High and Mighty Color (stylized as HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR) was a Japanese rock band active from 2003 to 2010. They had two vocalists; a male and a female.
History
Formation and Anti-Nobunaga
The band started in Okinawa when Sassy and Meg left a Metallica cover band after they decided to make their own music. Sassy offered Mackaz the opportunity to join their new band, he accepted and invited long time friend Kazuto to join as well. Meg sat in on a school performance one day, and Yuusuke's voice stood out to him, so he offered him a chance to join the band. Initially Yuusuke declined due to wanting to be a solo singer, but joined after Meg reportedly asked him to join every day for nearly four months. The band, known as Anti-Nobunaga at this time, played mainly in small coffee shops and art theaters for about a year. Sassy, the bandleader, sent demo tapes to every major Japanese label, all of whom rejected the band. It was not until a small label signed the band that they found their first big break. Anti-Nobunaga were now playing areas further from their local hometown and eventually landed a spot at the yearly music festival of Okinawa.
Mākii joins and name change
During the summer of 2003, at the yearly music festival in Okinawa, the band's label promoted their spot and eventually they ended up playing for a sold-out crowd. Due to this festival being a "per show" ticket selling one, it meant that Anti-Nobunaga was the only band to play for a sold-out crowd. A scout for a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan was in the crowd and offered the band the chance to produce music for an upcoming various artists album entitled Okinawa 2003. The band then composed their two and only completely original songs under the name of Anti-Nobunaga entitled "Meaning" and "Hate You!". At another festival known as the "Music Picnic Festival", vocalist Mākii also grabbed the attention of the same scout that found Anti-Nobunaga. The scout felt that both projects on their own were not remarkable, but combined, the band could be something never before seen on the Japanese music scene. Mākii first rejected the offer due to her wanting to study English abroad, but was later convinced by her future bandmates to watch them perform. After she was impressed by the band's energy, Mākii agreed to join them. With the addition of Mākii the band took on a new name, High and Mighty Color. After six months of perfecting their craft, they moved up from SMJ's minor label to their major label, in league with bands such as Orange Range. High and Mighty Color is some times referred to as the sister band of Orange Range, because they are both from the Okinawa area, an area known for musical fusion thanks in part to various military bases stationed there and were both discovered at the same music festival. They spent much of 2004 writing and recording, in late 2004 they released their first single, "Over" which was only sold through Tower Records stores. It sold out in a month and became immensely scarce, thus it was re-released the next year. The album sat at number one spot of the indie Oricon charts for an entire month.
2005
During 2005, the band released their first major single, "Pride". It was originally going to be attached to a Japanese football event being held at the same time, but was picked up for something else. A Sunrise music partner was looking for a song to use for Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny and "Pride" was chosen to be that song. At the time, the show was the number one rated anime, and being attached to this helped the single's sales immensely. With a final sales count of 223,208 copies, "Pride" remains the band's best selling single of their career.
Over the next year, the band went on a media blitz, performing for shows such as Music Fighter, Music Station and Hey! Hey! Hey! at various times. During August, the band released "Days", their fourth single, selling 7,679 copies and not breaking the top 20 mark on the Oricon charts. Despite this setback, the band was still honored with the Japanese Record Grand Prix's "Rookie of the Year" award, and Mākii's grandmother who had just died was given a tribute just before their performance.