Go on, laugh your head off
To celebrate my mates, the Fishmans appearing at the Fuji Rock Festival in July, I'm going to reveal a bit of my past. Here it is, the Fishmans, featuring me. (c) 1996 Polydor/Universal. You can't sue me cos I'm on it.
Remember, this was only a B side and was done as a LAUGH, the entire thing was done in an evening. I happened to be there, they were out of ideas, Shinji Satoh (RIP) had a bit of scribble scrap, called me and I scribbled something in English in literally a matter of minutes, my part is take 3, take 1 did not size fit, take 2 is basically it with mistakes, take 3, finito. I wanted to do more, Zak said "waste of time, next".
After the take whilst Zak was mixing, Shinji took me to the local Denny's for a meal. I think I had a hamburger. I am not credited under my name, forgot what it was. I think I asked my real name to be credited on the best of reissues last year. I had to do this live a few times, once in front of 20 or 30,000 people. The band wanted me to suffer, on stage. I did. They looked like ants, I was petrified.
Then Shinji died, the band became a cult legend, f**k 'em I say, support the living, not the dead. Mystique carries a B side a looooong way.......... I'm being cynical. If the band asks me to do this at Fuji, I'll do it, but I'll change the words so that my respect for Shinji will be apparent in irony. It's the least I can do for a friend and would be a right laugh.