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Culture & Respect With YUJI From SXXRXXS · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The band SRS was established in two thousand and seven.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: The guitar player, his name is Kiyoshi. He's the band leader.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: He's the guitar player, and he used to play in
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: a band called He was in a compilation for Explosion Records.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Explosion is a used to be a really popular metal
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  Speaker 1: club in Tokyo, and he used to play there all
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  Speaker 1: the time. And then a couple of years later he
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: he established SRS. First first with Yama who's the the singer,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Yama Yama Chan we all call him, and Kichi, who
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  Speaker 1: is the bass player. Kichi used to be just just
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: helping them out. He wasn't an official member, and along
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  Speaker 1: with the drummer, uh drummer nob and Opu.
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  Speaker 2: So they they.
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  Speaker 1: Are located in Saitama Prefecture, which is a suburb of
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  Speaker 1: Tokyo in Japan, and they they have monthly gigs that
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  Speaker 1: they've been playing for wow long time since two thousand
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  Speaker 1: and seven or so. So uh, yeah, the band is
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  Speaker 1: trying to uh they're they're trying to continue with the
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  Speaker 1: authentic style heavy metal. And yeah, they their style is
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  Speaker 1: really authentic and they have good melodies and and good
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  Speaker 1: guitar riffs and and solos, and yeah, it's it's a
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  Speaker 1: how do you say, like, really authentic style. It's not
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  Speaker 1: thrash metal, it's not it's not you know, the new
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  Speaker 1: type of metal, but it's uh goes along with the
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  Speaker 1: the type of metal like Iron Maiden, Juesus Priest, the
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  Speaker 1: authentic style metal, right, I say, how do you say
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  Speaker 1: that old.
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  Speaker 3: Old school old school medal?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, old school medal.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so yeah, they are they have a mission where
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  Speaker 1: they want to continue, ah, to play that type of
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  Speaker 1: metal and have the young people realize the the goodness
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  Speaker 1: of the old old school medal. And they're on a
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  Speaker 1: mission to do that and continuing to do that. And
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  Speaker 1: uh yeah, they they they all say they're going to
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  Speaker 1: be playing metal until the day they die.
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  Speaker 3: God bless them.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, so yeah, I guess yeah, that's kind of like, uh.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: I should have I should have prepared something better.
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: I got a holy for questions here for you say, yeah,
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  Speaker 3: and what I asked him will be fine. Okay, all right,
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  Speaker 3: thanks for joining, But before we get going, I just
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: want to clean something up here. Like a couple of
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  Speaker 3: times you reference the band, you've said they so are
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  Speaker 3: you actually not in the band.
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  Speaker 1: I'm actually I'm doing a lot of the promotion work
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  Speaker 1: for them. Okay, so I'm not a band member, right,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: so I'm I'm like, yeah, I do a lot of
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  Speaker 1: helping like the the tours, the book the manager, the
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  Speaker 1: booking manager, and yeah, so I'm not I'm not a
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  Speaker 1: band member.
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  Speaker 3: I just wanted to clear that up because it's like
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  Speaker 3: in Australia that that this doesn't normally happen. It's normally
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  Speaker 3: just the bands that people speak to. So but with
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: the barrier with stuff like that, it's just a lot
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  Speaker 3: easy to talk to you because.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course yeah, because of the Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: as you say, the English language barrier is is a
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  Speaker 1: bit difficult. So they all speak they don't speak English.
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  Speaker 1: They're singing in their mostly in their native language, which
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  Speaker 1: is Japanese. They have some English in there, but most
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  Speaker 1: of it is Japanese language for the Japanese audience.
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  Speaker 2: So far.
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  Speaker 3: Oh well, now I'll let you in on a little
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  Speaker 3: secret and made that they tell many people, but had started.
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  Speaker 3: I asked you to introduce yourself first, and the main
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  Speaker 3: reason for that was I didn't have a clue how
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  Speaker 3: to pronounce your names. So I usually get people do that,
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  Speaker 3: say so people.
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  Speaker 2: I know.
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  Speaker 3: The band is spelled sxx ir x x S, so
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  Speaker 3: there's a lot of srs, a lot of x is
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  Speaker 3: in there. I didn't know what to do with them.
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  Speaker 1: Right, It's yeah, the band is just srs you made.
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  Speaker 3: So I first came across to you guys earlier this
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: year when you played with the band. I was touring Japan.
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  Speaker 3: We'd called the Midnight Game at Babel the Rock Tour,
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  Speaker 3: so that that night, hell of a lot of fun
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  Speaker 3: on it. We had a good night.
