Hirasawa has called Mandrake's first concert featuring original material 'an unforgettable day of humiliation'. They worked on original material, which pivoted stylistically towards progressive rock after Abe suddenly took up the violin, quickly completing the 19-minute long song 'Deranged Door' ( 錯乱の扉, Sakuran no Tobira). During a train ride to a rehearsal, Abe and Hirasawa-propelled by an obsession with the Third Ear Band-decided to name the band 'Mandrake' after thumbing through an alchemy book.

For their first concert-a dance party for Takashimaya employees-they covered five Black Sabbath songs. įrom that day on, the quartet rehearsed weekly. The other, drummer Sadatoshi Tainaka ( 田井中　貞利), was an immigrant from Chikujō who had played with a 3/3 member. As the band had no bassist, he became one. One was Yasumi Tanaka ( 田中　靖美) of Tama, another who did not fit the playing options school provided him.

Their fortunes turned in late 1973 when two applicants answered an advertisement soliciting heavy rock musicians to meet at the Higashi-Koganei Station turnstiles. They briefly undertook a correspondence course on jazz as Hirasawa felt they could have better chances in that scene. Yet only saw a community of seediness and music tied to the entertainment industry. The duo spent the rest of the year looking for like-minded fellows to form a band at and near the few established rock kissaten in Shinjuku, Kichijōji and Harajuku. They only got as far as playing one concert. Abe was the vocalist while Hirasawa played electric guitar and blues harp, both used custom electronic devices to make sounds. Their first attempt was a heavily improvisational originals band that made 'an imitation of white people blues'. Lacking money to fix it, he took up Abe's proposal. Not long after, a truck ran a red light and hit him, totaling his motorcycle. Hirasawa was intrigued at his aim to play 'deranged music', but turned him down. A mutual acquaintance advised Abe to visit Hirasawa, who hadn't been in a band in years and switched his hobby of choice to motocross. History Formation and first lineup īy spring 1972, Shitamachi high schoolers Fumiyasu Abe ( 安部　文泰) and Susumu Hirasawa were musicians with unusual tastes unsatisfied with their playing opportunities. Bootleg and demo recordings of some Mandrake songs were released over 2 albums in 1997, to date the only official releases of any material by the band. He has kept traits of progressive rock part of his writing style but has no desire to fully reembrace the genre. Guitarist Susumu Hirasawa is the only member that remains professionally active as a musician. After a farewell concert on New Year's Eve 1978, most of the band opted to reform as P-Model. New wave music had started to spread in the west by that point, a genre they saw as more fitting to their aims. They were unable to release any albums during their lifetime by the point they were approached by a label, most of their members felt the genre was no longer capable of supporting the themes they wished to explore. One of the few Japanese groups active during the genre's heyday, they distinguished themselves by developing a style of their own, harder than the jazz fusion hybrid most other Japanese groups played.

Mandrake ( マンドレイク) was a Japanese progressive rock band formed in Tokyo in 1973.

Mandrake label