Early 90s is the era when omnipotent death metal rules supreme. This kind of music reaches us from all sides of the world, and often from some really exotic places. Undoubtedly, TRANSGRESSOR from Japan was one of the most important bands back then. Sadly, they didn’t record too much stuff, indeed. However, their 1992 debut Ether for Scapegoat has become a sure classic in the death metal genre. Well, due to the fact their debut demo has been recently re-released, I felt like asking the band`s leader Takashi Tanaka a couple of questions about TRANSGRESSOR. Well, let’s don’t beat about the bush, ok? Enjoy the interview:

Helo friend. It’s been 20 years since we did our last interview (damn, time`s flying by so quick, eh). Ether for Scapegoat has been, again, re-released in the vinyl format…in result, I do think, this is a good reason to talk about the band`s past. You ready for time travel?

Takashi: Hey, thanks a lot for the killer interview, my friend. I'm all excited about this time travel now. Yes, it was already 20 years ago when we did an interview in your fanzine Equilibrium of Noise. Back then, I remember we did lots of trading, I often sent you KISS albums right? hehe... Yes, time flies, I really can't believe 20 years passed now...

TRANSGRESSOR was born in 1989 when you and Junichi Takagi (guitar) left a thrash band GAMVRETTA to form TRANSGRESSOR, and record the newband`s first demo. What can you tell us about this time period? Do you miss these times?

Takashi: It was in 1989, the band started after breaking up of GAMVETTA, and that was when my brother Osamu left the band, me and Junichi stayed in the band to form a new band. While we were still GAMVETTA, we played death/grind/thrash stuff, and we often covered songs from SEPULTURA (Schizophrenia album), NAPALM DEATH (Scum and From Enslavement albums), BATHORY, and KREATOR. But when we changed the name to TRANSGRESSOR, we started to play a bit slower heavy stuff. I remember we started to listen to a lot of demo tapes including MORBID ANGEL, DEATH, AUTOPSY, NIHILIST, etc. We were spending amount of time trying to record the songs using cassette tape MTR. Of course, I wish I could go back... I was only a high school kid.

There was no Internet in the early 90s. Snail mail (ordinary mail in other words) was a sole method ofstaying in touch with others. Ofcourse, it usually took ages for mail to reach people in other countriesand get their answers. Still, there was something magical about this kind of communication, am I right?

Takashi: Absolutely. Getting in touch with people in the other countries was not as easy as it is now, especially here in Japan. Now it was for me something worth and valuable experience. I often went to a bank and exchanged money, wrote letters, hide the cash well in the envelop and went to the post office. After a month or so, or even longer, we received the packages in the post box, then finally get hands on the product and listen to the music long awaited. That's so amazing, right? Nothing comparable to just accessing a website where you can listen to the music you want anytime...

You certainly would stay in touch with the contemporary UG (via tape trading) which, these days, seems a perfect means to spread metal invasion around world. I am curious if you would get a lot of mail from Poland back then? Can you still remember any old Polish zines from that era: Thrash`em All, Equilibrium ofNoise, Eternal Torment, for instance? Anything else?

Takashi: Yes, I did received lots of mails from Poland. I remember one time a guy tried to send me a bottle of Vodka for trade, and actually he did. So when it arrived here (a postman delivered it), the package was empty, but just a letter saying he actually included in it, and heard from the postman that the bottle was broken so they took it out and trashed it... Now I wonder if that was really happened though... hehe. Anyways, I remember I did lots of trading with Polish friends back then. OK the Polish zine that came up in my mind now is Dethroner zine and Holocaust zine. Thrash'em All is also great one. I remember there is a label Carnage records who released tape version of Ether for Scapegoat back then. I completely didn't know that they released it, but I got to know it from talking to and trading stuff with another Polish trader, and actually I obtained a copy from him. Was it bootleg? I just didn't know neither that there was the official tape release by Cyber Music too, which I only got to know recently.

I can remember you were an ardent fan of VADER back then. What`d you think of where they`re at, right now? I`d say they`ve come full circle (perfectly) and gotten back where they, musically speaking, started. I am pretty sure there`re some other Polish bands (beside VADER) you know of, I mean MERCILESS DEATH, EGZEKUTHOR, right? Any other names come to your mind?

Takashi: Well, I have no idea where they are at now, I mean I haven't heard their recent stuff yet, but that's great to hear that they're fully back in their older style now. I really loved their demos Necrolust and Morbid Reich, and listened to them many many times, and I still do that too sometimes. Yeah, I know some great Polish bands like SLASHING DEATH, INCARNATED, DAMNABLE, BETRAYER, NUCLEAR DEATH, LOST SOUL, and I still have many more demos in storage.

