KOM_I and Kenmochi do regular Wednesday night broadcasting for J-Wave's Spark Radio program with frequent guests and discussion.[19]

Members KOM_I (コムアイ, Komuai) - performer, singer - born July 22, 1992 in Kanagawa.[20] Kenmochi Hidefumi (釼持英郁) - music, lyrics - born August 2, 1981 in Shinagawa.[21] Dir.F.(ディレクター・エフ, Yasuhiro Fukunaga[1]) - director, utility man Name

The name Suiyōbi no Campanella is in reference to their usual rehearsal meeting day of Suiyōbi (Wednesday).[20][22] Its mixing of Kanji, Katakana and Hiragana was primarily to appeal to the group's collective ego. For their international debut at the SXSW festival in Austin, they adopted the English moniker online, "Wednesday Campanella", which they continued to use in San Francisco for their 2016 J-Pop Summit show[23][24] and in 2017, at Le Magnifique Society Festival show in Reims, France.[25][26] KOM_I's name is taken a shortening of her first and last name.

Live Performances

KOM_I appears alone on stage, at events and at promotional occasions. She took karaoke-style live. Kenmochi and Dir.F thought men were undesirable for the group to appear on stage when they discussed some Japanese duet groups. During the large performance at the Nippon Budokan in March 2017, both Kenmochi and Dir.F joined KOM_I for a final encore to sing "Dracula".

Music

Kenmochi is mainly in charge of music production, composing, arranging, and song writing. The concept of the group that Kenmochi and Dir.F had in the early years was a Japanese folklore-style like Perfume. The names of songs are one of famous people such as Napoleon, Ryoma Sakamoto and Wright Brothers. 2017's SUPERMAN expounded on this concept with the idea of larger-than-life people such as Genghis Khan, Aladdin, Kamehameha, and more. In addition, each song refers to historical events, great people, or moments in popular culture. Furthermore, Kenmochi's lyrics seem to sound meaningless, but the soundtrack maker intentionally writes the lyrics in that way. Many songs feature puns or play on words confusing to non-Japanese speakers. KOM_I said that she wants her listeners to enjoy her comical lyrics without thinking of "meaning" of the lyrics.

Previously KOM_I only acted as the group's vocalist, but she began to participate in the production process with Rashomon. KOM_I began to write lyrics for the 2016 release, UMA. However, Kenmochi returned to writing all lyrics and arrangements for 2017's SUPERMAN.

