{"id":8467,"date":"2019-08-05T10:28:32","date_gmt":"2019-08-05T01:28:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/?p=8467"},"modified":"2019-08-05T14:19:57","modified_gmt":"2019-08-05T05:19:57","slug":"band-maid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/en\/2019\/08\/05\/band-maid\/%20","title":{"rendered":"Maid to Rock"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Written by Peter, Evergreen guest.<\/p>\n<p>2018, Golden Week.\u00a0 I had decided to visit Fukuoka for a few days.\u00a0 I had been there before, and knew there was a really cool place called City Canal Hakata, a massive, multi-winged, indoor-outdoor mall hybrid.\u00a0 Tons of stores and restaurants, as well as an IMAX theater up on top.<\/p>\n<p>That week, as it turned out, there would be free live shows at the mall, and one of them was an all-female rock band.\u00a0 As someone who has always loved rock and played music himself, I just had to sit in and watch.\u00a0 And I was blown away, particularly by the drummer.\u00a0 Once I returned back home to Shunan-shi, I went on a mad Youtube search, trying to find every song or performance that I could.<\/p>\n<p>But then a funny thing happened.\u00a0 Nothing out of the ordinary, but Youtube had brought to attention other Japanese female rock bands on their recommendations list on the side.\u00a0 I scrolled through, clicking on ones that appeared worth watching, with some I knew already, like Scandal and Stereopony.<\/p>\n<p>And then it happened.\u00a0 That\u2019s when I came across a group called Band-Maid.<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Uds7g3M-4lQ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n(Quick sidenote: The band was put together with the concept of wearing kawaii maid outfits and playing heavy, hard rock music, to create a \u201cgap\u201d for their audience, and thus the name \u201cBand-Maid\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>In the thumbnail, I saw what appeared to be a close-up of an attractive girl with piercing eyes, rosy cheeks, and wearing a black maid hat with a pale, blue rose, singing into a mic.\u00a0 The song was called \u201cREAL EXISTENCE.\u201d I clicked, and like Neo taking the red pill, my world got turned inside out, and it hasn\u2019t been the same since.<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9TkHpvaO09c\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The video and music began straight away, the girls, performing in front of and inside an old Japanese temple.\u00a0 It had an insanely heavy rhythm section and distorted guitars playing a riff that seemed a callback to older Western hard rock music.\u00a0 I was shocked and spellbound at how intense these girls were playing, especially in contrast to their more delicate couture.<\/p>\n<h3>\u201cIs this really them?\u201d<\/h3>\n<h3>\u201cDamn, they are just going at it!\u201d<\/h3>\n<h3>\u201cWow!\u00a0 They\u2019re so cute, too!\u201d<\/h3>\n<p>I was just so entranced and couldn\u2019t believe how skilled and mad and wild and beautiful the song and these girls were.\u00a0 Not only the level of technical ability, but the sense of feel and melody throughout the song was immaculate.\u00a0 How had I never heard of these girls before?\u00a0 Why weren\u2019t they a huge deal and known by everyone?\u00a0 When will I meet them and marry one of them?<\/p>\n<p>So for at least a good hour at a Starbucks near my apartment, I watched video after video after video after video, until they simply ran out of available videos at that time.\u00a0 And what was more amazing was that there wasn\u2019t a single bad song that they had made.\u00a0 Their songs, all across the board, were amazing, worthy of making the top of the charts, if there were such a thing as musical justice.\u00a0 Every time I thought, \u201cThere\u2019s no way they can have a better song than this,\u201d the next song blew me away even more.\u00a0 I honestly couldn\u2019t believe that there was a band this good, and I was especially blown away that it was an all-female rock band.<\/p>\n<p>Now don\u2019t get me wrong.\u00a0 I\u2019ve listened to some amazing female musical artists, and at any given time, at least half of my playlist is filled with female vocalists and musicians.\u00a0 But this was the first time I had come across a full-on hard rock band, made up of these amazing ladies, and not only playing as well as some of the best rock bands out there, but outperforming them!<\/p>\n<p>They were and are THAT good!<\/p>\n<p>So where do you go after watching all of their music videos?\u00a0 Well, you get all their albums and listen to the rest of their catalog (World Domination, Just Bring It, Brand New Maid, to name a few).\u00a0 You search for anything even remotely related to them on Youtube and Google.\u00a0 You watch their interviews and read their biographies.\u00a0 You post up all their videos on your Facebook page and tell everyone to listen to some of the best music in the world, and you mention it in every chat you have with everyone you\u2019re talking to.\u00a0 In other words, you become obsessed; which is exactly what I did.\u00a0 Without even realizing it, I had found an addiction that I have yet to this day to abandon, and see no reason or possibility of that happening any time soon.<\/p>\n<p>Now, how does Band-Maid have anything to do with Hiroshima or The Evergreen Hostel?<\/p>\n<p>Well, after all my obsessing over their music last year, I found out that they would be touring Japan.\u00a0 The performance that would be closest to where I lived was in Hiroshima, a place near and dear to my heart for a number of reasons, but especially because it became my home away from home, as I stayed at The Evergreen Hostel for nearly a month while looking for a job here.\u00a0 It seemed appropriate that I would watch my first concert of my favorite band at a place that had already given me so many of my firsts and favorites in Japan.<\/p>\n<p>So on Saturday, September 22, I boarded the Shinkansen, and arrived shortly at Hiroshima Station.\u00a0 I had a few hours before the concert began, so I met up with Hazuki, and we grabbed some Subway and chatted for a while.\u00a0 It was nice to catch up (as it ALWAYS is), but after a bit, it was time to head over to Hiroshima Parco in the Hondori area, on up to Club Quattro, a 700 capacity venue on the top floor.