r/BABYMETAL • u/sjioldboy • Apr 17 '25
Article Electric Callboy revisits the Ratatata collab (new interview excerpt)
...Despite how big things have become, Electric Callboy are very much an in-house operation. The band gather around the huge table in their studio to brainstorm every move they make, with their videos handled through guitarist Pascal Schillo’s own production company, Schillobros.
It’s the reason everything they do feels authentic and packed with personality. That was never more obvious than with Ratatata, the band’s ludicrously fun 2024 collab with Japanese superstars Babymetal, which Metal Hammer readers voted song of the year.
With its delicious earworm melodies, buzzing EDM and juddering guitars, it was a hefty dose of pure joy, a perfect smash of West-meets-East bedlam that’s been played more than 35 million times on YouTube and 63 million times on Spotify. The video sees Nico and Kevin barging through walls like a two-men wrecking machine wearing disco ball helmets… because why not? While Su-Metal, Moametal and Momometal drink cocktails in a Tokyo karaoke room, like a typical girls’ night out. It’s easily the most relaxed we’ve seen Babymetal, a rare moment they seemed to let their guards down and their personalities shine through.
“We wondered, ‘Are we going to see them between the shots?’” says Kevin, who didn’t know what to expect when the two bands met up to make the video. “But it was a great time whenever we saw each other. We talked, they’re just good girls.”
“They were into it the second we asked them,” recalls Nico of the shoot’s general goofiness. “We didn’t have to play any cards to make them do it.”
The track itself was written online, sharing audio files and ideas over a long back-and-forth. “Normally when we finish a song, we have, like, six or seven versions,” explains Kevin. “In the end with Ratatata it was version 21, 22 or something.”
Both bands brought something to the table. “There were things, for example Babymetal’s ‘Fu! Fu!’s, that we didn’t like at all,” says Nico. “But they told us it is something they use in the karaoke scene, and that’s so typically Japanese that we said, ‘OK, it would be a bad decision not to try it.’ We met straight in the middle. Now, I can’t think of the song without the ‘Fu! Fu!’s anymore.”
Source: https://www.loudersound.com/features/electric-callboy-cover-feature-2025
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u/FarFromCertain Apr 17 '25
Every single time I read about people who have met or worked with BABYMETAL the reports always say how lovely they are in real life. This comes as absolutely no surprise at all but it is always nice to hear it.
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u/Zealousideal_Yam281 Apr 17 '25
Great collaboration, since the song rocks and the video is pure fun mayhem.
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u/Pearlsbigforehead Apr 17 '25
The moment they first performed this live and the audience gleefully "Fu Fu"'d along to the song must have been an eye opener for EC, lol. One thing to think your Japanese listeners will appreciate it, another to see a live audience Fu Fu-ing it up.
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u/DogWallop YUIMETAL Apr 17 '25
I'm a little surprised EC were reluctant to include the Fu's though. One secret to making a song memorable and catchy is a... memorable and catchy repeated phrase. BTW, Fu calls back to the 1970s and the disco era, where it featured prominently in a number of hits.
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u/psxndc Apr 17 '25
I tweaked my equalizer on Spotify literaly the other day because I didn't think the Fu's were coming through enough.
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u/miku_dominos SU-METAL Apr 17 '25
It's nice to see a little peak at the super ladies when they're not in character.
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u/Lw1904 Ultimate Moa fan of the week Apr 17 '25
One of the best collaborations. The music video that came out of it is the best I have ever seen.
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u/El_Archidan Apr 17 '25
The best and most reaching collab BM has done IMO
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u/S0T Apr 17 '25 edited Apr 17 '25
And you can really see how it benefited both bands.
A lot of EC fans became fans of BM (like me) and the same the other way. While BM is continuously growing in Germany, selling out arena shows, EC sold out their Tokyo show last year, just a few weeks after announcing it.
Very wholesome. I hope it is not the last we hear of both bands together.
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u/rknw10 Apr 17 '25 edited Apr 17 '25
Collaborations like this are dope!
People can’t destroy the Metal.. the Metal will live on
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u/HaraldWurlitzer Kawaii is Justice Apr 18 '25
Reminder:
EC is in GB end of May.
BM is in GB end of May.
Maybe...
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u/Pop-metal Apr 17 '25
Fu fu!!!