KIRA-KIRA★SNIPER (キラキラ★スナイパー) Ritsuko's college band
Jul 25, 2017 16:20:13 GMT -5
Post by tangerinesun on Jul 25, 2017 16:20:13 GMT -5
KIRA-KIRA★SNIPER (キラキラ★スナイパー)
More or less, GLITTER★SNIPER. KiraSuna for short.
L/R: Betty, Marilyn, Vivian, Serena on a
walkway in a bamboo grove above Old Kyoto
This was good old Marilyn's first (?) real band, reportedly out of the
Light Music Section of Kyoto Women's University.
Whether she was a student at KyoJo, I don't happen to know. There's
more than one Kyoto Women's, but Kyouto Joshi Daigaku is the one
named in their 1998 interview with Undown magazine. That institution
is a K-through-post-grad private education system unto itself, so you
could be affiliated at literally any level.
If you look, you'll see that currently they don't have a music program
as such. Just music education under the Education faculty.
That didn't stop Hiroshi Ohguri from teaching music there years ago.
So at least one heavy hitter has passed through.
If you were wondering, KK★S was where Ritsuko likely first appeared as
Marilyn. All the members had far-fetched English monikers. The bass player
picked her own name, and Ritsuko named everybody else. A bit sneakily.
KIRA-KIRA★SNIPER (March 1997 to 1999)
"4-piece girls band with an average height of 150cm"
They were sold on using "sniper" and added "sparkly" to glam it up.
Also, in Japanese you can't tell the difference between KIRA and KILLER.
"Denki Candy", "Twist Barbie" and "Antonio Devil"... all considered and rejected.
Except for the odd mention in an interview or a backgrounder on Keihan Girl,
what little I've ever seen about them comes from issues of Undown magazine,
a Japanese music news 'zine 1997–2003 from MRM out of Tokyo, distributed
for free at live venues.
The Lo-Q B&W photos are priceless.
Does this remind you of anybody?
KK★S clippings linked from here:
www.unknown24.net/misc/kirasuna/index.html
• Issue No.11: First Look introduction
• Issue No.13: Live concert review March 1998
• Issue No.14: Band profile by Shinji Kunimoto
• Issue No.15: Band interview Part I – random blabbing about names
Issue No.16: Band interview Part II is missing and unaccounted for. Either
the interview didn't run, or the website couldn't get a tearsheet to scan.
Or the site owner is a scattered flake, which seems true anyway.
〜〜〜〜〜
Undown had stories on the band in 4 or more issues circa 1998, which
makes the editor a semi-fan I guess. They appear to have depended on
amateur enthusiast reports and re-reporting news from other sources.
The mission of the 'zine was to publicize scene-making local indy bands and
notable new talent, signed or unsigned. No info on how wide distribution
was, but they obviously paid attention to Kansai music towns like
Kyoto and especially Osaka.
"Undown" looks like a spelling joke, since the associated internet domain
is unknown24.net. Unknown + undone = Undown? The editor did a lot of
complaining about being too busy. There was a band UNDOWN with
Sony Music around the same time (1999–2002)
A relic of Undown still exists as BBRK, a bare-bones page of
news and notes about pop music talent academies.
www.unknown24.net/bbrk/
BBRK Info at twitter
twitter.com/bbrk_info
The Editor's "About" page:
www.unknown24.net/about.html
The Editor's twitter:
twitter.com/BBRK_PETE
#kirakirasniper #kirakira #kira-kira #sniper
More or less, GLITTER★SNIPER. KiraSuna for short.
L/R: Betty, Marilyn, Vivian, Serena on a
walkway in a bamboo grove above Old Kyoto
This was good old Marilyn's first (?) real band, reportedly out of the
Light Music Section of Kyoto Women's University.
Whether she was a student at KyoJo, I don't happen to know. There's
more than one Kyoto Women's, but Kyouto Joshi Daigaku is the one
named in their 1998 interview with Undown magazine. That institution
is a K-through-post-grad private education system unto itself, so you
could be affiliated at literally any level.
If you look, you'll see that currently they don't have a music program
as such. Just music education under the Education faculty.
That didn't stop Hiroshi Ohguri from teaching music there years ago.
So at least one heavy hitter has passed through.
If you were wondering, KK★S was where Ritsuko likely first appeared as
Marilyn. All the members had far-fetched English monikers. The bass player
picked her own name, and Ritsuko named everybody else. A bit sneakily.
KIRA-KIRA★SNIPER (March 1997 to 1999)
"4-piece girls band with an average height of 150cm"
They were sold on using "sniper" and added "sparkly" to glam it up.
Also, in Japanese you can't tell the difference between KIRA and KILLER.
"Denki Candy", "Twist Barbie" and "Antonio Devil"... all considered and rejected.
| Role | Birth name | In English | Stage name | Named for |
| Vo./Gt. Bass Drums Keybds | 種子田 津子 芳添 純子 下津 恵美 ？田 知江 | Ritsuko Taneda [ reading indefinite ] [ reading indefinite ] [ legibility problem ] | MARIRIN SERENA BETTY VIVIAN | "The crazy-sexy-cool era" A dugong at the Toba Aquarium Ritsuko's image of a good baby name A sexy witch from a boys' manga serial |
Except for the odd mention in an interview or a backgrounder on Keihan Girl,
what little I've ever seen about them comes from issues of Undown magazine,
a Japanese music news 'zine 1997–2003 from MRM out of Tokyo, distributed
for free at live venues.
The Lo-Q B&W photos are priceless.
Does this remind you of anybody?
KK★S clippings linked from here:
www.unknown24.net/misc/kirasuna/index.html
• Issue No.11: First Look introduction
• Issue No.13: Live concert review March 1998
• Issue No.14: Band profile by Shinji Kunimoto
• Issue No.15: Band interview Part I – random blabbing about names
Issue No.16: Band interview Part II is missing and unaccounted for. Either
the interview didn't run, or the website couldn't get a tearsheet to scan.
Or the site owner is a scattered flake, which seems true anyway.
〜〜〜〜〜
Undown had stories on the band in 4 or more issues circa 1998, which
makes the editor a semi-fan I guess. They appear to have depended on
amateur enthusiast reports and re-reporting news from other sources.
The mission of the 'zine was to publicize scene-making local indy bands and
notable new talent, signed or unsigned. No info on how wide distribution
was, but they obviously paid attention to Kansai music towns like
Kyoto and especially Osaka.
"Undown" looks like a spelling joke, since the associated internet domain
is unknown24.net. Unknown + undone = Undown? The editor did a lot of
complaining about being too busy. There was a band UNDOWN with
Sony Music around the same time (1999–2002)
A relic of Undown still exists as BBRK, a bare-bones page of
news and notes about pop music talent academies.
www.unknown24.net/bbrk/
BBRK Info at twitter
twitter.com/bbrk_info
The Editor's "About" page:
www.unknown24.net/about.html
The Editor's twitter:
twitter.com/BBRK_PETE
#kirakirasniper #kirakira #kira-kira #sniper