The musicianship of this Band is second to none.....but two things really stand out that make them so special...Kanami's writing and playing skills and Akane and Misa's ability is off the charts !!!!!
I'm jealous that it's your first time. I remember the feeling i got hearing it for first time. I'm sure you've already done ONSET (live) if not, another BAND MAID sensation .
Band Maid was started in 2013 by Miku Kobato. At the time she had just left the Idol Group, Lil Cumin and she didn't like the type of music she had been performing. She approached her management agency with the idea of making an actual band playing rock music but dressed as maids. She had worked in a Maid Cafe and thought the image of maids playing rockin music would create what she called "The Gap" between what you see and what you hear. The Management company was like Ok, go ahead. Miku then looked around and found Kanami a singer/songwriter who was posting her own videos on the internet. Miku had her agency contact her and Kanami thought the idea was cool and agreed to join. Miku then asked if Kanami knew a drummer who might be interested. Kanami had worked with Akane in the past and there is 2 versions of this, the first is, Kanami literally walked over to Akane's apartment and asked her, the second is Kanami called Akane and asked her. (Akane has said in 2 different interviews that 1: Kanami called her and asked if she could come over and 2: in a second interview Kanami just came over) Akane was actually hesitant as she had worked in an "All Girl Group" before and didn't enjoy it as it wasn't the type of music she wanted to play. After hearing a Demo, Akane was like ok, but was still slightly hesitant because of the "Maid Outfits", but she agreed to give it a try. Akane was asked if she knew a bass player and she had gone to Tokyo School of Music with MISA and had worked a couple of jobs with her. So Misa was contacted and after she heard a demo she was like I like the music, but she also was hesitant about the "Maid Outfits", but she relented and joined in as she really wanted to play the kind of music she heard in the demo. The 3 of them then "Auditioned" for the record company and passed the audition. Now we have the "Core" members. The 4 members worked out some songs provided for them by the record company, and a setlist and they had performed 3 times with just Miku on main vocals. Miku after those performances felt that her voice wasn't powerful enough to really perform the songs she wanted. So she approached her management company again and asked if they had any singers who weren't in other projects. They then auditioned several singers. Miku heard Saiki rehearsing in a room across the hall and asked if she could be auditioned, the record company then had Saiki audition. Saiki was signed to the same management company and had done some work as a backup singer and dancer and was asked if she would be interested in auditioning for this new group which currently had 4 members and she would be the fifth. She had been a member of a group with 8 other people as a backup singer and dancer, and HATED it. So she listened to the demo and thought "Cool" because she liked the music. Now we come to the tricky part. Miku KNEW that if Saiki was told about the "Maid Outfits" she would say NO WAY!, so they didn't tell her. They told her they would have "Cool/cute Clothes"(I've read it translated either way), and she never met Miku until a few days before they had a contracted performance. She wasn't told about the "Maid Outfits" until the day before the performance, and she had considered backing out, but she had signed the contract. (Saiki also had NEVER met Miku until then as well) So the Ladies, went and did the performance and Saiki really, REALLY liked the crowds reaction and the music they were performing. She DIDN'T like the apron she wore so it got ditched after the first performance. And you now have the beginnings of the BEST LIVE HARD ROCK BAND in the WORLD! ALL HAIL BAND MAID!!!!! Now that we have the Full band, it was felt that there needed to be a second guitar. Saiki was like, "Not Me, No Way." So Miku said, "I'll do it.", at first that was literally all she did, was hold the guitar and mime playing it, until Akane said, if you are going to hold it, you NEED to learn to play it. And Miku said, "Ok.", and Kanami started to teach Miku how to play. The Ladies released their first album in 2014 "Maid in Japan" which failed to chart, but later after "Thrill" it was reissued and charted to #26 in Japan.
Then in 2015 they released "New Beginning" On New Beginning was the song that changed Band Maid's entire existence. "Thrill"... The band was getting ready to release their first music video and the choice was between "Love, Passion, Matador" and "Thrill" and the ladies chose Thrill. (Little known fact, Miku helped with the lyrics on Thrill but did not get credited) This became the seminal moment of Band Maid. Because their second album charted at #64, the record company was seriously considering disbanding the Ladies and switching them to other projects. (In fact they had Kanami and Akane work with Mochi to Cheese thinking that when Band Maid cratered they could use them in another band. MISA had also just started working with Mochi to Cheese as well). However about 6 months after the video's release, a Facebook page "JRock Radio" posted the video to their timeline. And the video went viral. Having over a million views in just a few short weeks. The Ladies Twitter page got so many hits they thought their page had been hacked. Their UA-cam channel also started getting more and more subscribers and views to Thrill. Now the ladies knew where their fans wanted them to go. Harder Rock, less pop. And history was Maid.
It started with Miku, the rhythm guitarist, she had the idea for the band then she found Kanami, the lead guitarist, doing music on the internet. Kanami knew Akane, the drummer. They met through a prior music project and became friends. Akane knew MISA, the bassist, because they actually did go to music school together, TSM. And finally they decided to bring in the lead singer Saiki, when Miku realized her vocals weren't the kind she wanted to go with the music they wanted to play, even though her voice is amazing. Saiki, they found, through their talent agency.
Excellent succinct telling of the story. I'll just add that Miku's idea for the band included that they dress as maids (she used to work in a made café) to contrast with the style of music she had in mind, and the style of music she had in mind was heavily influenced by Tokyo Jihen, aka Shiina Ringo's band.
Kanami and Akane went to high school together and were best friends. After agreeing to join Kanami immediately called Akane and told her to join as well.
