Yura Yura Teikoku's music fuses gentle psychedelia and good old punky rock-&-roll noise. Formed in Tokyo in 1989 by singer/guitarist Sakamoto Shintaro and bassist Kamekaya Chiyo, with drummer Shibata Ichiro completing a stable lineup in 1997, the band was a fixture on Japan's psychedelic underground scene for nearly a decade before 1998's 333 became an unexpected mainstream pop success. Signed to Sony and regularly selling out major venues in their native country, Yura Yura Teikoku signed to the tiny indie Mesh Key Records for their U.S. releases, which began with 2005's SWEET SPOT.