Known for its genre-bending cocktail of indie rock, jazz, and world music, Japanese alternative rockers The Band Apart formed in Tokyo in 1998. Consisting of middle school friends Takeshi Arai, Kawasaki Kouichi, Hara Masakazu, and Kogure Eiichi, began playing thrash metal covers in the mid-90s under the moniker The Band Apart, a name borrowed from Quentin Tarantino's production company. Following a brief hiatus, the group re-emerged in 1998 with a much more personal sound, inspired by melodic punk acts like Hi-Standard and Husking Bee. After bringing bass player Hara Masakazu into the fold, The Band Apart released their first couple of EPs—Fool Proof (2001) and Eric. W (2002)—via Limited Records before delivering their studio debut K. & His Bike (2003) on their Asian Gothic imprint. Over the next few years, the four-piece focused on improving their live sets while experimenting with jazz and other genres on the albums Quake and Brook (2005) and Alfredo and Cavity (2006), both of which cracked the Top 10 of the Oricon charts. Subsequent releases such as the critically acclaimed Adze of Penguin (2008), Scent of August (2011), 14 Views of the City (2013), Mysterious Open World (2015), and Memories to Go (2017) also fared quite well on the local charts and continued to push the boundaries of rock music. In 2022, their ninth LP Ninja of Four climbed to Number 33 in Japan.