@@ericifune5543 not quiet high school but soon after in a mutual friends music project and discovered they lived close to each other and became real good friends and Akane would play on Kanamis demos for record companies
@@ericifune5543 uH, not quite, Akane, while she was at the music school (TSM where MISA was also a student) was in a band that played a gig where Kanami was in the other band and they liked each others playing style and became friends. Kanami did not go to the Tokyo School of Music (TSM), she attended regular University as an economics/business major. This information is in the documentaries for Akane and Kanami from Ohrenje's YT site.
Like Band-Maid, Tokyo Jihen plays many genres. This is my favorite performance of one of Shiina Ringo's early hits ua-cam.com/video/ibXylzykiN4/v-deo.htmlsi=dU_uj003u-XSY8E6
Miku won an idol competition. Sh took that and parlayed it into a record deal after she got tired of being an idol. She then found lead guitarist, Kanami, through her online videos. She asked Kanami if she knew any good drummers and she said, Akane, who she had worked with on a project before. Then they asked if Akane knew any good bassists. Akane attended the Tokyo School of music with MISA. So the line up was complete, but not quite. Miku had envisioned dual vocalists, and her voice wasn't really suited to the Hard Rocking Maid image she wanted for her band. So they look at their agency for another singer and found Saiki. That was it! That's always been the line up. Miku dropped back to second vocalist, but they needed a second guitarist. Rather than hiring a sixth member Miku had Kanami teach her how to play rhythm guitar. If you look in their very first Music Video 'Thrill' she's just using it as a prop. Lucily it went iral, because if it hadn't the label was going to fire the musicians and turn the to singer into DANCE-MAID. Miku and Saiki both cried, "We didn't come to Tokyo for this!". Luckily it was posted on the Japanese Rock Facebook page. It took off so fast BAND-MAID thought their page had been hacked! Check out Ohrenji. He has a documentary video on each of the girls and 3 on band founder Miku.
Many of us saw Band-Maid play “From Now On” live. OMNG! Kanami riffed her ass off. The DB’s matched the BPM’s! So FROM NOW ON, Band-Maid will grow in popularity even faster as their awesome, sold out 10TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR wrapped up at Japan’s 17,000 seat Yokohama Arena on Nov. 26 and at Hong Kong. AND they’re adding the finishing touches for their new album, Epic Narratives, dropping Sept. 25. Order now! The Maids are one of the hardest working supergroups in the business! Their music, their sound, each of the Maids... and the love that permeates their live events is an experience not to be missed. Hope you can catch them LIVE! Thx, FAANA!
Boy oh boy, one of the most interesting (and random) things in the world is how Band-Maid came together .... a great story, which I see is already told very well by commenters below. As for your comment about their composition, yes, it is very unique and interesting ... after listening to them since 2014 I have a theory on how Kanami (lead guitarist who does the majority of music writing and arrangements) composes. 1 - Her melodies come from the Gods 2 - She arranges the song as though she had a full symphony orchestra at her disposal 3 - She then uses all the boxes and knobs she has to come up with sounds that can be used to replace all the violins, horns, reeds, etc and then MISA on the bass (when MISA isn't coming up with her own earth shattering solos) replaces all the lower registered instruments (oboes, stand-up bass, bassons, etc.) So when you listen to their music you can hear underneath the main melody Kanami, MISA, and Miku doing things that if you use your imagination you can hear a 'string section' or 'horn section' being played out on guitar or bass ... and all arranged in enough detail as to have legitimate 'counter-melodies' and 'rounds' happening in the 'background'. And of course Akane does her part ... her drums being tuned to my ears with a much larger and dynamic tone range than most, so she too can add more than just a 'great drum beat' and more of a 'percussion section' feel to the songs. All that and them being Japanese, have a background in Japanese 'pop' chord progressions, which while are similar to Western are also more complicated and meandering (ie. takes more chords to get to the 'resolution', which is a 'fresh' sound to Western ears, and you have some amazing and unique sounds. When I was a 'kid' in the 60s & 70s I used to come home and throw on Elton John (Captain Fantastic for example) and listen to those arrangements, which were awesome, but they were 'rock' arrangements so the main point of the arrangements was to keep players from stepping all over each other with the odd harmony or counterpoint thrown in once in a while ... Kanami takes this to a whole new level, and uses modern guitar and processing technologies to turn Band-Maid into a'new rock orchestra'. Check One-OK-Rock and the live concerts they did with an actual orchestra, I hear a lot of the same orchestral 'motifs' from Kanami's arrangements. ... this is why I consider her the reincarnation of Mozart.
I can understand saying poppy since the first song you heard was "Choose me" and it is true that they maintain pop elements in a lot of songs, especially choruses. But, you'll come to realize as you listen more that they blend genres a lot. And even during poppy choruses, Misa(bass) or Akane(drum) or even Kanami(lead guitar) is in the back of the mix playing crazy technical stuff. Almost every time, and even in the same song, never exactly the same. Endless talent in this band that keeps you wanting to see more because it's easy to feel their potential.
The rhythm guitarist Miku was a pop idol wannabe. That didn't work out but she had music industry connections. She decided to try to start a rock band with the blessing of management. She found Kanami (lead guitarist) on the internet and contacted her. Kanami is literally the musical brains behind all the music. She is the band composer. Kanami was friends with drummer Akane. Akane was friends with bassist Misa. Boom, the band was formed. Lead singer Saiki was quickly added by management.
Thank you so much for the wonderful reaction. This is imo a modern instrumental rock masterpiece. These women are world class when it comes to musicianship and songwriting.
