You asked for it – and we deliver.
Exactly a year ago, we had a chance to speak with a band that grabbed our attention: Japanese – British metal act Re:O. It was one of the most popular interviews we did with over a thousand reads, proving our point that the independent scene in the UK is truly one of a kind, filled with incredible and diverse talent. Much has changed in twelve months. Re:O morphed from a promising band to a sensational quintet. Not just unique music-wise, but virtually having no counterpart on the entire European continent. Hands up with you can name another group that brings Japanese, British and Italian musicians together while offering a jaw dropping mix of dark pop, cyber metal and j- rock. This is not a challenge, if there are such acts out there, please do get in touch, we will gladly put you in contact with Re:O. The more the merrier.
Rio Suyama, James Wright, James Stevens, Jon Roberts and Alex Carli may be at the beginning of their journey, but they are turning heads already. Their social media starts to bring more and more people; streams go up and press articles start to trickle. It may be a slow process, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. Neither was Tokyo or London. What we are witnessing now is the birth of something very special.
And this is why we return to have another round of questions with our favourite J-metal act.
We last spoke on July 25th 2024 and so much has changed! For those who meet you for the first time, please introduce yourselves to the readers of our blog
Rio Suyama: I’m the lead singer and a main song composer including producing. I used to be in several bands before I began this project. I have been making music since 2020 and still trying to improve my music skills.
Jay Stevens – Hey, J here. I have been playing drums for around 20 or so years. Been into music ever since I was born but started to play my first instrument when I was 11 years old. Spent pretty much all my educational life in the music studio at school and college and then onto a sound engineering course in Westminster London.
James Wright – I am a bassist and co-lyricist.
Alex Carli – Hey there! I’m Alex. One of the guitarists in Re:O. Music is my full-time job, I’ve been playing in bands since I was 14 and I’ve never stopped creating music, recording and gigging. I graduated at Modern Music Institute in Italy and at Tech Music School (now BIMM) in London.
Re:O went from a four piece to a quintet with Alex Carli joining on guitar and Jon Roberts moving to a freelance spirit position within the group. What qualities does Alex bring to the band? We want to hear from all the members!
Rio: He brings a different perspective of guitar playing, not only riffs but good melodies in consideration of the song vibes. I also feel like he understands how synth and guitar should work together. And yes, he knows lots of things about music and the industry.
Jay: Alex for me has a great understanding of guitars and how they should fit and feel within a song. He has some really nice twinkly bits that he puts into the back of the compositions and I can not wait for you to hear five of us live.
James: Alex and Jon both bring a different approach to the use of guitar that complements and contrasts each other well. They both add different layers of complexity to our new songs. Alex brings an insane level of musical knowledge and understanding specifically from what I’ve seen around building melodies and countermelodies. It just clicks in my opinion and has provided much needed evolution in our sound.
And in return, Alex, can you tell a few words about Rio, James, Jay and Jon. What convinced you to join forces with this bunch?
Alex: First of all, I was really impressed by the quality of the band’s songwriting and their perfect blend of metal, pop and electronic music. And then, when we first met, it immediately felt like I had known them for years. They are nice people, and very focused and hardworking at the same time.Finding the right people to be in a band with is incredibly hard, and I’m so glad we’re playing together now. Apart from being awesome musicians, each one of them has their own peculiarity: Rio is an insanely talented songwriter, James is the main “business guy” (which is such an important figure in a band, and yet so underrated!), Jon is a riffing machine with a huge passion for 80s music while Jay is the band’s engineer in every sense possible and a person I could talk to about anything for days!
We can`t help but notice how unique Re:O is on the metal and rock scene in the UK consisting of Japanese, English and Italian musicians. Do you know any other international acts like yourselves?
Rio: I remember there is a band called Superorganism. The band is based in the UK. Most of the members met online and the lead singer is Japanese so they’re like us. Blond Redhead could be a good example of a mixture of Japan and Italy. The band is composed of a Japanese lead singer and Italian twin brothers. Feeder is a band composed of a Welsh singer and a Japanese bass player. Not so many bands but yes there are some bands like us.
James: Honestly, no. There is one other artist outside of the UK we’ve collaborated with on a song “Kanashimu Toki Wa (Reloaded)” which Rio featured on. His name is Red Sky and he is an Italian artist that sings in Italian and Japanese. Besides that, we haven’t seen anyone else who has the same mix we do yet. Although I’d be really excited to meet another band like that!
