“Don’t Stay”, 1999 For Life.
No’where formed in 1997. Founded by actor brothers Takashi Kashiwabara (柏原崇) and Shuji Kashiwabara (柏原収史), which they were respectively the vocalist and guitarist of, No’where unsurprisingly became a major act just a few months after their formation and signed to For Life. In August of 1998, No’where released their first single, which was the promotional “Another World”, and later released the full single of the same name a few weeks later. Used as an opening theme for the popular drama Rendezvous (ランデヴー), which Takashi was an actor in, the single was a huge commercial success, and No’where then released their third single, “Don’t Stay”, in January of 1999, to similarly strong sales. In June of 1999, the group released their fourth single “Low Down”, which was another success for the group, and by the summer of 1999, No’where had surprisingly achieved great success in China, and the country proceeded to release their material that year, making No’where one of the few Japanese bands to find great success in China. In July of 1999, No’where released their first full length album “Bawl Out”, which, while it didn’t exactly have the same strong sales of their singles in Japan, the album proved to be a surprising smash hit in China. That August, the group played their first live in China in Taipei, with reportedly over 30,000 people in attendance. Despite their impressive success, No’where soon afterwards faced trouble with the For Life label, and the group then quietly dissolved in early 2000, supposedly due to how bad the tensions between the group and label got. Both Takashi and Shuji retired from the music scene afterwards and continued on as actors, with Takashi specifically maintaining a strong cult following in China. Bassist Maru went on to join the indies group Iolite, which he was active in until it also split in late 2001. He then became a member of the metal group Cloud Nine, and also joined the supergroup Hyper Rock. While Hyper Rock eventually split in 2003, Maru remained active as a member of Cloud Nine until eventually leaving in 2007. He then moved to the US and joined his first non-Japanese band Lovechild under his full name of Yoshitake Tanakamaru (田中丸善威). He soon after left, however, and joined the Los Angeles based Otto’s Daughter, which he left as well after less than a year in. After he left Otto’s Daughter, Yoshitake then retired from the music scene in general. The drummer of No’where, Osamu (修), went on to form his own solo project Osamu Metal 80’s, and also formed several other groups afterwards as well. Although each group has since dissolved, Osamu remains active in his Osamu Metal 80’s project today.