arigarnon friends

arigarnon friends play a high-powered blend of melodic punk, Mid-west emo and math rock. The band arose when the legendary PENs+ went on hiatus and guitarist extraordinaire Mao Ariga decided to form his own band. He recruited bassist Ginya Kato from his previous high school band Mayonaka Nikki. He then recruited one of the best young drummers in Japan, close friend Sho Sato who plays in the math rock band fulusu. Rounding out the line-up is guitarist Yuji Ino, one of the original members of NMFT-favorites bakyun the everyday. Together, Mao and Yuji bring out arigarnon’s secret weapon: the twin Jazzmaster attack!!

arigarnon friends’ music is heavy on melody and positive vibes with lyrics centred on youthful optimism and friendship. Fortunately, the sick guitar wizardry and jaw-dropping drum-work keep things from becoming too saccharine and the overall tone is 30% sweet, 70% BADASS.

notes:

Mao Ariga is the lead guitarist for PENs+ and Sho Sato recently became PENs+’ new drummer
Before Mao Ariga joined PENs+ he was in a high school band with Ginya Kato named Mayonaka Nikki. At the same high school a rival 3-pc band existed by the name of PENs+. Both Mayonaka Nikki and PENs+ competed in a prestigious nation-wide battle of the bands contest sponsored by Tokyo FM called Senkou Riot. And out of thousands of high school bands from across the country both bands were miraculously selected as finalists.（My mistake. PENs+ made it to the finals whereas Mayonaka Nikki were close but unsuccessful. Although Mao Ariga did succeed in smashing his guitar between songs. LOL)
Mayonaka Nikki broke up after the members graduated high school but Mao Ariga would join PENs+ as second guitarist and convert PENs+ into a 4-pc band.
PENs+’ fanbase grew throughout university and they became one of the hottest indie bands in Japan. They even travelled to Canada (of course I’m talking about NMFT!!)
But at the peak of their popularity PENs+ decided to go on hiatus after graduating university allowing primary songwriter Ryo Arai to study in Canada, travel around the world and become a professional graphics designer. Mao Ariga also concentrated on his career finding an office job that would give him very little time to make or perform music.
With a very limited amount of spare time Mao Ariga would write music as a solo act, but to perform live he decided to recruit his friends and perform as a band
arigarnon friends is a play on words combining Mao’s surname with one of his favourite bands (Algernon Cadwallader) and the fact his bandmates are long-time close friends