In August you will release your 9th single “Crimson Desire” – a song about unending hunger to advance in life. What`s the story behind this track?
Rio: The song is about how we all still manage to breathe while we are being surrounded by social media every day. People aspire to own something they don’t have and chase dreams. When we want to kill time, we often check social media and we see something unrealistic like it’s an escape from reality. Luckily for Re:O, we have awesome fans and feel that we have been moving forward. At the same time, when we check other bands, it seems like they are moving ahead of us so much. I know there’s no competition. I am making music because I love it and it’s also for myself, not only others. We have our own journey so we shouldn’t compare ourselves to others. But we can’t be helped doing it. Then, why can’t we put this frustration into a song? The single is connected to the concept of a vampire. It was an idea that James suggested. That’s a perfect match for the theme I wanted to write about.
The cover of “Crimson Desire” was created by Colin Van Dongen and depicts a young girl wrapped in a dark kimono sitting in a destroyed tatami room. Her face is unnaturally white and blood pours from her eyes. Her faint image can be seen on the cover of your previous single “The Haunted”. Is this girl a yokai, a vampire or an onryō? And more importantly, are “The Haunted” and “Crimson Desire” linked together?
James: She is a vampire! “Crimson Desire” story revolves around vampirism and an unending hunger or thirst, so we figured it made sense she’d be a vampire. The only link between the artworks to both singles is the girl. We tried to base her loosely on Rio to have some consistency with the visuals from Rio’s solo releases. Conceptually “The Haunted” and “Crimson Desire” are very, very different songs and are describing completely different things. “The Haunted” is a hopeless struggle against depression and is presented in a whiplash whirlwind of heavy and sombreful tones whereas “Crimson Desire” is an aggressive in your face song that’s all about needing and wanting more. It holds no punches back in comparison to “The Haunted” and its mournful journey.
In a way the last four singles (“Ronin”, “Violets”, “The Haunted” and “Crimson Desire”) seem to follow one character. Are we onto something here if we ask if there is a particular concept at play?
Jay: Great question! So, at the very start, straight out of recording of the four said singles, I approached Colin about this project and sat down with him and spoke about the tracks that we had recorded and that we wanted to have this character throughout this era of Re:O. I joked about it being stage 1 of the new Re:O sound. Once we had the main imagery, we then picked the illustrations that we liked the most. Those images are not only on the single covers but also in the lyric videos that I created. Some may have had a slight change but most stayed the same. As “Crimson Desire” is the last in the series of the four songs, I added the blood that pours in the video to give it that extra edge as a final closing in this chapter.
Your most popular track on Spotify, “Ronin” recently hit 7000 organic streams. Have you entertained an idea of releasing an unplugged version of the song once it hits 10k or 20k streams?
Rio: That would be a great idea. I would love to hear this song in an acoustic version. It could give a different vibe, which is amazing. Also, I would love to hear some of our heavier songs from a different perspective. If we decide to make an EP or an album, we could do that as bonus tracks!
Jay: We have spoken about it in the past. We have some songs that we currently play live and wanted to do a different take on them. Yet, at this time, we are more focused on the new singles that we are about to record. But you never know what Re:O might do next.
James: The fact that “Ronin” surpassed “GUILD” is incredible! It makes it our fans favourite track by looking at the metrics. I’d love to do remixed versions or acoustic versions of some of our songs or at least change in some capacity. But as Jay said with the limited time we have, we want to focus on bringing more songs to life and give everyone more Re:O.
In May 2025 you debuted at The Great Escape Festival. Did you enjoy Brighton? Did your schedule allow you to see any other shows? If yes, what other new band caught your attention?
Rio: We always enjoy and feel happy to play a gig at every location. I really appreciate that we had a chance to go exploring in other cities in the UK, not only London. A Void had a lot of energy and they were really good!
Jay: We did get a chance to see some of the acts at the festival and it was great to see so many different styles of music under one roof. Hats off to the engineer on the day. Having back-to-back bands is never a nice job. I felt his pain. There were some real Divas on the day we played and that’s as far as I’m going with that!
Alex: Before that gig I already played in Brighton twice with another band. It has a special place in my heart. I have so many great memories. The schedule of the day was pretty tight but luckily, I had the chance to enjoy a few other bands.
You performed at the Font, a popular venue known for having their stage just above the bar. Tell us about the gig. How did it go? What songs did you play?
