Asterism (band)

History

The band Asterism formed after Yamaha’s 8th Music Revolution competition in 2014. There, Hal-ca played guitar as a solo act, while siblings Miyu and Mio performed together as the duo Ogi. Yamaha staff introduced the musicians, and the group was created. On November 1, 2015, still using the name Hal-ca, they won both the Outstanding Performance Award and the Audience Award at the Kyushu-Okinawa final round of Yamaha’s 9th Music Revolution. Their debut CD single, “Got Your Back/Wonder Rocket,” came out on June 15, 2016. The first EP, The Session Vol. 1, arrived in November 2017, featuring instrumental covers of Metallica, Judas Priest, and Ozzy Osbourne. A second EP, The Session Vol. 2, followed in January 2018 with covers of Rage Against the Machine, Rush, and Motorhead. That same month, the band started streaming live concerts from the Hard Rock Cafe in Fukuoka on Facebook. American bassist and producer Bootsy Collins shared one of those performances on his own Facebook page and reached out to collaborate. In August 2018, Asterism put out their first full album, Ignition, which included two songs produced by Collins with additional guitar from Buckethead, plus covers of the Beatles and Dio. International touring began in January 2019 with an Asia tour through China and Thailand. On March 2, 2019, they held their first one-man shows, “Welcome to Inferno Vol. Max,” at Graf in Fukuoka and at Shimokitazawa Liveholic. They returned to China in April and May for a six-city headlining run that included the Taihu Midi Festival in Suzhou. In August 2019, they played the Gangwon Rock Festival in South Korea, and in October they toured five cities across South Korea and China, also appearing at Music China 2019 at the Shanghai New International Expo. Their third EP, Guernica, was released in December 2020, followed by the full album Guernica+a in September 2021, which added four new tracks.