Eternal Elysium - Japanese cosmic travellers

Man this is one of the coolest interviews i have done.Eternal Elysium are one of my all time favorite bands so getting this interview together was a real buzz.Most readers would know how good most of the Stoner/Doom bands are that come out of Japan and Eternal Elysium are one of the best.With their Sabbathian tones and almighty talent at constructing powerhouse tunes,the band has always been under-appreciated outside of the underground.All there releases so far have been excellent and there is a new one on the way.I must thank Yukito Okazaki in getting this interview happening for me.Please excuse some of the English on display here but i thought i would keep it un-edited for the most part.Enjoy and bow down to the riff !!!

1.Hello,thanks for doing this interview.I have been listening to the band since 2001.I don't think people realize you have been around that long.Can you tell us about the history of the band ?

All right. This is long story. So I think you guys check here when you have much time..
EE launched in 1991, the original lineup sounded like Sabbath + Trouble + NWOBHM (Angel Witch, Maiden). We put out the first demo in '92 and recorded the first full-length, "FAITHFUL" in early '93. "FAITHFUL" was released in '96 and after that I got a good rhythm section. We wrote a lot of new songs and played shows in our hometown, Nagoya, as well as Osaka and Tokyo. Our sound started to change and became more influenced by 60's-70's heavy-psych, 80's doom and early stoner stuff.

In 1998, my own label, Cornucopia Records, released a compilation of Japanese doom rock called "DOOMSDAY RECITATION". EE, Church of Misery and two other bands joined this album and we tried to spread the word outside of Japan. We got good reactions from the underground scenes in Europe and US. Rich from Solstice and John from Solitude Aeturnus gave us a lot of support, and Meteor City contacted us about joining a compilation and releasing the next album.

The second album, "SPIRITUALIZED D" was released in 2000. This was kind of a "self-compilation" including some new songs, self-covered tunes and re-recorded stuff. We also joined many compilation and tribute albums, like tributes to Maiden, Black Widow, Vitus (still unreleased!) horror movie soundtracks, etc.

More lineup changes. Ume, one of my old friends, a great musician, joined the band on bass. He and I wrote new tunes for the next album and recorded it in spring 2001 with new drummer, Rio. We played some shows with the next drummer, Tom, who also recorded one song on the "SHARE" album. "SHARE" was released in February 2002 by Meteor City and People Like You in Germany. We got the opportunity to do our first US tour in autumn 2002 with Portland's Witch Mountain. This was an amazing tour. We got to play with Unida, Dixie Witch, Earthless, Suplecs, Iota, Lost Goat, Weedeater, Slow Horse, Smoke... I met a bunch of great guys on this tour.

Tom left after the tour and Antonio got the position on drums in 2003. We did a split CD with Of The Spacistor, a spacey rock band from our hometown. Just after that, Ume decided to leave the band. At almost the same time, Tana got in contact with me. I think Tana should explain about it by herself. It's interesting.

TANA -
Greetings.
I was living in Minneapolis, working part-time at various record stores, playing in bands over the years and was really into the whole stoner rock scene from the late 90's. Around that time I became totally captivated by the sounds of some old Japanese bands, Flower Travellin' Band, The Jacks, Speed, Glue and Shinki. I had known of EE from the Meteor City releases and always dug the sound, thinking of it as "Japanese dudes with awesome record collections that love Sabbath and smoke a lot" . One day I was sifting through used LPs and discovered a band from Tokyo called Thee Michelle Gun Elephant, dude's voice put a spell on me! I was seriously hooked. So when I found that this band was actually still playing and not a beloved relic, I cashed in some frequent flyer miles and headed to Japan to check out four shows during their lengthy tour, May 2003. I had hopes of catching Boris, Garadama, Church of Misery or EE, and while none of them had any gigs at the time, I did make contact with Okazaki and we hung out when I was in Nagoya for the Michelle Gun shows. I had such a great time and made an awesome connection and found out that, hey, EE had no bass player! The trip to Japan was so magical and special, difficult on many levels because I didn't speak or read Japanese, but still, I found rockers and wonderful people wherever I went, I fell in love with the place. About six weeks later, I went back to Japan to jam with Okazaki and Antonio and just check out the feasibility of moving there. The old drummer Tom, a New Zealander, was really helpful because he had the "foreigner in Japan" perspective and was able to answer a lot questions. The vibe with the EE crew was right, things fell into place quickly, I sold my house in Minneapolis, said goodbye and officially moved to Japan and joined EE in November 2003.


