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SCANDAL SPREADS ITS WINGS / Rock 'n' rollers shed their teen look but keep their signature sound
Mutsumi Morita / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
Four gorgeous young women are on stage, guitars howling as the drummer carves out the beat. Delivering this particular combination of cute and cool is the rock band Scandal, whose high-speed sound recently took them on a successful tour of Asia.
Over the summer, the final band member turned 20 years old. To bring their image up to speed with their age, Scandal dropped their trademark high school uniforms. Now the five-year-old band is off on a 13-city cross-country tour culminating with a solo show at Tokyo's Nippon Budokan hall.
On their tour of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore from Sept. 11 to 17 to mark their third album, Baby Action, the group greeted their fans with, "Dajia hao, women shi Scandal!"--Chinese for "Hello everybody, we're Scandal!"
The group said the theme for the tour was "freedom." They felt they had been overly focused on playing tight shows, and the excessive worry about making mistakes led to smaller performances. After a marathon band meeting one night at a hotel, they decided to "get rid of the anxiety over small slipups and be more active on stage, to try to get back that pulsating feeling we had before our debut."
All four of their shows on the tour were packed--some people even waited in line all night for tickets. At the airport in Taiwan they were nearly overrun by a huge crowd of ardent fans. Scandal responded to their audiences' calls for passionate, flashy shows, and the tour was a success.
"The singing, the instrumentals, the performance--everything was more balanced than it's ever been," Tomomi said, adding that she feels the band reached a new level. "I'm confident we're all now pointed in the same direction," band member Haruna said.
===
Full throttle from the start
All four members were once students at vocal and dance schools in Nagoya and Osaka, and never intended to become a band. The catalyst came in the summer of 2006 when a teacher suggested they try playing instruments. They were complete amateurs--Rina, the drummer, didn't even know where to buy drumsticks.
Just one week after forming the band, they were invited to play at a local event. They spent 12 hours a day in the studio practicing, filling the walls with guitar tabs and their hands with blisters as they taught themselves to play. It was tough, but they felt great. "We were all so cheerful," Rina said.
They laughed about the grooves guitar strings left in their fingertips, calling them "hot dogs," and argued over who had the most blisters. They picked the name Scandal with the same brazen enthusiasm, borrowing it from the adult entertainment business shop in a building that houses the studio.
"When I think about our first gig now, it was just a bunch of jarring sounds. But it showed me how much fun it is to get up on stage and make noise," Tomomi recalled.
They got more experience by playing on the street in Osaka Castle Park. In 2008, they released their first single "Doll," made a six-city tour of the United States and played at the Japan Expo in Paris, further polishing their on-stage presence.
"We went from thinking of our performances as recitals, to realizing we were putting on a show," Tomomi said. By then, Scandal's sound was no longer just noise--it had transformed into sharp, powerful, polished rock 'n' roll.
Baby Action came out in August. All four members wrote lyrics for the album, filling it with life-sized emotions and high-speed sounds. The band's first music video Video Action was released in September by Epic Records Japan Inc.
To commemorate the first album released after they all turned 20, Scandal said goodbye to their signature high-school-girl look, but they said their hearts haven't changed. "Whether it's our looks or our sound, we shoot for a style of rock that's fun and cool," Mami said.
Their show in March next year at Budokan hall, Japan's "Rock's Hall of Fame," will be the first for the band to play in front of of 10,000 fans. "In my mind, I imagine us standing at the Budokan, but we can't move!" Mami said. But as she said this, her eyes are flashing. It's clear they're enjoying the pressure.
"For our Budokan show to be a success, our cross-country tour (from Oct. 13 to Dec. 1) is really important. We've got to move forward from the 'just have fun' attitude," Mami said.
These four young women just got their wings and they're already vowing to soar.
===
Q&A with Scandal
We asked the members to answer a few questions about themselves. Below are their responses to the following:
(1) most attractive feature; (2) current obsession; 3) look at my...; (4) favorite food; (5) something I hate; (6) times when I feel like an adult; (7) artist I respect; (8) opinion from another band member.
Haruna
(guitar and vocals, born Aug. 10, 1988)
(1) Ears; (2) head spas; (3) sadistic side; (4) yakiniku barbeque; (5) cleaning; (6) when I stay up all night drinking; (7) Namie Amuro; (8) Mami said, "Haruna's the band's level-headed leader, but in private she's a bit of a scatterbrain."
Rina
(drums and vocals, born Aug. 21, 1991)
(1) Dimples; (2) my camera; (3) blog; (4) cheese; (5) people who don't accomplish what they decide to do; (6) when I restrain myself; (7) the band Unicorn; (8) Mami said, "Rina is very particular about what perfume and clothes she wears, and she's extremely feminine."
Tomomi
(bass and vocals, born May 31, 1990)
(1) Stomach; (2) earring collection; (3) bangs; (4) fruit, except melons; (5) quarrels; (6) when I use my hanko seal; (7) Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers; (8) Mami said, "Tomomi has healing power. She's also the band mascot."
Mami
(guitar and vocals, born May 21, 1990)
(1) Big hands; (2) milk tea; (3) my on-stage facial expression; (4) melons; (5) putting side dishes on white rice; (6) when I think about the day's menu while I shop for food; (7) I need to find one; (8) Haruna said, "Mami is the most idiosyncratic of us. You can see it in the clothes she wears, or how she refers to herself as 'boku' [a form of 'I' usually used by men]."
