BAND-MAID Japanese cosplay meidoru hard rock band.
(image credits: BAND-MAID: fair-use for review purposes)
Looking for the next Kaiju-rocking phenomenon from Japan after the metal monster that is Babymetal?
Look no farther than the kawaii meidoru-cosplay themed BAND-MAID group. Most kids may be more familiar with the uber-popular Scandal all-girl rock group for their anime songs from Full Metal Alchemist and other popular anime shows but those girls are essentially a pop group. When you listen to BAND-MAID you will hear something you've never heard since the 90s or 80s. Anthem rock with all the right hooks that imprint your soul with that mosh pit, headbanging vibe that's been missing from western rock bands for quite a while now. Only the extreme metal bands like Necrophagist and Cryptospy still have that going for them but for western hard rock, you'd be hard pressed to find anything that rocks harder than BAND-MAID nowadays. Some fans even swear BAND-MAID has a heavier sound than Metallica's last album.
BAND-MAID Thriller(スリル) PV
from BAND-MAID official You Tube
Having been around since 2013, the group of cosplay French Maid outfitted Japanese girl rockers have slowly been growing on fans from around the world. Rock fans who have started poking around You Tube for Japanese rock bands fronted by female musicians and are gravitating slowly to BAND-MAID like a high school crush, no matter what age. For having the chops to play their own instruments, these girls are like gunslingers on a mission when you hear their songs for the first time and get hit right in the heart with the Japanese trademark, hook heavy arrangements.
BAND-MAID's carrier single Thriller from their first album proves how amazing the Japs are at getting everything that works for western rock and putting them back together better and still be as headbanger groovy as rock should always be played It seems that most stuff coming out of western rock culture have forgotten how it was when kids banged their heads to radio hits of the 80s and 90s. As always, the Japanese have a sharp ear for musical hooks, BAND-MAID is becoming the rock genre's new torch bearer with kids of all ages warming up to their brand of hard rock and metal.
Founder Miku Kobato played with the idea of having cosplay French maid, cafe costumes as the band's identity motif, since she had been working in Akihabara's maid cafes. Miku wanted a similar contrasting effect with kawaii cosplay and the hardest driving, riff rock music just like Babymetal has cutesy dance routines against a backdrop of technical death metal and EDM.
Miku is the founder of the band, who used to work at the Noodol Maid Cafe for three years before deciding to jump into the rock girl band wagon. Miku hooked up with Kanami Tomo off a web search and pushing the Meidoru motif as a semi-goth rock out theme that they can push like Babymetal contrasts kawaii and death metal.
Saiki is now the frontman for the band with Miku as second voice lead vocal, the contrasting styles of both singers round out the rock band and give more depth and torchy, heartfelt rock out performances. Think of her like Shirley Manson when Garbage was at the top of their game with torchy ballads and rock out anthems like Only Happy when it Rains and Girl Don't Come. No one sings like that anymore so Thank God for Saiki of BAND-MAID.
Kanami is no pansy idol poseur, she actually plays her guitar as a virutoso metalhead and has been a musician forever, playing the piano for 15 years and the guitar for 8 years. Kanami was recruited by Miku for Band-Maid after seeing her do a guitar cover online. She also does back-up vocals for the group and really admires the aloof personality of her bandmate, Saiki.
Fan favorite Akane has been likened to Keith Moon and the Animal of the Muppets for her being all over the place hitting her drums during the bands videos and live performances. She comes from the Tokyo School of Music and has been playing the piano for 4 years, the trombone for 5 years and drums for 6 years. She is the band member who recruited MISA as the bass player. Rarely will rock fans see a female drummer worthy of her chops with double kick drums.
The enigmatic and soft spoken MISA is another fan favorite, who's a big fan of the Smashing Pumpkins. She can slap a bass solo like the best among Japanese rockstars and has a tight relationshop with Akane for playing with her before.
Their breakout PV song from 2014 is Thrill, the music video was shot against a white backdrop like some of Japanese Dance versions of Idol group songs-when they want to showcase a music group in all their glory. The rock performance video shows the girls displaying their range of chops from vocals to instrumentals. The only thing lacking may be a drum solo but even that can be put together by these smart and talented group in future releases.
The band's 2nd album Bring on the New Maid contains their second best single, the non-fiction days, a faint mirror of Lynch Mob from the 80s with sprawling riffs, an unforgettable belt-out verse-chorus sequence, and the girls hanging around a table like cute maid ruffians for a Mad Hatter party. And it could might as well be the rock anthem for anyone who is a storyteller at heart, or for a living. It does have sprawling guitar solo just like Lynch Mob of olde. Hooks from all eras of past rock generations.
BAND-MAID the non-fiction daysPV
from BAND-MAID official You Tube
BAND-MAID has slowly been touring the world with small club appearances, and may soon be filling up arenas if fans discover that there's more to Japan hard rock and metal than just Babymetal and Far East DIzain. Daydreaming is one of their unique PV songs that showcase the band's ability to play different hard rock styles. On Daydreaming, the girls play like Joshua Tree-era U2 with their chiming guitar riffs driving a story-driven song like good old 80s era Big Country (a band with storytelling styled songs).
BAND-MAID daydreamingPV
from BAND-MAID official You Tube
BAND-MAID's PV song, Before Yesterday is one of their most haunting anthems after The Non-Fiction Days. You hear Saiki's most hearfelt, belt out singing on this song as well as Miku's fall-in-love-with-me hypnotic backing vocals to carry you through the day if you ever need a pick-me-up better than a cup of java. As their most iconic rock song, it will probably be on your desert island playlist before long.
BAND-MAID Before YesterdayPV
from BAND-MAID official You Tube
The first time we wrote about BabyMetal in 2013, they were hovering around 3 million likes on You Tube for their classic metal song, Give Me Chocolate!!!. Now they have 75 million likes and counting for that song, slowly catching up to DragonForce as one of the most beloved PVs ever on You Tube. They also have a gazillion fans liking all their other rock anthem songs.
BAND-MAID's most popular song to date is their first PV single, Thrill, with 5 million or so likes on You Tube. Our favorite PV song of theirs is The Non-Fiction Days. With the advent of rock fans accepting Asian rockers as equally exciting as the best among the west, we pray BAND-MAID gets their share of world domination like Babymetal. Their PV rock songs never get old no matter how many times you play them on repeat. Same as Babymetal. Can't wait for them to have a Budokan show, a Sonicshpere appearance, and if God willing, even a Norwegian extreme metal tour.
Grab a copy of all of their albums from any online store and download their vids on your media player. Rock your sox off with the best thing to come out of Kaiju Japan, BAND-MAID, the world's first, meidoru cosplay, hard rock-metal band.
