quaff formed in 2001 around Tokyo-born guitarist MAKITO. While many bands mostly do lives their first year, and may release a single, quaff had an explosive start, putting out an album their very first year, and one for each of the two following years!
The band has continued at a steady pace on the live front and in releases, despite some member changes. In 2006 guitarist NEMO-CHI left and was replaced by TAKUMA. The following year their drummer yoshikazu left and HAL took over on drums.
With a title track boasting an unprecedented hard rock flavor, their mini-album THE EXPLOSION went on sale in March 2008, and its songs will soon be exploding onto the American music scene as well. In September, quaff embarked on a U.S. tour covering seven states, 20,000 miles, and followed up with a documentary of footage from the tour in January. This was a big step in the history of this band, who have dreamed of playing overseas since their formation.
In March of 2009 they returned to the U.S. for another tour, quaff U.S. TOUR 2009 02 SXSW "IMPACT," in Texas. This was followed in May with the release of another full album, SHAKE YOUR BOOTY!. U.S. fans didn't have long to wait before quaff's returned in November, this time to Virginia for the anime convention Anime USA.
At the beginning of the following year, quaff announced their return to the U.S., but this time only in New York and Texas. Just before the tour started, they released Unknown From Oversea, which was also distributed throughout the U.S. tour.
Despite the apparent determination for this band to build a reputation and to continue growing in the music industry, it was announced at the beginning of September that all band members with the exception of MAKITO would be leaving the band. The five members were replaced by four members, and this time they are now a full-fledged visual kei band.
quaff mixed styles and sounds from a broad range of Asian contexts - from Japanese theatre to South and Southeast Asia, surprising and delighting those who hear their one-of-a-kind brand of rock. Now, with such a drastic change, it is unknown if their music style will also change. Without adding another MC to the line-up to replace UKISEMI, it seems the style most likely will change quite a bit.
