Band Maid – Made To Rock!

Do you like Rock music? Do you like the Japanese language? Do you like cosplay, or maids specifically? Do you like girls that can rock? If you answered yes to the questions above, then you’ll want to keep reading and learn more about Band Maid, these ladies check “yes” on all of the questions above and these girls were Made To Rock!

Who Is Band Maid

So, Who is Band Maid? Band Maid is an all-female Japanese Rock Band, who all dress in different styles of maid outfits. Each outfit represents a little bit of each girls personality traits. In example, Miku, who is the founder, rhythm guitarist, and co-singer, her outfit is that of a cuter maid and is always full of energy and the leader of the group.

Saiki meanwhile, is the lead singer, and her outfit tends to be a little sexier, and she represents more of a Tsundere kind of personality. During the performance, Saiki will start off kind of indifferent to the crowd (on purpose?), but by the end she is smiling and enjoying herself as the crowd is roaring and rocking with the girls.

Kanami is the lead guitarist and she is dressed in a more innocent-looking kind of outfit, and seems to have the personality to match. During the show she will sometimes speak to the crowd and her innocence shines through. However, as a guitar player, she lets it all hangout so to speak and puts her all into getting the most out of her guitar and performance.

Akane is the drummer, and she is kind of the comical one of the band. Her outfit is a cute little outfit with a tiny little top hat. She’s a hell of a drummer and loves ramen, anime, and making the other girls laugh.

Misa, or more commonly MISA, is the bassist and the shy one in the band. The fans love to chant MISA, MISA, MISA and she gets so embarrassed every time! This girl plays a great bass guitar and loves to drink! MISA wears a longer dress style of maid outfit and seems to prefer a more retro style of fashion.

Miku, as I mentioned is the founder of Band Maid. Miku once worked in a Maid Cafe in Japan, and envisioned a group dressed in maid costumes performing rock music. She first found Kanami through an internet search. Kanami in turn suggested Akane, who she performed with previously in a different group. Akane then introduced Misa to the group, who Akane had gone to music school together. At that point, the band could have been complete, with Miku as the singer. However, Miku felt the group needed more.

The four-piece band officially formed in July of 2013, and shorlty after had their first performance on the 24th of July at PP Auditions. However, after that performance, the girls decided to look for an additional lead singer so Miku and the new girl would complement each other. The band held auditions and found Saiki to be the main singer. Miku would begin learning how to play guitar from that point, and that is how Band Maid formed. Their goal, World Domination!!!

How I Found Band Maid

I first learned about Band Maid in 2016 when I heard they were coming to SakuraCon in Seattle, up here in the great Pacific NorthWest! I figured I’d better check them out ahead of time, so I looked up a few of their videos on Youtube. I’ll say, I certainly was surprised at what I found!

I first watched the video for Thrill, it was great! I loved the song from the beginning! Now, I’ll be honest, I don’t know the first thing about music, I just know what I like and what I don’t like. I liked Band Maid’s sound! I liked how they rocked, how they looked, and how they worked together as a band. I watched their other two videos they had out at the time, Don’t Let Me Down and Real Existence, which is a lot heavier than Thrill, but still awesome!

To my surprise, I found out that Band Maid’s appearance at SakuraCon, would be the girls’ first time performing outside of Japan! By this time, Band Maid had a small following in Japan, as well as outside of Japan. While at SakuraCon, I met several fans that travelled from other parts of the US to see them, and I remain friends with many of them still.

While at SakuraCon, the girls had a very hectic schedule. They had meet and greets, autograph sessions, Q&A’s, and of course the performance itself! Also, while here, they did site-seeing, and even made a music video for the song, one of my favorites, Before Yesterday. This video was filmed in and around Seattle and all of the concert footage is from SakuraCon as well.

