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| Interview by Burt Wolf with Hirosuke, vocalist for BALZAC. Interview done March 29th, 2006. |
| BALZAC WAS BORN IN 1992 IN JAPAN. CAN YOU GIVE SOME OF THE BANDS HISTORY SO FAR, FOR THOSE OF US THAT ARE FAIRLY NEW TO YOU GUYS? BALZAC started out in 1992. I am the only original member left at this point. Our guitarist, Atsushi, joined the band almost immediately though & he is still in the band now. We released our first album in 1995 & then had a major change to the band's line up in 1996. In 1997 we started releasing our stuff on our current label DIW PHALANX RECORDS, here in Japan. They are an independent label, but are very big in Japan. We have just released our 7th album & it's called "DEEP BLUE: |
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| CHAOS FROM DARKISM II". In 1998 THE MISFITS came to play in Japan. We were invited to play with them on thier tour. From that we got involved with MISFITS RECORDS & started releasing our albums overseas through them. We have released teo full length albums through them already. They include a lot of bonus stuff too. The first release on MISFITS RECORDS was a split CD where we covered two MISFITS songs & they did a cover of one of our songs. We also toured with THE MISFITS in the USA a couple of times. We also have a record label in Germany that releases our stuff in Europe. We released two discs over there already too, with more to come. WHY WAS THE NAME BALZAC CHOSEN AS THE BANDS NAME? I named it after a writer. I really liked his stuff & I thought it was a cool sounding name. HOW OWULD YOU BEST DESCRIBE THE STYLE & SOUND OF BALZAC FOR SOMEONE WHO HASN'T HEARD YOU GUYS? We are Horror Rock 'n' Roll. We have mixed a whole bunch of Japanese Rock styles into our sound & that gives us our unique sound, I think. WHO OR WHAT HAS HAD SOME INFLUENCE ON YOU CREATING YOUR MUSIC & IN YOUR LIFE IN GENERAL? I'm really into THE BEATLES, & more specifically George Harrison. "OUT OF THE GRAVE & INTO THE DARK" IS YOUR NEWEST RELEASE HERE IN THE STATES RELEASED MID 2005. HOW WELL WAS THIS DISC RECIEVED? WHAT HAS THE RESPONSE BEEN LIKE? We have recieved nothing but good responses! We played some shows last year in & around New York & everyone was really getting into it. We were all really happy about that. THIS ALBUM WAS PUT OUT ON MISFITS RECORDS. HOW DID YOU GET HOOKED UP WITH THEM? HOW HAS IT BEEN WORKING WITH THEM? Well, everything started in 1998, like I mentioned. The first release on MISFITS RECORDS was the MISFITS / BALZAC split single. It turned out really amazing! Jerry really takes care of us a lot. He's an amazing guy. John Cafiero from MISFITS RECORDS has always been a great friend & buisness partner too. Everyone at MISFITS RECORDS understands what BALZAC is about & that makes them a great label for us. Can't say enough good things about them. CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE COVER ART A LITTLE BIT & WHO DID IT? I do all the art for our stuff. I like horror influenced art. Darkness is a them of ours...you might have noticed! WHAT SONG OFF THIS RELEASE WOULD BEST REPRESENT BALZAC & WHY? WHICH IS YOUR FAVORITE SONG FROM THIS ALBUM? You know, I never have a favorite song. It's all BALZAC...so it's all good! |
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| WHAT IS SOME OF THE LYRICAL CONTENT IN YOUR SONGS? Mostly I write about very personal things. But, I write in a very abstarct style, I have been told. A lot of people say that all of my songs are abstract, so there can be many meanings for many different people. Even if you read my lyrics, it's pretty difficult to comprehend sometimes. I READ ON YOUR SITE THAT THE NEW ALBUM "DEEP BLUE: CHAOS FROM DARKISM II" IS NEAR COMPLETION. CAN YOU GIVE SOME INFORMATION ON THIS ALBUM? ANY RELEASE DATE YET? Sure. We released it on 03/08/2006. It was packaged with a special called the "Skull Bat". It was a limited edition package. There is also a regular edition, that comes in a cool box too, for those who aren't so crazy about figures. WILL THIS ALBUM ALSO BE RELEASED ON MISFITS RECORDS? Yeah. We are just in the process of getting things ready for that. There is going to be a whole bunch of extra stuff jammed on there. Much more than we did for the Japanese edition, so it will be a really interesting disc for our overseas fans. Some really rare stuff is gonna be included. |
| YOUR SHOOTING A VIDEO FOR ONE OF THE SONGS OFF THIS ALBUM. WHICH SONG & WHAT WILL THE VIDEO BE ABOUT? Yeah, we are doing "In Those Days" from the new album. It's one of the tracks off of "DEEP BLUE: CHAOS FROM DARKISM II". YOU ALSO HAVE A NEW DVD RELEASE COMING OUT. CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT THIS TOO? Our new DVD is our longest running release so far. It includes a whopping 66 tracks! We will release it in Japan right away while we are on tour. It is actually going to be a free present given to those who come see are show. It will be split into 2 discs because there was no way to get 66 songs on there. It's over 3 hours long. I KNOW YOU HAVE A TON OF PAST RELEASES. CAN YOU GIVE A LITTLE INFORMATION ON EACH & IF ANY ARE STILL AVAILABLE? We'll