Before your debut album was out, you`d recorded two demos. Transmigrationwas recorded in 1989. A year after that, Twisting Brochus (your second demo) was recorded by TRANSGRESSOR (now a three-piece band). Therewas a new guy who took part in the recording session (Akihito Kikuchi). It seems pretty unusual, but how`d it happen all three of you did the vocals on this demo?

Takashi: Right. On the second demo Twisting Brochus we all did the vocals. It went in a way like I did the first part then Junichi did the second part of the song for example, and Akihito did all the chorus part. Like for the song Deathfile, vocals on that grind parts done by Junichi, and the later slower parts were by me, etc. It happened simply cuz' we all wanted to do vocals, hehe. Each has different style and slightly similar voice so it went all good.

Oid TRANSGRESSOR play many live shows back then? Howdid it look like back then, I mean playing live shows in Japan at the time? If I remember correctly, you mentioned the early 90s weren’t very good for playing metal live. What was the reason behind such a situation?

Takashi: I think we did pretty much shows back then. When we were still GAMVETTA, we played only a few shows (one of the them was with BELETH from Osaka!), around that time the situation was not good. Like most shows organized with all the playing bands had to pay to help covering the venue rental, unless the ticket selling was bad, you know as a work quota. But around that Either for Scapegoat era, the scene had grown bigger, thanks to the CD "To the Marrow" that compiled Japanese then-active death grind thrash bands. Then more and more bands came out, and the crowd got bigger. It wasn't too big as compared to that in the US and Europe though... I can say all is because renting venues is expensive here, so that's why I think.

Your band`s name – TRANSGRESSOR has something to do with one of the CRUCIFITION`s members, huh? ATransgressor is a person who breaks religious laws. what was the relation between the band`s name back then andyour view on religion?

Takashi: Yes, the name was given by the member of the band CRUCIFIXION (also MESSIAH DEATH), Gota Mori. He joined us for a while, did a few rehearsals with us when we were still GAMVETTA. Then when he was leaving, he gave us an advice to change the name to something more evil and twisted one, as we were also trying to make a musical shift to that in more death metal vein. Well, we were just atheist, and not serious about religion so nothing particularly related to our life itself.

Your lyrics deal with issues regarding dying, ageing, body deformations, fear for death, inevitable fate. Well, these issues are still pretty relevant, even today I think. How do you perceive these themes right now – especially when it comes to getting old; do you think physical death means destruction of your spirit and human body? Or, perhaps, dying equals to liberation of one`s soul from its prison-like cage of oldness? How about reincarnation? Whatexactly happens to us when we die?

Takashi:No reincarnation, and no life after death that's my view though... My lyrics deal with these topics but there isn't any specific message in order to persuade someone.

The era of Ether for Scapegoat album was characterized by some line-up changes, right?

Takashi:Not really though. We had just one minor change, around the time when we're finishing up the recordings for the Ether for Scapegoat album, with the addition of the second guitarist, Yoshio (ex-Necro-E). He added little bit of musical arrangements with his acoustic guitars and some guitar solo for the first three songs on the album. They turned out to be really good with his works.

The Japanese metal scene in the 80s included, first and foremost, such important bands as LOUDNESS and SABBAT. These two outfits did, apparently, clear the way for a bunch of other Japanese groups: ABIGAIL, SIGH, HELLCHILD, SATANC HELLSLAUGHTER, and GORE BEYOND NECROPSY. But I am pretty sure there were some other active bands, too, right?

Takashi:Right! There are many heavy metal bands in the '80s, and these are the bands I listened to a lot; LOUDNESS, 44 Magnum, ANTHEM, SABBRABELLS, FLATBACKER, Seikimatsu..., then thrash bands are like these; CASBAH, JURASSIC JADE, DOOM, AIRRAID, SHELLSHOCK, RAGING FURY, UNITED, OUTRAGE, DEATHBLOW, KILLROY, GENOA, etc. I often went to see JURASSIC JADE, AIRRAID, SHELLSHOCK, and other bands when I was high school kid. Around the time when TRANSGRESSOR started, there were more and more death/grind bands came out in the scene. We had bands like MULTIPLEX, TERROR FECTOR, The EQUINOX, ERODED, VOIDD, NECRO-E, SCHIZO, Faces of Destrudo, UNBIASED, MAGOTTY CORPSE, SIGH, ABIGAIL, and more to mention...

There were not too many bands playing such lethal music in Japan back then, right? How did the Japanese scene look like at the time?

