Album Notes

Chiba-Ken was formed in New York City in 2003 by lead singer George William. The name comes from a town in Tokyo, Japan where George was staying at the time. Upon returning to New York, George, a trained actor and singer who was performing as “Tony” in the Off-Broadway hit “Tony-n-Tina’s Wedding” as well as a guest role on “All My Children”, met up with drummer Jason D’Amelio and guitarist Elias Tannous, two musicians who had been veterans of the NYC rock circuit as teenagers. Jason then brought his brother, bassist Justin D’Amelio into the band. The last piece of the puzzle came by way of Kazakhstan, a place made famous recently by the movie “Borat”.
Guitarist Julian Petrov, who was born in Kazakhstan, was living in Israel singing and playing guitar in his former band. The closest he got to the states was when his band toured Canada, and it was then that Julian decided to apply for an Artists’ Visa and relocate to New York. After auditioning in front of a board of US officials, Julian was granted an Artists’ Visa as a musician and was approved to live in the United States.
Julian was living in Brooklyn and had heard of Chiba-Ken. The band decided to add a 2nd guitarist to their lineup and Julian asked to audition as soon as he found out. It didn’t take long for him to make an impression on the band and he soon became the 5th member.
His exceptional story got even better after joining the band and finding out that the first show he would be playing in the United States was with Chiba-Ken opening for none other than Iron Maiden at the Blossom Music Center in Ohio in June of 2008. It was a dream come true for the band and for Julian especially.
After what was the biggest show of their young career and with their complete lineup, Chiba-Ken returned to their studio in Long Island to experiment with their sound and write new music. They began recording their second full length album entitled “Hard To Be Human” with producer Mike Watts of In De Goot Management in November of 2008.