Pop band? Hardly. :P~ How they formed? Hmmm... Short version: Rhythm Guitarist recruited Lead Guitarist who recruited drummer who recruited bassist. Then all 4 SORT of recruited lead vocalist. (The story isn't short). The UA-camr Ohrenje made documentaries on each member so you can discover the band's history through that. Of course, the starting point is Saiki, the lead vocalist.
I realize, that the word pop isn't quite right. What I meant is that the first song I heard was more song based, where this one is more about the music and instrumental excellence!
Thanks from Japan 有難う💛。 I witnessed this song performed live five times with this MV quality in Japan and dropped my jaw five times 😲. I believe so did many of American audience in their 2022 & 2023 US tours. They sometimes played this song as the opening of setlist when they perform in festivals. Yeah! they showed off their skills and talents to the audience who knew nothing about the girls in maid outfit on the stage. I felt as if I heard them screaming "Hey guys! Listen to us and open your eyes wide! We are not the persons that you think ! Salute us!" 😄 Band-Maid is one of the best bands in our country, especially in live performance. We say "Japan is the country obsessed by Rock Music". The history is very long and the obsession started in 1966 when Beatles visited Japan and held 5 concerts at Budokan. Speaking of hard rock / heavy metal music, a number of bands started to come to Japan since as early as 1970s : Led Zeppelin / Grand Funk Railroad (1971), Deep Purple (1972), Queen (1975), Kiss (1977), Cheap Trick / Van Halen / Scorpions (1978), Judas Priest (1978/79) and so on. Now, any type of rock can be enjoyed here, especially by many all-female or women-fronted bands. They are daughters of American / European rock, for sure. (Many are grand-daughters in terms of age.) Uh-oh, we also say "Japan is the country obsessed by Jazz". It had started earlier than rock 😄
Band-Maid love getting a surprised reaction from the audience who see the cute costumes, and aren't expecting that first crashing chord in "From Now On" -- and all the intense playing following it.
In the beginning there was a small pigeon 🐦 who met a guitarist 🎸 who played with a drummer 🥁 who went to school with the bassist 🎸 and then tricked the singer 🎤 to join the band then the small pigeon 🐦 asks the guitarist 🎸 please teach me how to play the guitar 🎸. The Story Continues.
@@rolandkarlsson7072 , in a way YES. She didn't mentioned the maid outfit. And Saiki prove a model plain, without any mention to maid. And after the first gig she took off the apron and never used again.
@@rolandkarlsson7072 Oh yes, Saiki was NOT PLEASED when she found out she had to wear a maid's costume on stage. But ... she only found out at the dress rehearsal for their first concert together, because Miku deliberately didn't show Saiki the full outfit or tell her the details beforehand.
@@himbo754 ha ha ha, the pigeon is a bit devious. I guess Saiki is quite specific about wearing a black dress. Maybe even more than "quite". And I also guess that you are NOT telling Saiki what to do. I love those girls, they are such characters. All of them.
Lead vocals played on a lead guitar - clever Kanami-sama's masterful composition at work. A masterpiece of a song that they reproduce note perfectly live ( Band-Maid: Opening their 12 song set at Lollapalooza 2023 with FROM NOW ON - ua-cam.com/video/D8ARO_WuEoE/v-deo.htmlsi=gB4Q4XRNNxf9VQwF .
Great reaction, this was the first song on their album "Unleash", released after the pandemic ended. It was the singer Saiki's idea to lead off the album with an instrumental. Thanks for reacting to Band-Maid.
Rhythm guitarist Miku could not play guitar at the start of the band. Lead guitarist Kanami taught her. Kanami is the main music composer. She started out on piano at an early age and mostly concentrated on classical music until high school.
5 top tier musicians in one band, they dont have to take a step back for anyone, 11 years with the same lineup, one of the best touring rock bands in the business today
Their backgrounds are actually kinda all over the place, which you can tell when you go through all their songs which have elements coming from different places.Most of their songs I would describe as hard rock based with flairs of metal and usually pop or pop punkier style chorus. Kanami(lead guitar) is the main composer, however before joining Band-Maid she was not writing hard rock music, but was trying to be a solo singer/songwriter. Their first 3 albums were done working with external song writers, and I think she learned a lot from them on composing rock songs. She also loves Carlos Santana. Miku loves Tokyo Jihen and was part of her inspiration of wanting to play "cool music". Akane loves Deep Purple and Maximum the Hormone, I think she brings the hardest hitting background. Misa loves Smashing Pumpkins, and 80/90's rock american and british. Saiki loves Namie Amuro, pop singer/dancer. Band-Maid basically has a virtuoso rock guitarist, with a metal drummer, an alternative bassist, a pop singer, and of course a wild card pigeon brings it all together.
