Interview with Electric Eel Shock in Dublin

Shortly before their concert in Dublin, Ireland, Aki and Kazuto were kind enough to grant JaME a long interview. They spoke about their latest album, their UK and Ireland tour as well as what the future holds for Electric Eel Shock. Later that evening they gave a heated concert at the monthly Ballroom of Romance event in a small venue in Dublin . Even though it began only after midnight, that didn't stop them from giving a memorable example of what some of the most heavy metal music in both Japan and the West is like.


Since we last spoke with you, you have released a new album, Sugoi Indeed. How did composing and producing the album go?

Aki: It was a self-produced album. Our previous two albums were produced by the very famous Dutch producer, Attie Bauw. He recorded for a lot of legendary bands like Judas Priest and The Scorpions. As we had a really great experience working with him, we now have more confidence to produce by ourselves. So we tried to record the album by self producing it. I think it was very good.

Why did you choose the name Sugoi Indeed?

Aki: Because our album is sugoi. ('sugoi' means 'great' in Japanese)

Where did you get the idea for the cover from? Why did you choose to depict yourself with vampire teeth?

Aki: It was kind of automatic. We just found a good picture and we thought, “Oh, it’s a good picture for our front cover.” That photo reminded us of vampires as well. So yeah, it was kind of coincidental.

Kazuto: It came from our imagination; it doesn’t mean anything. (laughs)

What does Sugoi Indeed offer the listener compared to your previous albums?

Aki: The most important point is its defiant sound from being self-produced. Yeah, of course Attie made a great sound, but I think it's different. Of course both albums have a great sound, but Sugoi Indeed has a more 'garage' sound. Both our previous two albums with Attie Bauw had a very great and professional sound. Our albums from the very beginning were really badly recorded, but they have a great feeling; the sound is really bad but the feeling is great. So you can find that good balance between good sound and good feeling in Sugoi Indeed.

Your song Death penalty has a very thought-provoking title, what is the song about?

Aki: It's about how we changed the law situation in the Japanese court. Judgment used to be owned by an expert such as a licensed person. You know the US government has a jury? Well, we changed the system to be the same as the US—part of the court has been changed to be the same as the US. So now, you know, Japan still has a death penalty. I thought it’s really dangerous that people have the right to kill somebody. Even if it's something that matters or there is a reason, I believe that no reason is right. So, if we remove that death penalty from our law, we can move on to a new system, ordinary people shouldn't decide who should or shouldn't be killed. That song is about this.

The lyrics of Mr Toad are quite extreme. Where did you get this idea and what’s the significance of the name 'Mr Toad'?

Aki: You know 'toad' means a slow guy or a guy that always keeps saying good things for the boss or king.

Kazuto: A yes-man.

Aki: Yeah, a yes-man. Yeah, the Japanese salary-man is a kind of 'Mr Toad' but I don’t hate him because it’s the only way to keep his family happy. So 'Mr Toad' is always fighting stress to keep his family happy. That song is about that, so I don’t hate Japanese salarymen. But in the final section of the song, the salary-man is driven crazy by stress...

Kazuto: Aki always writes the lyrics after making a song. Since the song took a more heavy, extreme turn towards the end, he wrote extreme lyrics to fit the end of the song.

Are there any songs on Sugoi Indeed that you would particularly like to recommend? Which is your favourite?

Aki: For me it's Metal Man because Metal Man is a song made out of respect for classic rock. We grew up with classic rock; we didn’t grow up with steamed white rice. It’s okay if I missed Japanese rice, but if I missed classic rock, I wouldn’t have grown up.

You’ve made quite a few albums by now. How do you keep coming up with different ideas?

Aki: Because we are stupid, I don't think they're new ideas. It’s all the same idea. Because we forget everything very quickly, we always think “Oh, we've got a new idea!” Yeah but seriously, although I'm sometimes annoyed with making songs that are similar to what I used to make, I don't remember that they're similar most of the time. So, I’m very happy that I’m very stupid, yeah. Because I can’t remember, I shouldn’t fight it.

