The pandemic has really been tough on everyone. So I don’t think I am alone in feeling pretty down during the first twelve months (kind of got used to it now). The thing that helped greatly in getting me out of that funk is stumbling on Japanese female fronted rock and metal bands.
There is some great music still around in the west. But I did feel like I wasn’t finding anything new. Anything that would light a fire under me. Don’t get me wrong; there is new music that I adore; Gorillaz, Lana Del Rey, Arctic Monkeys (ok, newish) but these are all established artists. Sometimes you just want to find something new, you know? That was me. Hankering after the new. New to me I mean, not necessarily new new. And then something popped up on my YouTube recommendations. A strange little thumbnail of three young Japanese women in dresses fronting a heavy metal band. Babymetal you say? The scepticism was strong. And yet, it turned out to be just the tip of an incredible iceberg.
The UK and the US are usually where I find my favourite music. Historically, they are the two places we think of when we consider what we assume is the best (right or wrong – you know what they say about assuming) – Cool Britannia has the edge over America for me – the Beatles, Muse and Led Zep over Motley Crue, Pearl Jam and Nirvana. The Clash over the Ramones.
But now? I honestly think Japan may have eclipsed them both. May I present exhibits A through C m’lud?
Exhibit A: Lovebites
A five piece full on metal band where every last member is a god damn virtuoso. Backbone of the band are founding members Haruna (drums) and Miho (bass – unfortunately recently left), both absolutely flawless beasts on their instruments. Guitarists Midori and Miyako are both jaw-droppingly good, trading solos and playing the chunkiest riffs, and I love the way most of the time Midori has a huge grin and Miyako looks like she’s about to murder you. And then there is singer Asami. My goodness. I think the thing that I like least about most heavy metal is the shouty, growly, screamy vocals most bands have. There are exceptions (hello Jinjer), but it frequently puts me off. So when these four women put out the heavy technical metal and this petite lady stands out front and belts these operatic vocals over the top of it, it’s like a revelation.
If you want to give them a try, I started with Holy War. It’s astonishing. Long intricate solos, powerful vocals and relentless drumming. Maybe try Don’t Bite the Dust after that. They’re clearly having fun with a lighter tone, but it’s no less astonishing, particularly Asami nearly blowing the roof off with the strength of her voice. The closing argument for exhibit A m’lud, would be Swan Song, in which we find out that Miyako is every bit as good on the piano as she is on the guitar.
Exhibit B: Band-Maid
Now I appreciate that the full on power metal stylings of Lovebites ain’t gonna be for everyone. As amazing as those women are, heavy metal simply makes some people’s ears bleed. Band-Maid are not metal. Band-Maid are rock. Hard rock, true, but rock nonetheless.
The thing that hits you first about Band-Maid is the look. The gimmick, if you will. The women are dressed in maid outfits. All five did at the beginning, but now it’s most obvious on the two guitarists and the rest of the band look a bit more subdued. It’s kind of unusual, but having a look to make you stand out isn’t new in rock ‘n’ roll. Consider the man in black himself, Johnny Cash. Slash’s top hat, or Axl Rose’s weird drainpipes and bandana combo. Angus Young in his naughty schoolboy outfit. Hell, one of the greatest live bands ever, Kiss. Dressing up is nothing new in rock. The look is the brainchild of the guitarist, singer and band founder Miku, who prior to being a rock goddess, worked in a maid café wearing an outfit much like the one she wears in the band. It doesn’t take long for the outfits to become the least interesting thing about them.
Miku writes the majority of the songs and really feels like the heart of the band to me. Drummer Akane and bassist Misa form the disgustingly precise rhythm section and lead guitarist Kanami is, well, phenomenal. Lead singer Saiki isn’t verging on operatic like Asami of Lovebites, but still has a voice that fits the band and the music like a glove.
If you want to sample them, you might want to start with Domination. The guitar and bass tones, the literally perfect drumming. It’s to die for. Latest single Sense boggles the mind with its layers and intricacy while still being nothing but hook. The only thing better than playing that song is playing it twice. Closing argument for exhibit B m’lud is my favourite of theirs; Dice. That rhythm section opening up, followed by the riffage. Can’t beat it. Don’t get me wrong; Sleaford Mods are great an all, but I know what I’d rather have in my ears.
Exhibit C: Babymetal
Here’s where it gets weirder. Back to the first of these bands I found. And the one I still love the most. I feel like I’d get into a right argument with my younger self about this. When I always used to talk to people about music I would put great store in the fact that the bands I loved were all self-made. Not assembled by a record company, but formed from practising in garages and a name made by playing gigs in tiny venues, working their way up to signing that elusive record contract. If you didn’t come up that way, you weren’t worth my time. I’m a bit older now (who am I kidding; a lot older), and I can see that I was a little young and stupid back then. I still have respect for that way to come up; hell all my old favourites did it that way – Oasis, Blur, Muse, Arctic Monkeys (with help from MySpace), but I am now aware that it’s not the only way to get legitimacy.
Pop music in Japan is quite different. In Japan there are idols. Performers that are picked and trained from a young age, every aspect of their act planned meticulously. It’s a way that doesn’t necessarily appeal to me, but just over 10 years ago Key Kobayashi, a producer working at Amuse talent agency and long time metal fan frustrated with the staleness of the metal scene, had a brain wave. Take the J-pop that was his and Amuse’s stock in trade, and back it up with heavy metal instrumentation. He had the brainwave, he assembled the group, he produced them and took responsibility for their direction.
