Electric Eel Shock: Transworld Ultra Rock Interview

Electric Eel Shock will soon release a new album, Transworld Ultra Rock on 1st October. The album will be released on their own brand-new label, Double Peace Records and distributed through various outlets throughout Europe.

Because of this, we met up with vocalist & guitarist Aki and bassist Kazuto in a café in Amsterdam to ask them about the new album and more.


You’ve just finished a short tour, with performances at various festivals such as Wacken. How did it go?

Aki: So far so good, we still have two performances to go, one in the Netherlands and one in the UK.
Kazuto: At Wacken, we got a very good crowd, over 2000 people and we had good reactions.
Aki: You know, Wacken is a very big festival and just concentrated on heavy metal. 99,9% percent of people were wearing black shirts, but we sold these (points at his own shirt) bright yellow t-shirts. (laughs)
Kazuto: We played at the same time as Saxon played on the main stage. They are a rather popular band but we still we got a very good crowd, so I’m very very pleased about it.
Aki: We don’t only play heavy metal. We always mix heavy metal with other styles, more flexible music. So I think it was a good time to show another kind of music to the heavy metal people.

Lately everything seems to be going really well for the band; you’re performing at bigger events, playing together with bigger acts like The Bloodhound Gang, recording with a famous producer and so on. Did you ever expect things to turn out this way when you just started out?

Kazuto: Ahhh, never! Our first tour in a foreign country was in America. We got an old van, we had old equipment we bought in America and we were touring by ourselves, just the band. Our friends helped us to have shows, it was very small, we played like, in a big café. So yeah, I never expected it to turn out in this situation.
Aki: We drove a crap car, crap van, crap amplifier, crap drums, crap music (laughs).
Kazuto: But I’m very pleased about it. It’s like, something that we’re proud of, because we kept on going and we got into this situation. We never gave up.

You will soon release your new album Transworld Ultra Rock'.What can we expect from it?

Kazuto: Uhhh, more… Rock! (laughs)
Aki: We keep on going to the main stream but we tried to put more flexibility, more variety in our music. Of course we play a kind of old school rock, but we don’t hate technology. We use a lot of technology for this next album. We were more flexible and it saved time. More relaxed, more concentrated to play. This next album we were working just to play music. I think you can feel our more 'rock’n’roll' feeling.

In what way is it different from your previous albums?

Kazuto: We used the computer to record it in a different way. I’m not sure if you can feel it or not. Our music is still our music, but this time we put something new to it. I can’t say exactly what, but this was the first time that we recorded separately: first drums, then guitar, bass, like layers.
Aki: Before recording I was just a little bit worried to go on this new way, but the producer really knew how to make rock’n’roll, so it was great.
Kazuto: It was a very great experience for us. I think that both ways are good, recording live or recording separately. Now we know our new possibilities with it, so that was very good.

How did the song writing process go?

Aki: Lyrics and music were created at the same time, in my mind. Always I make an idea, not the exact full song. I always make a guitar riff or the main melody or something and I always bring my ideas to the studio and we build the song, we just add and add. I always bring the ‘seed’.

Which song was the easiest to make, which one the hardest and for what reasons?

Kazuto: (laughs) Very difficult question.
Aki: All songs were easy to make, and all songs were difficult to make (laughs). The song Transamerica Ultra Rock; I made that in just three minutes. And the song called Joe, it took me two weeks (laughs). It took a very long time. But it doesn’t matter how long it takes to make it.

What are your own favourite songs from the album?

Kazuto: That’s a difficult question!
Aki: I love all songs, but my favourite is Joe and DICE De TRY!.... And Kill the Weekend.
Kazuto: I love them all.

The title of the song Transamerica Ultra Rock' is inspired by a Japanese TV show Transamerica Ultra Quiz’.

Kazuto: (laughs) Yeah, it’s a show from the 70’s, it’s very old.
Aki: You can see it on European TV, especially in the UK. I don’t know why English people like it (laughs).

