Bow Wow

BIOGRAPHY

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Bow Wow (1975-1983, 1984-1990, 1995-1997, 1998-2000, 2000-2015, 2015-present): a Heavy Metal band from Tokyo, Japan.

apan's Bow Wow are a rock band formed in 1975. Originally consisting of guitarist and vocalists Kyoji Yamamoto and Mitsuhiro Saito, bassist Kenji Sano and drummer Toshihiro Niimi, they were one of the first Japanese heavy metal bands despite the original idea being to create an idol-like band such as The Monkees or the Bay City Rollers by record producer Yoshimi Ueno. After releasing nine studio albums in the form of, Bow Wow (1976), Signal Fire (1977), Charge (1977), Guarantee (1978), Glorious Road (1980), Telephone (1980), X-Bomber (1980), Hard Dog (1981), Asian Volcano (1982) and Warning from Stardust (1982), Saito left in 1983. The band then adopted a mainstream sound by recruiting lead vocalist Genki Hitomi and keyboardist Rei Atsumi and renamed themselves to Vow Wow. They relocated to England in 1986, before Sano left the band the following year and Yamamoto invited former Whitesnake bassist Neil Murray to replace him. After Murray left to join Black Sabbath, studio bassist Mark Gould played on Vow Wow's last album before they disbanded in 1990 after releasing Beat of Metal Motion (1984), Cyclone (1985) and Vow Wow III (1986).Vow Wow V (1987) featuring Neil Murray (bass/lyrics: tracks 1, 2, 4, 7) would be next. Murray would also be credited on VIBe (1988) and Helter Skelter (1989). Mountain Top (1990) would see Mark Gould on bass. The Mountain Top, VIBe and Helter Skelter releases, proved to be the act's most successful reaching 19 on the Oricon album charts, as well as 75 on the UK album charts; Mountain Top alone became the band's highest-charting release in Japan at 16 after their return to Japan.

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While still in England, however, they also released three singles that made the UK singles charts in the form of Don't Leave Me Now (83), Helter Skelter (77), and I Feel the Power at (87). It's a common misconception that the band changed their name during this era to avoid confusion with the new wave band Bow Wow Wow, but Yamamoto denies this claim and says that the name change to Vow Wow was to reflect a completely different band and musical style.

Yamamoto reformed Bow Wow in 1995 after returning to Japan with all new members,Eiji Mitsuzono (drums/vocals (Backing), Hiroshi Yaegashi (guitars/vocals (Backing), Shotaro Mitsuzono (bass/vocals (Backing) and Tetsuya Horie (vocals) before it became a trio when fellow original members Saito and Niimi rejoined in 1998 for the release of Back (1998), Ancient Dreams (1999), Beyond (2000), Another Place (2001), What's Going On? (2002), Era (2005) and the King or Queen EP (2014). Niimi left in 2015 with the group reforming under the name Bow Wow G2, now as a duet; the name referring to the two guitarists Kyoji Yamamoto and Mitsuhiro Saito now performaing all roles and being the only official original members.