Band-Maiko: Traditional Japanese Instruments Mixed with Scorching Hard Rock

If you look at many of those “so-and-so reacts to some band they have never heard” videos, one of the bands most often brought up in the comments is Band-Maid. Band-Maid is an all-female heavy metal group from Japan that I will probably blog about several times. Songs like “Thrill,” “Dice,” and “The Dragon Cries” are killer heavy metal that would make any jaded 80s metal head a fan. I’m not sure I really get the whole “maid” costume thing, but then again did anyone really get Motley Crue’s or Poison’s stage outfits either?

What I wanted to start out with from this band was apparently an April Fool’s joke, where they announced a new name and style and released a song called “Secret Maiko Lips” as a band called “Band-Maiko.” Maiko is apprentice Geisha. They dressed in more traditional outfits and added several traditional Japanese instruments mixed in. Its a really cool mix of traditional and metal that I could listen to all day.

It seems like many fans liked the sudden change, but it was temporary as they went back to their frantic, heavy hitting metal songs. However, due to the popularity of their side band, they have returned to Band-Maiko to make more songs. So thankfully we haven’t seen the last of this “band.” It seems to my eyes that they are also doing some critique of traditional norms with the visuals in the video. If you look at the translation of the lyrics, they read like a person crying out against a stifling personal situation. But combined with video, they seem to take on multiple meanings.

 

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