MAN WITH A MISSION

MAN WITH A MISSION is a Japanese band formed in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan in 2010. Their music can be described as alternative rock, rap metal, pop rock or pop-punk with new metal and pop influences.

Members:
Vocals: トーキョー・タナカ (Tokyo Tanaka)
Guitar, Chorus & Rap: ジャンケン・ジョニー (Jean-Ken Johnny)
Bass: カミカゼ・ボーイ (Kamikaze Boy)
DJ, Sampling, Scratches: ディージェイ・サンタ・モニカ (DJ Santa Monica)
Drums: スペア・リブ (Spear Rib)
Support Guitar, Keyboards: イー・ディー・ヴェダー (E.D.Vedder)

MAN WITH A MISSION (MWAM) is a five-member Japanese rock band. Their management company is FYD. The label is Sony Music Records. The abbreviation is マンウィズ (“Man With”). The band consists of five ultimate beings with wolf heads and human bodies. Because of their appearance, they are also colloquially referred to as the オオカミバンド (ookami band, "wolf band"). They were signed to FROM YOUTH TO DEATH RECORDS from 2010 on. From 2011 to 2013 they've also been signed to CROWN STONES. Since 2013 they are signed to Sony Records.

According to the official story, they were created in the 19XXs, an era when the Earth was repeatedly ravaged by war, in a place called Electric Lady Land, located at the ends of the Earth. They were born as a result of the mad science of a genius biologist named Jimmy Hendrix. Because Jimmy himself enjoyed playing guitar, musical ability was programmed into them. With their superhuman physical and mental capabilities, they were used by powerful figures such as Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, and even Gihren Zabi. Tormented by guilt, Jimmy froze them in Antarctic glaciers at the cost of his own life to keep them from being used by anyone.

While frozen, they listened to music from around the world with their highly developed wolf hearing, but after hearing the sounds of AIR JAM 1997, they decided to start musical activities to change the world through music. Although they remained frozen for some time, global warming caused the ice to melt in 2010, leading to their revival and the start of their band activities.

The exact time of the band’s formation has not been disclosed. The members’ ages and nationalities are also not publicly known. In terms of songwriting, guitarist Jean-Ken Johnny and bassist Kamikaze Boy mainly handle the lyrics. For composition, Jean-Ken Johnny and Kamikaze Boy decide on the basic chord progressions, rhythm patterns, and general image, after which all members discuss and finalize the detailed arrangements. Most of their songs are structured with Jean-Ken Johnny singing the verses and Tokyo Tanaka singing the choruses.

At their live shows, the intro SE used for their appearance is Bad Religion’s “Man With A Mission,” a song that shares the same name as the band. The album “Recipe For Hate,” which includes this song, features two people with wolf heads on the cover, just like MWAM members.

Among the members, only Jean-Ken Johnny is officially able to speak Japanese, but Tokyo Tanaka sings vocals, Kamikaze Boy provides backing vocals and writes lyrics in both Japanese and English, and Spear Rib has answered interviews in Japanese, suggesting that while they cannot pronounce it, they understand it. In the liner notes for “database feat. TAKUMA (10-FEET),” it is revealed that Kamikaze Boy can also speak. Their written language officially uses only katakana, avoiding hiragana except for some specific cases such as proper nouns. When text length becomes excessive, hiragana is occasionally used in what is described as “translation.” Since August 2012, the magazine Monthly GiGS has used a “Man With converter” to translate their text into Japanese, though it frequently malfunctions, reverting the text back to katakana. In the documentary film MAN WITH A MISSION THE MOVIE -TRACE the HISTORY-, an automatic translator called “Gauringal” appears, allowing members other than Jean-Ken Johnny to speak.

During live performances, Tokyo Tanaka, Jean-Ken Johnny, and Kamikaze Boy have jaws that open widely. In live footage, the lower jaws are often not shown. When performing on television, usually only Tokyo Tanaka and Jean-Ken Johnny’s jaws move.