ZAKI

In February/March 2005 we recorded the new album in California at Donner & Blitzen, played some shows both in California and in Minneapolis/St Paul. "SEARCHING LOW & HIGH" , the fourth album, was released that summer. That year we played with Greenmachine and Church of Misery a lot, they were our label-mates on Diwphalanx Records, Boris too. I felt the history of the Japanese heavy-doom-stoner scene began at that time. People in Japan started checking us and other doom bands. We also started touring Japan with great bands from overseas, like Acid King, Black Cobra, Nebula, Electric Wizard, Om, Orange Sunshine, Ogre... Japanese fans had never seen these underground doom heros, with the exception of some major acts (Cathedral, Fu Manchu, Orange Goblin).

We have a great relationship with Acid King and Black Cobra, so we toured with those guys in the US, from west to east, in 2006. Great experience, totally. In 2007 we did a split with Black Cobra, released in Japan only, by Diwphalanx, and BC toured with us in Japan to promote the CD. We got such good reactions everywhere! BC will come back to Japan this September.

In spring 2008, Belgian label Electric Earth released a limited press 10" of our EP, "MYSTERIOUS VIEWS IN STONE GARDEN". "SEARCHING LOW & HIGH" had almost no distribution in EU so we're glad. I guess some people thought EE no longer existed. Anyway, this is a great piece of vinyl, thanks a lot to Jelle from Electric Earth.

Earlier this year, we were back in Arcadia, California, near LA, to record basic tracks and some awesome psychedelic sounds for the next album. We did a few shows on the West Coast too, with Black Cobra, Earthless, Damnweevil and other new friends. It was fun, totally.

Thanks for reading.

2.The band to me has always sounded like a Psychedelic version of Sabbath while still being original.Are you very much into the Psychedelic sounds ?

Well, I don't think I'm a maniac for Psychedelic music. I'm actually a big fan of Psychedelic bands, but I should say I'm into most music from the 60's and 70's. I got the vibration from those so much. After the appearance of psychedelia, I think a lot of music and scenes were influenced by the taste of psychedelia, so my music has that color. And other arts always inspire me. Surrealism gives me ideas and hints.

3.Bands coming out of Japan are always very high quality.How do you rate Japanese bands compared with the rest of the world ?

Japanese bands have been making good stuff since the 60's. Rock/Pop community in Japan began to follow the sounds from US and Europe since the 50's and they still do. And there are bands who care about something special from our country that have a real original taste, like early Flower Travellin' Band. Japan is already one of the great rock countries.


4.Apart from Tony Iommi,who is your biggest influences ?

Lots of early hard rock musicians influenced me much. Tommy Bolin, Paul Kosoff, Richie Blackmore, Jimmy Page, Mark Farner, Carlos Santana... I can't say who's best. Ozzy and Ronnie James Dio influenced my vocal. 1st Vitus singer Scott Reagars is one of my favorites, too. Wino is also important for me. If I have to choose only one person, best to me, that's Chris Goss . All of his performances and studio works keep moving my mind. Because, I'm also sound engineer, and keep making a bunch of products at my studio for 10 years.


5.Out of your recordings so far is there one CD that stands out as being your favorite ?

Best quality of the sound is "Searching Low & High" album.
But, my favorite is the Split CD with Black Cobra. I think we found our original sound on it.

6.Its been a while since your last full length album,when will we get to hear some new Eternal Elysium tracks ?

Very soon. We're just finishing the new one. Basic tracks were recorded in Arcadia in March, we brought those back to Japan and have just started doing overdubs and vocals now. The new album will be released by Diwphalanx in Japan, in late August. We're still looking for labels in the US and EU.

7.Who came up with the name "Eternal Elysium" ?
I and original bass player Atsutoshi named it.
There is a great Japanese Zen word "Goku-Raku-jodo". This meaning is almost same as "Eternal Elysium". Paradise is the most closest word, I think.


8.You have always had great production on your albums,do you spend much time getting the sound just right in the studio ?

