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All sample videos contained in this article are publicly sourced and are reproduced here only for accessibility.

Following the immense success that was the rebooted 2006 LIVE-GYM—one that would set the tone for all B’z shows that followed—and its accompanying album, expectations were high in 2007. It was already presumed the band would have big plans for 2008 given it was their twentieth anniversary year, but what would precede it was still relatively unknown at the time. Fans speculated that the previous year’s live premiere of the English verison of “HOME” would possibly see a release in some form, but it was not there that the year began.

Instead, the first sighting of B’z activity was the announcement of their first international tie-in. The PlayStation 2 racing video game Burnout Dominator was released worldwide in March and featured an all-new B’z song in every territory entitled “FRICTION“. The song was included as a means of promoting the game primarily in Japan, but it would later be included the next year in the sequel game Burnout Paradise that was likewise released globally. The song was also published worldwide on iTunes at the same time as part of the soundtrack.

News

The official B’z website has been updated with its fifth countdown, this one ending at noon in Japan on Monday, May 5th. It bears noting that the source code on the site indicates as many as ten countdowns, so there should be no shortage of B’z news in the months ahead!

Additionally, the full version of “Still Alive” from the upcoming “Seimei/Still Alive” single was broadcast as part of Takuya Kimura’s radio show. Kimura, a longtime friend of the band, also starred in A LIFE on TBS for which the song served as a theme. The full version reveals that the song opens with an intro akin to “DIVE” and includes a guitar solo unlike any in the B’z catalogue to date.

News

The first teaser for one half of the upcoming single is now being showcased on the official B’z website! “Seimei” is glimpsed briefly, along with a hint of what may be a short music video that should end up on television as an ad and possibly in extended form on YouTube. “Seimei/Still Alive” will be released on June 14th, 2017 and includes both title songs alongside “Fukiarenasai” and “Sekai wa Anata no Iro ni Naru“.

News

It has just been announced that upcoming single “Seimei/Still Alive” will be receiving another tie-in when “Still Alive” begins serving as the opening theme song to TBS’s entertainment news program Event GO! for the month of June. This is the second tie-in on the network for the song. From January to March of this year, it was utilized as the theme to the season’s 20th Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix winner for Best Drama A LIFE from January to March.

UPDATE (6/1/2017): It has also been revealed that “Still Alive” will be heard as the ending theme to variety show Arita Generation as well as during anime-ranking program Rank Oukoku for both June and July.

News

The second variant of the “Still Alive” commercial for the upcoming “Seimei/Still Alive” double A-side single is now airing on Japanese television. The four track single will be released on June 14th and also includes digital singles “Sekai wa Anata no Iro ni Naru” and “Fukiarenasai“.

News

Another update on the official B’z instagram has shown the band is now working at their usual studio in Tokyo. As surmised upon hearing of their recent work in Hawaii, the band typically return to Tokyo to round out albums and involve more of their core personnel. Longtime support member and keyboardist Takanobu Masuda also posted on Twitter that he is now in the studio contributing as well:

Takanobu Masuda’s gear for recording his part of the 2017 B’z project

The band have a busy summer ahead, with two announced festival appearances and a month-long SHOWCASE tour that will follow the June release of their 53rd single “Seimei/Still Alive“. As previously postulated in the aforementioned Hawaii write-up, it would be reasonable to expect the band to follow their activities in 2007 for 2017. Already we have our SHOWCASE single just as we did with “Eien no Tsubasa”, along with said SHOWCASE 2017 running concurrent with that of 2007’s which also began in June. That year, B’z would release a second single in October—”SUPER LOVE SONG“—before ending the year with the release of their massive seventeen-track effort ACTION.