The Rampage from Exile Tribe
The Rampage from Exile Tribe, is a J-pop vocal and dance group formed and managed by talent agency LDH and signed to Avex's record label Rhythm Zone. The Rampage is part of the collective supergroup, Exile Tribe and is composed of sixteen members. The group was formed in 2014 and the members were chosen from Exile's Vocal Battle Audition 4, Exile Performer Battle Audition and Global Japan Challenge auditions. The Rampage made their debut in January 2017 with the release of their first single "Lightning".
History
2014–2016: Pre-debut
On April 11, 2014, Exile Hiro announced on the TV show Sukkiri!! a new group being formed for Exile Tribe.On September 12, 2014, the final sixteen members of The Rampage were recruited from participants of "Exile Performer Battle Audition", a competition to be part of EXILE, "Vocal Battle Audition 4", a competition for young people who dream of being vocalists, and "Global Japan Challenge", a program for young people who dream of performing internationally and form a dance and vocal group. The name of the group, "The Rampage " shows that the group would always dance wildly and passionately on stage. Before debuting, they went on their Musha Shugyo, touring the country for 2 years as part of their training. They performed for free in various places in Japan. Through these performances, they bonded as a group, improved as performers and gained fans. As part of their Musha Shugyo, the group also participated in Exile Tribe's "Exile Tribe Perfect Year Live Tour Tower of Wish 2014 ~The Revolution~" dome tours. In their final year of Musha Shugyo, the group split up into 3 separate teams to promote and improve themselves more individually.
Prior to their debut, the members of the group also participated in tours from other LDH artists as support members, such as Exile The Second's tour Exile the Second Live Tour 2016–2017 "Wild Wild Warriors".
On September 27, 2016, it was revealed the group would make their major debut with their first single in early 2017.
2017: Debut with "Lightning" and first tour
The Rampage debuted on January 25, 2017, with their first single "Lightning" peaking at #2 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and being certified 'Gold' by the RIAJ for selling 100,000 physical copies. The group received their first major award in the MTV Video Music Awards Japan for their "Lightning" music video.In the following months of April and July The Rampage released their second and third single "Frontiers" and 'Dirty Disco' which peaked at #3 and #5 respectively.
In early November, The Rampage released their fourth single '100degrees'. The single reached #6 in the Oricon Weekly Charts and earned the group the 'New Wave Artist Award' at the Asia Artist Awards where they performed for the first time overseas. Later in December The Rampage embarked on their first tour ever The Rampage Live Tour 2017-2018 "Go on the Rampage" starting in December and ending in March 2018.
2018: Final dates of their first tour, singles and first album ''The Rampage''
On April 25, 2018, the group released their 5th single "Fandango", followed by their 6th single "Hard Hit" on July 18. On August 13, 14, 16 and 17 the group held the final dates of their first tour, which were titled The Rampage Live Tour 2017–2018 "Go on the Rampage" The Final.On September 12, 2018, the group released their first album The Rampage. On the same day, their second tour and first arena tour named The Rampage Live Tour 2019 "Throw Ya Fist" that would go through 2019 was announced.
2019: Second tour, Battle of Tokyo and second album ''The Riot''
The group's 7th single "Throw Ya Fist" was released on January 30, 2019, as the kickoff single for their next tour. The single also included "DOWN BY LAW" as a B-side track, which acted the opening theme song for the anime Fairy Tail and was the group's first anime opening since their debut. From February 6 to May 26, the group went on their second tour The Rampage Live Tour 2019 "Throw Ya Fist", which was also their first arena tour in Japan.In June 2019, the Battle of Tokyo project started, which includes all Jr.Exile groups. During this month those 4 groups released collaboration singles every week, until they released a full album titled "Battle of Tokyo 〜Enter the Jr.Exile〜" on July 3, 2019. Accompanying the album release, the groups held a row of live performances from July 4 to 7 with the same name.
On July 31, the group released their 8th single "Welcome 2 Paradise", with a music video shot at Paradise City in South Korea. The single included "Nobody" as a B-side track, being the group's first original English song.