During the performance, I and several of my new friends were lucky enough to be front row, right in front of the girls! Throughout the weekend, we were constantly told not to take pictures of the girls, but then during the performance nothing was mentioned about cameras or recording equipment. I had an old digital camera, that I managed to record a few of their songs on, Thrill and Don’t Let Me Down. Below you’ll see my personal video recording from SakuraCon, they performed Thrill as their encore and last song of the night. I apologize for the poor video.

By the end of the show, you could tell the girls were completely exhausted, but so excited to have been able to perform in front of so many new fans!

How Do They Sound

Since Band Maid formed in 2013, they’ve quickly been able to put out a lot of releases for public consumption! Six total studio albums to this point; Maid In Japan (with a subsequent re-release a few years later), New Beginning, Brand New Maid, Just Bring It, World Domination, and Conqueror.

They also have several single releases as well as an EP, called Band Maiko, under the band name of Band Maiko. This EP contains reworked songs using traditional Japanese style instruments and lyrics written and sung with Kyoto-dialect.

With every new release by Band Maid you can hear improvements in the bands chemistry, song-writing, and sound. Their early releases featured mostly songs written by others, but now they write all of their own songs and they are so much better than the early stuff. You never know what you’ll find with each new album.

Band Maid is mostly, what I’d call Hard Rock, but they do have heavier stuff that I’d almost consider Metal too. They can swing from a hard and heavy riff into a sweet sounding blues riff, or perhaps into a bass/drum solo. They have their ballads, their almost pop-y sounding rock too. I remember when they released the video for Start Over, people were complaining the girls were going soft. Little did they know at the time, the 2nd song on that single release, Screaming, was what I think is one of their hardest songs!

Band Maid, being Japanese, mostly writes and sings in the Japanese language. However, they do have a few songs, Don’t Let Me Down and The Dragon Cries, that are sung in English, and many other songs contain both Japanese and English. So, I hope you won’t let language be a barrier to your enjoyment of Band Maid’s music!

The Girls Rock Live!

Since SakuraCon, I’ve seen the band perform 3 other times when they’ve come to the US. I went down and saw them at the J-Pop Summit in San Francisco, then again when they came back on tour to Los Angeles and San Francisco for their 1st “World Tour.” Were my trips worth the cost to see them perform live? Definitely Yes!

Seeing Band Maid perform live is exhilarating. The chemistry they share on stage is great! They really do a wonderful job of involving the audience. The shows are usually in smaller venues, so you feel close to the stage. I was lucky enough to be right up front for the 4 shows I’ve been to.

Band Maid truly rocks on stage. The girls get so into their playing and giving it their best every night out. I feel they leave the stage with nothing left every night. Seeing Japanese women perform the way they do just feels mind-blowing in some way. I’d almost say it may shatter stereotypes some Westerners may have of Japanese women. Now, let me state that I am married to a Japanese woman, who has a wonderful singing voice, but I could never imagine her performing on stage like the ladies of Band Maid.

One thing that is usually the same at Band Maid shows is Miku’s Magic Time. This is her time to shine as she interacts with the crowd for a cute, fun fan interaction and usually band introduction period. You’ll have to see it to appreciate it. Also, another nice thing about Band Maid shows, at least in my experience is that they change the set-list for most shows. They may be similiar night to night, but they usually change out a few songs.

World Domination Is Approaching

Should you listen to Band Maid? Well, naturally that will be up to you. With anything in life, always approach something new with an open-mind. People around me think I’m odd for listening to Japanese music. I always hear, “you listening to that Japanese stuff again?” or “You don’t even know what they are singing.” They just don’t know what they are missing! If you enjoy a heavier sound of music, or just rock music in general, I’d say give Band Maid a listen, you may like what you hear.

Band Maid is easily one of my favorite bands to listen to ever. Their fan base is constantly growing and soon, they will Conqueror all and their goal for World Domination will be complete!

If you’re anything like me, you’ll want the physical products, which you can find on CDJapan or Amazon. Alternatively, you can find the digital versions on iTunes.