Tokyo Tanaka – Main vocals, leader. Likes sleeping and singing. Favorite music is club music. Current craze: steroid injections. Nickname: “Tanapai” (short for Tanaka-senpai). A muscular wolf with his tongue sticking out to the right. Prefers cropped pants on stage. Excellent athletic ability, skilled in extreme sports such as snowboarding and skateboarding. Likes ice cream and well-chilled tequila. Favorite meat dish: filet steak. The most serious member, often keeping others in check. On X (formerly Twitter), he posts with the emoticon “(￢з￢).”

Jean-Ken Johnny – Guitar, vocals, rap, lyrics, composition. Talents: tripod handstand and guitar. Favorite music: punk rock. Current craze: Chicken Tatsuta. Slightly protruding lower jaw, hence nicknamed “Shakure Wolf.” Known for his talk skills, he handles MCs during live shows, media Q&As, and member translation. Fluent in English, able to speak directly with foreign artists and media. Enjoys manga and films. Favorite foods: Chicken Tatsuta, Manjū no Cha no Shizuku, and Game-ni. Known to be a talkative drunk, often bothering Tanaka when intoxicated. Posts on X with the emoticon “(^^).”

Kamikaze Boy – Bass, backing vocals, lyrics, composition. Talents: hunting and bass. Favorite music: rock. Current craze: tequila. Married. Nicknames: “Boi-san,” “Namikaze.” The tallest and thinnest member, favors skinny pants. Often hungover after shows due to afterparties. Known as a “rain wolf.” Frequently late or mistaken, earning him the nickname “broken unit.” Has the highest “confusion rate” on Twitter. In live shows, he bites the neck of his bass as part of his performance, which reportedly broke his teeth, leaving one replaced. Posts on X with the emoticon “(｢ﾟДﾟ)｢ｶﾞｳｶﾞｳ.” In May 2022, he was reported for a scandal involving a woman, leading to a suspension of his activities on May 19 of that year.

DJ Santa Monica – DJ, sampling, composition. Talents: self-power generation, DJing, Awa Odori dance. Favorite music: hip-hop. Current craze: eco-bags. Nicknames: “Santa,” “San-chan.” Tongue sticking out opposite of Tanaka’s. Has never been to Santa Monica. Known as the “record-spinning party guy,” he is cheerful yet delicate and sensible.

Spear Rib – Drums. Likes eating and playing drums. Favorite music: heavy metal. Current craze: spare ribs. Nickname: “Rib-chan.” The smallest member, always with an open mouth. Ends sentences with “–niku” (“–meat”) on Twitter and signs autographs with the character “肉” (meat). Idol-like presence but often sharp-tongued. Likes cola and spare ribs. Aware of his high female popularity, which Jean-Ken Johnny describes as being “at the peak of self-indulgence.” Posts on X with the emoticon “ニク(･∀･).”

E.D. Vedder – Guitar. A different person from Eddie Vedder. Wears a hooded sweatshirt and a white mask. Composed several songs including “Feel and Think.” At festivals, before the main set begins, staff members dressed like Vedder and MWAM members perform sound checks, creating a visual mirroring of the band.

Project Start – Indie Era
On March 7, 2010, the project was officially announced, and they held their first live show the same day at Shibuya eggman during the joint event “Bar Come On Rock!! Vol.3” by Bar “Rock no Kokoro” and eggman. On March 15, they released the music video for “DON’T LOSE YOURSELF” on YouTube. On June 25, during the “World Standard Development Vol.4” event at eggman, they sold their first self-produced three-track single “MAN WITH A MISSION,” available only at the venue.

On November 3, they released their debut mini-album WELCOME TO THE NEWWORLD from FROM YOUTH TO DEATH RECORDS, limited to 10,000 copies, marking their national debut. The previously announced track “DON’T LOSE YOURSELF” was later used as the January 2012 theme song for tvk’s Mutoma. From November 17, they embarked on a four-date U.S. tour, during which Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler reportedly shouted “Cool!” after seeing a poster for the tour and repeatedly mentioned the album title WELCOME TO THE NEWWORLD on stage, drawing attention.