Miku worked in a maid cafe, that is Japanese restaurants. Where the waitress's dress as maids, and on their breaks, they were allowed to perform. Next time check out the song, Thrill
The band was founded by the rhythm guitarist, Miku, who was originally a singer. She attended singing school, but dropped out when she was one of three successful singers at an audition of 2,500 teenage girls to form a Jpop singing and dancing trio. After that trio folded, she worked in a maid cafe and got the idea of using the maid cafe look and engagement with customers, but in a hard rock band -- a contrast of cute and heavy. Miku is multi-talented -- she entered the Japan Open Poker Tour in 2022 and led the board for much of the time. She ended up coming second and winning $1,600. She is a great negotiator for the band with their talent agency -- she knows how to read people, and how to play her hand. She is very good at entertaining a crowd. And she is a tireless worker -- practising guitar eight hours a day to become proficient on stage as quickly as possible, even though she did not enjoy playing the guitar at first. Miku looked on the internet and found Kanami, a singer/songwriter/guitarist who she invited to become the lead guitarist of her dream band. Kanami knew a backing drummer, Akane, who happened to be available to join a band. Akane in term knew a bassist from her days at the Tokyo School of Music -- and the bassist (Misa) was available. After performing together for a month, Miku decided that her voice was too bright and light for hard rock, so they recruited Saiki, a singer dancer also registered with their talent agency. After taking on the role of second vocalist, Miku began to learn rhythm guitar under Kanami's mentorship. Kanami, Akane, and Misa have all been playing instruments, including piano, since they were young children -- Kanami from the age of 4. Kanami was raised on classical music -- Chopin -- and still composes on the piano, before playing it on guitar. After composing a song, Kanami sends it to Misa to work up the bass part, and then to Akane to improve the drum part. Miku usually writes the lyrics -- she is a bit of a poet -- and Saiki is overall quality control: the song is not ready until Saiki approves. Miku and Saiki were both singers from childhood, doing karaoke and similar. Saiki was head-hunted as a model on her eighteenth birthday, and also acted in a couple of TV shows before attending singing school to become a singer/dancer. She is very fashionable, and has occasionally designed costumes for the band when they weren't dressed as maids (Christmas acoustic concert, Bestie music video).
From Japan The first part is corrected. Miku dropped out of college after one year, moved from Kumamoto to Tokyo, and worked at a maid cafe in Akihabara, Tokyo. In the winter of her first year, she won an idol contest and was one of three people selected from 2,500 people. The three members were active in a group called Little Kumin for a year and then disbanded. Miku felt that being an idol wasn't what she wanted, so she consulted with her management about creating a cool rock band, which is what she really wanted to create.
Maidiacs may overload you with information about the band. In the past three years their popularity has taken off like a rocket. My opinion on this is two fold. The pandemic response allowed the band time off to rest and really think about their careers. Also, people were scrolling through YT because of boredom. Several musicians with YT pages found BAND-MAID videos and started reacting to them. Others saw their reactions, took it all in and realized a gem has been hidden in Japan. This has also lead to the discovery of other amazing, talented bands like Lovebites, Nemophila and Gacharic Spin. You are just starting on a path that may take at least a year to find that rock hasn’t died. It moved to Japan.
Be aware that a lot of Band-Maid songs are played with the guitar tuned to drop-d. I am also fairly sure that they use Digitech Drup pedals in order to play certain songs in a pitch that works for their singer, Saiki. Some song suggestions for you are Moratorium, No God, Rinne, Onset, From Now On, Without Holding Back, About Us, Play, Why Why Why, Clang, and Matchless Gum. Their latest live videos from Yokohama Arena are incredible. Don't You Tell Me and Hate are straight up bangers with guitar vs bass duels, and Endless Story is a tear jerker that even choked up the singer, Saiki, and the drummer, Akane, since it was the last song of their 10th year anniversary tour. Also, they just released a collaboration with The Warning called Show Them which is a must listen. Have fun with it!
Dude.....your reactions are so good I expect a BM review every week !!!! They have over 130 songs and you haven't seen the best part of this band. You have to see them LIVE...it will blow you away !!!! Start with Real Existence LIVE VERSION !!!!!!!!!!
In the end, this saying remains unshakable: 'Whenever you think you're exceptional at something, a bunch of lovely Japanese women who are even better will always appear.'
Welcome Home Master. Don’t let FNO kill you Yet. You only saw A VERY TINY TIP OF GALAXY. The next Band Maid #1 Song ‘Don’t you tell ME’ is where you can make One in a LIFE Decision that Band Maid Good or ???.See u AGAIN😏😊🙏🐦
Haha, I know it's not accurate, but what I meant was that the first song was more of an actual song. I apologize, of course they're not a pop band. I misspoke there.
@@FaanaMusic sorry about the rudeness but I AM SO over re-actors saying something is POP if it is NOT Metal as if there is nothing in between. Thanks for the reply, will block the comment from my mind and enjoy the reaction for what it is.
Thanks for nice reaction and for support the Band Maid. However, If you like strictly power and thrash metal music, there is another fantastic all -female Japanese band called Lovebites, five ladies extremely talented and skillful. I suggest you take a look at their YT channel where you will find all the videos you want, even the very recent ones (I recommend "Soldier stands solitarily" LIVE). Personally I am a fan of both Band Maid and Lovebites, according to their different musical genre
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The musicianship of this Band is second to none.....but two things really stand out that make them so special...Kanami's writing and playing
skills and Akane and Misa's ability is off the charts !!!!!
This is what happens when you let Kanami be the "Lead Singer" 😆
Great comment.😁👌
Kanami also can sing her voice is so cute
"Shut up Kanami is singing"
@@agdtec
❤🤘😝🤘❤
I'm jealous that it's your first time. I remember the feeling i got hearing it for first time.
I'm sure you've already done ONSET (live) if not, another BAND MAID sensation .
Band Maid was started in 2013 by Miku Kobato. At the time she had just left the Idol Group, Lil Cumin and she didn't like the type of music she had been performing. She approached her management agency with the idea of making an actual band playing rock music but dressed as maids. She had worked in a Maid Cafe and thought the image of maids playing rockin music would create what she called "The Gap" between what you see and what you hear. The Management company was like Ok, go ahead.
