BlackLab describe themselves as ‘the Dark Witch, Doom Duo from Osaka, Japan’. However, when it comes to witches, they are more the spectral Sadako from ‘The Ring’ than campy ‘Countess Dracula’. Chilling cool with built in overdrive.
Yuko and Chia are undoubtedly immersed in the Japanese stoner doom scene, and it’s no surprise that with this first offering, they’ve pulled out a calling card that is as ‘in yer face’ and arresting as anything out there. A full frontal assault of distorted riffs, howls and ghostly vocals, as well as bags of riot girrl attitude and lo-fi bravado.
In fact, listening to them brings back that frisson of excitement you got (those who may be old enough to remember) when you heard Mudhoney’s ‘Superfuzz Bigmuff’ for the first time.
But grunge they are not, and neither are they ‘occult rock’ as such.
Being nominally a ‘Doom’ band, expect a bucket load of Sabbath worship for sure, but BlackLab have a vibe and experimental undertow akin more to their countrymen ‘Boris’ and the souped up lo-fi fuzz of Ty Segall or Comets On Fire.
Tracks like Black Moon, Hidden Garden. Spoon, Symptom Of The Blacklab (which starts like Sabbath … then thrashes somewhere else), twist, burn and boil into the red. His Name Is … is a churning chunky throb. ‘Spoon’ and ‘Warm Death’ offer moments of relief and crushing noise.
And Big Muff is … well … 9 minutes of drum-less fuzz, that will probably do serious damage to your speakers. What’s not to love.
This first BlackLab release on NHS, is a version of their Under The Strawberry Moon album which was released in tiny numbers on CD only in Japan, a pull together of previous tracks and new songs recorded over 2017.
But the NHS variant is different. Wayne Adams (Death Pedals, Shitwife, Vodun, Casual Nun) noise guru at Bear Bites Horse Studio, has remixed the tracks to maximum effect, upping the fuzz and weight of the originals, to create Under The Strawberry Moon 2.0. exclusively for NHS. You will not be disappointed.
It’s an album full of promise, and we at New Heavy Sounds are super stoked to be working with ‘the Dark Witch, Doom Duo from Osaka Japan’.
Expect a new album when the guys have crawled back out of their televisions.
BlackLab are: Yuko Morino, guitar and vocals. Chia Shiraishi, drums.
Under The Strawberry Moon 2.0 will land on July 20th. Listen to new track Black Moon now .
We caught up with the band as they talked about their latest single and more!
How has the release of Black Moon gone down with fans?
It has gone down very well. Some fans are very pleased with the new mix and say, “compared to the original version, the delay and reverb has added gloss to the vocals, and the sound of guitars and drums is much clearer.” They seem to really like the first single we shared recently and are looking forward the album. And like us they are excited to hear it on vinyl for the first time!
Can you tell us something about the single no one else knows?
‘Black Moon’ is a song I wrote soon after I started the band. At that time we were a 3 piece. As the bassist left the band, I had the problem of the sound getting thinner over the guitar solo. So I made improvements to the phrasing of the guitar solo. When we recorded it, we nailed it in one take, mainly because we’d been playing it for such a long time.
To us ‘Black Moon’ also means new moon. When we recorded ‘Under The Strawberry Moon’ (the original version), it was on 9th June 2017 when there was a ‘Strawberry Moon which was the seventh out of 13 full moon phases to rise that year.
When the CDs were manufactured on 2nd January 2018 it was a new moon. The day CDs are lined up at record stores on the day before the official release date is known as “Flying get day”.
How pumped are you for the release of Under The Strawberry Moon 2.0?
So far our music has only been heard by people around the world through Bandcamp, which is great as you can reach so many people in so many different places outside of your own country but this time thanks to our label New Heavy Sounds it will be physically released in Europe and in other countries, which is exciting for us!
I liked the original version, but Wayne Adams’ ‘remix and Jeff Mortimer’s remastering has created a whole new sound for the record. It’s almost like it’s a totally new album. I think that it really does stand up against other heavy records, and it is very exciting for us to see how it will be received by other people.
What’s your favourite single from the upcoming album?
Besides ‘Black Moon’, I especially like ‘Warm Death’. The story behind that is I was asked to create a track for a movie. The movie was called ‘Gui aiueo:s’ by film maker Go Shibata.
My track was for a dancing scene. I played improvised and extreme distorted guitar, based on the movements of the dancers. This song is ‘Big Muff’ the 8th track of the album. ‘Warm Death’ is based on this song, expanding the image further. ‘Warm Death’ is imagining a feeling of blockage in this world, and the release by death. I do not mean suicide though.
If you could work with any band on a new song, who would it be and why?
Well, the first person who comes to mind is Jack White. Because I’m influenced by The Dead Weather’s musical approach. I wanted to get a bass sound like theirs, only on the guitar. I got it by using E / H Bass micro synth and an octaver pedal.
Although it may be surprising another example would be Stereolab. I think it would be so cool for me to play some extreme fuzz guitar alongside Stereolab. And I want to sing harmony with Laetitia!
Will you be touring at all to coincide with your upcoming album?
There is no such plan at the moment. But that is our dream and I pray for it to come true. A lot of Japanese bands do tour around Europe. We also want to follow in their footsteps.
What was the first gig you ever went to?
The first overseas artist’s show I went to is the Motley Crue when I was a high school student. At that time , Tommy Lee’s drum set was not spinning around. I went to their show again at a bigger venue and his drum kit was spinning around this time. I was really surprised to see it in real life and it was pretty exciting.
What’s the alternative music scene like in Osaka?
In Osaka, crust and hardcore punk bands are flourishing. There are not so many stoner rock and doom metal bands in Osaka yet. But a very large audience came to the ‘Sleep’ show held earlier this year. Electric Wizard will come to Japan soon. So I think that the momentum of stoner rock and doom metal is rising. With these influences, I hope the number of bands playing this music will increase.