I'm from Maryland.

A few years ago, I regularly went to local shows. If you are in a large enough city, there will be a band or artist in whatever genre you love, and you can talk to them, and they will be so happy when you buy their CD. I don't expect to see Scandal live anytime soon, or to talk to any of the members. There was a local singer-songwriter that I helped kickstart her fourth album. But real life got in her way so she hadn't recorded a lot recently, and I was looking for something new.

In of all places, the off-topic, pop culture section of a baseball board, a guy there posted about Scandal. Like him, I have an affinity for female vocalists and female-fronted bands. I watched the music videos and got hooked, sometime last year between the release of "Fuzzy" and "Saishuheiki Kimi". Scandal's music got me through the first month of the quarantine. I walked through my neighborhood with the cherry blossoms in bloom, the bittersweet music of "Departure" in my head. "Stamp!" kept my spirits up.


I was an old school punk fan. My daughter was a Hello Project weeaboo. The last thing I expected was to be a fan of a Japanese rock band.  I'm enjoying exploring Scandal's music.

Welcome! Nice story 

Hi from Seattle!
I'm a recent Scandal fan myself. Maybe a year or so. Probably as a result of a long trail of YouTube videos, I can't remember. I think Base Ball Bear was in there. Their bass player was in a movie called "Linda Linda Linda", and I probably saw that because it was slightly related to "Swing Girls", which was by the same director as "Waterboys" which was reviewed on a lot of websites.... well, it was a really long trail, let's put it that way.
Scandal music really reminds me of the 60's for some reason. Like music from my youth. It's just bright and optimistic sounding, and for me carries a bit of nostalgia. I like that they have a pretty deep catalogue, lots of great songs. I'm partial to the anthem-like tracks, the ones you'd wave a glow stick for, and some of the quieter ones. Actually, I like just about everything they do. I just wish I'd found out about them sooner. It would have been a blast to go along for the ride, to follow their career. It's like discovering the Rolling Stones at around the "Steel Wheels" album, then hearing "Exile on Main Street". You're like "Oh man, what did I miss?"
Anyway, have fun.

Hello and welcome to SH, once you get to know the forum you will find a section were we talk about other Japanese rock bands.

Other than that it all about Scandal [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Hey hey hey!

Another old school punk (and classic rock) fan here. I never thought I'd get so obsessed over a contemporary Japanese all-girl power pop band but here I am.
 
Seeing how articulate, chill and feminine they are contrasted with some of their meaner tunes is a dichotomy I just can't get enough of. They give me the same charge that I used to get from watching sweaty (and often hairy) dudes setting fire to their instruments or crowd-surfing while rubbing peanut butter all over themselves. I've since learnt to love Scandal's softer, more melodic stuff, too.

Anyway, it's all good. It may seem different on the surface but, at the end of the day, it's still the very embodiment of rock and roll and the unexpected. Embrace it!

Hi,

I am from the UK and whatever age you are it is never to late to discover SCANDAL

My best friend is also a huge Hello project fan but I have always preferred AKB48

Funny enough my younger brother was in a Punk Band but I was in a Prog Rock Band so you can imagine the arguments we used to have.

Welcome to Heaven.

I'm like you, an old hard rocker.  I stumbled across their "Shoujo S" video about 6 years ago and thought there was too much going right with what I was seeing and hearing to believe this was a real band... and one so young!  It was so easy to get hooked.

Have you checked out their earlier CDs yet, particularly the first one, BEST SCANDAL, and ENCORE SHOW?  They have a very punkish, garage band vibe on many of the songs.  Aside from being a guitarist myself, one of the reasons I'm in the Mami camp is because I like her singing voice and phrasing. It is the most punk of the group.  Unfortunately she doesn't sing lead that much.  On the other hand, Haruna so often reminds me of Chrissie Hynde when she's performing.  She's got the swagger.

Enjoy your time in here, and get lost in all the back forums.  There's loads of good stuff to discover.
 
BTW, "Departure" gets stuck in my head, too.  I think it's their prettiest melody.

Hey there man,

I'm also a fan of old school rock and to this day I surprise myself when I'm furiously tying to download SCANDAL's new track. I never imagined that we'd be here ten years later and they are still doing so well.

SCANDAL has helped me through a lot, my divorce and recently the quarantine. Their music serves as a reminder, no matter how bad something is; it will get better.

