PureVolume

Chiba-Ken was formed in New York City in 2003 by lead singer George William. The name comes from a town in Tokyo, Japan where George was staying at the time. Upon returning to New York, George, a trained actor and singer who was performing as "Tony" in the Off-Broadway hit "Tony-n-Tina's Wedding" as well as a guest role on "All My Children", met up with drummer Jason D'Amelio and guitarist Elias Tannous, two musicians who had been veterans of the NYC rock circuit as teenagers. The next piece of the puzzle came by way of Kazakhstan, a place made famous recently by the movie "Borat".
Guitarist Julian Petrov, who was born in Kazakhstan, was living in Israel singing and playing guitar in his former band. Julian decided to relocate to America and after auditioning in front of a board of US officials, he was granted an Artists' Visa.
Julian auditioned and was accepted into Chiba-Ken and his first show was opening for none other than Iron Maiden at the Blossom Music Center in Ohio in June of 2008. It was a dream come true for the band and for Julian especially.
Chiba-Ken returned to their studio in Long Island and began writing new music. They recorded their second full length album entitled "Hard To Be Human" with producer Mike Watts (As Tall As Lions). The band relocated to Los Angeles in June of 2009 and after playing the world famous Whisky A Go-Go and Viper Room they quickly gained notoriety as one of the Sunset Strip's best new rock bands. It was there that they met and teamed up with bassist Hal Berkstresser. A Berklee School of Music grad, Hal has been recording and touring since he was 14 years old, and is an exciting new add to the band.
Notes:

-Chiba-Ken released the 2005 EP Faces of the Moment and toured the mid-west and northeast.

-The band returned to their house in Long Island where they were living together at the time, and played a few showcases for record labels in NYC. They played one of the last shows at CBGBs, where they were spotted by Gotham Records and consequently signed with them.

-Chiba-Ken released their first full length album Are We Innocent? on Gotham records in 2007

-Chiba-Ken released their latest album Hard To Be Human in March 2009.

Quote from lead singer George William :
In the 5 years of our existence we have seen members come and go, promises made and broken, been praised and criticized, loved and hated. We have been both victor and victim in our young career, and the experiences encountered so far have been lessons in life that have changed us forever. Not everyone gets the opportunity to be in a band, to live with the other members, to entwine your life with theirs, to put forth your creative ideas and watch as they are stretched, twisted, torn, destroyed, buried, resurrected, destroyed again, and sometimes…used. Not everyone gets the opportunity to ride around the country in a cargo van with no seats, no AC, no GPS, during a summer heat wave with 4 other smelly dudes, only to get to the next bar, next house, or next tent where there might be no people, no sound guy, no PA, or worse yet…no beer. But these are all opportunities. I feel bad for those that will never know the feeling of being onstage and having someone yell at you, spit at you, or throw something at you, because they will also never know the feeling of being onstage and having people sing with you, cheer for you, and applaud for you. We’ve played backyards for 30 people, and music houses for 3,000 people, but every time we step on the stage were the same band, playing the same songs for the same reason. We do it, because its part of who we are, part of our lives, and part of the world were in. Thank God we have such strong support from the family and friends that we have, because to be in a band is like swimming in a shark tank and you need as many life rafts as you can. Its sink or swim, theres no rest for us. The second you stop swimming…you sink. We’ve been swimming for 5 years looking for the shoreline. Sometimes you think, maybe well never see it, maybe well never make it there, maybe the sharks will get us. But then you say…fuck it, its better to die out here then to never have jumped in the water in the first place.


Notable Acts we've opened for: Iron Maiden, Ill Nino, From Autumn to Ashes, Glassjaw, God Forbid, Powerman 5000, Kitty, 40 Below Summer, Black Market Hero, Byzantine, Biology, Sponge + many more..
We are currently sponsored by: Jagermeister, Sam Ash Music, Vic Firth, Rock Star Industry Clothing, Little Paw Skateboards

Instrumentation
George William - Vocals & Keys, Elias Tannous - Guitar, Jason D'Amelio - Drums, Justin D'Amelio - Bass, Julian Petrov - Guitar

Discography
Album - Hard to be Human 2009
Album - Are We Innocent? 2007
EP - Faces of the Moment 2005
Demo The Winter Sessions
Demo - Chiba-Ken

Chiba-Ken's radio promotion was handled by Munsey of Skateboard Marketing. Tracks from Are We Innocent? have been spun on radio stations including:

XM and Sirius Satellite, WSOU 89.5 Seton Hall Pirate RadioWNYU New York University96.9 FM “Free Radio” in San DiegoWLIU 88.3 FMThe X 88.9 Monmouth UniversityWSOE 89.3 fm – Elon RadioWWFM 89.1 – Mercer County CC RadioWTSR 93.1 fm – Trenton StateRadioX fm 94.7WLIX 104.5WFLY FM Wichita, KSWRHU Hofstra UniversityAlooga Radio Germany feauting DJ OtticTFG

RadioPodcasts include:
Aardvarks' NestDOGCASTDopeRadioTake a DriveOzzy MateLive From The HouseSlippery TangentsTeam K OnlineElmoCastRandom Teen CastZen and the Art of Triathlon Hate the RadioX Pat RadioPodcastpaulRock auf dem Vulkan Hate the RadioNorCal Pirate Radio The Little ShowTeam K OnlineX Pat Radiothe delicate art of noise pollutionRevolution RadioSquadcastThe Little Show