EZO

Ezo (イーズィーオー, Iiziiō) was a Japanese heavy metal band originally formed as FRATVACKER in the spring of 1982 in Sapporo, Japan 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 and Michael Steele of the The Bangles." Ezo consisted of Masaki Yamada (vocals), Taro Takahashi (bass), Shoyo Iida (guitar) and Hiro Homma (drums). They released one demo cassette (Minagoroshi) in 1984 and two albums (1985's Senzo and 1986's Esa) in Japan as Flatbacker in the mid-1980s before coming to the U.S. Rumor has it that Gene Simmons of KISS, who produced their self-titled U.S. debut album, was behind the band's name change to Ezo, inspired by Eizo,...