was a Japanese heavy metal band originally formed as Flatbacker in the spring of 1982 in

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

, JapanNippop's EZO Profile
Retrieved Sep 21, 2007 out of the remnants of two high school bands, Power-Station and Scrap. EZO has been named a "seminal influence by such artists as Steve McDonald of

Redd Kross Redd Kross is an American rock band from Hawthorne, California, who had their roots in 1978 in a punk rock band called the Tourists, which was started by brothers Jeff and Steve McDonald while Steve was still in middle school. With the additio ...

and

Michael Steele Michael Stephen Steele (born October 19, 1958) is an American political commentator, attorney, and Republican Party politician. Steele served as the seventh lieutenant governor of Maryland from 2003 to 2007; he was the first African-American ...

The Bangles The Bangles are an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1981. The band recorded several singles that reached the U.S. top 10 during the 1980s, including "Manic Monday" (1986), "Walk Like an Egyptian" (1986), " Hazy Shade ...

History

EZO consisted of Masaki Yamada (

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

), Taro Takahashi ( bass), Shoyo Iida (

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

) and Hiro Homma (

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

).AllMusic ''EZO Profile''
Retrieved on Sep 21 2007 They released one demo

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in the ...

(''Minagoroshi'') in 1984 and two

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

s (1985's ''Senzo'' and 1986's ''Esa'') in Japan as Flatbacker in the mid-1980s before coming to the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Rumor has it that

Gene Simmons Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz; he, חיים ויץ, ; born August 25, 1949) is an Israeli-American musician. Also known by his stage persona The Demon, he is the bassist and co-lead singer of Kiss, the hard rock band he co-founded with Paul ...

Kiss A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...

, who produced their self-titled U.S. debut album, was behind the band's name change to EZO, inspired by

Ezo (also spelled Yezo or Yeso) is the Japanese term historically used to refer to the lands to the north of the Japanese island of Honshu. It included the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, which changed its name from "Ezo" to "Hokkaidō" in 18 ...

, an ancient name for

Hokkaidō is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

. They released two albums for

Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint. Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...

, 1987's ''EZO'' and 1989's

Fire Fire ''Fire Fire'' is the second studio album released by Japanese metal band Ezo. It was released in 1989 on Geffen Records. Track listing All songs by EZO and Jody Gray except where indicated. #"Love Junkie" – 4:44 #"Night Crawler" ''(EZO, Chris ...

, before being dropped from the label and internal differences led to the band's demise. Vocalist Masaki Yamada joined fellow Japanese metalheads

Loudness In acoustics, loudness is the subjectivity, subjective perception of sound pressure. More formally, it is defined as, "That attribute of auditory sensation in terms of which sounds can be ordered on a scale extending from quiet to loud". The rel ...

in 1992 and drummer Hiro Homma joined Loudness in 1994. In 2000, the original Loudness lineup reunited and Masaki and Hiro left the band. Hiro Homma was the drummer for the Japanese metal band

Anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short ...

from 2001 to 2013 and vocalist Masaki Yamada is now the bass player for the New York-based band FiRESiGN. A single guitar riff from ''EZO'' song "House of 1,000 Pleasures" served as the signature sound of syndicated radio network

Z Rock Z Rock was a nationally syndicated radio network based in Dallas, Texas, United States that, from the mid-1980s through the mid-1990s, played heavy metal and hard rock music. The format was one of several 24-hour satellite-delivered music for ...

Discography

Studio albums

Videos

References

Bibliography