Making it as a band in Tokyo is just as hard as making it in New York City or Los Angeles. There are thousands of bands trying to get a gig in hundreds of clubs. Even if you are a terrific band you might not ever get noticed. The really financially successful acts are pop acts and connected to big business, like the Disney kids in the U.S. (Timberlake, Spears, Aguilera, etc.). For the most part they have music written for them and they have massive amounts of money behind them. So Kobato says, "I'm a small pigeon! Coo!" and tells everybody "I'm casting a magic spell on you. Repeat after me: 'Moe Moe! Kyun Kyun!' Now you will never forget the wonderful time we've had together!" You know what? You *won't* forget the daffy little woman who claims to be a pigeon and casts "magic spells." You'll notice this band. She is very driven and very crafty.

"Ogata-Saaaaann?!" Cracks me up every time! 😆😆😆

These interviews are pretty cool and give a pretty good idea of how the ladies are so close and are very comfortable around each other. Plus, they are a bunch of goofballs, and their shows are more of a variety show than you might think. First, always remember that Miko-Po is the ringmaster of the circus and she does a great job. She's very good with the crowd and now that her English is very fluent (all of the ladies have a good command of colloquial English) it's even better. A lot times in shows the band leaves the stage when they take a break, but Band-Maid stays out there and interacts with the crowd. Miku leads the audience in cheers, Misa does her special opening ceremony, chugging a tall one, Kanami flutters around messing with everybody else and Akane is sitting with her kit eating......bananas and laughing. Oh, and Akane throws a banana peel into the crowd and the fan who catches it usually asks for it to be autographed, lol. About halfway through the show comes what everyone looks forward too, Miku's Omajinai (Magic) Time, where she jokes around with the crowd and leads more cheers. Then the serious event comes when Saiki and Kanami give a Japanese lesson, with the crowd repeating everything. I have been to a LOT of concerts and shows from the late 1950's up to today and Band-Maid was the best, not only for the music, but for the fun interludes. And since they mainly do small venues it's a lot more personal. I hope to be able to go to Japan and see my favorite bands on their home turf, Band-Maid, Baby Metal, SCANDAL, Nemophila, Li-sa-X and especially Wagakki Band. You really have to see them in person.

It's amazing that under the cute and funny "small pigeon" personality is a hard and tough businesswoman who put this whole idea together and went out and got the best group of ladies that would make this idea work.....and work BIG. Think about it, she goes after and gets the best female drummer alive, a lead guitarist and composer who is literally a music savant, a bassist who pretty much came out of the blue to be one of the best around and a lead singer who has the perfect voice and demeanor to be a hard rock frontwoman to rival, any other. Add to that she has to learn to play guitar along the way, and with Kanamincho's fantastic teaching has turned into a first rate rhythm guitarist. She also has a pretty good voice and her harmonies with Saiki are first rate. THEN she decides to include English lyric in every song to attract fans outside of Japan. AND her lyrics are first rate. She's done a pretty good job I think.

I've already seen these since I love Band-Maid. But it's cool you got around to checking out these interviews, I remember a while back you said you wanted to watch how they are off stage. They are the best! They are all so sweet and humble... and just amazing women in general! 🤘😄

So now you know that Miku Kobato means Miku the small pigeon and that when she says "caruppo" (or, as used by her much more commonly, the shortened version, "Po") it's translated to English as "Coo-coo" or "coo", the sound a pigeon makes. However, not so many seem to know that Miku Kobato is a stage name and that her real name is Mika Noguchi! To avoid confusion, I refer to her as "the unfeasibly beautiful maestro lyricist, rhythm guitarist and creator of Band-Maid"! There are a few excellent videos around the place of various band members doing things (there's a few rarities on my YT channel so feel free to have a look) and so here's one that PRS released on their 35th anniversary, where they invited Kanami to their factory and gave her a load of very sweet guitars to try out - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/e56UnpOgtpzIe5s.html . And there's the hilarious time that Herman Li 'auditioned' for a 3rd guitar slot with Kanami and Miku - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qauXfsqg16fRkXk.html .

Thanks for watching this interview. I’ve been suggesting this interview 🎉to every person reacting to BM and you’re the first one to watch it. I found some videos of the band visiting a bar. (It looks set up just for interviews) These videos are later in their career and you can see how much they matured from this interview.

Miku is also an accomplished gambler. She went into the Japan Open Poker competition and came second, winning a decent sum of money. She may present as cute, but she is no dummy.

This is pretty old now, but it does give you a lot of the background, especially about how the band formed. Saiki has gotten a LOT more comfortable talking, they've dropped the pretense of Akane being the "leader", and they've stopped pretending that Saiki and Miku don't like each other, and they've all just gotten a lot stronger and... well... grown up... they were like 21-25 here and they're now 28-32. They've all kept their quirky fun-loving personalities though... maybe even more so, because they're a lot more comfortable with themselves and being in public now.