Miku then looked around and found Kanami a singer/songwriter who was posting her own videos on the internet. Miku had her agency contact her and Kanami thought the idea was cool and agreed to join. Miku then asked if Kanami knew a drummer who might be interested. Kanami had worked with Akane in the past and there is 2 versions of this, the first is, Kanami literally walked over to Akane's apartment and asked her, the second is Kanami called Akane and asked her. (Akane has said in 2 different interviews that 1: Kanami called her and asked if she could come over and 2: in a second interview Kanami just came over) Akane was actually hesitant as she had worked in an "All Girl Group" before and didn't enjoy it as it wasn't the type of music she wanted to play. After hearing a Demo, Akane was like ok, but was still slightly hesitant because of the "Maid Outfits", but she agreed to give it a try. Akane was asked if she knew a bass player and she had gone to Tokyo School of Music with MISA and had worked a couple of jobs with her. So Misa was contacted and after she heard a demo she was like I like the music, but she also was hesitant about the "Maid Outfits", but she relented and joined in as she really wanted to play the kind of music she heard in the demo. The 3 of them then "Auditioned" for the record company and passed the audition.
Now we have the "Core" members. The 4 members worked out some songs provided for them by the record company, and a setlist and they had performed 3 times with just Miku on main vocals. Miku after those performances felt that her voice wasn't powerful enough to really perform the songs she wanted. So she approached her management company again and asked if they had any singers who weren't in other projects. They then auditioned several singers. Miku heard Saiki rehearsing in a room across the hall and asked if she could be auditioned, the record company then had Saiki audition.
Saiki was signed to the same management company and had done some work as a backup singer and dancer and was asked if she would be interested in auditioning for this new group which currently had 4 members and she would be the fifth. She had been a member of a group with 8 other people as a backup singer and dancer, and HATED it. So she listened to the demo and thought "Cool" because she liked the music.
Now we come to the tricky part. Miku KNEW that if Saiki was told about the "Maid Outfits" she would say NO WAY!, so they didn't tell her. They told her they would have "Cool/cute Clothes"(I've read it translated either way), and she never met Miku until a few days before they had a contracted performance. She wasn't told about the "Maid Outfits" until the day before the performance, and she had considered backing out, but she had signed the contract. (Saiki also had NEVER met Miku until then as well)
So the Ladies, went and did the performance and Saiki really, REALLY liked the crowds reaction and the music they were performing. She DIDN'T like the apron she wore so it got ditched after the first performance.
And you now have the beginnings of the BEST LIVE HARD ROCK BAND in the WORLD!
ALL HAIL BAND MAID!!!!!
Now that we have the Full band, it was felt that there needed to be a second guitar. Saiki was like, "Not Me, No Way." So Miku said, "I'll do it.", at first that was literally all she did, was hold the guitar and mime playing it, until Akane said, if you are going to hold it, you NEED to learn to play it. And Miku said, "Ok.", and Kanami started to teach Miku how to play. The Ladies released their first album in 2014 "Maid in Japan" which failed to chart, but later after "Thrill" it was reissued and charted to #26 in Japan.
Then in 2015 they released "New Beginning"
On New Beginning was the song that changed Band Maid's entire existence. "Thrill"...
The band was getting ready to release their first music video and the choice was between "Love, Passion, Matador" and "Thrill" and the ladies chose Thrill. (Little known fact, Miku helped with the lyrics on Thrill but did not get credited)
This became the seminal moment of Band Maid. Because their second album charted at #64, the record company was seriously considering disbanding the Ladies and switching them to other projects. (In fact they had Kanami and Akane work with Mochi to Cheese thinking that when Band Maid cratered they could use them in another band. MISA had also just started working with Mochi to Cheese as well). However about 6 months after the video's release, a Facebook page "JRock Radio" posted the video to their timeline. And the video went viral. Having over a million views in just a few short weeks. The Ladies Twitter page got so many hits they thought their page had been hacked. Their UA-cam channel also started getting more and more subscribers and views to Thrill.
Now the ladies knew where their fans wanted them to go. Harder Rock, less pop. And history was Maid.
Great history! Thanks for all the info! These ladies really rock!
It started with Miku, the rhythm guitarist, she had the idea for the band then she found Kanami, the lead guitarist, doing music on the internet. Kanami knew Akane, the drummer. They met through a prior music project and became friends. Akane knew MISA, the bassist, because they actually did go to music school together, TSM. And finally they decided to bring in the lead singer Saiki, when Miku realized her vocals weren't the kind she wanted to go with the music they wanted to play, even though her voice is amazing. Saiki, they found, through their talent agency.
Excellent succinct telling of the story. I'll just add that Miku's idea for the band included that they dress as maids (she used to work in a made café) to contrast with the style of music she had in mind, and the style of music she had in mind was heavily influenced by Tokyo Jihen, aka Shiina Ringo's band.
Kanami and Akane went to high school together and were best friends. After agreeing to join Kanami immediately called Akane and told her to join as well.
@@ericifune5543 not quiet high school but soon after in a mutual friends music project and discovered they lived close to each other and became real good friends and Akane would play on Kanamis demos for record companies
@@ericifune5543 uH, not quite, Akane, while she was at the music school (TSM where MISA was also a student) was in a band that played a gig where Kanami was in the other band and they liked each others playing style and became friends. Kanami did not go to the Tokyo School of Music (TSM), she attended regular University as an economics/business major. This information is in the documentaries for Akane and Kanami from Ohrenje's YT site.
