Fire Bomber (ファイヤーボンバー Faiyābonbā, often stylized as FIRE BOMBER) is a legendary rock band from Macross 7 (and related projects such as Macross 7: Trash, Macross 7: Encore, and Macross Dynamite 7). In real life, Fire Bomber's music was performed by Yoshiki Fukuyama (as the singing voice and guitar of Basara Nekki), Chie Kajiura (as the singing voice of Mylene Jenius), and occasionally by Tomo Sakurai (the acting voice of Mylene).
Fire Bomber were pivotal in the defeat of the Protodeviln after it was discovered that their music was the only thing capable of affecting them. Three of their songs were also featured in the 2008 series Macross Frontier, as S.M.S. Skull Leader Ozma Lee is a fan of the band.
In Macross Frontier Movie: The Wings of Goodbye, Ranka Lee and several members of the S.M.S. acted as cover band of Fire Bomber (titled "Lovely Bomber") as part of a diversion to free Sheryl Nome from prison.
In 2012, a crossover musical anthology featuring the Macross 7 events as seen by Macross Frontier characters, entitled Macross FB7 Galaxy Flow Soul: Listen to My Song!, was released. The film featured several covers of popular Fire Bomber songs.
History
Basara Nekki and Mylene Flare Jenius singing "My Soul For You" from the Let's Fire album.
While it's unclear when exactly Fire Bomber was first formed, it is known that Ray Lovelock was once a fighter pilot, wandering aimlessly after getting shot down and losing his best friend in combat. It is during this time that Lovelock encounters the hot-blooded 7-year old Basara Nekki, and takes him under his wing. Seven years later, they form a band, with the 14-year-old Basara as the lead vocalist and Lovelock as a keytar player. They are soon joined by drummer Veffidas Feaze, a former Zentraedi wrestler.
2038
In 2038, Lovelock and Basara move to the Macross 7. Several members join the group, but none could get along with Basara.
2045
In March, Mylene Jenius joins the group as bass and accompanying vocalist. They make their first debut in City 7, with mixed results. However, a famous music promoter, Akiko Houjoh, recognizes Fire Bomber's potential, and begins making moves to help the group out. Hostilities soon break out as the mysterious alien Varauta forces begin attacking the colony fleet. This prompts Basara to pilot his VF-19 Kai "Fire" Valkyrie and sing on the battlefield. As time goes on, this peculiar behavior begins to attract an audience, and soon, the group starts to receive recognition for their antics.
By April, a music agent, Akiko, debuts Fire Bomber's first single "Planet Dance". The band also performed in a two hours drama, with lead vocalists Basara and Mylene starring as the legendary Lynn Minmay and Hikaru Ichijyo. Audience ratings shot through the roof, recording a 94% market. Fire Bomber's popularity soarded, and "Planet Dance" landed 8th place in the City 7 musical chart. Their second single "Sweet Fantasy" debuted in second place in the musical chart shortly after.
In September, Fire Bomber is is recruited to form the independent force known as the "Sound Force" after it was discovered that Basara's singing had a profound effect on the Protodevlin forces.
Soon after, Fire Bomber's reputation became legendary as they led the assault to defeat the Protodevlin forces, and save the Macross 7 fleet.
2067
Fire Bomber were mentioned as one of Freyja Wion's musical influences.
Chuck Mustang, a pilot of Siegfried unit, Δ03, is a fan of Fire Bomber. He even named some of his attacks after their songs.
Members
- Basara Nekki - Guitar and lead vocals
- Mylene Flare Jenius - Bass and back vocals
- Ray Lovelock - Keytar
- Veffidas Feaze - Drums
Actual Singers
- Vocals - Yoshiki Fukuyama and Nobutoshi Canna (Basara Nekki)
- Vocals - Chie Kajiura and Tomo Sakurai (Mylene Jenius)
- Bass - Yukio Sugi
- Drums - Kazuo Sitay
- Lead Guitar - Yoshiki Fukuyama
- Guitar - Haruhiko Mera
- Guitar - Masaki Suzuki
- Keyboard - Seiji Tanaka
Discography
- LET'S FIRE!!. The first Macross 7/Fire Bomber album released. It contains the tracks played in the first half of the TV series in more or less the order in which they appear in the episodes. [1]
- SECOND FIRE!. The second Fire Bomber CD . Contains the songs played in the second half of the series, including the two "Let's Bomber!" video songs. [2]
- DYNAMITE FIRE!! The Dynamite OVA song album. Songs are in more or less the order in which they appear in the series, though there are several that are never sung in the OVA at all. [3]
- RADIO FIRE!!. This CD contains the complete radio program from all the radio broadcasts from Elma's radio and the Zola public radio in the Dynamite OVA. Most of the tracks on this CD are drama tracks. There are also different versions of Fire Bomber songs and songs by other artists. [4]
- LIVE FIRE!! (1995). A recording CD of Fire Bomber live in concert. The tracks are mostly sung by the voice actor of Basara (Hayashi Nobutoushi) and Mylene (Sakurai Tomo), not their singing voices from the anime. [5] [6]
- KARA-OK FIRE!!. Karaoke album of most of the songs that appear in the TV series. Contains duet and guitar karaoke bonus tracks at the end for Planet Dance. [7]
- ACOUSTIC FIRE!!. The songs on this acoustic album are not quite the acoustic versions found in the anime itself. There's more instrumentation, though little enough to be called "acoustic." The album also has a more "country American" feel to it, since it was recorded in the USA. [8]
- ULTRA FIRE!! "Best of" Fire Bomber album. [9]
- GALAXY NETWORK CHART 1. A "real" Macross universe album containing tracks from what is probably a single week of the Galaxy Network Chart top 10 ratings of bands from all over the galaxy. Note that Fire Bomber has five of the ten spots. [10]
- GALAXY NETWORK CHART 2 As above. [11]
- MYLENE JENIUS SINGS LYNN MINMAY (1995) Two female vocalists of Macross join forces in this album. Mylene sings Minmay's most famous songs including Ai Oboeteimasu ka? (Do You Remember Love?), the version of which appears in Fleet of the Strongest Women. The singer is not Chie Kajiura, Mylene's series singing voice, but is instead her voice actress Sakurai Tomo. [12] [13]
- ENGLISH FIRE. All the songs on this album have been redone in English by the band Fire Bomber American. Instead of simply being English versions of Fire Bomber songs, the makers of Macross have created an English version of the band Fire Bomber. In the Macross universe, Fire Bomber American is a band on the English-speaking fleet Macross 11 that claims that the Macross 7 Fire Bomber is a rip-off of it. The singers for this band are also different.[14] According to the fictional Macross continuity Lynn Kaifun, a character from the first TV series from 1982 (who was Lynn Minmay's cousin and also her former manager) is the creator and manager of Fire Bomber American.