On March 17, following the Great East Japan Earthquake, they released a statement on their official blog and shared a new charity song, “RAIN OF JULY,” on MySpace and YouTube, with proceeds donated entirely to disaster relief. On April 6, they released the single “NEVER FXXKIN’ MIND THE RULES,” limited to 2,029 copies. On April 8, they began their 11-date national tour “MAN WITH A MISSION JAPAN MARKING TOUR 2011.” On April 28, they officially announced their major debut from Nippon Crown.

On June 8, they released their full album MAN WITH A MISSION under CROWN STONES, marking their major debut. The track “FLY AGAIN” was used as the June 2011 theme song for Mutoma and the ending theme for TV Tokyo’s Goddotan. The album tracks “FLY AGAIN,” “RAIN OF JULY,” and “DANCE EVERYBODY” were featured on 27 radio stations nationwide. On June 20, as earthquake relief, they held food drives and delivered supplies in Ofunato, Iwate. On July 3, they performed their first solo show at eggman, drawing 398 people. On August 14, they appeared on the BEACH STAGE at SUMMER SONIC 2011 in Tokyo. On September 9, they hosted their first self-produced show, “MAN WITH A MISSION presents THE MISSION Vol.1,” at Shibuya CLUB QUATTRO.

On October 5, they released the Halloween-themed mini-album Trick or Treat e.p., including a cover of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and the lead track “Feel and Think.” From October 31, they held the 14-date national tour “Herbivorous Boys Extinction TOUR 2011/2012.”

The members of Man with a Mission were also featured in a poster campaign by Tower Records titled "No Music, No Life?", which began on September 13, 2011.

Mash Up the World

On May 27, 2012, MWAM held a show tour at Shibuya-AX with an attendance of 1,800 fans. It was an early performance for the band's Don't Feel The Distance tour set in November, which was meant to highlight one of the singles, "Distance", from their upcoming album. The single's earlier release on April 4 to the Oricon rankings saw it rise to #6 in the sales chart. The expected stops on the tour included Zepp Nagoya, Zepp Namba, and Zepp Tokyo. Pre-order tickets for all venues of the tour were sold out "instantly" across Japan. The band's second full album, Mash Up The World, was released on July 18, 2012. The band uploaded the music video for one of the album's singles, "From Youth To Death", onto YouTube on June 21, 2012. The official app for the album also included snippets of the single, along with two other original songs, "Mash UP The DJ!" and "Neutral Corner". "Distance"'s April release also saw it being chosen as the opening theme music for TV Asahi's Music Ru TV channel for the month. The band was also invited as guests to Japan Expo 2012, playing as the rock showcase on July 5, 2012.

Tales of Purefly
Their next single, "Emotions", which was used as a theme for the live action movie adaptation of the Hentai Kamen manga, was released on February 20, 2013. The follow-up single "Database" was used as the opening theme for the anime Log Horizon. Another song from the album, titled "Wake Myself Again", was used as the theme song for the live-action film of the manga Judge. Character models of the MWAM band were added to the Japanese release of the video game Pro Evolution Soccer 2015, along with the Tales of Purefly song "Higher", which was previously used in the Japanese version of World Soccer: Winning Eleven 2014 - Aoki Samurai no Chousen. The song "whatever you had said was everything" was featured in a commercial TV spot for the live action film Crows Explode, which is based on the manga Crows.

The World's On Fire
Man With a Mission performed the theme song for the anime The Seven Deadly Sins, titled "Seven Deadly Sins". The song peaked at #2 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 and stayed for 9 weeks. Their single titled "Raise Your Flag" was featured as the opening song for the anime Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans. The song also peaked at #2 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 and stayed for 17 weeks. The fourth studio album titled The World's On Fire was released on February 10, 2016, preceded by the album's third single "Memories". The first song on the album, titled "Survivor", was chosen by Capcom to be the image song for the video game Street Fighter V.

