Force Model’s fuzzy fun sound brings the best of the early days of alt rock to the modern age. With their new EP Barricade , the band dials in on the sound that sets them apart from the rest and builds upon the promise we saw on their first record, Found Camera . In celebration of the release of Barricade , I spoke with bassist Maxwell More and drummer/guitarist Ken Arimura about the new music, the anime films they had on during the writing process, and which series inspired them to start a band! Tell us a bit about your new EP, Barricade ! Maxwell : So we released our first record Found Camera last year after playing shows around Los Angeles for about two to three years. Quickly after the record was released and we went on our first tour across the West Coast a lot changed. Ken went back to live in Japan for an extended time, Edie abruptly moved to NYC, and I was the one member still living in LA with my own life changes. Even though we were in different time zones, we started talking about writing an EP as our follow-up. So we all started writing separately and sending each other demos via group chat. Then in October we all met up back in LA, played a few shows, and recorded the EP. Coming out of such a hectic year for us all, I feel like the EP really sonically captures how chaotic all of our lives were. Each song kinda sounds a bit different than the last, kind of like how each member who wrote it was experiencing a different living situation, changes, etc. We are super excited for everyone to hear it! Ken : Barricade is sort of an extension of genre wandering that defined Found Camera . We didn’t plan to make a comp style debut album or EP, but that’s how they formed. Being scattered during the writing of Barricade accelerated the process. Each of us brought a nearly complete song to the table, which streamlined collaboration and kept things leaner. We trusted each other’s own processes. The tracks have individual diversity, but the end products feel honed in as collaborative pieces. The flavors are intentional instead of fortuitous byproducts of experimentation. I played a bunch of guitar and wrote some bass lines, which was very fun. Image via HBO Max Was anime on or around while you were writing or recording? Maxwell : Anime is usually always on in some way or another in my life. When we were writing all separately there were a few I was watching. I was on a big anime movie kick around this time, two that stood out to me were Masaaki Yuasa’s The Night Is Short Walk On Girl and Maoru Hosada’s Summer Wars . It was my first time watching Walk On Girl and I was completely enthralled by it. The use of color in that movie is stunning and the play scene during the second half really stuck with me. Summer Wars is one of my favorite anime movies and it has become a bit of a comfort watch for me. I usually watch it every few years and it always has a weird way of grounding me. With how much of a wild year it had been, this viewing was particularly centering for me. I think more than ever the movie's theme of “digital vs IRL life” is becoming more and more relevant to my life. I wish our social media apps and websites looked more like Oz. I think I would enjoy them a lot more haha. Ken : It’s been a while since I’ve fully committed a deep dive into an anime series, but I enjoy fan-made compilations of certain characters. I’ll occasionally watch a Feitan ( Hunter x Hunter ) fight compilation. He’s such a cool, dauntless character. RELATED: Car Bomb's Greg Kubacki: Anime and Heavy Music Resonate With People Looking for Something Genuine Can you tell me a little about your anime journey? How it started and where you are now? Are there genres you gravitate toward? Maxwell : I think, like a lot of kids who were born in the US and grew up in the early 2000s, my first introduction to anime was through Toonami and Saturday morning cartoon blocks. Some of my favorite anime as a kid were Digimon , Zatch Bell , Naruto , Kinnikuman: Second Generation , and my favorite anime of all time Yu Yu Hakusho . I have a very vivid memory of coming home from school, turning on Yu Yu Hakusho , and jumping up on my bed recreating the fights as I watched them happening. I wanted to be a badass delinquent kid like Yusuke, but the older I get the more I love and relate to Kuwabara. I might not be the smartest but I will do anything for the people I love. The show still has a huge impact on me day to day as I think it is my biggest fashion inspiration. I’m always trying to dress like I look like I’m in that anime, from the big fancy dress pants to a tank top tucked into blue jeans. As I’ve gotten older my taste has kinda jumped all over the place. Some I love are Ping Pong the Animation , Nichijou – My Ordinary Life , Devilman Crybaby , ODDTAXI , Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood , Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day , JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure , Puella Magi Madoka Magica , Yowamushi Pedal , and Chainsaw Man . Funny enough, the anime Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad inspired me when I was a teen to start learning music and start a band! Ken : Anime was peripheral in my upbringing but my main thing has always been manga, because my parents were strict about TV time. My first manga were definitely ones my parents had for a while — Dr. Slump , Doraemon , Black Jack , and Crayon Shin-chan . I was immediately hooked and became a devoted monthly CoroCoro reader/collector, often begging my mom to stop at Kinokuniya to get the latest issue after she picked me up from Kumon. I discovered certain series that I wanted to read from the beginning, like Kroket! and Denjyarasu Jiisan , so I bought the tankobon for those among others. I love a treasure-hunter adventure saga and I think gag-manga is a timeless vehicle for comedy. My friend recently showed me Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto and it cracked me up. Did Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad really spur you all on to pick up music? Are there any other anime series that got you deeper into music or taught you something musically? Maxwell : It was kinda the perfect storm to inspire me to start a band. I grew up a huge fan of classic rock and this was during the peak era of Rock Band and Guitar Hero being super popular in the US. So I was already thinking about rock music constantly. I had been given a guitar maybe six months or so before I watched the show, but I wasn’t really doing anything with it other than learning Beatles and Who riffs. But my older sister had watched Beck and recommended it to me and I was immediately hooked. I was around the age of Koyuki at the beginning of the series so I think that’s one of the reasons I resonated so hard with the show. I remember watching the scene where they play the Beatles cover “I’ve Got a Feeling" and thinking, “Yeah, I want to do