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" style=\"background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BoDyjhqHDT0\/\" data-instgrm-version=\"12\">\n<div style=\"padding: 16px;\"><a style=\"background: #FFFFFF; line-height: 0; padding: 0 0; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; width: 100%;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BoDyjhqHDT0\/\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 19% 0;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-top: 8px;\">\n<div style=\"color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;\">\u3053\u306e\u6295\u7a3f\u3092Instagram\u3067\u898b\u308b<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 8px 0 0 0; padding: 0 4px;\"><a style=\"color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BoDyjhqHDT0\/\" target=\"_blank\">Yesterday, before the concert, I had a chance to meet up with a good friend of mine, Hazuki. She\u2019s the owner of @evergreenhostelhiroshima and one of the reasons why Hiroshima feels like my \u201chometown\u201d in Japan. One of kindest and most generous people I know. It\u2019s good to have good friends. #friend #\uce5c\uad6c #\ud1a0\ubaa8\ub2e4\uce58 #tomodachi #\u53cb\u9054 #\u3068\u3082\u3060\u3061 #\u65e5\u672c\u306e\u751f\u6d3b #japanlife #lifeinjapan #\uc77c\ubcf8\uc0dd\ud65c #\uc77c\ubcf8\uc5b4\uacf5\ubd80 #\u65e5\u672c\u8a9e\u52c9\u5f37 #japanesestudy<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;\"><a style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/suhoshiiii\/\" target=\"_blank\"> Peter Lim<\/a>\u3055\u3093(@suhoshiiii)\u304c\u30b7\u30a7\u30a2\u3057\u305f\u6295\u7a3f &#8211; <time style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;\" datetime=\"2018-09-23T06:51:29+00:00\">2018\u5e74 9\u6708\u670822\u65e5\u5348\u5f8c11\u664251\u5206PDT<\/time><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/embed?pb=!1m14!1m8!1m3!1d13169.44882359223!2d132.4618707!3d34.3921385!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x0%3A0x25c88ef4d87c7b4d!2sClub+Quattro!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sjp!4v1564968932201!5m2!1sen!2sjp\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>And it was amazing.\u00a0 The excitement, the energy, the charm and the charisma; the absolute power and intensity of the whole night was beyond my expectations.\u00a0 I could not remember the last time that I had sweat like that or screamed like that, or been so in awe of other humans (although I\u2019m not even sure if that\u2019s what they are).\u00a0 For two hours, their sound was loud and brash, yet precise and moving.\u00a0 Each member &#8211; Saiki (vocals), Miku (vocals\/rhythm guitar), Misa (bass), Akane (drums), and Kanami (lead guitarist) &#8211; all moving together like a well-oiled machine, but individually, all virtuosos at their respective instruments and roles.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8477\" src=\"http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/67577261_371087820272260_1714177660365570048_n.jpg\" alt=\"67577261_371087820272260_1714177660365570048_n\" width=\"658\" height=\"972\" srcset=\"http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/67577261_371087820272260_1714177660365570048_n.jpg 658w, http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/67577261_371087820272260_1714177660365570048_n-203x300.jpg 203w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 658px) 100vw, 658px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I left that night, discovering that my obsession had taken on a new level: the live show.\u00a0 Since then, I\u2019ve attended three more of their shows, and twice, in Tokyo and Osaka, I\u2019ve flown in, only to fly back the same day (Tokyo), or the morning after (Osaka).\u00a0 And they\u2019ve only gotten bigger and better.\u00a0 Before you\u2019re just a speck in back of the arena, I\u2019d recommend you come on out to see them up close and personal while they\u2019re still performing at smaller venues.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-8475\" src=\"http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/67821972_712129829244535_7147547732050182144_n-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"67821972_712129829244535_7147547732050182144_n\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/67821972_712129829244535_7147547732050182144_n-300x200.jpg 300w, http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/67821972_712129829244535_7147547732050182144_n-768x512.jpg 768w, http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/67821972_712129829244535_7147547732050182144_n-1024x683.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/67821972_712129829244535_7147547732050182144_n.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-8474\" src=\"http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/67309506_2401013916633077_4782002048902103040_n-300x215.jpg\" alt=\"67309506_2401013916633077_4782002048902103040_n\" width=\"300\" height=\"215\" srcset=\"http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/67309506_2401013916633077_4782002048902103040_n-300x215.jpg 300w, http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/67309506_2401013916633077_4782002048902103040_n-768x550.jpg 768w, http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/67309506_2401013916633077_4782002048902103040_n.jpg 879w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>They wrapped up their European tour last month, and after two months of festivals and a few shows in the U.S., they\u2019ll be back in October, touring across Japan, including Hiroshima at Club Quattro, on Sunday, December 8th.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve got the time and money, there\u2019s no better way to spend both at Club Quattro, being completely dumbfounded at the behemoth that is Band-Maid.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8476\" src=\"http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/67564683_425664791392177_3212083591160791040_n.jpg\" alt=\"67564683_425664791392177_3212083591160791040_n\" width=\"842\" height=\"595\" srcset=\"http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/67564683_425664791392177_3212083591160791040_n.jpg 842w, http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/67564683_425664791392177_3212083591160791040_n-300x212.jpg 300w, http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/67564683_425664791392177_3212083591160791040_n-768x543.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 842px) 100vw, 842px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Written by Peter, Evergreen guest. 2018, Golden Week.\u00a0 I had decided to visit Fukuoka for a few days.\u00a0 I had been there before, and knew there was a really cool place called City Canal Hakata, a massive, multi-winged, indoor-outdoor mall hybrid.\u00a0 Tons of stores and restaurants, as well as an IMAX theater up on top. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4052,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_locale":"en_US","_original_post":"8465","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[7,36],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8467"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8467"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8486,"href":"http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8467\/revisions\/8486"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/evergreenhostel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}