Interview with Zuma (Kruelty)

When a band like Kruelty comes along, crafting beatdown music so dense and dead serious that the average listener gets caught in a certain duality.

Like lots of Japanese bands I’ve heard, even the young bands, they managed to develop their music skills to the extreme and bring the sound to another level. 

They call themselves ‘disgusting music’ from Tokyo.

This short interview with Zuma, a founder and a guitarist, is from a year ago (Dec 2021), before Kruelty’s first US and EU & UK tours.

The credit for this interview goes to Fist of Fury zine, who kindly let me repost it on my page and social media. 

Pictures from my personal collection.

KRUELTY playing in New Cross Inn, London 05th May 2022

1. Kruelty has been an active band since 2017, how would you say the band has changed since then?

   

Z: Yeah, we formed around summer 2017. At first we were doing more sludge/doom styled hardcore influenced by Corrupted, Seven Sisters of Sleep etc. Then our songs slowly got into more death metal things.

2. You guys announced your first U.S. tour. How are you guys feeling about it? Are there any cities you are looking forward to playing specifically?

Z: I don’t think it’s easy for us Japanese bands to break into the US scene so yeah we feel very honoured that we got an opportunity to play there. And I don’t have any specific cities for that. We are so happy to play each one of the cities. Not cities but personally I’m so much looking forward to playing FYA because it’s been one of my dreams to be there.

3. What band would you say played a large role in the songwriting for Kruelty?

Z: Bunch of Japanese hxc bands like Dyingrace, Second to None, Straight Savage Style etc for sure and also death metal bands that i’ve been listening to since I was a teenager like Grave, Bolt Thrower, Incantation etc.

4. What is the current lineup of the band? Who does what?

Z: Zuma (g), Tatami (vo), Mani (d), Seina (b) and Ken (g). We’ve been in this lineup for almost 3 years.

5. What was the first heavy band you got into? Top three records of all time?

Z:  Not really sure, but my first important contact with death metal is Cryptopsy - None So Vile. One of the hardest death metal for sure and it has a lotta hxc-ish riffs on there. And sorry I can’t decide the top three. I have too many records to do that.

6. How long have you been playing guitar?

Z: 10 years or so.

7. You do the merch designs, do you do pretty much all the art related stuff for Kruelty?

Z: Yeah mostly I do all the artworks including the records of us, but sometimes they’re collages of existing photos etc though.

8. Is there a Kruelty song or record that you’d say is your favourite? Why?

Z: A Dying Truth since it was our first time to work with our engineer/manager Taylor Young. We couldn’t grow up like this without him.

9. I just know YOTK show with Kruelty is going to be beyond chaotic.

Z: Yeah I think so. Cant wait to play/hang out with them.

10. How did Kruelty come to be? Have you been in other bands prior?

Z: Nah Kruelty is actually my first decent band. I decided to start a band and gathered the boys. Then I wrote our first demo.

11. How would you describe your local heavy music scene?

Z: Tokyo has many varieties of heavy music. HXC, Punk, Death Metal, Doom etc. Pleaying in mixed bills makes me feel so good.