'What
a glorious noise.' The Tom Robinson Show, BBC 6 Music
Japanese Fighting
Fish, four lads who anchor their boat in London, are bringing fun back to rock with
their electrifying new album ‘Swimming with Piranhas’, plunging us knee-deep
into ferocious riffs then pulling us out again with soaring vocals from
frontman Karlost.
‘Swimming with
Piranhas’ doesn’t sound like a great plan for the average diver but Japanese
Fighting Fish jump right in and live to tell the tale. This album nibbles away
at any possible preconceptions of the band until an epic creature with an unnerving
undercurrent is left. The album title comes from the real life wild experiences
of Karlost and drummer Sweetman in Ecuador whilst staying with a Quechan tribe when
they took a dip in the Amazon River. After their excursion, the boys did a Lep
Zep III move and retreated to the countryside to channel all they had learnt from
the ‘tribal way of life’ into creating an exhilarating thrill-ride record that
bites hard and won’t let you go.
Their latest
single from it,
‘For Queen Marilyn’,
was written spontaneously after arriving at the recording studio and being
asked to ‘just play something’
to check sound levels. An
ominous Muse-like riff was quickly followed by crashing drums before the
whole thing took off into a grunge explosion. Unwittingly, the Queen was born! After several stages of
development, the new track is now available on SoundCloud here -
‘Swimming with
Piranhas’ is the band’s third album but the first with Matt McGuinness completing
the troop. The album explores new depths with pounding bass lines, incredible
drums, and Gareth Mochizuki Ellmer’s pedal board creating the ‘biggest
space sounds at just the right time’, according to Karlost, whose own
vocal performance is gritty and wild yet captivating throughout.
What do Royal Blood, Savages, and Cage the Elephant all have
in common? They were all supported by BBC Introducing! And now Japanese Fighting
Fish have joined that stairway there is no doubt they are destined for the
heights. One of their next steps will be headlining the venue Milo at the Live
at Leeds Festival 2016 and with
their sets being renowned for explosive antics and the boys having a habit for
ending up accidentally bleeding on stage, this will definitely be a spectacle
not be missed.
'For Queen
Marilyn' will be available on the 3rd June, followed by the album ‘Swimming with
Piranhas’ due for release on the 17th June 2016.
Live Dates:
LONDON The Crowndale (formerly
The Purple Turtle) 28.5.2016
BRIGHTON Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar
28.9.2016
Links:
https://soundcloud.com/japanese-fighting-fish