Yes, I do, especially for mixing. My parts in EE are vocal, guitar and soundboard. I've engineered most of the EE recordings since "SPIRITUALIZED D". The rhythm tracks on the last album and this new one were recorded at Donner & Blitzen, by Mathias Schneeberger who used to work with The Obsessed , Saint Vitus and many more great doom/stoner guys. He knows how to get the great tone that we we want, perfectly. Guitar overdubs, vocals, percussion, effects and other sounds we do at my studio, Studio Zen. We like this process. We get the massive bottom end on the West Coast and then cook and add spices in Japan. The split CDs and many other compilation tracks have been done entirely at Studio Zen.

9.How do you guys come up with such killer tunes,do you jam a lot ?

We usually pick the ideas up from jamming at our studio. I'm always trying to record good jam stuff by old casette recorder. And, we spend so much time for arrangement. This is the point.


10.What has album sales been like in Japan compared with the rest of the world ?

Sales of the last album were better than previous releases, but it didn't have much distribution outside of Japan. I often hear that people can't find it. I think "SPIRITUALIZED D" was still the best score internationally, that and "SHARE" were released in the US and EU, but not in Japan. Sales of all music related things in Japan are getting worse, that's the same everywhere. This is a problem for underground artists.


11.Is there any one country where you have more success than others ?

We got pretty good reactions touring in the US every time. That's not bigger than Japan, but we feel that's growing. We have a lot of friends in the US and Minneapolis is a very special place for us.

Tana :
Minneapolis is a great city and I think the guys feel so comfortable there because it's a bit like Nagoya! A big city, but not too big and overwhelming. I still have a lot of friends there and people have always been so warm and welcoming to the band. There are good record stores, friends at guitar shops, rockin' bands, it just seems so easy to set up a good thing there. And I'd say that San Francisco and Portland, OR are also very special cities for us. Location, yes, but really it's about the people.

12.Whats your musical pedigree,what bands did you all play in before this band ?

I was singing high tone vocal on metal band. Can you believe it? And, I used to play the guitar on punk rock band, too. Oh, I just remember I was playing organ in a cover band of Deep Purple. That's my first experiece to join the band. I have the experiences to join with blues/folk bands, too.

Tana:
I played bass and did some vocals on and off in various bands in Minneapolis, usually kinda spacy/noisy sounds, gradually getting heavier. The last band I was in before EE was called The Pollen.

ANTONIO:
I was on the seat of emo/core band was called MUGA after some experiences to join local bands. I was playing drums on this band until that was broken up last year, so I was in 2 bands since I've join EE.


13.What has been your favorite live shows so far and have you played many big festival type shows ?

One of my favorite shows was Stoner Hands of Doom Fest in Arizona, 2002. That night was amazing. That's the moment that I felt US people accepted us. Big festival? We've joined outdoor events in Japan a few times. I hope to play on a great festival in the near future, and I think we can.

14.How much is Doom Metal supported in Japan ?

That's not enough, honestly. Doom/Stoner scene is still small in Japan. I mean, there are not many doom bands here. Usual heavy rock heads usually don't care about Doom, but, I feel the situation is improving. Our promotion clip is sometimes shown on music stations and I recently had the opportunity to talk on a radio program.

15.What are you guys listening to at the moment ?

Zaki : I'm just listening 1st one from May Blitz. Killer album. Live album of Earthless is recent heavy rotation in my car. Muddy Waters "After the Rain" is also one of recent my fav.

Tana : The Who "My Generation", Judas Priest "Sad Wings of Destiny", Gay Witch Abortion "Maverick" and Municipal Waste-thrash mania!

Antonio : PENTAGRAM "First Daze Here", AC/DC "Let There Be Rock, Thin Lizzy "Johnny the Fox". Must items.


16.What other merchandise is available,i know i would love to get a T-Shirt or something but i don't think i have seen many available...

We have a few different T-shirt designs, we sell those at gigs. We're planning to make new shirts and possibly some other items in time for the next release. Keep checking our web site or myspace, we'll let you know there.


17.Finally what is the bands plans for the next year or two ?

We hope to tour in EU next spring, and we think we can. Hope to tour in US again, too
And I hope to have less time between album releases. If we can start making our future album in a couple years, that would be great.

18.Any last words ?

I want to say thanks to the people who keep checking us. I think the next album will be easy to get by EU and US stoner heads. See you guys someday, somewhere.