Band of the Week: BAND-MAID
Photo courtesy of BAND-MAID website
BAND-MAID is an all-girl Japanese rock band formed in Tokyo in 2013. The band dresses as maids, the idea coming from Miku, who was working at a maid café when she decided to create the band. She noticed the contrast between the cute maid outfits she wore for work and the harder rock music she listened to on the way home, and wanted to play with the contrast between the two. They’ve been slowly gaining recognition and played their first oversea “service” (what they call their shows) last year in 2016 in Seattle, USA.
BAND-MAID’s hard rock and pop metal sounds can be compared to bands like The Pretty Reckless and Babymetal.
BAND-MAID has released four albums since it’s start, beginning with MAID IN JAPAN, New Beginning, Brand New MAID, and most recently Just Bring It, which was released on January 17th of this year. They have also released two singles, 愛と情熱のマタドール (Love, Passion, Matador) and YOLO. Only MAID IN JAPAN and Love, Passion Matador can be found on Spotify, and these as well as New Beginning can be found on iTunes.
Photo courtesy of Tktk photography
BAND-MAID is made up of five members, Miku (小鳩 ミク), Saiki (彩姫), Kanami (遠乃 歌波), Akane (廣瀬 茜), and Misa (ミサ). Saiki and Miku both do vocals, while Miku also plays guitar with Kanami. Akane plays the drums and Misa is on bass.
BAND-MAID is made up of all female Japanese musicians, and in a rock scene dominated by white men, the addition of an Asian female rock group is certainly necessary. The Asian music scene is dominated by pop groups, so the heavier rock sound BAND-MAID has isn’t as common. Their music is also a nice turn from a Eurocentric pop culture, coming neither from Europe or another western country, and sung mostly in Japanese, with only the occasional line in English.
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