we've released 7 albums, a mini album, tons of singles & been on a lot of compilations over the years. There is just so much we have released that it would be impossible to talk about them all. BALZAC HAS PLAYED A LOT OF SHOWS OVER THE YEARS. DO ANY STAND OUT FOR ANY REASONS? WHAT DID YOU THINK OF PLAYING HERE IN THE U.S. TO PLAYING IN JAPAN? The USA tours were really fun. But, no matter where we play it's great. Going to new places or new live houses are always interesting. Personally, I love the city of New York & I always wanted to spend some more time in San Francisco too. We had a really good show in San Francisco last time. We have played so many places in Japan & all of those places are great too. TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT THE BALZAC FIENDISH CLUB & THE 12 INCH SKULLMAN ACTION FIGURES? The Japanese Fiendish Club has about 1200 paying members. They get tons of limited edition BALZAC items, & a whole bunch of other added bonuses. We really appreciate our fans, so we try to do as much as we can for them. As for the figures, we have made many, many varieties & one of them is the "Skullman" figure. We have sold a lot of them. They are a very popular item. The "Skullman" is a product that we make ourselves. Most of our other toys & figures are created by very famous toy makers here in Japan. The 12 inch "Zodiac 308" figure was packaged with our limited single "Horrorock". It sold out immediately. It is one of the coolest figures I have ever seen. |
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| THE BAND ALSO OPERATES A STORE CALLED SHOCKER IN OSAKE JAPAN. CAN YOU GIVE US SOME INFORMATION ON THIS STORE? Yeah, SHOCKER is a store we opened a few years ago. We sell a lot of merchandise there for our band, as well as for our 3 other clothing brands, SHOCKER, DEMENTIA13 & CULTURE. The designs are all done by myself & our bassist, Akio. We also have a new online shop where anyone from outside of Japan can order directly from us. It's called "Shocker World Wide" & you can check it out at www.evilegend13.com/shockerworldwide. So far it has been a great success, even though it's still in it's infancy. WHAT DO THE MEMBERS OF THE BAND DO WHEN NOT DOING ANY WORK FOR THE BAND? JOBS, HOBBIES, ETC? Well, outside of playing in the band, we run our stores, SHOCKER in Osaka & COFFIN in Kyoto & the online SHOCKER WORLD WIDE shop. We do a lot of different things. It keeps us extremely busy, but I think our jobs are really fun & interesting. We all love what we do. |
| WHAT IS ONE THING PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED TO FIND OUT ABOUT YOU? One thing a lot of people don't know is that I do everything for BALZAC. I not only write the lyrics & songs, but I am also in charge of production & merchandise. BALZAC is my brainchild, my life, really. It's what I do. WHAT ARE YOUR TOP FIVE HORROR MOVIES? ANY GOOD JAPANESE HORROR MOVIES YOU COULD RECOMMEND? My all time favorite is THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. It's so good, even now. I also like THE OMEN, the HALLOWEEN & ZOMBIE series too. I like most horror films, it doesn't matter how good or bad they are, there is something unique & interesting about all of them. I like films by Ed Wood & Rob Zombie lately too. I am also into Japanese horror movies like RING & JU-ON. They are great. WHAT ARE SOME MISCONCEPTIONS PEOPLE SEEM TO HAVE OF LIFE IN JAPAN? That's a really difficult question to answer without getting into a lot of detail. I don't really have an answer. WHO ARE SOME OF THE BETTER BANDS & LABELS IN JAPAN YOU WOULD RECOMMEND CHECKING OUT? There is an unending supply of talented bands in Japan. One band that I have been into for a long time is the MAD CAPSULE MARKETS. They are really popular in japan & have had success overseas too, so some of your readers might already know of them. WHAT WAS THE FIRST ALBUM YOU REMEMBER BUYING? WHAT WAS THE FIRST CONCERT YOU REMEMBER SEEING? When I was 10 years old I bought THE BEATLES - "SGT. PEPPER". I have been collecting their stuff ever since. I am still looking for some stuff that I don't have in my collection. I don't remember the first show I went to, but I remember the first show I did. I was 15. |
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| WHAT CAN WE LOOK FORWARD TO COMING FROM BALZAC IN THE FUTURE? We'll just have to wait & see. I don't think too far ahead. I think about right now. I wanna do the best I can do at any given moment. Whatever we feel like doing next...that is what we will do! WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE ANSWERING THIS INTERVIEW? WHAT WILL YOU DO NOW THAT IT'S OVER? I was just at rehearsal. We rehearse pretty much everyday. After this interview I will be making some new demos. |
| THANX MUCH FOR DOING THIS INTERVIEW. I REALLY APPRECIATE IT! FEEL FREE TO CLOSE OUT WITH ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO ADD. HOPE TO SEE YOU HERE IN THE STATES SOON!!! No problem, please come out & see us. We should be back in the USA this year. So, come out & enjoy our show! |
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| ALL PHOTOS & GRAPHICS COURTESY OF BALZAC INTERVIEWS MAIN PAGE |