SCANDAL to mark 10th anniversary with a concert festival



The Japanese all-girl band is set to reunite, after a member was out of action for two weeks, at their performance today

For the uninitiated, don’t let SCANDAL’s band name fool you. While the group’s name might let one think of wild party girls or raucous devil-may-care attitudes, this Japanese all-girl band has managed to keep a squeaky clean record, despite having been in the industry for 10 years.

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The quintet, who last graced our shores in 2015, will be celebrating their 10th anniversary with a special concert in August, at Osaka, Japan, where the band was formed.

In an interview with Toggle on Friday evening, the main vocalist of the band, Haruna Ono explained that the band is planning to set up a festival area at their concert for their fans to enjoy activities and games. The 27-year-old also promised to match the summer heat with their passion.

When asked to say something to the SCANDAL of 2006, bassist Tomomi Ogawa was full of cheer and encouragement, and chirped, “Believe in yourself, [and] do your best! You can do it,” to the amusement of her fellow members.

Similarly, Rina Suzuki, the drummer, echoed Tomomi’s words and wished for her future self to “do your best”. The 26-year-old also expressed her wish to be able to continue to “stay true to ourselves, and try to pursue music in a more mature fashion.”

Lead guitarist Mami Sasazaki also chimed in, revealing her wish to be able to “come back to Singapore to perform again.”

The group also revealed that they aim to be able to have an Asian tour whenever they release a new song or album, with Haruna expressing her wish to be able to visit every continent. Rina, on the other hand, hopes to be able to travel to the Czech Republic to perform.

The group’s concert later today will also be the first performance for Mami after her discharge from hospital. The 26-year-old was first hospitalised in mid-May, after her body condition deteriorated.

Following Mami’s hospitalisation, the band rescheduled two of their Japanese concerts and cancelled their performance in Hawaii, though the remaining members attended a fanmeet event in the country.

During the interview, the guitarist gave us an update on her body condition, and assured everyone that she’s feeling much better. Mami also added that she’s eager to show everyone that she’s ready and “happy to be able to perform for everyone tomorrow”.

Mami also shared that surprisingly, the group had the most trouble with the shortest song on their latest album ‘Room No.7’. The first track on their album ‘Yellow’, is only one minute and forty seconds long, with no vocals involved, and yet, took more than five hours to record.

“While we had a pretty enjoyable time in general creating the songs, we once spent around five or six hours on the arrangement for ‘Room No.7’, as we weren’t clear about the arrangement, and felt that the original arrangement didn’t fit the song,” Mami revealed.

Additionally, SCANDAL, who has been nicknamed the “rain band”, as it often rains when they performed, also recalled that they were rained out during their performance in Singapore last year as well. Rina then revealed that the group changed their setlist to suit the weather, and performed their song, ‘Rainy’.

“We’re anticipating what will happen this time round, and what the weather will be like.” the 24-year-old smiled.

SCANDAL TOUR 2016 「YELLOW」 in Singapore takes place tonight (June 4), 8pm at The Coliseum, Hard Rock Hotel Singapore.