We take a look back on the career of alternative rock band Jeepta and track some of the members' current projects.
Jeepta was formed in December 2004. The members at that time included vocalist/guitarist Taku Ishii, bassist and leader Hiroyuki Satou and drummer Nanako Aoki. The band’s name was taken from a picture book called Shoubou jidousha jiputa by Shigeo Watanabe, which has been translated into English as “Jeeper the Fire Engine”.
Guitarist choro joined the band in 2006 and they released their first single, Recall, on their own label the following April. It was limited to 500 copies, which sold out within two months.
In 2008, Jeepta released their first mini-album, Scenario, on ART BOX RECORDS and embarked on their first nationwide tour. Another mini-album, Shinkaron, and another nationwide tour quickly followed. They also performed at COUNTDOWN JAPAN that same year.
The year 2009 brought their first full album, Keikou to taisaku, as well as a video for the song Kokoro, which earned the band some media attention. Unfortunately, that August Aoki was forced to take a break from the band due to health issues. Daigo Ogasawara served as their support drummer until the end of October, when Aoki officially left the band. Daigo was then welcomed as an official member on October 29th.
On April 7, 2010, Jeepta made their major debut on the label pure:infinity with the single Nisshin geppo. It was a minor success, snagging a place in the low nineties on the Oricon charts. However, performances at major festivals like the ARABAKI ROCK FEST and ROCK IN JAPAN FESTIVAL followed that summer, gaining the band valuable exposure.
The year 2013 started very productively for the band, as they released two albums, Kakyou and Kaden, which were both sold exclusively through Tower Records. Unfortunately, they also announced that Jeepta would pause activities after their performance at the MURO FESTIVAL on July 14th in order for the members to pursue other projects and hone their skills as individual musicians.
Satou began performing as the support bassist for an indie rock band called Oi,sokonomichiakero soon after, becoming an official member in September 2014. Ogasawara continued his support work for CHROMATICRUN. Ishii started off playing unplugged solo lives before forming a rock duo with drummer John Nakamura simply called Taku Ishii & John Nakamura, which released a venue-only EP called Mekurumeku in June 2014.
choro was active as a guitar teacher at his music school Choroidea and performed at both solo instrumental guitar events and shows with other artists from the school, such as Yamashita Sou from LUNKHEAD. He also organized some unusual projects, such as a series of YouTube videos where musicians and music lovers ran up a hill as fast as they could called "Bandman ZENRYOKUZAKA", which was inspired by his love for TV Asahi's "ZENRYOKUZAKA". In addition, he performed as a support member of FoZZtone guitarist Noriaki Takeo's solo project takekings.
On October 7th, 2017, the members of Jeepta reunited for a special live at K'S DREAM, playing together for the first time in four years. Whether it was a one-off show or the sign of something bigger to come remains to be seen.