Like Band-Maid, Tokyo Jihen plays many genres. This is my favorite performance of one of Shiina Ringo's early hits
ua-cam.com/video/ibXylzykiN4/v-deo.htmlsi=dU_uj003u-XSY8E6
Miku won an idol competition. Sh took that and parlayed it into a record deal after she got tired of being an idol. She then found lead guitarist, Kanami, through her online videos. She asked Kanami if she knew any good drummers and she said, Akane, who she had worked with on a project before. Then they asked if Akane knew any good bassists. Akane attended the Tokyo School of music with MISA. So the line up was complete, but not quite. Miku had envisioned dual vocalists, and her voice wasn't really suited to the Hard Rocking Maid image she wanted for her band. So they look at their agency for another singer and found Saiki. That was it! That's always been the line up. Miku dropped back to second vocalist, but they needed a second guitarist. Rather than hiring a sixth member Miku had Kanami teach her how to play rhythm guitar. If you look in their very first Music Video 'Thrill' she's just using it as a prop. Lucily it went iral, because if it hadn't the label was going to fire the musicians and turn the to singer into DANCE-MAID. Miku and Saiki both cried, "We didn't come to Tokyo for this!". Luckily it was posted on the Japanese Rock Facebook page. It took off so fast BAND-MAID thought their page had been hacked! Check out Ohrenji. He has a documentary video on each of the girls and 3 on band founder Miku.
Thank you so much.To me, Band-Maid stands for "freedom" in terms of composition. They'll surprise you each time with all that hey've got.
Many of us saw Band-Maid play “From Now On” live. OMNG! Kanami riffed her ass off. The DB’s matched the BPM’s! So FROM NOW ON, Band-Maid will grow in popularity even faster as their awesome, sold out 10TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR wrapped up at Japan’s 17,000 seat Yokohama Arena on Nov. 26 and at Hong Kong. AND they’re adding the finishing touches for their new album, Epic Narratives, dropping Sept. 25. Order now!
The Maids are one of the hardest working supergroups in the business! Their music, their sound, each of the Maids... and the love that permeates their live events is an experience not to be missed. Hope you can catch them LIVE!
Thx, FAANA!
Boy oh boy, one of the most interesting (and random) things in the world is how Band-Maid came together .... a great story, which I see is already told very well by commenters below.
As for your comment about their composition, yes, it is very unique and interesting ... after listening to them since 2014 I have a theory on how Kanami (lead guitarist who does the majority of music writing and arrangements) composes.
1 - Her melodies come from the Gods
2 - She arranges the song as though she had a full symphony orchestra at her disposal
3 - She then uses all the boxes and knobs she has to come up with sounds that can be used to replace all the violins, horns, reeds, etc and then MISA on the bass (when MISA isn't coming up with her own earth shattering solos) replaces all the lower registered instruments (oboes, stand-up bass, bassons, etc.)
So when you listen to their music you can hear underneath the main melody Kanami, MISA, and Miku doing things that if you use your imagination you can hear a 'string section' or 'horn section' being played out on guitar or bass ... and all arranged in enough detail as to have legitimate 'counter-melodies' and 'rounds' happening in the 'background'.
And of course Akane does her part ... her drums being tuned to my ears with a much larger and dynamic tone range than most, so she too can add more than just a 'great drum beat' and more of a 'percussion section' feel to the songs.
All that and them being Japanese, have a background in Japanese 'pop' chord progressions, which while are similar to Western are also more complicated and meandering (ie. takes more chords to get to the 'resolution', which is a 'fresh' sound to Western ears, and you have some amazing and unique sounds.
When I was a 'kid' in the 60s & 70s I used to come home and throw on Elton John (Captain Fantastic for example) and listen to those arrangements, which were awesome, but they were 'rock' arrangements so the main point of the arrangements was to keep players from stepping all over each other with the odd harmony or counterpoint thrown in once in a while ... Kanami takes this to a whole new level, and uses modern guitar and processing technologies to turn Band-Maid into a'new rock orchestra'.
Check One-OK-Rock and the live concerts they did with an actual orchestra, I hear a lot of the same orchestral 'motifs' from Kanami's arrangements. ... this is why I consider her the reincarnation of Mozart.
I can understand saying poppy since the first song you heard was "Choose me" and it is true that they maintain pop elements in a lot of songs, especially choruses. But, you'll come to realize as you listen more that they blend genres a lot. And even during poppy choruses, Misa(bass) or Akane(drum) or even Kanami(lead guitar) is in the back of the mix playing crazy technical stuff. Almost every time, and even in the same song, never exactly the same. Endless talent in this band that keeps you wanting to see more because it's easy to feel their potential.
The rhythm guitarist Miku was a pop idol wannabe. That didn't work out but she had music industry connections. She decided to try to start a rock band with the blessing of management. She found Kanami (lead guitarist) on the internet and contacted her. Kanami is literally the musical brains behind all the music. She is the band composer. Kanami was friends with drummer Akane. Akane was friends with bassist Misa. Boom, the band was formed. Lead singer Saiki was quickly added by management.
Kanami Tōno-my alltime favourite musician 🔥❤️ Band-Maid -Greatest band in this Universe 🔥❤️ Thank you.
Thank you so much for the wonderful reaction. This is imo a modern instrumental rock masterpiece. These women are world class when it comes to musicianship and songwriting.
Pop band? Hardly. :P~ How they formed? Hmmm... Short version: Rhythm Guitarist recruited Lead Guitarist who recruited drummer who recruited bassist. Then all 4 SORT of recruited lead vocalist. (The story isn't short). The UA-camr Ohrenje made documentaries on each member so you can discover the band's history through that. Of course, the starting point is Saiki, the lead vocalist.
I realize, that the word pop isn't quite right. What I meant is that the first song I heard was more song based, where this one is more about the music and instrumental excellence!
I would like to report a murder. Because Kanami just killed me. But I died with a smile on my face.
