Background
Gauge Means Nothing (Originally called Stand Alone) is a Japanese Screamo/Post-Hardcore band from Tokyo, Japan. They were formed in May of 1997, solidified their line-up around 2001, and disbanded in 2005. From the live footage I've found, they appear to be a 4 main members with others contributing here and there as well. They have 3 releases and are on a number of compilations. Their releases are (in chronological order): My Glass Reflect Untrue View On My Own Eyes, as a part of Tokyo Ku Records' compilation My Notebook is Full of Scribbles, their first EP The Absent Trail of an Echo and My Future Plagued by Surrender, a 3-way split EP with Japanese bands Tiara and Cohol, a split EP with the band My Precious called Missing Tom, and their final release, a single called The Last Song. They might also have a self titled tape with 3 songs, as well. Gauge Means Nothing is defined by their versatility. They set themselves apart through their use of unique instruments, such as keys, trumpets, and more. Gauge Means Nothing plays slow sometimes, and sometimes they play fast. Songs can go from poppy and somber to metallic and aggressive in a split second. Additionally, they include both male and female vocals, screamo influence, and more. No Japanese screamo/post-hardcore band can go without comparison to Envy. Yet no other bands can compare to Gauge.
Members
The main members of the band are as follows:
Tamao Kamiya - Vocals/Percussion
She was the talented female vocalist, one of the best parts about the songs. She joined later, around 2001-2002. After the band broke up, she stopped playing music and aspired to be a children's book author, but I can't find anything written by her.
Yuichi Kasanuma - Vocals/Bass
Yuichi played bass. He's also the founder, I think. He went on to play in a heap of other bands. While he just played bass and vox in Gauge, he also supposedly played drums as well, but not for this band (Discogs)
Kenta Yamamoto - Guitar/Vocals
This guy is awesome sauce. I *think* he's the main male vocalist. After the band broke up, he had one hell of a career. He was also the one doing the keys for the band. Anyways, he ended up being a successful pianist/keyboardist. He worked on a lot of jpop/rock. He also has an official website. It seems like he hasn't worked on anything since 2020, though. (Discogs)
Kentarou Oya (Kenchan) - Drums
The band's drummer. He also helped start the band "Bright and Dark side" but i cant really find anything about them, other then 2 releases and that they broke up before 2007. Since he was a member of both, I think the 2 bands occasionally played shows together. Kentarou played in a few other bands as well, and was the guitarist for a few. (Discogs)
Relics
This section will be about what the band left behind. For starters, the two official websites. The first, gaugemeansnothing.com, simply contains a goodbye and thank you image available in both Japanese and English. The other one, gaugemeansnothing.com (other) is an html website with a few posts about the band. Another interesting online relic is this interview with Yuichi (the bassist) about starting the band and going on tour. Tragically, this is only half the interview, the page where the second half of the interview is doesn't work, but you can find part 2 here, and part 3 here. Side note, but if anyone reading this has access to a vpn, or some way to view these old websites, and is interested, you should try. Maybe some of them only can be accessed in Japan?
Gauge's merch is hard to come by. I know there is Absent Trail vinyls and CDs. The Missing Tom split is on cassette and CD. The Last song is also on CD. The 2 compilations they're on are both on CD. As far as clothing goes, there's a link to nowhere on their website for t shirts. The only image of a shirt I was able to find after scouring was this:
Super epic. I wish it was mine.
Another thing I found was this "Note" (basically a blog post) from Yuichi. It's about how he views Absent Trail after 20 years, and was written in 2024. He also talks about the meaning of each song and the history behind each one.
Final Word
This band means so much to me. They are largely responsible for my personal interest in emo and hardcore, as well as being one of the most influential Japanese bands for their scene. If anyone knows anything else about the band I didn't include, please let me know. There's a lot of stuff if you follow the hyperlinks, but I chose not include because it wasn't directly about Gauge, but still involving the members and interesting. If you own a physical product of theirs, please contact me, as I would love pictures or anything you can tell me about them. (Or maybe you want to sell it)? You can find their music on Youtube and Soundcloud.
