Visual Kei and Oshare Kei

Profile of Plastic Tree

Plastic Tree (プラスティック トゥリー) is a four man band and can be generally described as alternative, although their beginnings tend to be labeled as visual kei. The reason they chose Plastic Tree as their band name was because they wanted to combine two words: something artificial and something natural. Plastic Tree was formed 1993 and debuted in May 1995, they released their first mini-album on December 11 of the same year. Their sound has been influenced by bands such as Radiohead and The Cure, but their most recognizable signature is Ryuutarou's (vocalist) unique voice. Since forming, they have had 4 different drummers.

Band members:

有村竜太朗 Arimura Ryuutarou
-Vocal
-March 6, 1973
-Bloodtype AB

長谷川 正 Hasegawa Tadashi
-Bass
-November 16, 1970
-Bloodtype O

ナカヤマ アキラ Nakayama Akira
-Guitar
-January 16, 1971
-Bloodtype A

佐藤ケンケン Sato Kenken
-Drums
-January 8, 1978
-Bloodtype O

[u]Ex...

Plastic Tree (プラスティック トゥリー) is a four man band and can be generally described as alternative, although their beginnings tend to be labeled as visual kei. The reason they chose Plastic Tree as their band name was because they wanted to combine two words: something artificial and something natural. Plastic Tree was formed 1993 and debuted in May 1995, they released their first mini-album on December 11 of the same year. Their sound has been influenced by bands such as Radiohead and The Cure, but their most recognizable signature is Ryuutarou's (vocalist) unique voice. Since forming, they have had 4 different drummers.

Band members:

有村竜太朗 Arimura Ryuutarou
-Vocal
-March 6, 1973
-Bloodtype AB

長谷川 正 Hasegawa Tadashi
-Bass
-November 16, 1970
-Bloodtype O

ナカヤマ アキラ Nakayama Akira
-Guitar
-January 16, 1971
-Bloodtype A

佐藤ケンケン Sato Kenken
-Drums
-January 8, 1978
-Bloodtype O

Ex-members

ササブチ ヒロシ Sasabuchi Hiroshi (left in 2009)
-Ex-Drummer
-October 12, 1976
-Blood type A

大正谷　隆　Osyoudani Takashi (left in 2001)
-Ex-Drummer
-January 15, 1972
-Blood type B

Sound

Early in their career, their music was dark and had heavy visual kei influences. As time went on, their sound seemed to change and evolve with every album. Due to this, the band does not think that they should be placed into any certain genre.

Plastic Tree has also stated that their sound has been considerably influenced by British bands such as Radiohead and The Cure, though the most recognizeable signature of Plastic Tree is the melodic, child-like voice of Ryuutarou. It is often described as very 'ethereal', and adds to the unique quality of their music. Their sound is also aided by Ryuutarou's unique lyrics.

Plastic Tree's current sound ranges from hardcore rock to pop. Before the album Träumerei was released, Tadashi wrote nearly all the songs, usually with Ryuutarou writing lyrics. However, more recent releases have had Akira and Ryuutarou writing both lyrics and music more frequently.

Controversy Over Band Name

While it has been popularly speculated that the band's name was derived from Radiohead's song, Fake Plastic Trees, the formation of the band and the release of this song do not coincide properly.

In an interview with JaME, Ryuutarou explained the real meaning of their name.

Ryuutarou: When we had to name our band, Tadashi and I experimented with words. We said, ‘"Let’'s put 2 words together!"’, and "‘Why don’t we make a combination of something artificial and something natural."’, and said a variety of things like ‘steel’, and ‘stone’, ‘river’ etc. Finally we said ‘plastic’ and ‘tree’, then we said ‘"It'’s good.’", and then it was decided.

Even though their name may not have come from the Radiohead song, Radiohead is still a major influence on the band. It is common knowledge that Plastic Tree's リラの樹 (Rira no Ki) is a "cover" of Radiohead's My Iron Lung.