Bullets
For most Americans it’s still something of a shock to see the normal traditional Japanese raging away at us with the decidely untraditional sounds of ear-mashing metal. First to head West with the news that there was more than Kabuki music thundering out of the East was Loudness.
Bullets
EZO SAID THAN DONE
by Judy Wieder
For most Americans it’s still something of a shock to see the normal traditional Japanese raging away at us with the decidely untraditional sounds of ear-mashing metal. First to head West with the news that there was more than Kabuki music thundering out of the East was Loudness. Currently, two new Japanese metal bands are making a similar point: Vow Wow and now, EZO, four aggressive rockers hailing from Sapporo, the capitol city of Japan’s northern island Hokkaido (an isle once known as E-Z-O).
“Nobody has ever heard a band like ours,” EZO’s lead singer Masaki told us in broken English, seated with his three bandmates in their management’s West Hollywood office. Masaki, Taro (bass), Hiro (drums) and Shoyo (guitar) have watched their own musical interests grow from classical piano to guitar and rock 'n' roll. After high school (four years ago) Masaki was introduced to Shoyo through friends. Hiro and Taro joined them the same year and within two months the band (calling itself Flatbacker at the time) won the grand prize at the prestigious Sapporo Song Contest.