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  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that was a very fun day.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and we got to see The Midnight Devils for
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  Speaker 1: the first time and we were looking forward to it.
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  Speaker 1: We saw the music videos and I think I had
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  Speaker 1: a couple of chat with you briefly and then yeah,
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  Speaker 1: also chatting with Sam before he came, and everybody was
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  Speaker 1: looking forward to them coming.
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  Speaker 2: So it was a blast.
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  Speaker 3: Well, one thing that really stood out to me, not
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  Speaker 3: not just on that shore because I've been over there
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  Speaker 3: with a few different bands, but especially but the quality
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  Speaker 3: of Japanese bands over there, Like Bob would have played
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  Speaker 3: with about over one hundred all up over the years. Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: some of them you'd paid to go and see again, mate,
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  Speaker 3: like the quality of music over there. It's it's actually annoying.
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  Speaker 3: It's annoying for us over here because went not all
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  Speaker 3: that good, but you guys are.
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  Speaker 1: I think Japanese are kind of like perfectionists and and
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  Speaker 1: they copy bands very well and they learned from doing that.
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  Speaker 1: And you know how it is in general, Japanese they
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  Speaker 1: they they're not good in vendors, but they copy things
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  Speaker 1: very well. So the technique is there. People play guitar, bass,
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  Speaker 1: drums very well in the in Japan in general, I think.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, And I'll think another thing too excited to think
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  Speaker 3: about it, like in Japan, but obviously in anyway, like
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  Speaker 3: people specialize in an instrument, like if you're a guitarist,
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  Speaker 3: you're just playing a guitar, or if you're a drama you're
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  Speaker 3: just But in the Western world a lot of them
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  Speaker 3: like to have have a go at everything, you know,
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  Speaker 3: and they like to Yeah. But because the Japanese people
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  Speaker 3: focus on that one is they want to be the
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  Speaker 3: best I can pay that one thing, which I think
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  Speaker 3: hard to do that.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Usually that starts out when you're in high school. You
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  Speaker 1: put together a band and you want to play in
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  Speaker 1: the the school competition or whatever. Like the school festival,
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  Speaker 1: and you're usually nominated, like you do bass, and you
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  Speaker 1: do guitar, you play drums, and then they stick to
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  Speaker 1: it and they end up just doing that one one
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  Speaker 1: instrument for some reason.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, I do know a.
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  Speaker 1: Lot of people that are multi instrument players, but not
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  Speaker 1: many of us, I think, play multiple instruments.
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  Speaker 3: Like you said, another thing I've noticed just from you
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  Speaker 3: talking before and from my experience over there, but you're
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  Speaker 3: referred to the guitar player as the band leader. Like
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  Speaker 3: do they have one person in the band that that
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  Speaker 3: is referred to as the leader that sort of is
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  Speaker 3: more responsible for everything else?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, because they do that.
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  Speaker 1: They have a leader usually because if there's a dispute
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  Speaker 1: or if they can't come to like a mutual decision,
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  Speaker 1: then it's up to the leader to make that ultimate decision.
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  Speaker 1: So one person as a leader is nominated for that reason.
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  Speaker 3: That makes sense. So that's another thing that's it's a
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  Speaker 3: different concept to Western Bank. Everyone thinks they can do everything,
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  Speaker 3: so yeah, but it makes sense to have that one
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  Speaker 3: person that's a focal point.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: So that guy has like a little bit they may
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  Speaker 1: be like even in terms of songwriting, you know the
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  Speaker 1: gigs and how it's how everything is arranged in in
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  Speaker 1: the concerts. But when it comes to decision making, like
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  Speaker 1: you know, what to do with the press and things
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  Speaker 1: like that, there's usually a leader that's appointed to have
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  Speaker 1: the ultimate decision.
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  Speaker 3: All right, so you mentioned it before, but like you
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  Speaker 3: play a traditional brand of heavy metal is very similar
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  Speaker 3: and then stuff like that. But that's a lot of
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  Speaker 3: power metal mixed in there as well, like dragons is yeah,
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  Speaker 3: like is that is that genre of metal really popular
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  Speaker 3: in Japan?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, it is.
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  Speaker 1: You you will find most of the types of metal
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  Speaker 1: in the Japanese The club circuits many different types of metal,
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  Speaker 1: and there's a lot of popular types of metal, including
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  Speaker 1: the new wave, British heavy metal, the old school type
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  Speaker 1: of metal. But there's thrash, there's death, there's all sorts
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  Speaker 1: of metal that is popular.
