Eikichi Iwai, bassist in the Primals, the official band for Final Fantasy XIV, has passed away. Square Enix and Final Fantasy XIV accounts announced the news of his passing on social media. “We are deeply saddened to share the news of the sudden passing of bassist Eikichi Iwai,” the announcement said. In the wake of Iwai’s passing, memorials are popping up across multiple FFXIV servers as fans remember him and the music he was part of.
In addition to Iwai, the band is led by Final Fantasy FFXIV composer Masayoshi Soken and features musician Gunn on guitar, Tetsuya Tachibana on drums, and Michael-Christopher Koji Fox on vocals. Fans might recognize Koji Fox as being the English localization and translation director for a number of Final Fantasy games.
Much like Nobuo Uematsu’s band the Black Mages, the Primals are known for their rock arrangements and original music for the Final Fanasy XIV soundtrack. Wanna hear a rock version of “Flow“? They got you. You wanna start crying at 10:30 in the morning like I am? “Footfalls” is good for that. I’ll be the first to admit “To the Edge” is not one of my favorites out of the Primals’ catalogue (please don’t hurt me), but even I can’t deny Iwai’s sick-ass bass line. His bass makes that song and every one of the Primals’ songs. Iwai’s loss will be profoundly felt.
Square Enix holds Final Fantasy Fan Fests across the world every year featuring a performance by the Primals as one of the main attractions. Iwai’s final performance was at Fan Fest Japan earlier this month, and you can watch a portion of that performance here.
“Going to have The Primals on the whole time I’m playing tonight,” read a comment in the FFXIV subreddit. “Rest easy, Eikichi, thank you for all those basslines.”