Miku (rhythm guitar) formed the band, she worked for a time in a traditional Japanese Maid Cafe so she used that look to envision Band Maid.
Thanks from Japan 有難う💛。 I witnessed this song performed live five times with this MV quality in Japan and dropped my jaw five times 😲. I believe so did many of American audience in their 2022 & 2023 US tours.
They sometimes played this song as the opening of setlist when they perform in festivals. Yeah! they showed off their skills and talents to the audience who knew nothing about the girls in maid outfit on the stage. I felt as if I heard them screaming "Hey guys! Listen to us and open your eyes wide! We are not the persons that you think ! Salute us!" 😄
Band-Maid is one of the best bands in our country, especially in live performance. We say "Japan is the country obsessed by Rock Music". The history is very long and the obsession started in 1966 when Beatles visited Japan and held 5 concerts at Budokan. Speaking of hard rock / heavy metal music, a number of bands started to come to Japan since as early as 1970s : Led Zeppelin / Grand Funk Railroad (1971), Deep Purple (1972), Queen (1975), Kiss (1977), Cheap Trick / Van Halen / Scorpions (1978), Judas Priest (1978/79) and so on. Now, any type of rock can be enjoyed here, especially by many all-female or women-fronted bands. They are daughters of American / European rock, for sure. (Many are grand-daughters in terms of age.)
Uh-oh, we also say "Japan is the country obsessed by Jazz". It had started earlier than rock 😄
Band-Maid love getting a surprised reaction from the audience who see the cute costumes, and aren't expecting that first crashing chord in "From Now On" -- and all the intense playing following it.
What’s even better is they can pull this off live. I’ve been to four gigs so far. They are the real deal. Great compositions and great musicianship.
In the beginning there was a small pigeon 🐦 who met a guitarist 🎸 who played with a drummer 🥁 who went to school with the bassist 🎸 and then tricked the singer 🎤 to join the band then the small pigeon 🐦 asks the guitarist 🎸 please teach me how to play the guitar 🎸. The Story Continues.
wonderful explanation
@@wanderleyjesus6772 As far as I know, it is also a true story. But ,,, did the pigeon really trick the singer?
@@rolandkarlsson7072 , in a way YES. She didn't mentioned the maid outfit. And Saiki prove a model plain, without any mention to maid. And after the first gig she took off the apron and never used again.
@@rolandkarlsson7072 Oh yes, Saiki was NOT PLEASED when she found out she had to wear a maid's costume on stage. But ... she only found out at the dress rehearsal for their first concert together, because Miku deliberately didn't show Saiki the full outfit or tell her the details beforehand.
@@himbo754 ha ha ha, the pigeon is a bit devious. I guess Saiki is quite specific about wearing a black dress. Maybe even more than "quite". And I also guess that you are NOT telling Saiki what to do. I love those girls, they are such characters. All of them.
Lead vocals played on a lead guitar - clever Kanami-sama's masterful composition at work. A masterpiece of a song that they reproduce note perfectly live ( Band-Maid: Opening their 12 song set at Lollapalooza 2023 with FROM NOW ON - ua-cam.com/video/D8ARO_WuEoE/v-deo.htmlsi=gB4Q4XRNNxf9VQwF .
Blooming, Shambles, Different, Onset, Gion Cho, Daydreaming are a few other masterpieces!
Great reaction, this was the first song on their album "Unleash", released after the pandemic ended. It was the singer Saiki's idea to lead off the album with an instrumental. Thanks for reacting to Band-Maid.
Masterpiece...💕
Rhythm guitarist Miku could not play guitar at the start of the band. Lead guitarist Kanami taught her. Kanami is the main music composer. She started out on piano at an early age and mostly concentrated on classical music until high school.
5 top tier musicians in one band, they dont have to take a step back for anyone, 11 years with the same lineup, one of the best touring rock bands in the business today
Their backgrounds are actually kinda all over the place, which you can tell when you go through all their songs which have elements coming from different places.Most of their songs I would describe as hard rock based with flairs of metal and usually pop or pop punkier style chorus.
Kanami(lead guitar) is the main composer, however before joining Band-Maid she was not writing hard rock music, but was trying to be a solo singer/songwriter. Their first 3 albums were done working with external song writers, and I think she learned a lot from them on composing rock songs. She also loves Carlos Santana.
Miku loves Tokyo Jihen and was part of her inspiration of wanting to play "cool music".
Akane loves Deep Purple and Maximum the Hormone, I think she brings the hardest hitting background.
Misa loves Smashing Pumpkins, and 80/90's rock american and british.
Saiki loves Namie Amuro, pop singer/dancer.
Band-Maid basically has a virtuoso rock guitarist, with a metal drummer, an alternative bassist, a pop singer, and of course a wild card pigeon brings it all together.
It only looks like an instrumental, but the singing is done by Kanami by way of PRS
Miku worked in a maid cafe, that is Japanese restaurants. Where the waitress's dress as maids, and on their breaks, they were allowed to perform. Next time check out the song, Thrill
Kanamis singing voice! And She doesnt need to write Lyrics for it!LOL!
Thanks brother for reaction👍 appreciate your thoughts and observations. You've entered a whole new experience in music, enjoy🤟
🎤🎸🎸🎸🥁
Story short Band-Maid in a video Music gold rush Band-Maid.
