Hailing from Japan, the rock trio Electric Eel Shock fuses classic rock, metal, and punk into a raw garage-rock attack. Aki Morimoto on vocals and guitar first connected with bassist Kazuto Maekawa in Osaka through a shared fixation on Black Sabbath. The pair later performed in a Tokyo pop-rock group that eventually dissolved, after which Morimoto took up fishing and Maekawa worked briefly as a session player for the well-known Japanese funk outfit the Apollos. During that stint Maekawa encountered drummer Tomoharu Ito, whose habit of performing unclothed stands out, and the three musicians soon regrouped to launch Electric Eel Shock, originally an eleven-piece ensemble. Rehearsal logistics proved unworkable, so the project pared down to its current trio format. The streamlined unit quickly registered on the Japanese indie-rock circuit by co-founding Micro Music with associates, issuing the debut album Maybe I Think, We Can Beat Nirvana and the follow-up Live Punctured. In 1999 the band tracked Slayer Bay Blues and manufactured copies for its inaugural American tour. Early New York City dates alongside Peelander-Z proved strong enough to prompt a short return to Japan, after which Electric Eel Shock spent the next two years on continuous U.S. roadwork. The full-length Go America emerged next, and in January 2003, aided by a U.K. fanzine contributor who later became the group’s manager, the trio reached London for twelve shows across ten days. Touring persisted through the remainder of the year across both the United States and Europe, encompassing appearances at SXSW and CMJ, a headline slot on one stage at Denmark’s Roskilde Festival, and support dates on Danko Jones’ European run. The band reentered the studio in 2004 to complete Go Europe! and Go USA!, which were licensed internationally while the group performed in thirty countries. In 2005 Electric Eel Shock issued Beat Me, produced by Attie Bouw of Judas Priest and Scorpions renown.
