Album Notes

History　 of 　Equator　No1
Hideto Sei “ Hide “ Started Playing Music with Some Bands in Cities near Mt Fuji , Moved to Tokyo 1988, formed a Band Called “ Gunboy’s “ with that Band Hide Played at various Tokyo’s Clubs , Mainly “ Club 49 “ which is near “ Yokota U.S Air Base “ and the Experience inspired him very deeply to become an International Musician. Gunboy’s released a Compilation album from F.E.I records and got a good article in “ Player magazine “ and Some of the Gunboy’s original songs were played on “ Bz’s “ Radio Program on FM Tokyo. So the Band wasn’t that bad , but Hide couldn’t think there was a big future for the Band so in 1994 after he went to the USA a couple of times he finished the band , and then went to Sydney Australia , to play and check it out the music industry there. In 1995 he went to back to Tokyo , he was thinking a lot about the Image of the New Band and thought “ How could I make a sound with an oriental taste of pop rock “ In 1996 he went to Mongolia to study the roots of Asian people ,and he got inspiration from the Amazing Mongolian people. “They ride horses like the wind ,they are a spiritual, confident people, they inspired me so much and gave me new ideas and created a new image for my music”. In 1997 Hide met “ Shogo Uruno “
They wanted to concentrate on the international market . Hide was very inspired by the American & Australian music scene and the people he met abroad along with the incredible experience he had in Mongolia, helped shape his unique style of music.
Shogo lived in over seas for over 4 years. All the experiences he had in all of that overseas travel made him a very unique individual, especially as a Musician. They called themselves “ One Piece “ and spent a lot of time in the studio , playing , discussing ideas but mainly composing .
Shogo can play various instruments including the bass & acoustic guitar, piano and keyboards. Shogo is also very good at programming with sequencer’s.
Hide is mainly a singer songwriter and creates melodies but also plays guitar .
In late 1998 they finally made a demo with 3 original songs Little wing , Lake Baikal & Where I am Hide took the demo to Sydney Australia and made a good contact with a local music agency and made a deal with the Agency in late 1999. “One Piece” released the original song “ Little wing “ with Eddie Strucks CD/ Video Compilation from Sydney Australia. Also from the same demo the song “ Lake Baikal “ was supported by E.M.I Japan in 2001.They made a new demo with 3 original songs Release your mind , From these days 99 & On the Horizon in July 2000.
In 2000 from September to December , the radio program called “ Mind Trip “ on FM Nishi Tokyo, pick up their song From these day’s 99 “ and used it as their theme song for the program.
In October 2000 Hide went to Auckland New Zealand to promote their new songs , Hide played in clubs in Auckland mainly “ The Temple “ and did a live recording in the club and performed in a local radio station “ Planet FM “
January 2001 Hide went to back to Sydney to promote the new songs, performed live on Bondi FM 88 and also played at the Bondi Tsunami Beach Festival in Sydney Australia .
In April 2001. Hide came back to Tokyo and they changed their unit’s name from One piece to “ Equator “ October 2001 released “ From these days 99 “ with a Compilation album from “ LAX “ in Japan , November 2001 released Lake Baikal’s Minidisk from “ Music deli “ in Japan and also released CD single Lake Baikal November 2001.
Since 2002 Hide and Shogo started making Equator’s first Album with some guest Musicians. By 2003 they had enough songs for the album but Hide still wanted a cool song mixed with a real Oriental flavour and some pop rock for the Album, so they have not completed the Album yet .
In April 2004 Hide met a Haiku singer ( actually Waka singer “ one of the traditional Japanese singing styles “ ) Her name is Kyoko Sato . When he heard her singing for the first time he was inspired and got an idea for the cool song that what he really wanted for a long time. They started to make the song called “ Like the Burden of a Lullaby “ combined with Japanese traditional Music “ Ginyu and Pop rock .
November 2004 Hide went back to L.A.in U.S.A to play there in some clubs over there. Hide came back in Tokyo and have just finished Like the Burden of a Lullaby so finally in 2006 they are prepare to Launch the EP !!!