The title reflects on the difficulties you had when you were in the USA. What kind of problems did you have?

Kazuto: (laughs) We have to think of that for a while, to remember it.
Aki: On the first foreign tour, we had a lot of problems of course. But we enjoyed figuring it all out.
Kazuto: Yeah, to conquer the problems. Like exploring. We a problem with our van because it was crap, so Aki had to fix it by himself, because we had to keep on touring. We couldn’t leave the van in the garage so Aki tried to fix it.

So it was all just small problems.

Kazuto: Yeah, small, but it happened every day, and we didn’t know how big America was. Like, I understand in my head, but I didn’t realize what a long way it was, so we were driving all night long to the next city.
Aki: The Transamerica Ultra Quiz is like a survival quiz. The loser had to go back Japan.

So it was about surviving in the US.

Aki: We’re still alive, we won (laughs). We survived the quiz!

So there were no problems about the fact that you were from a foreign country, like communication problems or people that went like “Oh no, I don’t want to see a Japanese band live”.

Kazuto: We never had like, “We don’t like Japanese”. But of course we always had problems with the communication, I’m still fighting it.
Aki: There aren't any countries that hate the Japanese. They are very kind to us.
Manager: How about South Korea?! ( everybody laughs)
Aki: We have an English car, and we had a car problem in Germany so we took the van to the garage. But German people hate English people. So they NEVER fixed it. Like “I don’t know that van, never seen anything like it!”
Kazuto: I remember, that during our first tour we had a problem with communication, so I bought a mobile phone, but I never could use it. I couldn’t understand the English on the phone. So, I brought a laptop on tour, to use email all the time.
Aki: Everybody is always very kind to Japanese people. Next time we should get a Japanese van (laughs) that will help in the garage! (laughs)

How about the other songs of the album, what are they about? For example, who is Joe?

Aki: Joe and Joe II comes from an anime movie. The Japanese manga is called “Tomorrow’s Joe”, we say “Ashita no Joe”, and it’s a kind of bible for our age. It’s quite famous: it’s about boxing.
Kazuto: Kind of like Rocky, but more dirty, Joe has a dirty side. Sometimes he grabs a rock and fights with the rock in his hand.

And how about the song I want war, that sounds a bit weird…

Aki: Well, now we have a problem with North Korea (laughs). No, but we made a mistake. We should put there “I don’t want war”. That’s what the song means, but this title is more provocative.
Kazuto: If you read the lyrics, you will see that it’s an anti-war song.

The album will be released on your own label, Double Peace Records. You used to have another label before (MICRO MUSIC) so what made you decide now to set up a new label?

Aki: That was the label of Kazuto and a friend…
Manager: The first time they started a label, that was because they couldn’t get anyone else to release the music so they didn’t really have a choice and made their own label. The last two albums have been released on record labels in Europe and this time we got offers from several labels. We had a choice, so we were like ‘what will we choose, what will we choose’, and we discussed it a lot; one label in Germany, or one for the whole of Europe and there were all different options. Then we started thinking about the distributors and we were thinking, what if they could distribute it for us directly. After each record that’s been put out now, we’ve been happy with how it was done, but were like ‘we could have done this and that’. Now everything is going better financially. Before it was quite a struggle but now everything is going much better and there’s a bit of money around, so it was possible. It was quite a decision to turn down good offers and to do it ourselves. But it’s definitely working out, we’re pleased that we did it. And the feedback we got was positive.

Will you also release other artists on it?

Aki: I have no idea about it now, we are very busy.
Kazuto: Our first priority is always our own band (laughs). I don’t know for the future, we may do it.
Aki: If we get a big success with our own label, well you know, we know a lot of good Japanese bands who are only known in Japan. I want to introduce them to Europe.

Your first albums were recorded by yourselves in various locations while you were travelling around the world, but your last few have been recorded in the same Dutch studio with the same producer. Was it very different for you?

