Vodka Collins


Vodka Collins was a Tokyo-based Japanese-American rock band, formed in 1971. The core band members were drummer Hiroshi Oguchi, singer-guitarist Alan Merrill, singer-guitarist Hiroshi "Monsieur" Kamayatsu and bassist Take Yokouchi. In later reunion recordings in the 1990s, Yokouchi was replaced by Masayoshi "Mabo" Kabe on bass guitar.
Most of the band's released works were original compositions by the lead singer Alan Merrill. The band made 5 albums, the most well known being the glam rock album "Tokyo - New York" released in 1973 on EMI records. Other album titles are Chemical Reaction, Pink Soup', Boy's Life and Boys In The Band. The band's most notable contribution was recording and releasing the first single in the glam rock genre in Japanese, 1973's double a-sided single "Sands Of Time"' and '"Automatic Pilot"' on Toshiba Express records.
Vodka Collins were the opening act on the Jackson 5's first show in Japan on April 27, 1973 at the Imperial Theater in Tokyo. The show was broadcast live on Fuji Television.
The band's founding member and drummer Hiroshi Oguchi died January 25, 2009. There was a memorial concert for him with all the original band members performing on stage January 25 of 2010 at the Duo Exchange venue in Tokyo with Grico Tomioka taking Oguchi's place on drums. The band's rhythm guitarist, Monsieur Kamayatsu, died on March 1, 2017. Lead singer Alan Merrill did a memorial concert for Kamayatsu with star guests in Tokyo April 2017 at the Duo Music Exchange.. Merrill died in 2020.

Discography