EARTHSHAKER(アースシェイカー)は、日本のヘヴィメタルバンドである。 1980年代に登場した関西系メタルバンド。1978年に結成され、主に関西のライブハウスで活動をはじめる。キャッチーな楽曲を得意とし、44MAGNUMやLOUDNESSなどと共に80年代のハードロック・ヘヴィメタル界をリードする。1994年に一度解散するが、1999年に再結成され、現在に至る。 西田昌史(Vocal) 石原慎一郎(Guitar) 甲斐貴之(Bass) 工藤義弘(Drum) The band was named after the Y&T (Yesterday and Today) album, as Shara (Ishihara Shinichiro), the guitarist, was a big fan of Dave Meniketti, the guitarist (and singer) of Y&T. An early incarnation of the band included Minoru Niihara (of Loudness fame) as singer (originally bass and vocals)! Their first album was produced by DJ, critic and all-round Japanese metal guru, Seisoku Itoh, otherwise known as Masa Itoh. The song Dark Angel on that album was written by Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden, which goes some way to describing how traditionally-styled the metal on their first album was. With subsequent albums, however, they began to display a competent pop edge (and used keyboard/synth arrangements) which achieved them popularity even amongst mainstream music fans. Which was the reason, no doubt, that they managed to play the Nippon Budokan in 1986, a first for a domestic Heavy Metal band. After a good few years of success, the band split up in 1994 citing musical differences (according to Shara part of the reason was the by then overwhelming obsession of Marcys (the singer) with mainstream pop music). After the breakup of the band, the individual musicians formed various bands and joined projects or did session work. Most notably Yoshihiro Kudo joined Niji Densetsu, a highly acclaimed Rainbow tribute band, which counted ex Anthem and Powernude singer Yukio Morikawa amongst its members, as well as Akira Kajiyama. Ex-Rainbow members Joe Lynn Turner and David Rosenthal were also interested enough to provide guest performances. It is worth noting that Joe Lynn Turner has worked with Akira Kajiyama on many occasions since. The band had an initially fulfilling (according to Shara) reunion, which spurred them on to continue because they believed that they needed to reclaim something of their dizzy heights of the 80s and early 90s. They are still recording and touring.