[CLUB] The interesting story of Mephistopheles

[Himeaimichu 1535]

So I thought I'd make a post on this band since they're an old school VisualKei band, and have an intriguing story.

They were formed in 1984 by a man named Hikaru Sawai. If you recognise the last name, that's because he's the son of famous Koto (Japanese Harp) master, Tadao Sawai. Tadao Sawai in turn, learned from Michio Miyagi, if I'm not mistaken. Miyagi is considered the greatest Koto player ever have lived and wrote most of the modern Koto repitoire, and invented the 17 string Bass Koto and 25 String Koto. 

Hikaru also plays Koto, and is known for implementing Metal techniques into his work. He now runs the Sawai Koto Academy, which was started by his parents, and is known for their openness to new genres and influences. He no longer is a steady member of Mephistopheles, but has come back every so often. 

The band also has some other interesting members. I believe their current Bass Player, who also joined when the band began  (I think) is Hikaru Utaka, who was in X Japan, and their drummer happens to be Tetsu from Saver Tiger and Zi:Kill. 

Also, one other interesting thing is that the lead singer, ROB, often draws a line on his nose. Similarly, so did Koyomi (AKA Tsubaki) in Memento Mori. Memento Mori was also known for having Traditional Japanese influence. Coincidence? I'll leave that to you.  The band wasn't as visual as other bands from it's era or the members' other bands, but I do consider them to be early Vkei.

Does anyone have any other interesting info about this band? If so, tell me!

Spoiler

 Mephistopheles in 1999 with Hikaru

A performance from Hikaru on the Koto

 

[TadakatsuH0nda 64]

I've known of these guys for quite a while, just an early and interesting contributor to Japanese metal. Their closely related band Eraserhead was actually a supergroup featuring not only Rob from Mephistopheles, but Katsuji and Toshi from thrash legends Gargoyle, along with Akio Shimizu from the legendary Japanese metal act Anthem. They only made demos as that band, which were eventually remastered and reissued in a split with Mephistopheles in 2001.

 

I also think it's really strange that it took Mephistopheles 33 years to release their debut album, despite being reasonably known for a large portion of that, at least on the touring circuit.

 

Also included in Mephistopheles' former members is drummer Junichi Sato, who eventually found fame in a bunch of bands like Galneryus, he's probably one of roughly the 10 most prominent drummers in Japanese metal. Dude's pretty much legendary within the Japanese metal scene.

[Himeaimichu 1535]

32 minutes ago, TadakatsuH0nda said:

I've known of these guys for quite a while, just an early and interesting contributor to Japanese metal. Their closely related band Eraserhead was actually a supergroup featuring not only Rob from Mephistopheles, but Katsuji and Toshi from thrash legends Gargoyle, along with Akio Shimizu from the legendary Japanese metal act Anthem. They only made demos as that band, which were eventually remastered and reissued in a split with Mephistopheles in 2001.

 

I also think it's really strange that it took Mephistopheles 33 years to release their debut album, despite being reasonably known for a large portion of that, at least on the touring circuit.

 

Also included in Mephistopheles' former members is drummer Junichi Sato, who eventually found fame in a bunch of bands like Galneryus, he's probably one of roughly the 10 most prominent drummers in Japanese metal. Dude's pretty much legendary within the Japanese metal scene.

Oh wow, so they're just legendary overall. That's just plain amazing. I guess Hikaru knew good talent, him being considered quite a virtuoso with his own instruments.

I'm guessing due to the fact that Mephistopheles were very prolific in terms of live performances, they never really had time to record an album?  This is just a guess, since it wouldn't be the only time a Vkei/Jmetal band spends more time preforming or with fans than in the studio *cough* La'mule *cough*. 

[TadakatsuH0nda 64]

They actually were never very famous despite at times prominent members, but Japanese metal fans have known the name for years and years because they've performed live with pretty much every Japanese speed and thrash metal band of the 80s, right through to present day. They were even featured on a split album with X Japan once when they were both newcomers.

[TadakatsuH0nda 64]

I know a bit about some other pre-visual kei movement bands too if the members of this group are interested.  I think it's just all really neat to learn about, and have researched for a long time about the various bands who helped to shape what eventually became the movement.

 

Oh yeah, here's a couple photos of Mephistopheles in the early to mid 80s, not sure how colorful they were, but probably something close to the image below this one:

 

And one of vocalist Rob in color:

 

Rather early X Japan looking, huh?

Edited August 11, 2017 by TadakatsuH0nda