Camino is a Japanese rock quintet centered on the songwriting of Ayumi Hamasaki collaborator Kiku and the vocal talents of Hayato. Between them, Kiku and Hayato bring together the histrionic hard rock guitar sound of compatriots B'z with the highly affected vocal mannerisms of visual kei singers such as Dir en Grey's Kyo and Psycho le Cemu's Daishi. As a member of major label (though minor selling) J-pop act Misty Eyes and songwriter for J-pop queen Ayumi Hamasaki, Kiku's pedigree was already established before he decided to form Camino (Spanish for "pathway") in 1999. The original lineup lasted until spring 2003, with Morrisey (bass), Tetsu (drums) and Ai (keyboards) quickly moving on after the release of Camino's debut album Arise. Taka, Noriaki, and Ryosuke took over on bass, drums, and keyboards, respectively. The album was released in both their home country (on the small indie label Kismet) and in the United States, where the band would also tour following the album's release. Drummer Noriaki quit the band shortly after Camino performed at the A-KON 14 anime convention in Dallas, while original vocalist Jun left the band in August 2004 to pursue a solo career.

Despite the member changes -- Rehit became the band's third drummer while Hayato joined as vocalist -- Camino's profile received a boost when they contributed the song Double Standard to the soundtrack album of TV Asahi's #Kamen Rider 555. The yearlong sci-fi series was a modern take on the cult 1970s "special effects" TV series (and subsequently a popular Japanese manga) of the same name. Camino followed up with the release of its second album IC Brain. It also performed at anime conventions at Fanime Con in San Jose, CA, and again at A-KON in Dallas, where the band played to more than 1,000 anime freaks and shared the bill with Psycho le Cemu and J-pop acts Do as Infinity and Nami Tamaki.

Camino brought their live show back to Japan the following year to perform as part of the Aichi World Expo, where the likes of classical performers Sarah Brightman and Yo-Yo Ma would also perform during the six-month-long cultural extravaganza that was visited by some 15 million people. Kiku and Taka honed their chops, too, as support members for the performance of rapper MCU -- formerly of hip-hop group Kick the Kan Crew -- at Rock in Japan Fes 2006, Japan's biggest festival in terms of attendance. In 2007, Camino's Nostalgia became the theme song to the TV Tokyo anime #Kotetsu Sangokushi. Konami released the song as a single in the summer of that year. Camino maintained the connection with the channel by supplying the theme song to the series #Tomika Hero Rescue Force, released as a single on the Avex Trax subsidiary Tearbridge Productions in June 2008. ~ David Hickey, Rovi