Flower Travellin' Band

Flower Travellin' Band
Flower Travellin' Band performing in New York City in 2008.
Background information
Also known as	FTB Flower Travelling Band Yuya Uchida & the Flowers
Origin	Tokyo, Japan
Genres	Psychedelic rock progressive rock heavy metal hard rock
Years active	1967 (1967)–1973 (1973) 2007 (2007)–2011 (2011)
Labels	Polydor Atlantic GRT Warner Pony Canyon
Website	flowertravellingband.com
Past members	Joji "George" Wada Yuya Uchida Remi Aso Katsuhiko Kobayashi Susumu Oku Ken Hashimoto Hiroshi Chiba Kento Nakamura Joe Yamanaka Hideki Ishima Jun Kobayashi Nobuhiko Shinohara

Flower Travellin' Band (フラワー・トラベリン・バンド^?, Furawā Toraberin Bando) were a Japanese rock band that was formed in 1967. They were connected to Japan's counterculture movement and noted for their mixture of early heavy metal with psychedelic and progressive rock. They received wide acclaim from critics but failed to achieve commercial success and separated in 1973 to pursue individual careers. The band reunited in late 2007, but permanently disbanded after the 2011 death of vocalist Joe Yamanaka.

While the band's releases have never sold well they continue to be held in high regard by the music industry. Their albums have never been out of print and they continue to be made available on new audiophile formats such as SHM-CDs. Former members of the Flower Travellin' Band continue to perform FTB songs live together under the name Flower Power with other musicians.

The band was initially started as a side-project by Yuya Uchida when he returned to Japan after visiting his friend John Lennon in England in the mid 1960s, where he was introduced to various upcoming artists such as Cream and Jimi Hendrix. Yuya wanted to introduce a similar sound to the Japanese, and formed the "Flowers" as a cover band with various group sounds musicians, and two vocalists; male singer Hiroshi Chiba and female singer Remi Aso. They released the album Challenge! in 1968, featuring covers of songs by Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Jefferson Airplane and Big Brother and the Holding Company, in addition to an original song. The cover caused a stir in the Japanese media as it depicted each member posing naked.