Messed!Up
There’s nothing as inspiring as Electric Eel Shock’s unabashed love for heavy metal. In the years since their mothers declared they could beat Nirvana, a lot has happened in the life of Electric Eel Shock. Acclaimed records like Beat Me, supporting iconic bands like MC5, legendary shows at Roskilde and Bonnaroo, and countless tours all across the world have cemented them as one of the world’s wildest, and best live acts.
Although Aki, Kazuto, and Gian have reached beyond their wildest expectations and put Japan in the international heavy metal scene, they refuse to slow down as most bands do after a few years of hard work and very little pay in return. Instead, they embarked on yet another tour with latest album Heavy Metal Black Belt to celebrate the band’s 30th anniversary.
When the band popped by Hamburg for a gig at Indra Musikclub with bassist Joji Iwamoto filling in for Kazuto on the tour, we sat down with the band for a chat about 30 years in the scene, their metal role models (and Cindy Lauper), and writing a song about a sudden life crisis while touring in Sweden. Aki did most of the talking.
Thirty years down the road
You have been around for 30 years by now and when you started as young I’m sure you had expectations about the band. Have you reached what you wanted with Electric Eel Shock or is it way beyond what you expected?
(laugh) “I wasn’t that young, I was already at the end of my twenties when we started this version of the band. And yes, I never really expected anything like this.
In the beginning, we only played in Japan and we couldn’t speak any English at all, but we had rock bands from the West as our role models, and we’ve shared stages with many of them a few times now, like Motörhead or MC5 who we supported in Amsterdam a few years ago. When we played in America we even stayed at Mike’s place, the bass player of MC5, and played basketball in the front yard. That’s a great memory for us.”
“I guess we wanted to go to Europe and America already from the start and then it just happened, but it took a few years”
Talking about great memories from a very long career; what are some of the best memories you have from a 30 year long career?
“Like we talked about before, the Roskilde Festival [in 2003] is a great memory because it was the first really big festival for us. It was like a dream coming true to play such a big festival and to be on the same line-up as bands like Metallica and Björk, and getting the chance to play a good slot.”
But you never got the chance to play any of the bigger festivals back home in Japan, like Fuji Rock Festival?
“No, we have never played the Fuji Rock Festival. We were offered a slot once, but were already booked for Sweden Rock Festival and couldn’t do it. I told them to call us next year and was waiting to hear back from them but it never happened (laugh). We‘re quite small in Japan.”
What makes the band so special that you always get back together? Many bands split up and the band members start new bands, and that’s it. But you always find a way back.
“We never really split up, just took our time in between albums, and have the same band members as when we started. Well, on this tour we have a stand-in bass player because Kazuto couldn’t join us, and now we have the world’s best bass player with us (laugh).”
“I haven’t played in any other band than Electric Eel Shock since we started and don’t know anything else.”
How much does it mean for the Japanese rock scene that you have been around for such a long time and toured the world? Has your success opened the door for other bands who followed in your footsteps?
“It has happened that bands come to us and say ‘We love Electric Eel Shock and want to be like you guys’. But it’s also a lot easier for young bands today than it was for us; the world has become smaller and you share your music easily online, and then they’ll get gigs abroad.”
Since you started, the music scene has changed a lot. Rock music, in general, was huge in the 90s but the last 20 years have seen hip hop and electronic music take over the music scene, and in Japan, j-pop has made a massive impact. How is it to navigate through that as a rock band today? Is it hard to be a rock band today?
“I don’t think so because a lot of people still love heavy rock music. I also love hip hop and listen to it a lot when I’m out driving my car. Although rock music isn’t huge in Japan we’ve created our own scene based on our love for classic rock music. Rock music isn’t dead in Japan, but it’s not as big as in Europe and the US.”
Sudden life crisis in Sweden
To celebrate their 30th anniversary in style, the band released their 9th studio album, Heavy Metal Black Belt, a record that pays tribute to many of their metal role models – and Cyndi Lauper with a wild reinterpretation of her “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”, called “Metalheads Just Want To Have Fun”. A record worthy a band that celebrates 30 years in the scene. And Aki also explains the story behind the song “Lost in Sweden”.
I didn’t discover you until you released Beat Me in 2005, and when people asked ‘How does EES sound like?’ I don’t know what to say. You have evolved sonically over the years. How would you describe what happened with your sound between Beat Me and your recently released record Heavy Metal Black Belt?
“Well, Beat Me was the second album we recorded with a producer in Europe but the first with a famous producer and it got us a bit of attention – it had a very produced sound. The new album, Heavy Metal Black Belt, is more organic. The producer of Beat Me was kind of a mad scientist and wanted to use lots of weird effects and it worked really well on the album, I love the sound, but on this latest one we went back to a natural sound, like it would sound live.”
Heavy Metal Black Belt has it all. I hear everything from AC/DC to Scorpions and speed metal and of course Cyndi Lauper in your twisted version of her major hit “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”. It almost seems like you have dedicated each song on the album to a band or an artist, sonically. Is the record a sort of tribute to your role models in music?
“It’s very much like so. I’m that age when you pay homage to your favorite bands, like those bands you mentioned and some more. There’s also a Van Halen guitar solo and inspiration from Night Ranger and lots of other 80s rock bands. I just love 80s rock music.”
Just out of curiosity; I’m a Swede and I’m curious about the story behind “Lost in Sweden”. What is it about?
(laugh) “You know, I’m always a happy and very positive person and I’m really not afraid of what’s to come, but just before I turned forty, like two months before my birthday, I just felt ‘Oh, I’m turning forty, I’m not young anymore and I don’t have any money in the bank’. For a second, I had this feeling of doubt, and that happened when I was at a hotel in Farsta [Stockholm, Sweden], and I wrote a song about it.”
“But it passed over soon after. Just a few days later, when we played in Örebro [Sweden], the staff at the hotel apparently knew about Electric Eel Shock and left us a message in the room, ‘We love your music’, and that made me happy again (laugh). Next time I’ll make a song about how I found myself in Sweden, that’s a promise (laugh).”
“I’ve kept the message from the hotel staff as a good tour memory”
‘There’s no reason to quit now’
You’re back in Europe again after five years in Japan. What have you missed most with touring in Europe?
“Yeah, we haven’t been here since before the pandemic, and I’ve missed it a lot, like everything. Our fans are amazing and are happy to have us back, that’s what I see from where I stand on the stage. I’ve missed them a lot. Don’t get me wrong, I love our Japanese fans as well but people are different in Europe and a bit crazier.”
“It’s also a lot easier for us to tour in Europe and play lots of shows, Japan isn’t that good for rock music. It’s more expensive to tour back home and we don’t get as much paid for playing shows.”
“But we have toured a lot more and have done longer tours in the US as well. That’s where we met him [pointing at stand-in bassist Joji Iwamoto], in New York. When our original bassist Kazuto couldn’t join us on this tour we had to decide whether we should cancel or hire a stand-in bassist, and I thought ‘What bassists do I know?’ and I thought about Joji. But he’s not new to us, we’ve known him for 25 years or something, and he knows Electric Eel Shock really well – and he speaks a lot better English than me (laugh)”
As a grand finale, will we see Electric Eel Shock continue for another 10 years? No plans to retire the band yet?
“No, there’s no reason to quit now or give up (laugh). I’ll turn 57 soon, that’s how old my dad was when he passed away so I will surpass him. But maybe I’ll feel like ‘Lost in Sweden’ and end up in a life crisis again. We will keep on going for a few more years and will be back here in 15 years again (laugh).”
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Photographer: Kevin Winiker
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