Sadistic Mika Band
In a time when it was still rare for women to sing in rock bands in Japan, the fact that the Katōs were a married couple was even more unusual.
[1] As Katō was already famous, the couple attracted much media attention, including an interview by the newly launched An An magazine.
[1] Impressed by the United Kingdom's burgeoning glam rock scene led by T. Rex and David Bowie, Katō set about forming a new group in his native Japan to emulate the style.
[7][8] Tsunoda subsequently left the band in September, replaced by Yukihiro Takahashi, with lead guitarist Masayoshi Takanaka and bassist Ray Ohara also joining the group.
Keyboardist Yu Imai, who had previously worked as a support musician on the band's first album, was promoted to a full member.
[9] Kawasaki noted that Mika's "eccentric" and "bad" singing drew criticism, but praised Kazuhiko's foresight in anticipating this trend, given how the style later gained prevalence in the 1980s with acts such as Debbie Harry and Strawberry Switchblade.
[11] Throughout October 1975, the band played live in the United Kingdom supporting Roxy Music on the European leg of their Siren Tour, including a show at Wembley Arena.
Photographs from this appearance were later published in the book S/M/B/2 (2006, Shinko Music) by Masayoshi Sukita, who was a close friend of the band.
He had a successful solo career after the Sadistic Mika Band broke up; pursuing a ska direction before acquiring interest in European experimental music.
Most of his solo work employed the talents of the other former Sadistic Mika Band members and other notable guest artists such as Ryuichi Sakamoto, Haruomi Hosono and Akiko Yano.
He released two acoustic albums with Kōnosuke Sakazaki of The Alfee under the name Kazukoh in 2007 (Golden Hits) and 2009 (Happy End),[13] and formed a new band called Vitamin-Q in 2008.
Yu Imai went on to form the group Imitation and collaborated with members of Sandii & the Sunsetz and Talking Heads.
He was also the chief musical collaborator with English lyricist Chris Mosdell on three of his solo albums, Equasian (also with Kazuhiko Katō), The Oracles of Distraction, and Fingerprints of the Gods – the latter being the sonic setting of the Graham Hancock book of the same title.
Kazuhiko Katō, Yukihiro Takahashi and Masayoshi Takanaka participated all three times, joined by a different female lead vocalist and supporting musicians.
[16] Tsugutoshi Gotō returned on bass, Yumi Matsutoya (AKA Yuming) provided the female vocals, while Ryuichi Sakamoto played keyboards.
[17] In 2006, the core trio and Ohara teamed up with 22-year-old pop singer Kaela Kimura to become the Sadistic Mica Band Revisited for a Kirin Beer commercial.
[18] This lineup, now dubbed the Sadistic Mikaela Band,[3] released the album Narkissos on October 25,[19] which sold 92,568 copies and ranked number 147 on the yearly best-selling chart.