So glad you finally got a chance to watch this. It’s the interview I initially told you about. It’s early in their career so you get a good understanding of the background and formation of Band-Maid. It’s also cool to see how each of them have grown yet stayed the same. I have always loved Kanami as she has two personalities. During interviews and such she is that “natural airhead” and somewhat reserved but when she gets on stage she turns into a beast of a guitarist.

Saiki joined about a month after the band formed so she has been there since the beginning... almost. Their earlier songs have more of a "twin vocal" style, like Thrill. By New Beginning Saiki had taken over most of the lead vocal duties. Miku became a back up vocalist and began learning guitar. Kanami was used less and less as a back up singer although she has a beautiful voice and isn't afraid to sing. Miku occasionally gets her own song like Rock in Me and Big Daddy. These songs are used in concerts along with instrumentals and MC times to give Saiki's voice a rest. She had vocal surgery several years ago and the band began structuring their performances around rest times for Saiki. Fans lovingly refer to these as "Saiki's Pee Breaks". BTW, the songs featured in here are pretty deep cuts except Alone (the one you skipped). Alone was the first song written by the Maids. Their label kept denying their self written tracks and finally allowed them to have one song on Brand New Maid. After the success of that one song, they earned their creative freedom and by the next album they wrote the majority of the tracks. Alone is a song many fans cherish as it is Kanami's first composition and the beginning of their new chapter.

It’s good for you to see this interview, which was in their early days. I like that they formed organically rather than just being formed by the label.

I experienced them in the summer of 2019 in Hamburg at LOGO, a small club together with about 300 people. It was incredibly hot and loud there and after about two hours I was drenched in sweat and without a voice, but it was one of the best concerts I have ever experienced. Vladimir Chupin recorded everything and uploaded it on YT. Sound and mood are faithfully reproduced.

Saiki joined shortly after the formation, and their first album was released 1/2 year after Saiki joined. Brand New Maid was their 3rd album, released in 2016.

I love this interview. It is the best interview I have ever seen.

The part about Saiki's mom wearing a long skirt is a reference to _sukeban_ - a girl gang, or the gang's leader. "The long skirts were a rejection of the popularity of the miniskirt, which had become popular in the 1960s" - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukeban And Saiki joined after just two or three gigs, so she's on all the recordings. _Brand New Maid_ was actually their third mini-album (preceded by _New Beginning_ just to make it even more confusing)

She is the best kind of insane. I love her so much!! They all are awesome people and the best damn rock band

Talking about MISA and her live drinks. You can see in the live videos her drink of choice for that show sitting on top of her amp stack. And in some of the fan cams you can find her giving fans a drink from her bottle. As far as Kanami + Saiki connection goes. Kanami used to run around and sneak pics of Saiki and she would keep them on her phone like a cute stalker. And she plays up her love for Saiki for the fans benefit. So on occasion you can find footage of their cute stage routine. With Kanami getting a hug etc from Saiki during the intermission period. Saiki used to be known as the "Ice Queen". Part of her "Tsundere" personality. Or at least that's one of many fan theories.

Okay, after "Music Gold Rush," it's "Kannai Devil."🤘😈

Saiki is very quiet in this interview because she'd developed polyps. You can hear it in her voice, it's all gravelly. Not too long after this she had surgery to have them removed and her voice has been much stronger since and she participates in interviews a lot more now.

Music list in this video 1. Alone 2. Freezer 3. Summer drive (with the pigeon as main vocal) 4. Don't apply the brake 5. Shake that

You should check out the one where they went to Miku's home town. That was funny and entertaining...

If I was a reactor, I would have shrunk my mug to expanded the video to allow my viewers to read the close caption, since there's plenty of room to do so.

You had the name mostly right the first time. The singer is Saiki not Asami. Asami is in Lovebites.

This never gets old ... ty for show this

They are as funny on the US tour during the breaks to rest Saiki and her golden vocal chords.

I'm pretty sure you have passed the tipping point to full scale Maidiac now. Brand New Maid was their third release. Saiki was the last member to join only a few months after the main 4 came together. The original formation of the the band was in June 2013, and Saiki joined in August of 2013. And that has been their make up ever since.

This interview was kind a show. If you want a little more detail and accuracy, search for the following words on KZfaq. It's not finished yet, but it's a nice piece of work. "BAND-MAID Documentary / SAIKI", "BAND-MAID Documentary / KANAMI", "BAND-MAID Documentary AKANE". (Created by Ohrenje.)

The Kannai devil shows if you can find them, are very good, you get to see the different sides of each of the ladies, their hobbies and personalities, likes and dislikes.

OH, I forgot, go to JRock News. They have their post-US tour interview. They talk about the tour, new upcoming album, creating "Influencer" and what's next. Also their Tokyo Garden concert is still available until Feb 8.

Love this band so much

MISA MISA MISA!!!!! "Croatian Maid" was misinterpreted as "Assassin Maid" but both fit lol

Glad you saw this. One of the funniest interviews I've ever seen!

