Electric Eel Shock

Japanese rockers Electric Eel Shock have been delivering explosive, infectious metal to grinning audiences the world over.  Quirky doesn't begin to explain this band, and as they follow their mission to play to everyone everywhere, we caught up with singer Aki Morimoto mid tour to give us the scoop on EES.

Hi Aki, give our good readers a brief history of EES:
Me (guitar and vocals) and Kazuto (Bass) were at high school together – I have always been obsessed with Black Sabbath and Kazuto with The Ramones.  So we were thrown together as the weird ones in our school.  We played in several bands together but when we met Gian (Drummer) in Tokyo we knew we had to make Electric Eel Shock together.  Although Gian was playing in a jazz funk band at the time he is the perfect drummer for EES' sound.

So what’s the battle plan?
We plan to play our music to every single person on the planet.  Even if it is only the once.  We also want to visit every country, and I want to fish in all the rivers in the world.

What/whom are your influences (musical or otherwise)?
Sabbath, Ramones and Michael Jackson

How would you describe your sound?
Funky dirty groovy rock and roll – it is the music of all of history and the music of the future.

Is there a message you want to get across through your music?
Yes of course - I want everyone to know that Rock & Roll can rescue the world!

Are you guys a booze, drugs, or abstinence band?
If none of the above, what are your vices?
Yes we like Booze and drugs and absinthe and vice and everything else we can get – sex, drugs and email all the way.  But we do not binge – we leave that to our manager Bob Slayer.  He might not drink for two days and then he will drink a weeks worth of booze in a few hours and get left behind in Trondheim.
This happened on the last tour in Norway – we checked his bunk when the tour bus left at 6am and thought he was sleeping but it turned out that was just his bags and he was still drinking in the venue. He had to get an 8 hour train to catch up with the tour.

If your music was a type of food, what would it be?
It would be a big meze like in Greece or smnorgesboard or a huge tapas variety deal. Or maybe just egg and cheese – I don’t know but it would be very lovely!

What’s the best thing about being in Electric Eel Shock?
I am very proud that I can make my living from music and that we have been all over the world with Electric Eel Shock. You know we have friends all over the world. I could be stranded in most parts of the world and not be far from someone I knew who it would be good to meet up with. It means the world is not a big scary place to us anymore and I like that very much – I think we will have that forever.

What, in your view, is success?  Is there anything specific you would like to achieve with your music?
There are many many measures of success.  I think we are very successful as an underground band.  We have achieved so much. The problem is if you start to compare yourself with other bands then on a happy day it can seem very good, but on a bad day you can see that many bands are doing lots more than you.   So I try to avoid this.  I think how much more we have achieved than we thought we would, but also I strive to keep growing.

Favourite gig so far, and why?
Every gig is my favourite – we play between 150 -200 gigs a year and I am never too tired to play or don’t want to. I love it very much every night. There are some special gigs like Roskilde when we headlined a stage at the famous festival on our first trip to Europe.  Or in Austria when Iggy Pop was watching from the wings and actually came onto the stage with us at one point.  But also gigs like we just did in Ireland where the clubs were small but full and completely wild. All gigs are good gigs.

Worst ever gig and why?
Our first time in hamburg because no one turned up and it was cancelled. Actually when we were loading the van back up one guy did turn up and we wanted to play for him but the promoter would not let us play for just one person.  We do a little better in hamburg now and have played to lots of people, but I always wonder if that one guy is ever in the audience.  I want to say hello to him and sorry that we could not play that first time.

Weirdest thing a fan has ever given you?
You know Lemmy (Motorhead) once sent us some chewing gum and that was nice.  A fan once stole Kazutos shoes from him off stage in Sweden – she was a crazy lady and Bob Slayer had to find her and persuade her to give them back.  I think he swapped them for an old T-Shirt that we all signed (She didn’t want a new one!).

Do you have any special preparations or rituals you go through before playing a show?
Beer and fishing mostly. 

What is it with you and fishing?
Fishing is like a fighting sport for me.  I don't do it to relax and I don't fish to reflect upon my life.  I only consider the strategy of how best to catch fish.  I'm a hardcore fisherman!

A good one as well from what we've heard...
I had a career as a competition fisherman.  When i quit that to concentrate on Rock n' Roll I got an offer to write a column for Japan's largest fishing magazine.  More recently, I've started hosting a fishing TV programme. 

What about the other guys in the band?  Does Gian really collect false teeth?
Yes! Gian is a qualified dental technician who used to make and collect false teeth.  Now he likes to bake cakes.  He uses fresh eggs and rare flour and says that making cakes is very good for relaxing before and after shows.

If you could create your all time favourite festival line up – who would you include on the bill?
Black Sabbath and Electric Eel Shock that would do although many other bands could come if they wanted – maybe one day we will do our own festival but it looks very hard work.

Describe your perfect day:
Fishing, good food, some beer and friends -  and a good gig.

Tell us something not many people know about you:
Not many people know that Electric Eel Shock used to be an 11 piece band - but we got rid of everybody else so we could tour the world.

Best thing about your home town?
Osaka is the real Japan – Tokyo is like all major cities -  it is so busy and hectic. Osaka is like most second cities where it is more relaxed and more creative.  Also has very good food.

Worst thing about your home town?
When I am at home I am not touring and I miss that a lot after the first few days – that is why we tour so much.

Your favourite bands in Asia are:
I think there are many good bands in Asia. I still think Electric Eel Shock is my favourite band though!

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Check out Electric Eel Shock on AMP - we're pretty sure that they'll be one of your favourite bands soon too. 

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Posted by A.M.P.D. on March 16, 2007 4:30:00 PM HKT #