Halloween 2000 marks the U.S. release date of Thee Michelle Gun ElephantΓÇÖs Gear Blues on Alive Records, including a hidden bonus track, ΓÇ£Jenny,ΓÇ¥ never before available on CD outside Japan.
Thee Michelle Gun Elephant was formed in 1991. Since then the band has been presenting its pub-rock/British punk musical style to audiences. In October 1995, the band released its debut album, Wonder Style, on CD and vinyl from an independent record company, recording the debut single and album in London. All tracks were engineered by Chris Brown, who is known for his work with Radiohead and Elastica.
In February 1996, TMGE released its first single, "World's End," from Nippon Columbia's Triad label, and the album Cult Grass Stars followed in March, having a massive impact on the Japanese rock music scene and propelling a successful tour.
The maxi-single "Candy House" and the album High Time followed, along with the single "Lily" and the video "Thee Michelle Gun Elephant Play Maximum Rockin' Blues," which entered the Japanese national chart at number five. The sold-out High Time tour followed, along with the maxi-single "Culture" and the re-release of "Wonder Style" aimed at a wider audience.
TMGE started recording its third album in July '97, taking breaks to perform many reputation-building one-off events. The single "The Birdmen" followed, along with a third album, Chicken Zombies. In 1998 they went on the road again for the World Chicken Zombies tour, then appeared before an audience of 50,000 at the Fuji Rock Festival in Tokyo, among other acts such as the Prodigy, Primal Scream, Garbage, Stereophonics, SonicYouth, Ian Brown, and Beck.
In the years since, they've released the hit singles "G.W.D," "Out Blues," and "Smokin' Billy" and a fourth album Gear Blues, followed by the World Psycho Blues tour. They also performed at such prestigious music festivals in Japan and played gigs in London and launched their first U.S. tour.
The band's fifth album, Casanova Snake, was released in March 2000, with its first single, "GT 400" out the month before. They've since completed a sold-out tour of Japan, including, again, the Fuji Rock Festival, but this time headlining the second day. Their latestΓÇöand 11thΓÇösingle, "Baby Stardust," was released in September..
