Aobozu (band)

Aobozu
Origin	Japan
Genres	Rock, punk rock, new wave
Years active	1999–present
Labels	Toy's Factory
Website	Aobozu Official Site
Members	Hozzy (vocals) Yūichi Tanaka (田中ユウイチ) (guitar) Shinichi Fujimori (藤森真一) (bass) Takurō Watanabe (渡辺拓郎) (drums)
Past members	Kamei (亀井) (drummer)

Aobozu (藍坊主, Aobōzu) is a Japanese rock band, signed to Toy's Factory. They debuted in 2003, with the album Aobozu.

Hozzy, Kamei and Fujimori were originally childhood friends, all coming from Odawara, Kanagawa. In 1999, they formed a band in called The Blue Bōzu (ザ･ブルーボーズ, Za Burū Bōzu) in 1999, that was a cover band for Japanese punk band The Blue Hearts. In 2000, they changed the band's name to aobōzu (藍坊主) - the name of a mythical yōkai (Japanese folk legend ghost), however with a different kanji for ao (藍 instead of 青). In 2001, Yūichi Tanaka (a friend of Fujimoris since kindergarten) joined the band as its guitarist. The band then centred their live activities in their hometown, as well as around the Tokyo areas of Hachiōji and Shimokitazawa.

In 2002, the band produced their first self-published CD: "Michi" (道, Street). The following year, the band independently released their debut album Aobozu through Buddy Records, and had their songs featured on many punk compilation albums.

In 2004, the band's drummer Kamei left, and was replaced by a classmate of Tanakas, Takurō Watanabe, as a session drummer. The band then made their major debut under Toy's Factory, Hiroshige Blue, which reached the top 30 on the Oricon albums charts.

Since then, the band has toured exclusively, gradually gaining more fame. Their 2010 album Mizukane reached the top 10 on Oricon.

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