Happiness Proof is Haco's self-produced project, begun in 1998, of new slight warped pop songs. Happiness Proof's first album was recorded at her studio, Mescalina in Kobe, with Atsushi Tsuyama (bassist of Omoide Hatoba), Christopher Stephens (guitarist of Mescaline Go-Go), and Yoshimitsu Ichiraku (drummer of I.S.O.). The recording also features exclusive collaborations with German drummer Peter Hollinger, Pierre Bastien, best known for his mechanical orchestra, BoredomsÕs guitarist Seiichi Yamamoto, turntablist Yoshihide Otomo, Altered StatesÕ guitarist Kazuhisa Uchihashi, and other artists.
To create the album she combined pop atitude and experimental recording techniques such as including taped collaborations record abroad by some of the musicians, human-input rhythms, and composition-like digital mixing. The album covers a wide expanse of musical territory with a little of bit of drum'n'bass, new wave, electronica, guitar pop, techno, and also acts as a retrospective of all of Haco's musical tastes from the post-punk rock of 1979 to the post-rock of 1999. The CD was released in 1999 on P-Vine in Japan, and co-released by Detector (US) and ReR Megacorp (Europe) in the summer of 2000.
Since January 2000, she has been giving live performances of the material with a live group, Happiness Proof. For live players, she has found exciting musicians from the Osaka indie rock scene: Atsushi Tsuyama (bass), Christopher (guitar), Bill (drummer of the female duo COA) and others. This array musicians, each coming from a different musical background, not only adds a three-dimension quality to the songs, but also includes some improvisation resulting in performances that can only be called spiritual.