(Nov. 4, 2011)
source: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/arts/T111031002235.htm
Mutsumi Morita / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
Four gorgeous young women are on stage, guitars howling as the drummer carves out the beat. Delivering this particular combination of cute and cool is the rock band Scandal, whose high-speed sound recently took them on a successful tour of Asia.
Over the summer, the final band member turned 20 years old. To bring their image up to speed with their age, Scandal dropped their trademark high school uniforms. Now the five-year-old band is off on a 13-city cross-country tour culminating with a solo show at Tokyo's Nippon Budokan hall.
On their tour of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore from Sept. 11 to 17 to mark their third album, Baby Action, the group greeted their fans with, "Dajia hao, women shi Scandal!"--Chinese for "Hello everybody, we're Scandal!"
The group said the theme for the tour was "freedom." They felt they had been overly focused on playing tight shows, and the excessive worry about making mistakes led to smaller performances. After a marathon band meeting one night at a hotel, they decided to "get rid of the anxiety over small slipups and be more active on stage, to try to get back that pulsating feeling we had before our debut."
All four of their shows on the tour were packed--some people even waited in line all night for tickets. At the airport in Taiwan they were nearly overrun by a huge crowd of ardent fans. Scandal responded to their audiences' calls for passionate, flashy shows, and the tour was a success.
"The singing, the instrumentals, the performance--everything was more balanced than it's ever been," Tomomi said, adding that she feels the band reached a new level. "I'm confident we're all now pointed in the same direction," band member Haruna said.
===
Full throttle from the start
All four members were once students at vocal and dance schools in Nagoya and Osaka, and never intended to become a band. The catalyst came in the summer of 2006 when a teacher suggested they try playing instruments. They were complete amateurs--Rina, the drummer, didn't even know where to buy drumsticks.
Just one week after forming the band, they were invited to play at a local event. They spent 12 hours a day in the studio practicing, filling the walls with guitar tabs and their hands with blisters as they taught themselves to play. It was tough, but they felt great. "We were all so cheerful," Rina said.
They laughed about the grooves guitar strings left in their fingertips, calling them "hot dogs," and argued over who had the most blisters. They picked the name Scandal with the same brazen enthusiasm, borrowing it from the adult entertainment business shop in a building that houses the studio.
"When I think about our first gig now, it was just a bunch of jarring sounds. But it showed me how much fun it is to get up on stage and make noise," Tomomi recalled.
They got more experience by playing on the street in Osaka Castle Park. In 2008, they released their first single "Doll," made a six-city tour of the United States and played at the Japan Expo in Paris, further polishing their on-stage presence.
"We went from thinking of our performances as recitals, to realizing we were putting on a show," Tomomi said. By then, Scandal's sound was no longer just noise--it had transformed into sharp, powerful, polished rock 'n' roll.
Baby Action came out in August. All four members wrote lyrics for the album, filling it with life-sized emotions and high-speed sounds. The band's first music video Video Action was released in September by Epic Records Japan Inc.
To commemorate the first album released after they all turned 20, Scandal said goodbye to their signature high-school-girl look, but they said their hearts haven't changed. "Whether it's our looks or our sound, we shoot for a style of rock that's fun and cool," Mami said.
Their show in March next year at Budokan hall, Japan's "Rock's Hall of Fame," will be the first for the band to play in front of of 10,000 fans. "In my mind, I imagine us standing at the Budokan, but we can't move!" Mami said. But as she said this, her eyes are flashing. It's clear they're enjoying the pressure.
"For our Budokan show to be a success, our cross-country tour (from Oct. 13 to Dec. 1) is really important. We've got to move forward from the 'just have fun' attitude," Mami said.
These four young women just got their wings and they're already vowing to soar.
===
Q&A with Scandal
We asked the members to answer a few questions about themselves. Below are their responses to the following:
(1) most attractive feature; (2) current obsession; 3) look at my...; (4) favorite food; (5) something I hate; (6) times when I feel like an adult; (7) artist I respect; (8) opinion from another band member.
Haruna
(guitar and vocals, born Aug. 10, 1988)
(1) Ears; (2) head spas; (3) sadistic side; (4) yakiniku barbeque; (5) cleaning; (6) when I stay up all night drinking; (7) Namie Amuro; (8) Mami said, "Haruna's the band's level-headed leader, but in private she's a bit of a scatterbrain."
Rina
(drums and vocals, born Aug. 21, 1991)
(1) Dimples; (2) my camera; (3) blog; (4) cheese; (5) people who don't accomplish what they decide to do; (6) when I restrain myself; (7) the band Unicorn; (8) Mami said, "Rina is very particular about what perfume and clothes she wears, and she's extremely feminine."
Tomomi
(bass and vocals, born May 31, 1990)
(1) Stomach; (2) earring collection; (3) bangs; (4) fruit, except melons; (5) quarrels; (6) when I use my hanko seal; (7) Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers; (8) Mami said, "Tomomi has healing power. She's also the band mascot."
Mami
(guitar and vocals, born May 21, 1990)
(1) Big hands; (2) milk tea; (3) my on-stage facial expression; (4) melons; (5) putting side dishes on white rice; (6) when I think about the day's menu while I shop for food; (7) I need to find one; (8) Haruna said, "Mami is the most idiosyncratic of us. You can see it in the clothes she wears, or how she refers to herself as 'boku' [a form of 'I' usually used by men]."
(Nov. 4, 2011)
source: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/arts/T111031002235.htm