Welcome to SH mate, enjoy it.

Haruna's Ears wrote:Seeing how articulate, chill and feminine they are contrasted with some of their meaner tunes is a dichotomy I just can't get enough of. 

You hit the nail right on the head for me. Grew up liking rock, but as a girl it's sometimes disheartening to see that rock is pretty much dominated by all-male bands with a handful of female vocalists. Scandal is the first all-female rock band I ever saw/heard, and they've got me hooked since. 

Steadystate wrote:

Haruna's Ears wrote:Seeing how articulate, chill and feminine they are contrasted with some of their meaner tunes is a dichotomy I just can't get enough of. 

You hit the nail right on the head for me. Grew up liking rock, but as a girl it's sometimes disheartening to see that rock is pretty much dominated by all-male bands with a handful of female vocalists. Scandal is the first all-female rock band I ever saw/heard, and they've got me hooked since. 

There is/has been a fair few others of note but Scandal are one of the best. Since all-girl bands aren't exactly commonplace, I find them to be very much in the rebellious spirit of rock'n'roll and good role models for independent women. Especially those who like rock!

I'm glad you found them.

Hi! I'm Arthur, 42, from Manila, Philippines. Unlike most of the guys here, I'm more into UK synthpop, downtempo, and other now-obscure genres like [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].

As Tony said, there's never too late to discover and become your favorite band later on. I became a huge fan of SCANDAL because of their killer combination of post-grunge sound and feminine looks. Most of all, each of them write songs really well. Guess what, my spirit also lifts up every time I listen to "Departure."

How's your daughter doing lately? Is she still into music?

While I have a captive audience of five people, I thought I'd plug some of my favorite acts, mostly female fronted, with music sort of similar to Scandal. All have Washington. D.C. connections.


This is Margot MacDonald, whose fourth and most recent album I made a large donation to, so I'm thanked on the liner notes. She's a few months older than Rina. While her second and third albums are rock, her last album is more like Imogene Heap with large use of the loop pedal. Here's the link to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] which includes a livestream from May.  Margot's first album was recorded when she was 12. It's mostly angelic Charlotte Church-type stuff, except for one song that was a 12-year-old channeling Peggy Lee. It was such a bonkers concept, I downloaded the whole album in support of that track. Margot went to the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, which is the Fame school for DC, so she sometimes sings higher than I can reach when singing along. She also played at Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center where she recorded an amazing acoustic version of [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]. Margot played an NPR Tiny Desk Concert, but the video didn't come out, so all I have is still photos of her playing the same stage as Taylor Swift and Lizzo.

This is [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]. It was the first band I fell in love with after I got old, and returned to listening to new music again. After this album, Full Minute of Mercury got a new lead singer, posted some mp3s online, but never recorded another CD before they broke up. This song, [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], recorded with the second vocalist, came to mind when I first heard "Saishuheiki Kimi" and read the lyrics. After they broke up, I found out their bassist was a supervising producer I worked with on public access cable.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] is fronted by Taiwanese-American twin sisters. One of them plays violin with the band. Almost all of their music is political, with very few love songs.

On a totally different vein, I relax with ambient, new age and chill. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] is an ambient band, but they use no electronic instruments, just violin, drums, and acoustic guitar. They take their name from spoonerizing RFK Stadium, where many Washington, D.C. sports teams have played.

MamiNoodles wrote:Hi! I'm Arthur, 42, from Manila, Philippines. 

How's your daughter doing lately? Is she still into music?

Born in the Philippines. Came to the U.S. as a small child, citizen since I was teen.

I buy my daughter the newest Taylor Swift album, when there is one, every Christmas. She has also closely followed Broadway musicals, when there was Broadway. She was in one of the first licensed productions of Be More Chill in college. She played the scary stockboy and drug dealer, which she played as a stockgirl. This is very funny in that although she just turned 24, she can be mistaken for age 15 - not scary at all.

She helps me understand some conventions of Japanese pop culture. I showed her the interview where Mami was gushing over a member of Morning Musume. "Why does Mami want her to be more cute? That's already her act to be overly Kawaii!" We played one night at pub trivia as "Alonzo Mourning Musume". The host explained to the rest of the bar what Morning Musume was so they'd understand the joke.