Discography Main article: Wednesday Campanella discography Albums Zipangu (2015) Superman (2017) Extended Plays Suiyōbi no Campanella Demo (2012) Crawl to Sakaagari (2013) Norway no Mori (2013) Suiyōbi no Campanella Demo 2 (2013) Rashōmon (2013) Cinema Jack (2014) Watashi o Onigashima ni Tsuretette (2014) Anmin Dōfu (2014) Triathlon (2015) UMA (2016) Galapagos (2018) References ^ a b "音楽未経験のコムアイをなぜスカウト？　水曜日のカンパネラ Dir.Fが語る、"原石"を見つける方法". Real Sound｜リアルサウンド 映画部 (in Japanese). Retrieved 2017-07-07.  ^ "水曜日のカンパネラ* - Demo". Discogs. Retrieved 2017-07-07.  ^ "水曜日のカンパネラ* - クロールと逆上がり". Discogs. Retrieved 2017-07-07.  ^ "水曜日のカンパネラ* - 羅生門". Discogs. Retrieved 2017-07-07.  ^ "水曜日のカンパネラ* - シネマジャック". Discogs. Retrieved 2017-07-07.  ^ "水曜日のカンパネラ* - 私を鬼ヶ島に連れてって". Discogs. Retrieved 2017-07-07.  ^ "水曜日のカンパネラ* - トライアスロン". Discogs. Retrieved 2017-07-07.  ^ "KOM_I of WEDNESDAY CAMPANELLA dances in group's new music video for "Tsuchinoko" off their upcoming EP "UMA"! | MOSHI MOSHI NIPPON | もしもしにっぽん". MOSHI MOSHI NIPPON | もしもしにっぽん (in Japanese). 2016-06-22. Retrieved 2017-07-07.  ^ "Suiyoubi no Campanella to release new single "SUPERKID" | ARAMA! JAPAN". ARAMA! JAPAN. 2016-10-11. Retrieved 2017-07-07.  ^ "Suiyoubi no Campanella to Release New Album "SUPERMAN" | ARAMA! JAPAN". ARAMA! JAPAN. 2016-12-09. Retrieved 2017-07-07.  ^ "WEDNESDAY CAMPANELLA announces brand-new album & unveils image for it | MOSHI MOSHI NIPPON | もしもしにっぽん". MOSHI MOSHI NIPPON | もしもしにっぽん (in Japanese). 2016-12-14. Retrieved 2017-07-07.  ^ 株式会社ロッキング・オン. "水曜日のカンパネラ、初の武道館公演を完遂。全国16都市を回るライブツアーも発表－rockinon.com｜https://rockinon.com/news/detail/157438". rockinon.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 2017-07-07.  ^ "生ライブの裏側が公開！水曜日のカンパネラ×日本ダービー、コムアイが競馬場を駆け巡る！ | Qetic". Qetic (in Japanese). 2017-05-17. Retrieved 2017-07-07.  ^ Inc., Natasha,. "ダービー馬コムアイが東京競馬場を駆け巡る、無観客型配信ライブ - 音楽ナタリー" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2017-07-07.  ^ "KOM_I visits Mongolia in Suyoubi no Campanella's MV for "Melos" | ARAMA! JAPAN". ARAMA! JAPAN. 2017-05-24. Retrieved 2017-07-07.  ^ "水曜日のカンパネラ：誰もいない場所、一夜限りのライブ | read | i-D". i-D. Retrieved 2017-07-07.  ^ "「ある大戦場からの脱出」スペシャルコラボ". リアル脱出ゲーム (in Japanese). Retrieved 2017-07-07.  ^ "水曜日のカンパネラ、『キングダム』を題材にしたリアル脱出ゲーム主題歌「嬴政」をリリース". Spincoaster (in Japanese). 2017-06-21. Retrieved 2017-07-07.  ^ "SPARK : J-WAVE 81.3 FM RADIO". www.j-wave.co.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2017-07-07.  ^ a b "Suiyoubi no Campanella : SYNC MUSIC JAPAN". www.syncmusic.jp. Retrieved 2017-07-07.  ^ "Falliccia (CD Edition) White Noise Records". www.whitenoiserecords.org. Retrieved 2017-07-07.  ^ "Featured Artist: Suiyoubi no Campanella | ARAMA! JAPAN". ARAMA! JAPAN. 2014-08-17. Retrieved 2017-07-07.  ^ "Worldwide famous act Wednesday Campanella and GARNiDELiA to perform at J-POP SUMMIT 2016 in San Francisco! | MOSHI MOSHI NIPPON | もしもしにっぽん". MOSHI MOSHI NIPPON | もしもしにっぽん (in Japanese). 2016-04-29. Retrieved 2017-07-07.  ^ "Wednesday Campanella «  J-POP SUMMIT 2017". www.j-pop.com. Retrieved 2017-07-07.  ^ "WEDNESDAY CAMPANELLA & 6 other Japanese artists to perform in France at La Magnifique Society Festival in May | MOSHI MOSHI NIPPON | もしもしにっぽん". MOSHI MOSHI NIPPON | もしもしにっぽん (in Japanese). 2017-03-31. Retrieved 2017-07-07.  ^ "Programmation - La Magnifique Society - Du 16 au 21 mai 2017". La Magnifique Society (in French). Retrieved 2017-07-07.  External links Official website (in Japanese) Setlist.fm Last.fm Discogs J!-ENT interviews Wednesday Campanella 08/2016