J-ROCK WEEK – THURSDAY: STEREOPONY
Who ever said that girls couldn’t play in a rock band too?! If you’re looking for a louder, more down-to-earth band that doesn’t mind getting their hands dirty, then Steropony is for you.
A more recent pop rock band that was formed in 2007 by lead vocalist and guitarist Aimi Haraguni, bassist Nohana Kitajima and drummer Shiho Yamanoha, you could say they acheived popularity because of their pure talent. Originally known as Mixbox, they first gained notoriety by winning the 2007 Young People Music Festival contest’s grand prize. The Okinawa-based band soon renamed themselves to Steropony and signed on with Sony Records to make their big debut, in the form of their single featured above being used as the 17th ending theme for the anime Bleach. This same single, “Hitohira no Hanabira,” also placed second in Rocochuko’s Newcomer Contest as well as hitting no.25 on Oricon’s sales charts. Steropony went on to produce singles for more anime such as Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Darker than Black and Eureka Seven: Astral Ocean.
Probably one of the shortest-lived rock successes in Japan, Stereopony proved that rock music wasn’t ruled by males only. In fact, their music hit harder than most other bands, and possessed some really sharp guitar chords and mean bass lines. Bridging the gap between pop rock, punk and garage rock, Stereopony’s music was something that never dressed itself up in fancy studio effects or added an instrument that wasn’t guitar, bass or drums. If you wanted rock music, these girls would give it to you straight.
Unfortunately, Aimi’s continuing throat pains disrupted the band’s popularity streak and forced the trio to go on hiatus in 2012. During this time, Aimi went into throat polyp surgery and Nohana and Shiho left to study music abroad. After one month, the band convened and ultimately decided to break up due to Aimi’s condition creating an inability to sing properly. Since then, all three members have gone on to pursue their own individual musical careers, but one can only imagine the stylistic progression and even greater popularity Steropony could have achieved had they stayed together.
Advent Seven 
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