The band was founded by the rhythm guitarist, Miku, who was originally a singer. She attended singing school, but dropped out when she was one of three successful singers at an audition of 2,500 teenage girls to form a Jpop singing and dancing trio. After that trio folded, she worked in a maid cafe and got the idea of using the maid cafe look and engagement with customers, but in a hard rock band -- a contrast of cute and heavy. Miku is multi-talented -- she entered the Japan Open Poker Tour in 2022 and led the board for much of the time. She ended up coming second and winning $1,600. She is a great negotiator for the band with their talent agency -- she knows how to read people, and how to play her hand. She is very good at entertaining a crowd. And she is a tireless worker -- practising guitar eight hours a day to become proficient on stage as quickly as possible, even though she did not enjoy playing the guitar at first.
Miku looked on the internet and found Kanami, a singer/songwriter/guitarist who she invited to become the lead guitarist of her dream band. Kanami knew a backing drummer, Akane, who happened to be available to join a band. Akane in term knew a bassist from her days at the Tokyo School of Music -- and the bassist (Misa) was available. After performing together for a month, Miku decided that her voice was too bright and light for hard rock, so they recruited Saiki, a singer dancer also registered with their talent agency.
After taking on the role of second vocalist, Miku began to learn rhythm guitar under Kanami's mentorship. Kanami, Akane, and Misa have all been playing instruments, including piano, since they were young children -- Kanami from the age of 4. Kanami was raised on classical music -- Chopin -- and still composes on the piano, before playing it on guitar. After composing a song, Kanami sends it to Misa to work up the bass part, and then to Akane to improve the drum part. Miku usually writes the lyrics -- she is a bit of a poet -- and Saiki is overall quality control: the song is not ready until Saiki approves. Miku and Saiki were both singers from childhood, doing karaoke and similar. Saiki was head-hunted as a model on her eighteenth birthday, and also acted in a couple of TV shows before attending singing school to become a singer/dancer. She is very fashionable, and has occasionally designed costumes for the band when they weren't dressed as maids (Christmas acoustic concert, Bestie music video).
From Japan
The first part is corrected. Miku dropped out of college after one year, moved from Kumamoto to Tokyo, and worked at a maid cafe in Akihabara, Tokyo. In the winter of her first year, she won an idol contest and was one of three people selected from 2,500 people. The three members were active in a group called Little Kumin for a year and then disbanded. Miku felt that being an idol wasn't what she wanted, so she consulted with her management about creating a cool rock band, which is what she really wanted to create.
Congratulations you just found the best band on the planet 🤘🎎🤘🎎🔥🔥🔥🔥. Check out something of there live music.
You should check out.
The documentary about them. That is on youtube
Ohrenje is a legend for producing it.
ua-cam.com/play/PLVvkhHgIsXRQ5K0KI7k0Hmofhas_f4xv8.html&si=yQeBOf9fkRPPuXiS
Maidiacs may overload you with information about the band. In the past three years their popularity has taken off like a rocket. My opinion on this is two fold. The pandemic response allowed the band time off to rest and really think about their careers. Also, people were scrolling through YT because of boredom. Several musicians with YT pages found BAND-MAID videos and started reacting to them. Others saw their reactions, took it all in and realized a gem has been hidden in Japan. This has also lead to the discovery of other amazing, talented bands like Lovebites, Nemophila and Gacharic Spin. You are just starting on a path that may take at least a year to find that rock hasn’t died. It moved to Japan.
This band is better in their live videos. Kanami the lead guitar is the composer for their songs.
Be aware that a lot of Band-Maid songs are played with the guitar tuned to drop-d. I am also fairly sure that they use Digitech Drup pedals in order to play certain songs in a pitch that works for their singer, Saiki.
Some song suggestions for you are Moratorium, No God, Rinne, Onset, From Now On, Without Holding Back, About Us, Play, Why Why Why, Clang, and Matchless Gum. Their latest live videos from Yokohama Arena are incredible. Don't You Tell Me and Hate are straight up bangers with guitar vs bass duels, and Endless Story is a tear jerker that even choked up the singer, Saiki, and the drummer, Akane, since it was the last song of their 10th year anniversary tour. Also, they just released a collaboration with The Warning called Show Them which is a must listen. Have fun with it!
There is a 7 part documentary out on the Maids. Extremely entertaining
ありがと～😊
Try hate? Live
Dude.....your reactions are so good I expect a BM review every week !!!! They have over 130 songs and you haven't seen the best part of
this band. You have to see them LIVE...it will blow you away !!!! Start with Real Existence LIVE VERSION !!!!!!!!!!
🔥🔥🔥
In the end, this saying remains unshakable: 'Whenever you think you're exceptional at something, a bunch of lovely Japanese women who are even better will always appear.'
Instant band maid fan now 😂
Welcome Home Master. Don’t let FNO kill you Yet. You only saw A VERY TINY TIP OF GALAXY. The next Band Maid #1 Song ‘Don’t you tell ME’ is where you can make One in a LIFE Decision that Band Maid Good or ???.See u AGAIN😏😊🙏🐦
You had me right you till you called them a POP band
Haha, I know it's not accurate, but what I meant was that the first song was more of an actual song. I apologize, of course they're not a pop band. I misspoke there.
@@FaanaMusic sorry about the rudeness but I AM SO over re-actors saying something is POP if it is NOT Metal as if there is nothing in between. Thanks for the reply, will block the comment from my mind and enjoy the reaction for what it is.
Thanks for nice reaction and for support the Band Maid. However, If you like strictly power and thrash metal music, there is another fantastic all -female Japanese band called Lovebites, five ladies extremely talented and skillful. I suggest you take a look at their YT channel where you will find all the videos you want, even the very recent ones (I recommend "Soldier stands solitarily" LIVE). Personally I am a fan of both Band Maid and Lovebites, according to their different musical genre