Kazuto: But our album is kind of... Not a diary, but a kind of record of our life experiences between the last album and this one, like a snapshot. So, since we're making songs for a living anyway and I feel like we are, not growing up, but still living, we make songs with the ideas we get from the experiences we have between albums.

Aki: That means we still keep making songs and albums.

Kazuto: We’re never bored of it.

Aki: It means, you know, we don’t make really huge money; we still aren't rich. If we want to be rich guys, the easiest way is to quit music and get a proper job, but we still want to keep a rock and roll life. We really still enjoy…

Kazuto: We love...

Aki: To play rock and roll music. So we get new ideas automatically. Yeah, new things come.

A lot of your lyrics have very serious themes. Do you ever feel like writing more upbeat, positive lyrics?

Aki: There are some songs with really positive lyrics in Japanese on Sugoi Indeed. I think English lyrics are negative and Japanese lyrics are positive on the album. Yeah, but for me it’s a little bit boring. For example, pointless lyrics such as “let’s have a party, let’s have a party” is boring for me. (laughs)

Kazuto: It means Aki's a bit of an ironic guy, he’s not so straightforward.

Aki: Even though I make what looks like a happy song, a dark side is there. I like it because it’s my taste. The movies and TV programmes I like are of similar tastes.

Aki, you sing in both English and Japanese. Which do you prefer singing in? Do you find one language easier to express yourself in?

Aki: Japanese is easier of course, but if I feel “Oh, this song does not match well in terms of lyrics and melody for Japanese,” then I will write English lyrics. So, I don’t normally try to make a 50/50 balance. English or Japanese, I just choose the best match for a song. But, of course, Japanese is easier for me.

For your latest album, you went through the website Sellaband to help generate money through your fans. Why did you choose to do this for Sugoi Indeed rather than your previous albums?

Aki: Our English manager just found that website. As we weren't really familiar with the system, we just had a trial. Our English manager put our name on that website and in just 50, no, 30, 40 days...

Kazuto: No, in just one day we got $5000 and the next day we got $10000.

Aki: Yeah, we didn’t have the target of making money for the next record through that site in mind. At first, we were surprised. We just put our name there to see if it worked or not. We didn’t expect that much.

Kazuto: To be honest, we always struggle to produce a record because we are just an independent band and we do everything on our own. It’s quite hard making money to record our album. We always have options and we try working with European independent labels often. Then, we just choose which way is the best for us. We just keep on touring; we are a tour band. Like for me, I don’t feel like getting any help from a label or music company when going on tour. I feel that help for us comes in the form of people who come to see our show. That’s basically our statement, our confidence. I always believe that people will come to our show. I don’t believe in just investing in us for business. So that’s why we were looking for the kind of Sellaband system and I think that’s why we succeeded in it.

You are almost at the end of your current UK and Ireland tour. How has it been so far?

Both: Great, really great.

Aki: Except last night. (laughs) We played in a small town called Dundalk. Yeah, it was a good show and we had a great reaction, but the number of people was very small. Even though there was only a small number of people, each body had a really high temperature for us. So, it was totally fine. And another Cork show and Galway show was really great so I’m really looking forward to tonight.

Do you have any funny stories from this tour?

Kazuto: He caught a fish and ate it.

Aki: I was going to fish after the sound check. I found a canal in Dublin and thought there were big pike fish there. So I wanted to fish and eat it.

Kazuto: Actually, he caught a mackerel in Galway and we ate it. It was very nice.

Aki: Ireland is great for fish. You might think I'm on tour and I’m fishing in my spare time. However, I’m on a fishing tour and I play rock and roll music in my spare time. Fishing first, rock and roll second.

It’s very rare to have Japanese bands play concerts in Ireland. Why did you choose to play here?

Aki: Because we love it. The first time I forgot why we came here the... Anyway, we always get wonderful reactions; people seem to love us here. I always love people who love me. Yeah, I don’t care: ugly or beautiful, if she loves me, I love her.

What are your plans after you finish touring the UK and Ireland?

