btgrave wrote:Anyone going to the Los Angeles and San Francisco shows!?

I have tickets to both. Flying out from Atlanta.

A tad late. Great gig - my first time seeing em live.

The Dome, London 17.11.2018: DOMINATION / Play / the non-fiction days / モラトリアム / CROSS / Don’t you tell ME / TURN ME ON / secret My lips / DICE / start over / onset / CARRY ON LIVING / CLANG / SPIRIT!! / alone // glory / you. / FREEDOM / REAL EXISTENCE / Choose Me

A lil' souvenir from me to take home like a month late:

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And if you are interested to see London's Miku Magic Time wotsits - take a look at this vid from [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]:



Just look at the other 4 in the background while Miku is trying to wake the London crowd up.

They hadn't play Thrill? BAND-MAID, Roselia and Scandal are the best 3 girl bands from Japan IMO.

They did it again this year too

I love how Akane is eating ramen instead.



C'mon, ladies - ditch the maid uniforms for kimono for good. But it will not work with the band name though.

@kudo_maharizu I'm always thinking will Band-Maid let go the (maid) outfits quicker than Scandal did?
Band as good as them don't need that as gimmick or whatever to draw attention sooner than their management think.

Whoa! .wtf. was not expecting this. Completely forgot about this April fools tradition of theirs lol. And it's a new song too. I really like it! They look so nice with those Kimonos.

@Kudo @Metal Mickey
C'mon guys the maid outfits aren't hurting anyone, isn't it good that it draws attention anyway? . In Scandal's case they were not teenagers anymore so it was completely reasonable to ditch the uniforms. Here, they live off being "maids" that's their whole 'shtick', it's in their name lol. Plus the band members decided on keeping the outfits, not the management. They're not idols, that can do and wear whatever they want, won't change a thing.

Tho if they ever decide to drop the uniforms(which i'm pretty sure they wont'), I would have to respect that , but they'll have to change their name. From Band Maid to ...Band?


--edit---

Good News! They are actually releasing a Band Maiko EP titled...Band Maiko! on April 3rd!

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It's gonna be released physically and digitally!

It contains a total of 7 songs, including Gion Cho and Secret Maiki Lips. Of course Gion cho is the only new song on the EP, the others are just "Maiko" versions of their other songs. But they are titled differently, so you have to guess which song is remixed

A way to preview all the songs here
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For physical release, there are apparently 2 versions, but on Amazon JP there are 3 versions. A reg edition (just the cd), a limited edition (cd + making of DVD), and on Amazon JP (Cd+ DvD+Goods)?


I don't know! I'm just gonna buy the EP on itunes whenever it comes out, there's a 99% chance the dvd is not region free anyway! But honestly I would like a mini album with whole new songs instead, but if this is the only way to get that Gion cho song than so be it.

Links and more details in the first link!

Star~world96 wrote:...but they'll have to change their name. From Band Maid to ...Band?

Actually answering my own question as well, and I can't believe that the possible answer to what they could call themselves if they were to ditch maid outfits was staring at me all this while.

BAND MAIKO.

Still has a master-servant dynamic perpetuated as what they were like before. The only thing is that the maiko get up takes longer to put on.

PS: I've even bought the T-shirt from their online merch store!

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A short review of the BAND MAIKO ltd edition packaging which I received yesterday.

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For some reason I thought it was a steelbox (like those ltd ed Blu-rays) but it was a clear plastic box housing a 巾着 (kinchaku - those pouch-like handbags ladies in yukata have as an accessory).

The CD/DVD is in the kinchaku - which is reversible.

The inlay and obi is printed on 和紙 (washi - traditional Japanese paper). The effort in packaging this makes the price worth paying, IMHO. Enlarge the photo and check out the last shot - you can see the paper's texture. Also, is a bunch of stickers - too pretty to use 'em. lol

Some April Fool's item this is, as it is no joke.



PS: The DVD is region-free, btw.

kudo_maharizu wrote:
PS: The DVD is region-free, btw.

Well that's a relief! hopefully that goes for their future dvd releases

The packaging look great, they go above and beyond for an april fools pranks

New song Endless story

First Scandal's " Fuzzy" and now this! these past couple days is a true blessing .toj.
The song great! not as strong as the previous songs, but I'm really getting into it! I'm excited for the album, but I hope we don't have to wait for December to get a hold of this song, maybe they'll release it digitally.

Endless story sounds nice. Pretty solid as usual, but a little bit more mainstream.

Confess I like Endless Story much better than most of their songs so I must be a mainstreamer. 
Real happy to see SCANDAL interacting with them a bit now. 
Actually, why can't they graduate from the maid routine and still keep their catchy name? 
Full disclosure: maid cafés are not among the many things I admire in Japan.

I think Daydreaming and Bubble are also more mainstream so it is easier to listen to them and to appreciate their music.

Band Maid will appear on J-Melo with Juice=Juice and E-girls.

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I just checked them out, expecting softer music,oh my God i was wrong their music is rock solid!

I'm sure BAND-MAID will be more famous around the world! They are growing very fast.

I agree BM is pretty good and growing fast! But it seems they are doing better overseas than Japan.
In term of making music to reach more people, Scandal is still no.1. Scandal is the best of both worlds.
Happy to see the members of the bands are now friends. I will say if Scandal & BM tour together, sure they will conquer anywhere they go.

Yes. Some friendship must be there. This is recent:

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And their performance on J-melo. Official.

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Kanami will be featured in the Dec 2019 issue of GUITAR WORLD magazine.
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Metal Mickey wrote:Kanami will be featured in the Dec 2019 issue of GUITAR WORLD magazine.
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Yes, that's my interview with her. She was very gracious with her time and answers to questions. I ended up with too much material.

Is it a submission or you actually work for the Mag?
It seems only Kanami talked or the whole band?

Metal Mickey wrote:Is it a submission or you actually work for the Mag?
It seems only Kanami talked or the whole band?

The interview was with her.

@mbowie4321

Congratulations.  That's terrific you are getting her some well-needed exposure to the American guitar-playing market.  I am a big fan of Guitar World, but I haven't bought it in many years because the transcriptions keep being regurgitated from all the many back issues I had collected in the 80's and 90's.  I will probably look for this issue on the local magazine stand and pick up a copy. Plus there are bonus points for having Iron Maiden (the greatest metal band ever) on the cover.