Emerging from melted ice in 2010, the quintet of wolfmen known as
Man with a Mission made their way to Tokyo's Shibuya district to court fans with a blend of rock, nu metal, pop-punk, and melodic pop like early-era
Linkin Park colliding with
Zebrahead and
Billy Talent. Performing in wolf masks, the bandmembers comprise vocalist Tokyo Tanaka, bassist
Kamikaze Boy, DJ Santa Monica, drummer Spear Rib, and vocalist/guitarist/English-speaking spokes-wolf
Jean-Ken Johnny. As the origin story goes, the group was created in the 1900s in a lab in "Ladyland" by Dr. Jimi Hendrix, whose goal was to make the "Ultimate Life Forms." Seeing the planet in crisis, he froze the five hybrids in the Antarctic ice. Once global warming thawed them from their icy slumber, they traveled to Japan to touch humanity with the beauty of music.
Honing their chops with live shows in both Asia and the United States, they issued their debut EP, Welcome to the New World, at the end of 2010. The full-length Man with a Mission, Vol. 1 arrived the next summer, swiftly followed by another EP, Trick or Treat, which included a cover of
Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Sophomore LP Mash Up the World was released in 2012 before the band took a few years to record a follow-up. In 2014, the
Don't Feel the Distance EP was issued. The four-track set featured the single "Distance," as well as a remix by fellow masked musician
Sid Wilson of
Slipknot. A week later,
MWAM released
Tales of Purefly, their highest-charting album to date. That summer, the full-throttle EP
When My Devil Rises arrived. In the leadup to their fourth album release,
MWAM contributed to the soundtracks for anime and live action movies, as well as video games.
The World's on Fire arrived in 2016 and featured production by
Don Gilmore (
Korn,
Linkin Park) and contributions by
Crosses'
Shaun Lopez ("Far") and
Zebrahead ("Out of Control," which was featured in the Japanese version of the film Mad Max: Fury Road). Other singles included "Memories" and "Survivor," the latter of which was used as the theme for the Street Fighter V video game. In early 2017, the single "Dead End in Tokyo" was released on Epic Records. Co-written and co-produced by
Fall Out Boy vocalist
Patrick Stump, the song was also their first to be promoted on an international scale. The day after the single's release,
Man with a Mission opened the sold-out Tokyo date of
Guns N' Roses' world tour. ~ Neil Z. Yeung