Cheezy Mate! Greetings on a colder crisp sunny winter day! I've watched this cut quite often but it is so much fun enjoying the sight of your face an reactions! Always important to know artists' backgrounds! Mind you, even by Japanese standards, they are shy, timid and unassuming in spite of their enormous talent and education (Saiki is the only one having stopped after high school, but she is also known as a passionate learner in private). Nevertheless they tell little of their private life and that makes them more endearing! Truth be told they have exponentially grown since this interview and are real adults, whatever goofing they perform on stage! Best regards, Robert-Gilles

Now that you have seen this interview, go and watch Don't You Tell Me MV. The scenes will now make sense. It seems they did this to provide easter eggs to their loyal fans who would have undoubtedly watched this interview.

Usually during live shows when Misa isn't holding her bass, she's holding a beer

Band-maid is my favorite band in the world, they are so unique and special, besides they are super talented. Bro, I recommend the band Sokoninaru, take a look at them, they will surely blow your mind, I discovered them a few days ago and I can't stop listening to them

Since you've watch this interview, i recommend react to their mini documentary made by the channel Ohrenje, a dedicated channel only for band maid. You will get to know them much2 better

11:04 I going to see them in March in Kumamoto at a small venue like this. CAN'T WAIT!!!

This took place before Saiki had her throat opperation 2016?, hence the croaky voice. You must have noticed Misa's Jim Beam on her amp during shows. They played plenty of smallish venues during their US tour. If every Band-Maid fan saw this video they would adore them even more, if that is possible, Including the brutal comments about each other. Saiki was the last to join in mid August 2013 and they played their first show as a 5 piece on 22 Aug. So well before their first album- Maid In Japan, January 2014.

Cheezy hasn't done any Hanabie reactions? Oh man.. Hanabie- "we love sweets" and "Pardon me, I have to leave"

They have an agency, Platinum Passport. Miku suggested to them to create a band based on a maid theme. They already had a band based on an airline crew theme (PASSPO☆) so they were open to the idea. They even advertised for musicians to try out for the band. But the mad pigeon went out and found the band she wanted. Later on we learned only Miku and Saiki were signed with the agency. Their 1st mini-album Maid in Japan didn't make much of an impact so the agency was considering disbanding them and turning Miku and Saiki into an idol duo. But then they did their 1st MV, Thrill, with a harder rock sound. And the rest is history. Not only does Miku bet on the horses she is apparently a solid Texas Hold 'em poker player.

You should try next BM's Band camp stream from 2019 (kzfaq.info/get/bejne/m7ScbK-krtfZcX0.html) or BM visiting Miku's hometown (kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nptirNKH37amf2g.html). Another fun ones to watch are Miku's Kichijoji Adventure (kzfaq.info/get/bejne/eK2dY5mWlpjDYmg.html and kzfaq.info/get/bejne/kLOJqbaj3Le0gmQ.html) and Traveling Tokyo (kzfaq.info/get/bejne/h6ibaL2VyKmdo3U.html and kzfaq.info/get/bejne/istygtCF3arNj40.html). She really could have made a career of hosting her own traveling show.

I suggest you google some of the Japanese terms that was brought up, especially during Akane's interview about food. It's not as big a portion as you think for some of them. But quantity wise, it's still a LOT! Miku likes the way horses eat, not eating horses, hopefully. Although Japanese do eat horse meat as well.

Her name is Saiki (sigh-key), not Asami🙄 Asami is the vocal of Lovebites😉

Saiki is quite reserved, though not as much as Misa. Saiki is an introvert, but she can perform brilliantly on stage when she has a role to play.

Bro, try song Secret My Lips Lives

Did you see the "other" Miku? The other side being the band founder, leader, lyricist, PR and negotiator. Saiki was actually tricked into joining the band. MISA and Akane told Miku's voice was too soft for their music, Miku went to her agency. The agency said they had someone, but said she's not going to like the maid costume or be able to deal with Miku! So they tricked her. She practiced with them for several weeks, then the day before their first gig, in comes Miku with the maid costumes!! One of the great moments in Rock was SAIKI did not walkout!!! The school MISA and Akane attended is the Tokyo School of Music. Its charter is to train/educate musicians for the Japanese music industry. There are former members of major bands on staff and one of my favorite guitarist. FYI Kanami has degrees in Marketing and Economics!!! This interview is in 2016 before they went to Seattle to perform but after "Thrill" hit. 45% or so of the views were by Europeans and Americans launching the start of their World Domination effort. They were the second Japanese band to make an impact internationally.

One thing it is easy to miss. At the beginning, when the band enters, Saiki pushes Miku in the back. Later they talk about how Saiki kicks and pushes Miku, and the compere suggested that was how Miku got all her bruises. But you see an example of that "violence" right at the start, if you pay attention.

REACT TO METAL KINGDOM BY BABYMETAL

There should be subtitles. There are none here. You just don't have the one with english subs. Oh well.