Abingdon Boys School

Abingdon Boys School (アビングドンボーイズスクール, abingudon bōizu sukūru^?, abbreviated as a.b.s, typeset as abingdon boys school) is a Japanese rock band fronted by Takanori Nishikawa (T.M. Revolution). Formed in 2005, the band shares a name with the British independent school Abingdon School, in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, the all-male school where British rock band Radiohead was established.

Members :

• Takanori Nishikawa (西川貴教, Nishikawa Takanori^?) – vocals (T.M. Revolution)
• Sunao – guitar
• Hiroshi Shibasaki (柴崎 浩, Shibasaki Hiroshi^?) – guitar (ex-Wands & ex-al.ni.co guitarist)
• Toshiyuki Kishi (岸 利至, Kishi Toshiyuki^?) – keyboard, programming, and turntables

Suport Members :

• Ikuo – bass guitar
• Kozy Hasegawa (長谷川 浩二, Hasegawa Kōji^?) – drums

History  :

In 2005, Abingdon Boys School released its first song, "Stay Away", an English-language song written by Nishikawa and composed by Shibasaki for the shōjo anime and manga series Nana tribute album Love for Nana ~Only 1 Tribute~. The band also recorded a cover of the Buck-Tick song "Dress" (ドレス, Doresu^?) that was featured on the tribute album Parade ~Respective Tracks of Buck-Tick~. The band's first live concert was performed on November 24, 2005, alongside Uverworld and Tsubakiya Quartet, a show presented by Japanese music magazine CD Data.

On September 3, 2006, the band announced that they would make their official debut through Sony Music Japan's Epic Records, which was also the label of Nishikawa's solo project T.M. Revolution. The band performed at the Japanese leg of Live Earth in Tokyo on July 7, 2007, and the first studio album was released on October 17, 2007. On July 16, 2008, Abingdon Boys School released a live DVD from the live concert they held in February 2008. The DVD was sold in two versions: a limited edition with two DVDs, different packaging, pictures, and stickers, and the regular edition with one DVD.^{[citation needed]}

In November 2009, Abingdon Boys School went on a tour through Europe, and this was accompanied by the release of a single and a b-sides compilation album titled Teaching Materials. Shortly after, a second studio album was announced for January 27, 2010, to be titled Abingdon Road. In addition to 6 new tracks, the album contains singles released since the band's first full album and a cover of "Sweetest Coma Again", originally found on Luna Sea: Memorial Cover.

All of the band's singles are songs that have been used in anime and video games; perhaps owing to Nishikawa's personal interests, having gone so far as to voice a few anime roles himself. "Innocent Sorrow" was used as the opening for D.Gray-Man; "Howling" and "From Dusk Till Dawn" for Darker Than Black and its sequel Ryūsei no Gemini; "Nephilim" for the PlayStation 3 game Folklore; "Blade Chord" and "Jap" for the Sengoku Basara series; "Strength" for Soul Eater, and "Kimi no Uta" for Tokyo Magnitude 8.0. "Fre@k $HoW", the b-side off their "Innocent Sorrow" single, was also used in a tribute compilation CD for the movie Death Note: the Last Name. A slightly modified version of the b-side off their "Jap" single, dubbed "Valkyrie -Lioleia Mix-", was also featured in the video game Monster Hunter tribute album Monster Hunter 5th Anniversary.

Abingdon Boys School are due to release a book containing scores of their singles on 12 November 2010.