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Hal

 
Artist: HAL
HAL

Group Members:

Paul Allen, Dave Allen, Paul Hogan, Stephen O'Brien

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Influenced By:

See HAL Lyrics
  • Genres: Rock
  • Representative Albums: "HAL," "Play the Hits, Vol. 2," "Play the Hits, Vol. 1"

Biography

Irish quartet Hal is made up of brothers Paul (vocals/guitar) and Dave Allen (vocals/bass), drummer Paul Hogan, and keyboardist Stephen O'Brien. The Allens' parents were folk musicians and their love of music was imbedded in their sons, Dave playing in bands since his early teens and both of them writing tons of songs together for Hal. The group formed in the early 2000s and began blending their love of classic rock like the Beatles, the Byrds, Harry Nilsson, and the Beach Boys into something all their own. After six months of playing a night a week at the Sugar Club in Dublin, Rough Trade beat out the heavy competition and won the group's signature on a contract. They released their first single, "Worry About the Wind," in March of 2004 and were featured on Rough Trade's excellent 2004 collection The Rough Trade Field Guide to Music, Vol. 1, contributing "Worry About the Wind" and the lovely "Out Tonight." The usual batch of live dates (supporting the likes of Starsailor, Grandaddy, and Doves) followed, as did the recording of a full-length album. With production assistance from ex-Tears for Fears member Ian Stanley, the great Edwyn Collins, and the group itself, 2005's Hal is a masterpiece of bubbling pop music and heartfelt classic ballads equal to any guitar rock of 2005 and just about any other year. ~ Tim Sendra, All Music Guide
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Wikipedia: Hal (group)
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Contents

Hal
Origin Japan
Genre(s) J-Pop, Pop/Dance
Years active 1999 – Present
Label(s) Avex Trax
Members
Toshiharu Umezaki, Takehito Shimuzu
Former members
Atsushi Sato, Halna, Yuta Nakano

Hal is a group of Japanese producers that started to work in 2000. They have worked with several Japanese pop and rock stars and also have won two Japan Record Awards for their musical arrangements for singer Ayumi Hamasaki (with "Free & Easy" in 2002 and "No way to say" in 2003).

They habitually write their name as HΛL, replacing the Latin "A" with the Greek "Λ" or Lambda.

Hal went from music arrangers into a music band and then back to music arrangers, arranging songs for many Japanese artists. Toshiharu Umezaki (sometimes written as Toshiyasu Umezaki) is known as the main member and leader of the band, which had gone through some deformations in their structure.

The sound of Hal is mainly a lively digital beat at the edge where the electric guitars are used a lot, as a special feature and typic in their arrangements.

Hal started out as music arrangers in 1999, and became known especially for the work that they did (and are still doing) with Ayumi Hamasaki. "Appears", "Fly high", "M", "Evolution" and "No way to say" are some of their most famous tunes with her. They also have worked with some other artists like Ami Suzuki, the KinKi Kids, Every Little Thing, and Dream.

In 2000 the group of men did a casting to choose a female vocalist for forming the musical group Hal, which was an idea of Toshiharu Umesaki and Atsushi Sato's. Finally the singer Halna was chosen to be a part of Hal and they signed a deal with record label Avex Trax. They temporarily stopped their group as arrangers after the work with "Grip!" from Every Little Thing.

After the release of seven singles and two studio albums as Hal, the band got separated in 2003 because Halna decided to leave the group and get away from the spotlight, with the release of their final album, called "Singles", a compilation album with all the singles released by the band, and they started to work again as arrangers with Ayumi Hamasaki and Tackey & Tsubasa. Atsushi Sato also left the band that year to arrange music on his own, under the nickname of ats-. He has recently worked with Ami Suzuki under Avex, and Yuta Nakano, who left the band in early 2001 is currently working as remixer and also arranger.

Currently Umezaki and Shimizu keep their name Hal active, arranging songs for Japanese singers and music groups.

Discography

HAL's single "The Starry Sky" was the ending theme for the anime Angelic Layer. The Angelic Layer OST also featured another song by HAL, "Justice" including a few remixes of both.

Singles

  1. Decide, October 25, 2000
  2. Save Me, January 11, 2001
  3. Split Up, March 28, 2001
  4. ☆the starry sky☆ May 23, 2001
  5. Al Di La, April 17, 2002
  6. I'll Be the One, July 19, 2002
  7. One Love / A Long Journey, August 16, 2002

Albums

  • Violation of the rules, August 29, 2001
  • As long as you love me, August 28, 2002
  • Singles, February 26, 2003

DVD

  • Greatest Hal Clips: chapter one, April 17, 2002
  • One, August 28, 2002

See also

Halna

External links


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