On August 8, it was announced that the group would release their 9th single "Swag & Pride" on October 2, which is also used in the TV drama HiGH&LOW THE WORST EPISODE.O. and the movie HiGH&LOW: THE WORST. Shortly after on August 19, The Rampage announced their second album to be released on October 30. The CD/2DVD and CD/2Blu-ray versions would also include live footage of The Rampage Live Tour 2019 "Throw Ya Fist" concert at Saitama Super Arena.
On September 10, nearly one year after the release of their first album, it was announced that the title of their second album would be The Riot. Two days later an event called THE RAMPAGE from EXILE TRIBE 5th Anniversary Special Event was held, celebrating five years since the group's formation. Shortly after, the group attended the HiGH&LOW THE WORST VS THE RAMPAGE from EXILE TRIBE PREMIUM LIVE SHOW, a live event featuring the cast of the upcoming movie which gathered an audience of about 50 thousand people over two days. Due to the success of this event, a similar live show was held at Yokohama Arena with Doberman Infinity as a surprise guest on December 26. On October 10, the group released the music video for the title track "Move The World" to promote their new album.
About a month after the release of the group's second album on October 30, it was announced that The Rampage would release their 10th single "Full Metal Trigger" on January 15, 2020. The single would also serve as the theme song of THE RAMPAGE LIVE TOUR 2020 "RMPG" and include the full live footage of the group's first appearance at a-nation on August 18, 2019.
On December 8, it was revealed that The Rampage and Fantastics would be in charge of the special movie theme songs for the 40th anniversary project of Mobile Suit Gundam titled Gundam × KEN OKUYAMA DESIGN × LDH JAPAN “G40 Project”. The Rampage's theme song "SHOW YOU THE WAY" and Fantastics' theme song "TO THE SKY" would both reflect the story of Mobile Suit Gundam from two different aspects. The full special movie project was released on Gundam's official YouTube channel on January 1, 2020.
2020-present: Third tour, first sub-unit and singles
After the release of their 10th single "Full Metal Trigger" on January 15, the group started their third tour THE RAMPAGE LIVE TOUR 2020 "RMPG" on February 5, 2020, and planned to conclude it on May 10. On the second day of their tour, the group's sub-unit MA55IVE THE RAMPAGE released their first official digital song titled "Determined". This sub-unit had been introduced during their first tour The Rampage Live Tour 2017-2018 "Go on the Rampage" for the first time and consists of the 5 members Likiya, Kenta, Yamasho, Shohei and Takahide. Furthermore, they released their 11th single "INVISIBLE LOVE" on April 22, which marked the first time they would have a slow-tempo song as a title track.Due to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, several concerts of The Rampage's third tour had to be cancelled or postponed. As a reparation, the group held a live event with no audience that was streamed on the Japanese video service niconico on March 24, 2020. A total of over 280 thousand viewers watched the broadcast which lasted about 1 hour and 45 minutes.
On July 20, the group announced their 12th single "FEARS" to be released on September 30.
Side projects
The first sub-unit established from The Rampage is MA55IVE THE RAMPAGE which consists of the 5 performers Likiya, Kenta, Yamasho, Shohei and Takahide. The unit focuses on Hip-Hop and features Likiya, Yamasho, Shohei and Takahide as rappers while Kenta acts as a vocalist. This is the first time those members provide vocals to any The Rampage work. The quintet was introduced during The Rampage's first tour The Rampage Live Tour 2017-2018 "Go on the Rampage" and made their official debut with the digital song "Determined" on February 6, 2020.Members
- Riku
- Kazuma Kawamura
- Hokuto Yoshino
- Likiya
- Zin
- Kenta Kamiya
- Rui Yonamine
- Yamasho
- Shogo Iwaya
- Shohei Urakawa
- Itsuki Fujiwara
- Kaisei Takechi
- Makoto Hasegawa
- Ryu
- Takahide Suzuki
- Takuma Goto
Discography
Albums
| Title | Year | Information | Chart positions | Certifications |
| Title | Year | Information | Oricon Albums Chart | Certifications |
| The Rampage | 2018 |
| ||
| The Riot | 2019 |