Takashi: There were many great bands such as like HELLCHILD, MULTIPLEX, SATANIC HELLSLAUGHTER, VOIDD, ROSEROSE, TERRORFECTOR, NIGAROBO, MAGGOTY CORPSE, ABIGAIL, SCHIZO, NECRO-E, ERODED, The EQUINOX (ex-BELETH), SADONDETH, GIGATIC KHMER, GRUDGE, GORE BEYOND NECROPSY, JESUS SAVE, CELLAR DWELLER, GIBBED, BELETH, MARTYRIZE, and more. And some fanzines like Satanic Death, Deathrash Mayhem, Mutilation, Occult Grinder, Circle of Grind, F.E.T.U., Samurai, and some more. Looking all these, I think the scene was pretty good as I remember.

Japan has always beena leading scene when we talk about Crust Punk or Grind. How about your death/doom metal in this context?

Takashi:Compared to the hard core, punk, grind scenes, I'd say the death and doom ones are smaller, somewhat unpopular in Japan. I think people here prefer extreme, more crazy stuff. But that's just my view though. Apparently we have less death/doom bands than grind core/thrash/hard core bands.

Your very memorable debut (Ether for Scapegoat) was re-released by The Crypt in the vinyl format this year. Is Recollected Limbs (a compilation album) going to be put on vinyl, too? This compilation is very good, and I am pretty sure there are many people out there willing to have it in their collections.

Takashi:That's good idea. I think so too. That compilation was released by three Japanese labels, and those labels are still active today, so maybe I should talk to them and see what they think about it. Especially, on that release, there was one last song composed by me and Yoshio in 2001, and also thatcover artwork would be great look when it turned as LP format.

The re-edition of youralbum is a really good reason to talk about TRANSGRESSOR again. Have you been ever tempted to reactivate the band and play live a little? You know, just a bunch of live shows?

Takashi:We actually did played a show in August 2015. That happened after long period of time, like around after 14 years. We did the reunion show back in 2001 too and that was when our bass player Akihito visited home for some weeks. (He resides in UK now so whenever he does come back home we always meet up and talk about playing shows). The response was just great, and we all enjoyed playing, and so we are hoping to play more shows in the future. Even thinking of new songs, new materials too whenever we get any chance.

Forgive me, but I just can’t come to terms with one thing…well, let me ask you this question, ok?

Why did you exactly split up? TRANSGRESSOR`s music was just amazingly good…I simply don’t get it.

Takashi:Just for my personal reason. I was a college student and I had to finish taking classes in the US, and graduated from the college there, so just that. I knew that was bad timing to split up only for that but I really needed it. Stayed in touch with other members for a while after I moved, and tried to keep it alive but after all it ended. We did a live show in the US once though, which as one of the memorable times and a great experience.

These days, you`re busy with WORMRIDDEN. However, there`ve been other bands you`ve been active in since TRANSGRESSOR split up. Canyou please tell us some more about them?

Takashi: OK sure. I have three bands beside TRANSGRESSOR now. They are ANATOMIA, NECROPHILE, and WORMRIDDEN. ANATOMIA is the main active band that I'm involved in since 2003, and NECROPHILE is another old band that is active today. I used to play guitars first, then later played drums back in the '90s and now the band is completely active. WORMRIDDEN is a project band that I started with my Danish friend David Torturdod from UNDERGANG which is active since 2011. All of these play death metal in the old way but slightly different each other. Maybe ANATOMIA and WORMRIDDEN are similar to the TRANSGRESSOR's Ether for Scapegoat era, doomy death vein, but NECROPHILE is another band that my old friends Takaaki and Keisuke started.

What we`re presently dealing with is an abundance of new bands out there. Do you follow the Japanese scene at all? Can you please recommend any bands to us? What do you think about GALLHAMMER in general? From what I see, out there in Japan, the better part of our society (which is women) is getting more and more active when it comes to playing metal music. What`s your personal view on this issue?

Takashi:There are many many new bands here and there in Japan, especially in Tokyo, we have many live shows happening, almost every weekend there is one or two... I mean that's really good thing, being more active, but it's a bit hard for me to follow these days. So the scene is very active but a bit different now compared to that before. I'd recommend LURKING FEAR and EVIL. These two are young bands (about 15 years or so younger!) and they play really good death/black in the old ways. Well, GALLHAMMER is very popular right? Represents Japanese scene.Yes, that might be like a trend that more and more women in the metal scene. I think that's good though. I hope those female bands continue and be more active, not just disappearing after a while.

Time to wrap up, I think. Thankyou very much for your time. Feelfree to say anything you want to our OMMM readers. Thanks.

Takashi:Thank you for this interview, it was so much fun answering these questions. To the readers here, please check out the TRANSGRESSOR reissue DLP which is still available from me, and from the label The Crypt Records, and the CD version is from Memento Mori Records now. Although nothing's really detailed yet, some more TRANSGRESSOR reissues are planned for the release. So keep watching out for them. Thank you again for your support.

Leszek Wojnicz-Sianożęcki