Acid Mothers Temple

Acid Mothers Temple
Acid Mothers Temple is a celebrated Japanese psychedelic band that was formed in 1995. The band is also known as AMT and the full name goes like Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. (Underground Freak Out).

The band has many offshoot bands as well that are equally popular. They release their albums on a number of international record labels as well as the Acid Mothers Temple family record label, which was established in 1998 to document the activities of the whole collective.

The guitarist Kawabata Makoto is responsible for the formation of band. He initially formed the band with the intention of creating extreme trip music. He was influenced by progressive rock like Karlheinz Stockhausen and krautrock and used to edit and dub previous recordings.

In the start the band featured many musicians, but by 2004 the line-up had coalesced with only a few core members and frequent guest vocalists.

The initial line up of the band consisted of Kawabata, Koizumi Hajime, Suhara Keizo, and Cotton Casino. The first released recordings were Kawabata's own mixes and overdubs.

The band released two self-titled tapes on their eponymous label in 1997 and began to tour overseas in 1998. Meanwhile, several other artists join in during tours and recordings which extended the lineup of the band.

These include drummer Ichiraku Yoshimitsu and guitarist Higashi Hiroshi along with several others. Bands like Floating Flower, Nishinihon, and Tsurbami were originated from the original one and the Acid Mothers Temple remained on top.

The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. was hugely popular and had their fans all across the globe. In the early 2000s, they played at sold-out shows and festivals all over North America, Japan, and Europe.

The 2002 proved to be an eventful year for the band as they released four albums and two EPs in a three-month span and took a tour of United States, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.

In the same year, Kawabata began his own solo offshoot and called it Kawabata Makoto & the Mothers of Invasion. He, along with Tsuyama Atsushi and Ichiraku Yoshimitsu created a jazz music album under this name.

The year 2003 saw a reemergence of the band as it toured Europe with Kawabata, Tsuyama, and Yoshida. A collaboration of Acid Mothers Temple and Gong called Acid Mothers Gong performed at the Royal Festival Hall in London in the same year.

Although long-time vocalist and synthesizer player Cotton Casino left the group in 2004 to concentrate on her own group and family; Acid Mothers Gong continued to tour and released four albums in a row.

They released one album with the collaboration of Afrirampo as well. Different offshoots of Acid Mothers Temple also kept releasing their albums most of which saw instant success.

The year 2005 saw the tenth anniversary of Acid Mothers Temple that was celebrated with the formation of new group called Acid Mothers Temple & the Cosmic Inferno.

The band consisted of Higashi Hiroshi, Tabata Mitsuru, Okano Futoshi, and Shimura Koji started their first European tour in June and releasing some albums.

Another band Acid Mothers Temple & the Incredible Strange Band was formed in 2006 by Tsuyama Akiko, Suhara Keizo, Aiko, and Kawabata Makoto which lad to Acid Mothers Guru after some changes.

Today, the AMT enjoys unparallel success and fame not only in their native country but all over the world. The band hosts its own yearly festival in Japan, Acid Mothers Festival, which is attended by various famous artists and thousands of fans.

The success galore is in full swing for the band and they are coming up with more surprises for their fans.