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  Speaker 3: All think as a whole, the metal movement in Japan
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  Speaker 3: is probably stronger than in Australia. I'd say, like the
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  Speaker 3: out there on a Tuesday night and play in Japan
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  Speaker 3: and there's people watching metal music like it's it's just Australia.
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  Speaker 3: Established metal bands are lucky to get you some gigs,
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  Speaker 3: so it's it's not prevalent over here as Japan, but
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  Speaker 3: it's it's the scene over there is thriving, it is
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  Speaker 3: doing really well.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's true. That's in some locations, not everywhere.
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  Speaker 1: There's like Tokyo is of course, probably the most popular
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  Speaker 1: in terms of metal. There's a lot of gigs, I
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  Speaker 1: mean a lot of clubs that welcome the metal music.
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  Speaker 1: But if you go out of the Tokyo vicinity, the
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  Speaker 1: greater Tokyo, it's not that much. It's not as popular
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  Speaker 1: as Tokyo. So some some neighboring prefecture we call it prefectures.
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  Speaker 1: Those are like states are around Tokyo are pretty uh,
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  Speaker 1: those locations are popular for metal in general.
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  Speaker 3: I think one of the things that impressed me most
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  Speaker 3: about S R S, aside from the singer's voice, so
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  Speaker 3: the singing was phenomenal, mate, but that really stood out
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  Speaker 3: was how relaxed and how professional you were on stage
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  Speaker 3: as a band like that, they look like together for
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: a while.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think they they rehearse a lot. They
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  Speaker 1: they try to perfect this aging and they have all
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  Speaker 1: thought out, but the live gig doesn't doesn't necessarily you know,
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  Speaker 1: it's not it's not stage. They do what what comes
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  Speaker 1: to them naturally on stage. But yeah, those guys have
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  Speaker 1: been around for for a long time and they've played
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  Speaker 1: in different bands before, especially the bass player Kichi. He's
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  Speaker 1: also the singer of Sabrabells and uh, that guy's been
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  Speaker 1: around for a long time and he's he's put out
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  Speaker 1: records in major labels in the past. And yeah, those
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  Speaker 1: guys are really talented, a group of talented guys.
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  Speaker 3: I think now that they're the one of those bands
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  Speaker 3: that you can watch it and they just seem to
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  Speaker 3: know what each other is doing, and they never look
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  Speaker 3: at each other stage for cues and stuff like that.
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  Speaker 3: They just get up there in the world and somehow
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  Speaker 3: comes together.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I have to agree with that. They're
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  Speaker 1: really good on that. Yeah, they try to make it
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  Speaker 1: look very professional and sound very professional. I think a
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  Speaker 1: lot of Japanese bands are perfectionists like that, and they
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  Speaker 1: try their best to make things sound and look professional when.
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  Speaker 3: It comes across. Now, look look at through the band website.
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  Speaker 3: It looks like they've only released one album.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: Is that right?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's just one album. It's the first album was
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  Speaker 1: recorded in The bass player he used to own a
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  Speaker 1: club out inside them a prefecture and it was recorded
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: there a place called Blue Forest, which was a hangout
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  Speaker 1: place for a lot of metal bands in the surrounding prefectures.
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  Speaker 1: But because of COVID, the place went bankrupt and they
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: don't have that place anymore. But yeah, it was just
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  Speaker 1: one record. That's one CD that's out so far, and
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  Speaker 1: right now they're working on some uh things on online
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  Speaker 1: where you can download a video clip that they produced
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  Speaker 1: recently online.
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  Speaker 3: So you say that's a new song with people downline,
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  Speaker 3: does that mean that they're in the process of writing
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  Speaker 3: another album.
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  Speaker 2: Not an album.
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  Speaker 1: I don't think they don't have enough new songs to
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  Speaker 1: record a full album yet, but that's in the works.
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  Speaker 1: So right now they're focusing on the download and they
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  Speaker 1: have some stuff on YouTube which which is all free
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  Speaker 1: right so.
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  Speaker 3: But I think if anyone listened to this isn't familiar
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  Speaker 3: with the band, I think the best way to describe
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  Speaker 3: it mean is across between I and Maiden and Dragon Force,
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  Speaker 3: which which yeah, high praise indeed, mate, but they pull
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  Speaker 3: it off really well. They're very very good band made
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  Speaker 3: and thankfully is make it on this side of the
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  Speaker 3: world shortly and we can all catch up and drinks.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're looking forward to that.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: We want to we want to go to Australia and
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: play in front of Australia.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: Have