- BEST COLLECTION (not an official release) [15]
- OTHER FIRE!! (not an official release)
- MEMORIAL CD (not an official release)
- SEVENTH MOON SINGLE [16]
- MY FRIENDS SINGLE [17]
- HEART AND SOUL SINGLE [18]
- DYNAMITE EXPLOSION SINGLE [19]
- FUKUYAMA FIRE. On May 24, 2005, 10 years after Macross 7 aired in Japan, Yoshiki Fukuyama (singing voice for Basara) released a tribute album (Fukuyama Fire - A Tribute To Nekki Basara) in which he sings the most popular Macross 7 songs with new arrangements plus a new song. Tracklist:
- Holy Lonely Light
- New Frontier
- Totsugeki Love Heart
- Dynamite Explosion (Live Version)
- Remember 16
- Yume no Michi (Live Version)
- SUBMARINE STREET
- Planet Dance
- Light the Light
- Na mo Naki Hate no Machi de
- Heart & Soul
- Starlight Dream (Live Version)
- Angel Voice
- Like A Fire (new song)
- RE.FIRE. Fifteen years after Macross 7 first aired in Japan, Fire Bomber released its newest album, "RE.FIRE" in Japan on October 14, 2009. This new album brings 10 newly made songs, and two new versions of the hit songs "Love It" and "Totsugeki Love Heart".
- Bullet Soul
- Burning Fire
- Daemon
- Love It (2060A.D version)
- Big bang
- Ready Go
- Song of Eternity
- Stardust Highway
- Plastics
- Totsugeki Love Heart(2060A.D version)
- Magic Rhapsody
- Waiting For You
Songs
| Songs | Composer | Lyrics | Debut | Vocals | Albums |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seventh Moon | Atsutaka Kawachi | K. Inojo | Episode 1 (Opening Theme) | Yoshiki Fukuyama | |
| Planet Dance | Sudou Hideki | K. Inojo | Episode 1 | Yoshiki Fukuyama and Chie Kajiura (Duet Version) | |
| My Friends | Miki Kawano | M. Meg | Episode 1 (Ending Theme) | Chie Kajiura | |
| Totsugeki Love Heart | Kawauchi Atsutaka | K. Inojo | Episode 1 | Yoshiki Fukuyama | |
| My Soul For You | Yoshiki Fukuyama | K. Inojo | Episode 2 (acoustic), full version: Episode 3 | Yoshiki Fukuyama | |
| Sweet Fantasy | Ootsuki | M. Meg | Episode 10 | Chie Kajiura | |
| Remember 16 | Kawauchi Atsutaka | K. Inojo | Episode 17 | Yoshiki Fukuyama and Chie Kajiura | |
| Holy Lonely Light | Sudou Hideki | K. Inojo | Episode 21 | Yoshiki Fukuyama and Chie Kajiura (Duet Version) | |
| SUBMARINE STREET | Shun'ya Fukuda | K. Inojo | Episode 29 | Yoshiki Fukuyama | |
| Power to the Dream | Yoshiki Fukuyama | K. Inojo | Episode 32 | Yoshiki Fukuyama | |
| Try Again | Yoshiki Fukuyama | K. Inojo | Episode 40 | Yoshiki Fukuyama | |
| Light The Light | K. Inojo | TSUKASA | Episode 41 | Yoshiki Fukuyama and Chie Kajiura (Single/Duet Version) | |
| 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 Nights | K. Inojo | Macross 7 Plus | Yoshiki Fukuyama | ||
| Diamond Calling | K. Inojo | Macross 7 Plus | Yoshiki Fukuyama | ||
| Feel The Universe | Macross Dynamite 7 | Yoshiki Fukuyama | |||
| Dynamite Explosion | Macross Dynamite 7 (Opening Theme) | Yoshiki Fukuyama | |||
| New Frontier | Macross Dynamite 7 | Yoshiki Fukuyama | |||
| Parade | Macross Dynamite 7 (Ending Theme) | Yoshiki Fukuyama | |||
| Burning Fire | indy | Macross Ultimate Frontier (Opening Theme) | Yoshiki Fukuyama |
Gallery