Rio: The stage was fabulous but I was freaked out as it was above the bar. I was thinking about jumping down. Obviously, if I did it, I’d have broken every part of my body (laughs) That’s what I needed to avoid. It had a great vibe but it was a shame that we could not finish our set because we had limited time but I really enjoyed it.
Jay: Loved playing on top of the bar. It was one of the strangest feelings I’ve had, especially as you were about 3 meters above ground and when I looked over my shoulder all I saw was a thin piece of wood stopping me from falling backwards. (laughs)
Alex: That was my debut with Re:O! It felt very exciting, hectic, intense and a bit chaotic. The stage above the bar added a bit of danger and instability to the whole situation (laughs) But it was a very positive experience. The set was a bit short but I loved every second of it.
James: That stage was simultaneously freaking awesome and terrified the fuck out of me. I placed myself on the bit without railing because of the limited space we had and the number of times I felt like I was about to fall off when head banging…Terrifying…I also hate heights, so I have no idea why I thought that was a good idea. It was a great show and the debut for Alex with us too! We ended up playing “Ronin”, “Violets” and “The Haunted”, plus one other song that you’ll hear about later in the year.
Brighton and Hove News, a local newspaper, called your appearance a “complete revelation” and “exciting from start to finish”. Were you expecting such a glowing review?
Rio: That’s very sweet of them and that makes me glad. This is why we always put lots of effort and energy when we play live. Even though there are no audiences at small venues, we always play gigs like a stadium. I know it sounds crazy. People might find it clingy but this is our spirit.
James: We play every show like we’re selling out the O2 arena and this is exactly why. We want everyone that comes to see us to be blown away, forget reality and all their worries for a little bit and just have fun! We had no idea there were any music reviewers in the audience and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t incredible we got such a glowing review. It reinforces that I think we’re doing something right but that doesn’t mean we don’t still have a lot of work to do!
Alex: It’s always a pleasure to receive such compliments. But I also think it’s part of our job. During our concerts we treat every single note we play as the most important thing on Earth. And when the audience sees that and appreciates what we’re doing, that’s the most satisfying feeling ever.
This year has been very busy for the band, you have been touring, releasing new music and composing. Any plans for the late summer/autumn?
James: We’re back in the studio in September but I wouldn’t expect any other releases outside of “Crimson Desire” until the end of the year at the earliest. We do have a show on September 13th at the Fiddlers Elbow, Camden where Red Sky is flying over to perform! It’s not one to be missed. We’re hoping to do a few more shows in November and December but nothing confirmed yet.
Rio: Now, we are facing a problem that we struggle getting offers from venues and promoters. Hopefully we can get more shows soon.
We have noticed that you are now regularly streaming on Twitch. When is your next streaming session planned? Can your fans join you and ask questions? A rumour has it you can also be seen playing video games!
James: The streaming was a concept we tried out that we needed to take away and refine. Rio, Jay and I tend to do some gaming streams over on my personal Twitch account but nothing overly band related. Fans are always welcome to come hang out and ask any questions they want. We already have quite a few regulars and it’s honestly incredible to have this much interaction with our fan base.
Rio: As James said, we need to refine the show so we’re on a break now, however, when we start it again, we will always welcome questions from fans. Most of the time, James, Jay and I hang out while playing games and we want fans to stick around and hang out with us!
Last questions are always fun at Indieterria: Alex, can you please convince Italian metal fans that they should definitely check out Re:O. Please do it in your native language. We love listening to Italian, but our vocabulary is somewhat limited. All we can really muster is Bongiorno and pasta carbonara!
Alex: Your Italian sounds better than my Polish! You can guess what my Polish friend taught me! (laughs) Anyway, I could summarise my answer with: ASCOLTATE I RE:O CAZZO!!!
You can follow Re:O on socials:
https://www.facebook.com/reothebandofficial
https://x.com/re_oofficial
https://www.instagram.com/reotheband
https://www.youtube.com/@reotheband
https://www.twitch.tv/reo_o_jp
https://reomusic3.bandcamp.com
https://www.tiktok.com/@reotheband
https://soundcloud.com/user-532691948
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rLfw0m94PhKR4pnbomrqB
Additional reading:
https://vanadianavenue.co.uk/2024/07/25/indieterria-meets-reo/
https://phasebrecords.com/blogs/phase-b-interviews/re-3ao-japancore-in-the-uk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET9cJzQsddY (video)
https://hotvox.co.uk/featuredartist/one-to-watch-reo
https://beyondsenpai.com/2021/09/30/a-conversation-with-reo
Malicia Dabrowicz
Indieterria 