this.” It inspired me to start jamming with my best friend and about a year or so later we officially formed a band and started gigging around my hometown in Oklahoma City. Playing our first show to like 10 people on a small stage reminded me a lot of the scene of Maho and Koyuki playing “Follow Me.” The show is still one of my favorite anime, anime soundtracks, and rawest inspirations for playing in a band. Another notable music project was when I was 19 I got really into electronic music and made this whole chillwave project inspired by anime that was themed around the “digital world” So I was inspired by anime like Digimon or Serial Experiments Lain . I would play DJ sets on websites like Tinychat with my friends I met on Twitter and the visuals always referenced some of my favorite anime. In one song I even sampled some dialogue from the anime Alien Nine . I don’t relate to the project at all now, but I do look back on it fondly. It's fun to see how much anime played a huge part of its ethos. One anime that taught me about music was Kids on the Slope . It was one of the first pieces of media that really introduced me to the beauty of jazz. If you are reading this and haven’t watched it, please go watch it now! Such a beautiful show and an iconic soundtrack from the legend Yoko Kanno. Did you get into music around the same time as you got into anime? Or were they separate from each other? Maxwell : I never really thought about it but I guess I did. I got into anime as a kid and started listening to music around the same time. Both of my parents are huge music fans so they were always playing ‘70s music around the house. They kind of were like Deadheads but for Steely Dan, following them across the US seeing them play when they reunited in the ‘90s. So music was always part of my life as young as I can remember. But the first modern band I got into, and are still one of my favorite bands, is Gorillaz. They were like the only modern band I listened to regularly until I was like 12 or 13. I think the anime inspired artwork is what helped me become so obsessed with them. Ken : My parents had me start playing piano at age four, when I was still living in Japan. I couldn’t appreciate the instrument at the time because practice felt like homework (I wish I kept up my piano chops). However, reading manga and watching anime were my rewards after I finished my “work.” Music and anime/manga used to have a work/leisure relationship in my mind, but that’s changed as I’ve gotten older. Why do you think anime fans are drawn to alternative music and vice versa? Maxwell : I think it is hard to have the perspective now, but in the ‘90s and early 2000s being into anime in the US was kind of niche. Anime wasn’t super popular and you really had to go out your way to find stuff that wasn’t being played regularly on TV. It was against the norm to be an “anime fan,” as corny as that sounds now. Now anime is super popular across the world and is more accessible than ever. I think alternative music has a kind of a similar trajectory. A lot of alternative music starts as a niche counterculture to what is happening in mainstream music. But over time it has become easier than ever for people to find small artists and microgenres thanks to the internet and streaming services.I think there is a community aspect to it too. Going to anime conventions such as Fanime and AX in my early 20s reminded me a lot of going to music festivals at the same time like SXSW. It is a great feeling to meet people who enjoy the same thing as you. Some of my favorite memories in life and closest friends have been made thanks to a shared love of enjoying anime and/or creating music. I’m kinda getting emotional even thinking about it right now haha. RELATED: Knosis on Their New Album, GENKNOSIS, and the Effect of Anime Culture in Japanese Metalcore Who are some of your musical inspirations? Have you been inspired by any anime openings, endings, or OSTs? Maxwell : My musical inspirations are all over the place. It’s hard to nail it down so I will just share some newish records I’ve been really enjoying lately: Diamond Jubilee by Cindy Lee Playing Favorites by Sheer Mag Domino by Diners Gaman by Star 99 Cartwheel by Hotline TNT Songs Vol 6 by Elijah Stoll The New Sound by Geordie Greep Steel Wool by Steel Wool My favorite anime opening of all time is “Smile Bomb” from Yu Yu Hakusho , the song is just so perfect. Even though it hasn’t directly inspired my music it has inspired my life in general. When I was a kid I really wanted to play in a band that sounded like the Naruto openings “Rhapsody of Youth” or “Far Away”. I guess I kinda do now haha. For that electronic project I mentioned earlier I was really inspired by the Paranoia Agent theme “Dream Island Obsessional Park” by Susumu Hirasawa. I also really love his soundtrack for the 1997 Berserk and his ‘80s band P-Model. Ken : My inspirations and music taste are also dispersed. Right now I’m enjoying: YouTube uploads from Knxwledge and Frank Medley Isolated James Jamerson bass tracks Unschooling’s Les Capsules live performance Hitokoe no Kaseki / Rebury by RuSanti-Man Hiss by Wormrot Skrillex Album Endless Planets by Austin Peralta Shibahu Ga Aoi by Nenrei Band The Neon Genesis Evangelion intro theme is something I want to learn for karaoke. I watched the entire series with my two best friend roommates as we were moving out of our old house, so it strikes a big memory chord. Image via Netflix If any of your songs could be used in an anime, which song would you want and what type of show would it be? Maxwell : I would have to go with one of our new songs “Pisces Dreamboat." It's a really catchy but crazy song with three different parts. I would love to see a studio like Science Saru or TRIGGER animate something super wild to it. Maybe a kind of punk rock inspired 12-episode long shonen that flips the genre on its head. Ken : I think a stripped down version of “Temple/Bus Stop” or “Dumb Box” could make an intense, fun intro. Like “What’s Up, People?!” for Death Note . I like hearing metal influences like harsh vocals and guitar chug in mainstream anime intro songs on Japanese daytime TV. Is there anything you’d like to plug or say to the Crunchyroll audience out there who may not be familiar with your music? Maxwell : Please check out our new EP Barricade ! In addition we have a lot of amazing music already out in the world such as our debut album Found Camera which came out early last year. If you are into weird heavy post-hardcore go give that record a listen we are super proud of it. We are hitting the road this June and July to play shows across the midwest and east coast here in the United States, as well as Canada. If you are in any of the following cities please come out and see us play! I would love to talk to you about anime at the merch table Ken : Barricade EP out now! Please come see a live show! Thank you Crunchyroll.
