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Kazuto Maekawa - Bass
Akihito Morimoto - Guitar & Vox
Tomoharu 'Gian' Ito - Drums

Still keeping it going Junkie and I decided to catch up with Electric Eel Shock whilst they were on tour with the rebellious independent punk rock band from the US the Dwarves in London where we talked about the Japanese indie rock scene and got to know more about what makes Electric Eel Shock!

yuki : Hello guys, please introduce yourselves!

Aki : Hello! This is Aki from Electric Eel Shock, I play guitar and vocals.

Gian : Hello I am Gian I play drums, nice to meet you!

[Kazuto (bassist) not present for the interview.]

yuki : Electric Eel Shock seems to be keeping busy as usual with endless tours, gigs and festivals all over Europe and the US!
You've even released your latest album Beat Me recently!

How do you feel about the new album?

Aki : Really satisfied, we worked with a great producer Attie Bauw, he's Dutch so we recorded Beat Me in Holland, it was our first time to record with a great producer in a big studio.
Our past albums were produced more independently, we recorded with just a small hard disk recorder, we didn't have any big record deal, so Beat Me is a very great first experience for us.

Junkie : I've read that EES have only performed in Japan a few times; do you intend to do more shows in Japan in the future?

Aki : Of course we always hoping to go back and play in Japan, but its very far away from the US and Europe so we'd need the money to fly. We have planned to play in Japan next February but it's not confirmed yet though we should be back in Japan sometime.

yuki : So you'll be keeping most of your activities in Europe and American for the time being?

Aki : Yes, because Europeans and American people are waiting for us, in Japan there are only a few people waiting, but I really want to go back for those few people, hopefully when we become bigger in Japan we'll be back more.

yuki : What do you think of the Japanese Indie Rock Scene back at home?

Aki : We don't know so much about the Japanese independent scene now because we haven't been back to Japan often enough, but back two years ago when we were more based in Japan, it was good, but big sells were mainly dependant on how many times a band played on big television programmes, I didn't like the situation, but of course we always have a lot of great bands from the underground scene.

yuki : Who are your favourite Japanese bands?

Aki : My favourite Japanese band is not so popular, they're called Space Kung-Fu Man.

Gian : My favourite band is called PANICSMILE, a post-rock band, they've played in the UK two times maybe?

Aki : I also like Guitar Wolf, we've played with them twice in the United States, sadly their bassist "Bass Wolf" died, we played with them just two days before it happened, we were very shocked and sad.

Junkie & yuki : Awww.

Junkie : We've listened to both your most recent albums Go Europe and Beat Me, Beat Me seem to have much more English lyrics, are there any reasons to why you are using more English lyrics now?

Aki : Well my thinking is always changing but when we recorded Beat Me I was studying very hard on English so I really wanted to try and use English more and sing all the songs in English for this album. But now I want to use 30% Japanese, 70% English, or ever 50/50.

yuki : We've been to your gigs before and they are always a blast to see! Where does Electric Eel Shock get all their hyper energy from?

Aki : From beer, I love beer!

Gian : Audience!

Aki : Also I like highly energetic bands so I'm influenced from those with great energy like Fishbone the 90s' American band with their mixture of rock, punk, funk, jazz and reggae music, full of energy! Also I love 80s' heavy metal, a little bit weird but its very charming, Motley Crue, Ozzy Osbourne.

Junkie : You guys are known to have done wacky things on stage before such as climbing up on walls and such, have you ever slipped up or got in trouble for doing that?

Aki : Yes, many times, mainly our bassist Kazuto, he tries to climb up on the speakers but sometimes he drops and once he fell and hit his hip very hard, he couldn't stand up for about 5 minutes!

yuki : I've heard about EES DJ-ing in clubs, can you tell us what that is all about?

Aki : Yes, we play 80s' heavy metal or current heavy rock/punk metal, and sometimes I bring my electric guitar and put the DJ-mixer straight in and play the guitar with the record. It's always very fun!

yuki : Do you DJ often?

Aki : A few times, twice in London, once in Germany, so if somebody needs a DJ I can go!

Junkie : Currently not many Japanese bands have made a greater impact than Electric Eel Shock has around the world, what advice would you give to any Japanese bands hoping to go world wide with their music?

Aki : If they love music very much, they don't need any advice, they can try. Most importantly keep on rolling, keep it going!

Gian : Most important thing is drivers licence!

yuki : So you have your own van to get around whilst on tour?

Aki : Yes, sometimes I drive!

yuki : If you could choose to tour with any band in the world who would it be?

Aki : For me, Black Sabbath - as the support band! (laughs)

Gian : Michael Jackson!

Junkie : Aki, your afro seems to have become an icon of the band, how long have you had it for and is it going to stay forever?

Aki : About 5 years? But now I'm trying to grow it, I want to be perfectly heavy metal, I try to put the weird scarf on my guitar, and may be I will try to wear my t-shirt with splits and tears -terrible!

yuki : Lastly, for people who have yet to hear about Electric Eel Shock, please give a few words about your music!

Aki : Our music is based on 80s' old school Rock and Roll, but we're not only old school, we always introduce some brand new things into our music so we have Rock'n'Roll history and Rock'n'Roll future combined together for something new!

yuki : Well we hope that Electric Eel Shock will keep on rockin' rollin'!! We know that you are about to tour Europe and the US with Bloodhound Gang in the next few months so good luck with that!!
Thank you for your time with Jpop.com! Arigatou gozaimashita!

EES : ありがとう　ございます！

Interviewer's thoughts :

Electric Eel Shock were extremely friendly and nice to chat to, which I must admit myself and Junkie were quite surprised since they always seem quite crazy in their own hyper, energetic EES way, perhaps it was too early for booze, so this is what EES are like when they are sober! (lol)

Their performance at The Garage was amazing as always! I could over hear fans of the Dwarves praising at the end of their performance, "…that first band was really good! I enjoyed that!" It is no wonder how EES had so easily won supporters from all the countries they toured in. On the night there were not only English fans wearing their EES band t-shirts with pride, there were a fair amount of Japanese fans too who've come in support cheering EES on watching close to the stage. Lead singer of Mika Bomb (Japanese punk rock band based around UK), was also spotted in the audience! Proof that Japanese people are just as attracted to Electric Eel Shock, I'm sure Aki was just being a little modest when he said "…when we get bigger in Japan" that they'd stay and play more back home, I believe that they're not too far from it at all now especially with the rising success of their latest album.

People who've seen Electric Eel Shock perform would often say that their music tends to play a greater impact on the audience live than recorded and it is true that EES are one of those bands that never let their live audience down! So if Electric Eel Shock are coming down your way I would strongly urge that you don't miss out, go and catch some full on live Rock'n'Roll experience Electric Eel Shock style!

Written by yuki melodies, photos taken by yuki melodies
More information, gigs, mp3s, videos at : www.electriceelshock.com

Mini Image Gallery : 30th August 2005, Electric Eel Shock supporting the Dwarves on tour in London at The Garage venue.