The trio from Tokyo made their debut in 1997. The band began slowly with
Dream is not over, their first single released in July 2000. Their first album
Performation followed in July 2001. A year later, they released a new mini-album; the band was rather thrifty with their releases. In February 2004,
DOPING PANDA took part on a Disney cover album,
Dive Into Disney. Their music, combining rock disco sound with electronic arrangements, propelled them to the foreground of the indie music scene.
After their cover of
Go The Distance and the release of their album
WE IN MUSIC in May,
DOPING PANDA participation on another Disney release,
Mosh Pit on Disney, this time interpreting a song from "The Little Mermaid,"
Under the Sea.
The band made their major debut with the release of the album
High Fidelity during spring 2005 under gr8! Records, a division of Sony Music. This status change seemed to boost their productivity, and they released another album only four months later.
In April 2006, the band came out with
DANDYISM, which sold more than 50 000 copies.
DOPING PANDA was heading to the forefront of the major rock scene, and their success didn't stop: "
DOPING PANDA mania" was growing continuously. The band went on tour, playing at ZEPP Tokyo and STUDIO COAST, but they also played in other prefectures where most of the shows were sold out. As summer festival season started, the band took part in
ROCK IN JAPAN, RISING SUN ROCK FESTIVAL, SUMMER SONIC and other festivals, where countless fans and curious people profited from their performance on stage.
During the autumn, the band embarked on their second national tour called
TOUR06 DOPANISM and ended the year with
COUNTDOWN JAPAN's live. Right after that, they took part on the musical tribute to the manga and anime "DEATH NOTE" with the song
MIRACLE. In the same year,
m-flo released series of love songs, one of which -
she loves the CREAM - was dedicated to
DOPING PANDA. Later,
Furukawa participated in the final performance of
m-flo's tour at Yokohama.
The year 2007 was just as good to the band who started the year with a single,
Can't Stop Me. A tour followed and once again most of the dates were sold out. Then the trio released a mini-album in June and played at
SUMMER SONIC once again, sharing the stage with famous International bands. Vocalist
Yutaka Furukawa also took part in the single
LOSE YOUR MIND by
BoA.
In 2008, the album
Dopamaniacs was released and was well received, making it to the 18th place on the Oricon charts. The three friends embarked then on a 32-date tour, reuniting with more than 15 000 fans. Most of the tickets where sold for this tour, showing the band's popularity hadn't waned. 2008 also marked their first steps overseas, for the band participated in
GREAT ESCAPE FESTIVAL in Brighton, England the same year
monobright played. The band took the opportunity to follow the tour
IT CAME FROM JAPAN with
Vola & The Oriental Machine while they were in the UK. Later on in the year, the band also prepared the colorful single
Majestic trancer, featuring
m-flo.
The following year, the trio released two albums in same month as well as the single
Beautiful Survivor, which was also used for the luxurious cosmetic brand SHISEIDO. The band then went on the
DOPING PANDA JAPAN TOUR, which is the still the longest tour they have ever gone on, even today.
2010 signaled the comeback of the band to the old continent with their participation at Japan Expo 2010 in France on July 1, which was also the first date of their
The Miracle Tour Europe 2010, which will take them to Germany, UK, Czech Republic and other countries.
Unfortunately, in 2012, the band decided that they would be unable to continue activities. They officially disbanded after their
DOPING PANDA 2012/04/19 live, which was held at Tokyo Dome City Hall on April 19th.