So Babymetal. Three young women singing pop melodies over heavy metal. They don’t play instruments. They don’t write their songs. Anathema to what my teenage self thought mattered most in music. Sounds weird, right? Turns out it’s actually amazing. I get all the things I love about my favourite music – thundering drums and bass, overdriven guitars, and then it gets made catchy. I mean ridiculously catchy. You don’t know what the words are, but the melodies are jammed into your head.
Somehow it’s more than that though. It’s more than the music. It’s hard to truly see how effective Babymetal is until you see them live. It’s a spectacle. Backed by a live band of session musicians that are the very best Japan has to offer (a few different members rotate in and out, but largely it’s the same relatively small group of people), their songs come alive. Choreography; that’s another thing my teenage self would set no store by; who cares if you dance? Just meant you weren’t a serious artist to me. Man I was dumb. The three members of this band have specific choreography for every song, meticulously planned and performed. To manage that level of cardio and then to sing in key is frankly inconceivable to me. I think one way for me to illustrate it is this: the difference between hearing the studio version of a Babymetal song and seeing it performed live is the difference between listening to a song from the Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack and being at a live performance of the show surrounded by devoted cosplaying fans. The first one is fine, but the second one is on another level entirely.
I’ve written all these words and haven’t even got to what sets Babymetal apart from literally everyone, and that is one Suzuka Nakamoto (stage name Su-Metal), their lead singer. I do not really know how she has the effect she has on me, I just know that there is no other performer that comes close. She’s not the most technically gifted singer out there. She’s a soprano with a range of just over 2 octaves (G3-G#5 for the musical among you). Compared to the more than 3 octave range of Floor Jansen for example, or the possibly greatest ever Freddy Mercury with his almost four octave range, it doesn’t sound much, but it’s worth remembering that Su is only 24, and singers don’t come in to the full range of their abilities until 30 or older. But it’s not range, it’s power, it’s tone, it’s warmth, it’s emotion. Put simply, on my least favourite Babymetal songs, Su’s voice makes me grin. On my favourite Babymetal songs, Su’s voice melts me.
She might not have the same effect on you and that’s fine. But if I may be permitted to present my three pieces of evidence m’lud.
First off, Road of Resistance. This is Babymetal’s call to arms, and is an absolute masterclass in crowd control and interaction. Su just turned 17 the month before this and she is already world class, able to lead a packed crowd of 20,000 through an extended singalong like she’d been performing it for years, when in truth I think it was only the third time they’d played this live. The part near the start where she parts the crowd with nothing more than a silent gesture accompanied by a death stare like a little Asian Moses is bonkers yet amazing.
Next, Rondo of Nightmare. Rondo is a musical term for a repeated refrain that changes as it repeats, forming part of a larger piece. Su is singing about being chased by an unseen monster in a repeating nightmare that she is unable to wake from, making both the song and the subject matter a rondo. The intro gives you some idea of just how good the live musicians behind them are – I have some new guitar heroes – in order of their moments in the spotlight, Leda Cygnus (blue guitar), Takayoshi Ohmura (gold guitar), Boh (bass) and Hideki Aoyama (drums). Raise a glass to Boh, mind-blowingly talented bassist – you can tell he’s usually a jazz musician, yes? And then the song starts, with Su (16 at the time) on a platform fully 8 feet in the air with no barrier, almost certainly unable to see anything with the lights on her. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen this and I don’t think I’ll ever get over it.
Final submission m’lud, is No Rain No Rainbow from Su’s birthday concert – she’d turned 20. This is much less metal, and more power ballad, in truth an homage to 80s Japanese rock gods X Japan’s mega hit Endless Rain. A couple of things about this performance. It was in Su’s hometown of Hiroshima (yes, that Hiroshima; I have heard that Su’s grandparents were survivors of the bomb). It was the first performance without one of the original two backups Yui Mizuno (stage name Yuimetal), who couldn’t perform that night for health reasons. I think the song is in part about realising that the bad times make the good times all the more meaningful – without the rain, you don’t get the rainbow you know? About loss in a way. With it being her birthday, in her hometown, and missing a one of the members that she’d toured the world with for the last half a decade or more, you can see Su felt every moment of this performance deep in her bones. To make it hit even harder for me, one the guitarists, Mikio Fujioka, an absolute wizard on the guitar and my favourite of all of Babymetal’s backing band members would die a few weeks after this age 36, falling from a viewing platform while stargazing on New Year’s Eve. One of the things I love about Su is her complete lack of vibrato. None of that Mariah Carey-type warbling for her – she hits the note and she blasts it out consistently, powerful enough to cut straight through the metal instrumentation. However, during the second verse there is a little bit of vibrato added where Su’s voice cracks just a little and her eyes fill with unshed tears. Through sheer force of will she brings herself back under control and delivers the rest of the song. It’s a performance that leaves me a wreck without fail, but in the best way. All the endorphins.
So I’ve rattled on for a long time and probably not explained to anyone adequately how these bands have re-energised me and re-invigorated my lifelong love of music, but I felt I needed to write about it.
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