Interview with Satoshi Suzuki (ex MUGA)

I managed to talk to Satoshi Suzuki, former guitarist and vocalist of MUGA.
For me, MUGA was so influential and I personally consider them one of the best crustcore bands ever. They emerged in the early 2000's and released their 1st album in 2002, followed by the tape 'A Road to Asura' in 2004, then another full length LP and a split with Swarrrm. They blew me away instantly with the intensity, brutality, speed, melody and overpowering darkness.  The band's story though is a bit mysterious and I could only trace a little info on the internet over the years. And each bit of information contradicts others, so obviously it's just loads of unverified bullshit posted everywhere.
I wanted to clarify the misinformation about the band with Sato, but mostly to hear what he's been up to after MUGA disbanded in 2008, after recording their second, full length album. They never played a gig after that. 

1. What have you been up to since you stopped actively playing in bands?

S: I moved to Tokyo in the end of 2012 and played with old friends of mine Voco Protesta for some years. Currently I'm in  this not-really-active band Cotgrave with some guys from Voco Protesta, so I haven't totally stopped playing music. Tokyo is a difficult place to play in a band as no one owns a car to carry gear. 

I started a publishing company called Gray Window Press in 2018 and published "Debacle Path", a magazine focusing on non-musical aspects of punk, hardcore culture. The magazine featured anarchist punks in Japan in the 1st issue and I interviewed a few cool American punk friends who went into academic fields in the 2nd issue. I also translate and publish some punk-related books by myself. 

Check https://graywindowpress.com/ though most of my stuff are in Japanese language.

2. You lived in the US for a while, according to certain sources.. Do you consider your time spent in America as fun and/or productive and did you find it hard to go back to Japan?

S: No, I never lived in the US. I wish I had. I only went there for touring or visiting friends. Yasu Koketsu, the bass player of MUGA lived in the states in 90's so probably you are confused with him. He is a cool guy who influenced me a lot when we were in the band.

3. Are you still involved in the scene?

S: Kind of. As I mentioned previously, because I make books related to punk. But not really sure if punks in Japan are reading my books or not, so not sure either if I could say I am literally involved in it.

4. What does 'punk' and 'subculture' mean to you today?

S: Today punk doesn't mean anything to me anymore. It's been dead for long time. Most of the people in the scene are in their 40s or 50s and I'm one of them. It looks like that the situation is "no more room in hell" in the film Dawn of the Dead. I've been thinking for long time that I should quit and leave so young punks (if there are any) would feel no pressure of the underlying seniority system and become a part of the scene to do something totally new, but unfortunately I'm still trapped in it. Namely, punk today seems to be basically for middle-aged bourgeois men who stick to the tradition of their nostalgy (record collection/purchase in particular. What I am doing with my publishing company could be too), or simply just for hipsters or conformists or wannabe-intellectuals. 

On the other hand, I also see punk in some other countries (and probably some small part of Japan too) today as something like a non-material weapon for any kinds of minorities, which I think punk should be again.

5. What was  your musical influences when you started as a musician and has it changed a lot by now?

S: I was into metal before punk in my mid-teen and I don't think punk impacted on me musically so much. Punk was more like an exciting zoo where I learned from many interesting people about how to see the world, anarchist way of thinking, how to be independent as well as pleasure of travelling. I still check underground metal but stopped following most of present punk things long ago. 

If I mention one punk influence on me, it is definitely Poison Idea. I've never been into any "crust" punk musically and actually MUGA was never a "crust" band, at least we never thought we were "crust" no matter what kind of music we played.

Interview with Ko (SLANG)

This short interview with Ko from SLANG is from August 2021, before we reissued their second album from 2001, 'Skilled Rhythm Kills'.

(There's also a Japanese language version of this interview below!🐉)

I asked Ko a few questions about the album and here's what he said: 

1. Are you excited for this album being reissued after all these years?

Ko: This album was originally released internationally in Canada and Finland at the time, and I'm proud to see it get a re-release now.

2. Do you still feel this album is important to you and do you still identify with it on a personal level?

Ko: This was the first album I sang vocals on, so it's the one I have the most emotional attachment to. It's also the album that took the longest amount of time to record.

3. Would you have any good story to share about making/recording this album?

Ko: We were trying out some new things, so the recording process ended up taking about half a year I think? All the members put out very best into making it.

4. Did you have any particular musical influences at the time 'Skilled Rhythm Kills' was being made?

Ko: I wanted to make sure to pay tribute to all my roots: Japanese hardcore, as well as British and American hardcore.

5. You are a member of the official Motorheadbangers fan club. Do you personally consider Motorhead as a big inspiration when making your music?

Ko: Motorhead was a huge influence. DISCHARGE and BAD BRAINS were also just as big. However, since SLANG didn't use double bass drums in the early days, those influences are probably more obvious on the more recent albums.

1.  このアルバムが数年ぶりにリイシューされることを楽しみにしていますか？

Ko: このアルバムは当時もカナダとフィンランドから海外盤がリリースされたけど、今また新しくリリースされることを誇りに思うよ。

2.  このアルバムはあなたにとって今も重要であると感じ、依然として個人的なレベルでこのアルバムに共感を覚えますか？

Ko: このアルバムは俺がボーカルになって初めてのアルバムだから思い入れは1番あるね。レコーディングに時間もいちばんかかったアルバムだよ。

3   このアルバムの制作/録音について、共有できる何かいいお話はありますか？

Ko: 新しい試みをしたからレコーディングに半年ぐらいかかったのかな？　メンバーはみんなベストを尽くしたと思うよ。

4.  ‘Skilled Rhythm Kills’ が作られていた当時、何か特に影響を受けた音楽はありましたか？

Ko: これは自分のルーツである日本のハードコア、アメリカやイギリスのハードコア、自分のルーツの全てを収めようと意識してたね。

5.  あなたは、Motorheadbangers の公式ファンクラブのメンバーです。ご自身の音楽を作る上で、個人的に Motorhead を大きなインスピレーションと見なしますか？

KoKo: Motörheadの影響は大きいね。DISCHARGEとBAD BRAINSと同じぐらい大きい。ただ、初期のSLANGはツーバスを使わないって決めてたから、最近のアルバムの方が影響は露骨に出てるだろうね。