Aki: We recorded several albums but we released them in Japan only. There’s a different situation in every country. It was more professional and music-wise we had a really good feeling. Even though we recorded in a proper studio and with a professional producer, we never lost this ‘raw’ feeling.
Manager: well, that’s not strictly true, there have been times in the studio where you lost that feeling. They worked with several producers, like, just one or two days of recording to see how it would go. Some of them were terrible (laughs). You’ll never hear the recording. There was this one time, when we were working with this record label and they said “oh we have a great producer, we think it would be a perfect fit, he’s been to see the band, he really understand them!” So we went there, walked into the studio, it was quite exciting, and then there were pictures of the wall of what he had produced. They were for the Smurfs! (laughs)
Kazuto: But Attie Bauw who produced this record, understands us very well. He came to a lot of our shows and really understands us. So the recording went really easy for us and with the recording of the second album with him, it went even better.

Instead of staying in Japan, you’ve performed all across the world. What was it like to go back to Japan and perform there after so many international performances?

Aki: We got a good reaction from the Japanese people.
Kazuto: We made our own label in Europe but in Japan, we have a license with a Japanese company. And our live shows and now, the Japanese people realize that we did a very good thing in Europe and America.
Aki: Before, we never got good offers for festivals or halls, but now we get so many offers that we can choose. I hope everything will go better from here.

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned from touring overseas? Or do you have any advice you’d like to give bands that are going to perform overseas for the first time?

Kazuto: Don’t hesitate to communicate with people. I remember that we were struggling to communicate with people. Everybody in America and in all countries, and everybody knows we have difficulties with the language, so they are kind. So don’t hesitate.
Aki: If I would give a band advice, it would be “don’t drink too much beer” (laughs). Because Japanese venues never serve free beer for the band (laughs). In America they do so.
Kazuto: Yeah so Japanese bands are really excited; “free beer, free beer!” (laughs)

You’ve made a video for the song Transworld ultra rock, in multi vision with four separate clips playing at once. How did you get the idea to put it together like this?

Manager: Well, on the MySpace there’s like a list of YouTube videos, and some kids emailed me. “I pressed ‘play’ on all of them, they were really cool! Four Electric Eel Shock videos playing at one time.” So I went and did it, and I was like, “That’s not that cool”. So it sort of went from there, like “so you can play more at the same time, why don’t we put them together.” We filmed it and the idea was really great, “let’s shoot it and put it together!”, Well, NO. It took SIX MONTHS to make it.

How about the video ‘How 2 Fish Rock & Roll Style’, who came up with the idea to make this video?

Manager: I’m just obsessed with video and I’m using them for my own fun (laughs). But Aki came up with that idea. (tries to remember how it went) Well, one of the things was that I found this place online to buy a lot of cheap plastic fish, so I was like “Alright! What are we going to do with this?!”

Lately there is a bit of a hype going on in Europe about Japanese music and it gets more popular. What do you think about this?

Kazuto: I think it’s a great thing that Japanese get more attention, but I don’t really notice it much during our concerts.

Does it ever happen that people come to check out your gigs just because of the fact that you’re Japanese?

Kazuto: It happens, there’s a small group of people that come for this reason.
Aki: Well, nowadays, we’re not so sure that we’re Japanese. Because for some gigs in Japan, the promoter made posters and flyers saying “Electric Eel Shock (USA)”. (laughs)

To end the interview, do you have a message for the readers?

Aki: We are a Japanese manga band! (laughs) If you like Japanese manga, you’ll like us (laughs).
Kazuto: But yes, come to our shows and check out our new CD! It will be satisfying, I hope (laughs).

Thank you very much for the interview!

Both: Thank you! Dankjewel!


We would like to thank the band members of Electric Eel Shock, Jessica of It’s All Happening promotion, Bob Slayer and Wayne Charlton for the picture.