Wait? Who are Omega Tribe?

Omega Tribe (オメガトライブ) is a Japanese music project produced by Koichi Fujita under the label VAP. Omega Tribe was an active project between 1983 to 1995, but today you can still see live performances from Sugiyama Kiyotaka & Omega Tribe as well as Carlos Toshiki! For the most part, Omega Tribe can be catagorised as City Pop with a summery beachy theme.

Over the years, Omega Tribe's sound has shifted. From rock inspired songs to embracing a more Latin influence, and changing more as the 80s ended. 42 years on, Omega Tribe are still doing live shows and releasing album remixes!

Sugiyama Kiyotaka & Omega Tribe 杉山清貴とオメガトライブ 1983-1985

Members

  • Sugiyama Kiyotaka 杉山清貴 - Vocals
  • Oshima Takao 大島孝夫 - Bass
  • Takashima Shinji 高島信二 - Guitar
  • Yoshida Kenji 吉田健二 - Guitar
  • Nishihara Toshitsugu 西原俊次 - Keyboard
  • Hiroishi Keiichi 廣石恵一 - Drums

This first iteration of Omega Tribe, after their proto-band Cutie Panchos (きゅうてぃぱんちょす) was scouted by Koichi Fujita after performing at the 1980 Yamaha Popular Song Contest. Omega Tribe was named by DJ Kamasami Kong, who released a DJ special of their music in 1984.

Sugiyama Kiyotaka & Omega Tribe were produced by Koichi Fujita and Hayashi Testuji. While the voice is Kiyotaka's, the track instrumentals are from studio musicians. This caused some tensions within the band, leading to Yoshida Kenji leaving ahead of their final album and the group's split in 1985. Nishihara and Takashima were the only members to continue being Omega Tribe members, Kiyotaka launched a solo career with VAP

In total, SK&OT released 4 studio albums, two of which topped the Oricon charts. The Omega Tribe Fan discord community voted 1984 album River's Island as their favourite Kiyotaka era album.

The members of the band still tour today and have been playing live shows since 2018, including a memorial tour for Hiroishi Keiichi who passed away in March, 2025.

1986 Omega Tribe & Carlos Toshiki & Omega Tribe 1986-1991

Members

  • Carlos Toshiki カルロス・トシキ - Vocals
  • Takashima Shinji 高島信二 - Guitar
  • Nishihara Toshitsugu 西原俊次 - Keyboard
  • Kurokawa Teruka 黒川照家 - Guitar
  • Joey McCoy ジョイ・マッコイ- Backing Vocals & Vocals

Carlos Toshiki, like the first Omega Tribe generation, was picked up by Koichi Fujita. Carlos had grown up in Brazil and moved to Japan, working in a restaurant not fluent in Japanese. He became the new front man of Omega Tribe, alongside remaining members Shinji and Toshi as well as a new addition of Kurokawa Teruka. Their hit single 君は１０００％ was inspired by the similarities between the Japanese word for thousand, "sen", and the Portuguese word for hundred, cem.

This era found it's niche in it's Latin inspired instrumentals. In 1987, Cincinnati born singer Joey McCoy joined the group as a backing vocalist, and then later took the lead in songs like Reiko. In total, this era produced 6 albums peaking at number 2 on the Oricon charts. The Omega Tribe Fan discord community voted 1986 album Navigator to be their favourite Carlos era album.

This era of Omega Tribe petered out in the 90s as their position dropped on the charts, with Carlos going back to Brazil. However, Carlos has been touring and performing again in both Brazil and Japan as on 2025!

Brand New Omega Tribe

Come back later!