The 5,6,7,8s are a female, three-piece, Japanese rock and roll band, whose music is reminiscent of American surf music and garage rock. Each member is from Tokyo, Japan. The group have so named themselves because they do 1950s, '60s, '70s, and '80s rock. They do many covers from American rock and roll records.
The 5,6,7,8's formed when two sisters from Tokyo, Sachiko and Yoshiko "Ronnie" Fujiyama, who both shared a passion for rock and roll, founded the band in 1986 with four members (including themselves): Yoshiko on vocals and guitar, "Rico" on second guitar, "Yoshie" on bass guitar and Sachiko on drums. After a few line-up changes (including the bassist Yoshiko Yamaguchi, who was the bassist featured in the Kill Bill movie), they eventually ended up with three members, after Rico's and Yoshie's departure, with Yoshiko and Sachiko still in the band, Akiko Omo was now back in the band as the bass guitarist whom she had initially joined back in the early 1990s.
Even though the group mostly sing their songs in English, as they do many covers on American rock and roll records from 50's to 80's, their official website and most of their fansites and fanclubs are in Japanese, as they are most known in Japan and have done countless performances in their country.
Yoshiko was initially the lead vocalist, but as the band performed more rock and roll songs originally performed by female groups, every member had equal parts in vocals and sing simultaneously more often than not.
The 5,6,7,8's first started performing as a quartet in Tokyo and were recruiting many guest performers during their Australian tour, once even recruiting a male member, "Eddie". They first officially became a trio in 1992 before touring Australia.
The 5,6,7,8's recently became known in the West after their appearance in Kill Bill, performing "I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield", "I'm Blue" and "Woo Hoo" in a Tokyo club, "The House Of Blue Leaves". On the Special Bonus Features of the Kill Bill Volume 1 DVD, one of the features is of the 5,6,7,8's performing "I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield" and "I'm Blue" during filming of the movie, highly resembling a music video. The 5,6,7,8's song "The Barracuda" is featured in The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift Soundtrack.
They also became renowned for the use of their cover of The Rock-A-Teens song "Woo Hoo" in advertisements for Carling lager and Vonage VOIP service in 2004. The song reached 28 on the UK Singles Chart in 2004. The follow-up song was "I'm Blue", but that only reached 71 on the same chart a few months later.
The 5,6,7,8's also do many touring performances in numerous countries including their native Japan, China, Australia, and the United States.
NOTICE: This page is NOT run by the 5678's.