Aki: Yeah, of course, we are going back to Japan. The first thing I should do is to join the fishing competition and then have a big show in Tokyo the next day with a very popular Japanese top ten band. It's going to be really exciting. We are not a top ten band of course—we are maybe a top thousand band in Japan, but this top ten band wants to have a show with us because they love us. So it’s good.

You must be getting used to touring foreign countries now. How is it different from when you first began?

Aki: Basically, there is no difference in the venue. People love rock and rock is the same. Of course a lot of things are different, but rock and roll culture is not so different. Fans in some countries are a little shy to see the show and fans in others are too crazy to see the show. Fans from the US are so crazy that I sometimes think, “Oh, they don’t care about the music. They come to our show just to be crazy.” As Holland and Dutch people are a little shy and quiet, I sometimes think, “Oh, they aren’t enjoying it,” but they buy a lot of our merchandise after the show. I think that Japanese people are the shyest audience, yeah, but those are just small differences. The food is different. English food sucks but Asian food, such as Korean and Chinese food, is great.

Electric Eel Shock has already been together for over 10 years. What changes have you seen in the music industry since you began?

Kazuto: It's the same. (laughs) The music industry never changes. Now things are going down, like CDs aren't going to sell well anymore. So, maybe, small bands like us are going up because we are based on live shows. It's not like we don't care, but we aren’t based on CD sales so it could be that it will be a good time for us.

Aki: Maybe 10, 20 years ago, money made the music scene. If they put in a lot of money they could calculate how many CDs they’ll sell and how much they’ll make. However, because we now have a lot of independent websites, we all have the same chance. Even if there is a 15-year-old band and one just a month old, they have the same chance to be as big as us. So it's very fair now.

Kazuto: Kind of healthy.

Is it difficult maintaining careers both overseas as well as in Japan?

Kazuto: It’s difficult because time is limited. Time is never forever. If we spend two months in Europe, we do nothing in Japan. It’s really difficult, right? But I think if we build a good fan base in both, it could work. For the last two or three years, we just kept touring Europe and never returned to Japan. So, we didn’t have anything in Japan. But now, by going back to Japan and coming to Europe, we’re slowly growing up in Japan. So now we have a really good feeling or a better situation in both.

Aki: It was strange that nobody in Japan cared or knew about us before we started this lifestyle of touring all over the world. A lot of Japanese people heard small rumors from overseas like “Japanese Electric Eel Shock is playing in United States” and “Is getting a good audience somewhere in Europe” and they are now starting to pay attention to us. So, we will be playing with DIR EN GREY next.

As your band has strong connections with the overseas music industry as well as Japan’s, in what different ways have both Western and Japanese music influenced you?

Aki: I feel, the European music industry—not industry, but situation of the music, is really good for touring bands. For example, venues or promoters are very kind to us. But in Japan, it’s a bit hard to make money while on the road. It means it’s a very strong difference, I think.

Kazuto: Yeah, the music industry is not different; they make a CD and make money from the CD. (laughs)

Why do you think your music became so popular in the West rather than in Japan?

Kazuto: Because our music is based on Western music and we are mostly influenced by classic American and British rock.

What is your ultimate goal as musicians? What are the things you would like to achieve in the future?

Kazuto: Ultimate goal? I don’t know if we have an ultimate goal. I don’t know. We just love to play music and if we got huge money or a huge crowd… But I don’t expect that. We are just enjoying it here; we just want to enjoy playing here.

Aki: Cruiser, vintage wine, fishing tackle.

Kazuto: Get all the money and go to the moon, that’s my goal! (laughs)

Finally, do you have a message for your fans in Ireland?

Aki: I don’t know if there are any more Irish Electric Eel Shock fans, but we have already met a lot of our Irish fans on this tour. I feel sorry that we don’t come around often, but we will never forget Ireland. We will come to Ireland if we have a chance, so keep checking our website. We will release new things, so keep yourselves updated on Electric Eel Shock.

Kazuto: Yeah, come to our show anyway.


JaME would like to thank Electric Eel Shock and Dan Pye for this interview