Fumito Iwai

Background

Iwai was born in Eniwa, Hokkaido in 1990.

Career

In junior high school, he and his friends formed a band called Guild in 2007. The group performed at rock events in Sapporo from 2007 onwards, and self-produced an extended play, Shinzō (心臓, "Heart"), in August 2008, followed by a self-released single called "Tsubasa" (ツバサ, "Wings") in February 2009. The band entered the School of Lock! national teenage rock contest, Senkō Riot, in 2008, and performed at the round three Sapporo semi-finals.

In 2012, Iwai and Noguchi returned to Hokkaido to set up their own band, and asked former Guild member Yoshitomo Kobayashi to join.

They moved to Sapporo to further their music career, and rented a house with Iwai"s older brother Katsutoshi Iwai. Iwai and Masatsugu Takahashi had a separate band at the same time, and after realising that both groups would work well together, the two bands merged in January 2013, forming Folks and basing themselves at the Iwai household in Megumino.

The group released their first extended play, Take Office, digitally on March 29, 2013, and made their major label debut under Ki/oon Music in 2014 with the extended play Newtown.

Achievements

• The band did not make it to the national finals, but met the semi-final winner, Galileo Galilei.

Membership

Debuting as a member of the Hokkaido rock band Galileo Galilei in 2009, he left to form a new musical unit, Folks.