Chasing the Horizon
MWAM released the single "Dead End in Tokyo" on January 25, 2017; co-written, co-composed and co-produced by Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy, the song was used as the theme song for the movie Shinjuku Swan II. On June 27 of the same year, the band would release a second single entitled "Dog Days"; the song would be utilized in a TV commercial for Asahi Dry Zero beer in Japan. In 2017 they would also create the song "My Hero" to serve as the opening to the anime Inuyashiki as well as the song "Find You" to be used as the ending to the live action film adaptation of Anonymous Noise. The band collaborated with their fellow Japanese music group Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra in 2018 to create the song "Freak It!", which was released on February 2 and selected as the official song of Japan's Sunwolves Super Rugby team. On April 18, MWAM released the "Take Me Under/Winding Road" single. The band announced their fifth studio album, Chasing the Horizon, six days later; this album differs from their prior four in that this will be the first MWAM album to get an international release, while the album is set to release in Japan on June 6, it will be available digitally worldwide 2 days later and then an international version of the album will be physically released on August 10, 2018, featuring bonus materials. The single "Break the Contradictions" off the album was selected as the theme of New Japan Pro-Wrestling's 2018 G1 Climax, the company's premier tournament.

Ten-year anniversary
2020 marked the 10 year anniversary of the band's debut and they set out to do a number of things to celebrate the event. On February 17 they announced an outdoor festival called THE MISSION to celebrate this milestone; unfortunately due to the COVID-19 pandemic they were forced to cancel the festival. In addition to this festival, MWAM set out to release a trio of compilation albums; April 1 saw the release of Man with a "B-Sides & Covers" Mission while the following month saw the release of Man with a "Remix" Mission on May 17 with Man with a "Best" Mission slated to be released on July 15. On August 29 the band live streamed a concert from Zepp Tokyo online entitled MAN WITH A “REBOOT & LIVE STREAMING” MISSION, and during this show announced they would be releasing a trilogy of singles in the fall; the first single releases in October with two more to follow in November and December. On October 29 the band released the first of the singles, "Telescope", as well as broadcasting a live show from KT Zepp Yokohama online entitled MAN WITH A "Telescope" MISSION. The band released the second of their singles trilogy on November 29 entitled "All You Need" and celebrated the release with another live streamed show from Zepp Nagoya entitled MAN WITH A "All You Need" MISSION. Finally, on December 29 they released the final single, "evergeen", with a live streamed show from Zepp Fukuoka called MAN WITH A "evergreen" MISSION.

A new story begins
In their 2020 end of the year video posted to YouTube, the band announced that on February 9, 2021, a new story will begin. On January 21, 2021, they announced a new EP entitled One Wish e.p. to be released February 10. On April 28, the band released the single "Perfect Clarity". The band created the theme song for the Japanese release of Godzilla vs. Kong entitled "INTO THE DEEP", the single of the song is set to be released on June 9. The band culminated this by live-streaming the final show from their ONE WISH TOUR from Zepp Sapporo on May 14, featuring the debut of the "INTO THE DEEP" music video.

Break and Cross the Walls I and II
On October 2, 2021, the band announced they were set to release their sixth studio album Break and Cross the Walls I on November 24 of the same year. On March 14, 2022, the follow-up album Break and Cross the Walls II was announced with a release date of May 25. On April 23, the band performed a concert as part of the inaugural X Games Chiba event in Chiba, Japan. On May 8 MAN WITH A MISSION was featured on YouTube's fifth Music Weekend special event, showcasing a variety of recorded live performances by the band.

In 2023 they recorded "Kizuna no Kiseki / Koi Kogare" (with milet). It was used as an opening for the anime Demon Slayer.
Celebrating their 15th anniversary, they released "XV E.P." in March 2025 and embarked on the "HOWLING ACROSS THE WORLD" world tour.

http://mwamjapan.info/
https://www.crownrecord.co.jp/s/c01/artist/mwam/news
https://www.sonymusic.co.jp/artist/manwithamission/
https://x.com/mwamjapan
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