Shapeen!! - Dancing Fool and Watching Fools

Shapeen!! is a Japanese punk rock band. Yohei (Vo/Gt), Kotaro(Ba), and Atsushi(Dr) formed Shapeen!! in 2002.

There was one thing in common for these guys. They were all big fans of the Ramones and not technical kind of players so they decided to play like their favorite band. Atsushi hit every 8 beat like Tommy Ramone, Yohei and Kotaro played their guitar and bass by only down stroke picking like Johnny and DeeDee. Even their playing style is close to the Ramones, their songs are somehow a little bit different from the originals. All Shapeen!! Songs are sung in Japanese and Yohei, writing all songs and lyrics, always tries to capture their own music through his Japanese cultural background. You can see these efforts through the name of the band, Shapeen!! Sometimes people ask what “Shapeen!!” means. It’s a Japanese expression of “keen” sound. Through their fast and hard playing style, they want to express their emotion as a sharp and keen hit of the katana (Japanese sword). There were some changes in members during the last few years. Since winter of 2010 the line up was fixed as follows: Yohei Tani (Vo/Gt), Minoru Isogai(Ba), and Takumi Matsuura(Dr).