Draft:ZIN-SÄY! (Band)

ZIN-SÄY! (人生／ジンセイ／Jinsei／Life) was a Japanese punk / electronic / new wave group formed in Early-1985 by Takkyu Ishino and Saburou Tatami (now Pierre Taki), and broke up in 1994. The band has been through many lineups over time.

Formation and Early Days (1985-1986)
Takkyu Ishino & Saburou Tatami formed ZIN-SÄY! in Early 1985 when Ishino was only 17 years old. The duo started working on music together, and later adding more and more members. They played their first concert at Shizuoka Circus Town, Shizuoka Prefecture, on March 25, 1985. There is footage of this concert, but it is very poor quality and the song they’re playing in the video is unknown. There’s no source of any other concerts, until Mid to Late 1985. Tatami at one point was fired from the band because he kept overdosing. He was Re-hired but was forced to dress up as a woman. You can see Tatami as a woman at one of their later concerts, also at Shizuoka Circus Town. After that same concert, Kazumi “Kera” Kobayashi, owner of Nagomu Records, signed them a record deal. They recorded what would later be their debut album, 9 Tunes (For Mirai).

Early Nagomu Records Era (1986-1987)
ZIN-SÄY! gained slight popularity after their first release, but they blew up at a concert in late 1986, with other bands such as Sine Sine Dan (死ね死ね団), Mokugyo  (木魚), Gendou Missile (ゲんドうミサイル), Kera (ケラ), Bachikaburi (ばちかぶり), and Kinniku Shoujo Tai (筋肉少女帯). The concert was put on a cassette tape, called 昔、ナゴムレコードがあった. (Mukashi, Nagomu Records ga atta. / Long ago, there was Nagomu Records). The tape shows ZIN-SÄY! playing 3 songs, including All Night Long, the song that got them famous. In 1987, ZIN-SÄY and a bunch of other bands, teamed up together to be put on two Nagomu Records compilations. Those albums were Nagomu Omnibus II, and 子どもたちのcity (Kodomotachi no City / Children’s City) ZIN-SÄY celebrated the release of the two albums by releasing a single with their songs on the compilations called Techo Gourmet, and playing a big concert on January 20, 1987, in the Electric Lady Land venue, in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture. Almost 200 people showed up to the concert, and there is really good quality footage of the show. When they played All Night Long, the crowd went nuts, jumping everywhere. The lineup of the band was Sequential Tom, Saburou Tatami, Takkyu Ishino, Mimio Ijyuin, Obaba (Express Bundoki), and Kymn (Kim) Glison. Tatami was now dressed up as a monk, and he believed he was God, referring to himself as Golgo (ゴルゴ). Tatami even wrote a song for the band called “ 俺が畳だ！殿様だ！” (Ore ga Tatami da! Tonosamida! / I am Tatami! I am the lord!), but he allowed the band to release it in 1988. In 1987, ZIN-SÄY! released 3 Albums in 1987, called Love (recorded February, released April) Fascination (recorded April, released July) & HI’LDE Vol. 4 (recorded September, released October).

Leaving Nagomu Records (1988)
ZIN-SÄY! started getting more and more popular, which meant they had to leave Nagomu Records. Their last works with Nagomu Records was a compilation tape, called All That Nagomu, where almost 20 bands played a concert at the Shinjuku Loft. Each band had one song put on the tape, ZIN-SÄY had their song Paul Lemos, named after the member from Controlled Bleeding. ZIN-SÄY decided to become a punk band, with Takkyu and Tatami on vocals, Obaba (Express Bundoki) on guitar, Mimio Ijyuin on Bass, Kymn (Kim) Glison on keys, and Sequential Tom on Drums. ZIN-SÄY! recorded their last album with Nagomu Records, called ‘As a Face…’. Eventually, Captain Records signed a record deal with them. Captain Records wanted to hear what they sounded like, so they recorded a short, 5 song album, called Burba Papa. Now that ZIN-SÄY was signed with a bigger record label, they started appearing on TV, and even did an advertisement to let fans know that they could call and talk to Captain Records.

“Goodbye Obaba” Tour & Release of Burba Papa (1989-1991)
In late 1989, Obaba, temporarily left ZIN-SÄY!. The band did a big tour with him before he left, called the Goodbye Obaba Tour. Obaba did join back in 1990, though. We don’t have evidence on why Obaba left the band. In 1991, ZIN-SÄY! officially released Burba Papa, and it became a huge success. This was their first album released on a CD, which is one of the reasons why it became a huge success.

Collapse of ZIN-SÄY! (1992-1994)
ZIN-SÄY! announced that they might break up in 1992. The band didn’t though, and came back to Nagomu Records (in 1989 it was renamed to Nagomu Company) and re-released all the music they released on a two-parter CD, which were sold separately. These albums were named Substance III & Substance V, jokingly named after Joy Division’s album Substance. ZIN-SÄY! eventually started to crumble over time, and officially broke up in 1994. Takkyu Ishino and Saburou Tatami formed what is now Denki Groove in 1989, and is still around today.

Final Lineup

 * Takkyu Ishino (Vocals) 1985-1994
 * Saburou Tatami (Vocals) 1985-1994
 * Kymn (Kim) Glison (Keys) 1985-1994
 * Obaba (Express Bundoki) (Guitar) 1985-1989/1990-1994
 * Sequencial Tom (Drums) 1987-1994
 * Mimio Ijyuin (Bass) 1986-1994
 * Hitori Etsu (Substitute Keys) 1991

Former Members

 * Chururuchotchutchuruchuruiē-mono-chi (Background Vocals) 1985
 * Potepia-83 SAI (Background Vocals) 1985


 * Kuchidzuke (Background Vocals) 1985

Session Members

 * Ohtsuki Kenji (Background Vocals) 1987
 * Chiyumi Ten (Background Vocals) 1987
 * Kera (Background Vocals) 1987
 * Takkyu Ishino’s Sister (Background Vocals) 1987

Discography

 * 9 Tunes (For Mirai) (1986)
 * Techo Gourmet (1987)
 * Love (1987)
 * Fascination (1987)
 * HI’LDE Vol 4. (1987)
 * Home Taping is Live Music (1988)
 * As a Face… (1988)
 * Burba Papa (1991)
 * Substance III (1992)
 * Substance V (1992)
 * ZIN-SÄY! (2006)