Japanese Heavy Rockers LOOPRIDER have just released their stunning and brilliantly heavy new album LOVE. This record takes a heavier detour into Drone, Noise. Doom, Psych, Grunge and Stoner Metal passages compared to their acclaimed 2023 album Metamorphose.
The band has a new member Tacchi (Guitars) who joined the ranks recently after longtime member and guitarist Haruka left before the band started recording the new album.
If you dig bands such as BORIS and THE MELVINS then this is the place to be. LOOPRIDER never makes the same album twice and I wanted to find out more about this great band as they have become one of my favourite bands from the Japanese Heavy Rock/Metal scene.
I'm pleased to say that I caught up with Ryotaro (Vocals / Guitars / Noise) to discuss the formation of the band and the making of the new album.
Doing well. We just finished our last rehearsal before the release tour and feeling pretty good about it.
For folks not in the know, can you give a brief history of how the band came together and where it is today?
Looprider is a band I started on my own, making demos by myself. Originally it was supposed to be a project with a revolving door of members, like Nine Inch Nails or Queens of the Stone Age. It ended up being a trio band. We’ve had people come and go since so I suppose it’s become a revolving door of sorts, but conceptually now it’s supposed to challenge the limits of what a trio can do.
How would you describe your own sound?
Heavy rock, I guess. We’ve been called shoegaze, sludge, noise, etc. Like our idols Boris and Melvins we are OK with being fluid with these things. I see music as a spectrum, and if you have noise on one end and drone on the other, for example, then everything else, including pop music, exists in between that broad gradient. Am I making any sense? I see the band as a vehicle to explore that spectrum.
You're about to release your amazing new album "LOVE" What can people expect from the album and LOOPRIDER this time round.
This is the first time that I think we have captured the raw sound of the band. We’ve tried different ways over the years of how to record our bassless set up and I think we did a pretty good job this time.
We tried a lot of new things as well, the most obvious being bringing in a baritone guitar as my main instrument. We have always tuned low, but this was on a whole other level. These instruments provide a lot of clarity despite being tuned low, and I think it sets us apart from other sludgy bands.
I wanted a very straightforward title. And love is universal. But the album is not just about the pleasantries of love; it’s also about its ugly side. You can love something so much that it breeds hate. And love can be for all sorts of things: your family, your friends, your community, your idols. Each song represents a different side of it.
Was this original intention to release something different compared to your last album Metamorphose which was more heartfelt and quite emotional. Why the sudden change with the heavier sounds.
We always just do whatever we’re into at the moment. But getting my hands on the baritone really prompted this vibe I think.
Were you pleased with the original reception that Metamorphose received from fans and critics alike. I love that album and still listen to this day.
Yeah! It’s always nice when people vibe with your work. The last one was nice because people got to see a more shoegaze-ish side of us that we hadn’t done in a while.
Looking back, would you change anything about that album?
We tracked everything to a click and I regret doing that. Listening to it now, it sounds a bit sterile. Music should be free and fluid, especially bands like us.
Longtime guitarist Haruka left before you started recording the album. Was this an amicable split. Are you still on good terms with Haruka.
She needed to leave because of stuff in her life. We still text each other from time to time, no hard feelings.
Did Haruka leaving the band inspire the heavier aspect and creative dynamics for LOVE at all.
Not really. A lot of the songs were already done and the way we work is that I demo the songs or jam on riffs with our drummer first, so the direction and overall sound is already decided by the time the second guitar gets added.
You now have a new member Tacchi joining the LOOPRIDER ranks as well. How did you meet Tacchi and what does she bring to the whole LOOPRIDER sound.
I found her online and reached out. She’s really cool and brings an air of positivity to the band that’s really exciting. She has a great stage presence and is just a fun person to hangout with. She has a real edge to her guitar playing and we’re excited to see what she’ll bring from a writing perspective when we start working on new music.
What bands and artists influenced you when recording the new album.
I don’t really remember what I was listening to at the time, but there is this YouTube channel called The Bunn that specialized in baritone guitars. I think a lot of what he was doing influenced the riffs I was coming up with. I was also listening to bands like Nausea, Discharge and Doom. But the last couple of years I’ve just been listening to a lot of ambient stuff, people like Pauline Oliveros, William Basinski, that sort of thing.
Which bands, artists or albums inspired you all to pick up a musical instrument and to become a musician.
Probably bands like Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins initially. That got me into Melvins and My Bloody Valentine. Slayer and Napalm Death were other big influences. There is also this Japanese band called Luna Sea that I really loved when I was a kid. Melt-Banana was another early influence and through them I discovered artists like Mr. Bungle and John Zorn.
We have a record called “My Electric Fantasy” that has a pink cover. I wanted something that symbolically represented us getting away or melting away from the last 10 years of the band. A bit of a fresh start. Then this idea of ink clouds came about. I wanted it to kind of look like a heart shape. I had a specific idea on how I wanted the shape to be and also the texture and we realized very quickly that it wasn’t going to be possible using real materials, so we decided to do it as a 3D model. I’m quite pleased with the result, it also looks a bit grotesque, almost intestine-like. I think it captures both the prettiness and ugliness of the record.
What are your high points and low points you've experienced within your musical career so far?
High points have been playing with bands I’ve idolized like Melt-Banana and Luminous Orange and being included on compilations like the Japan Is Loud comp with bands again like Melt-Banana and Boris. Low points would be letting band members go or having them leave.
Can you advise if you’ve played or currently playing in other bands so folks can check out your other musical projects?
No other bands. I do some solo ambient drone stuff some times.
What is the creative process or setup within the band? Do you write the music together or do certain people within the band do that?
Usually I will have riffs and ideas and we put them together with the drums. We get very detailed in the arrangement of the drums. Basically if it sounds good with guitar and drums, the track will likely be good. We then add the lead guitar on top of that to add a whole new dimension. Depending on what gets added, we may revisit the rhythm arrangement and sometimes even throw away the whole thing. Rinse and repeat. It’s like painting over a painting again and again.
Does Tokyo have a vibrant and huge Rock/Metal that allows you to perform gigs on a regular basis and do you have a local scene that you're actively involved with?
There are a lot of scenes and great venues. We tend to float around scenes and we’re not really part of any particular one. The heavier stuff happens at places like Earthdom, Niman Denatsu, El Puente and Bush Bash and then the more alternative and shoegaze stuff happens at places like Koenji High and Shimokitazawa Era. We have different friends in different scenes and we try to play different types of shows as much as possible.
Will you be performing any gigs to promote the upcoming album locally or further afield.
We have a tour coming up in Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo to promote the new record!
Before you go, do you have any words of wisdom for your new and potential fans out there.
Please listen to our different records because we try to show different sides of the band with each album. We encourage everyone to look at our whole catalogue. Hopefully there is something there for everyone.
Words by Steve Howe
LOVE is available to buy now on CD/DD via Call And Response Records.
Links
Official | Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram
