Music

Two all-women rock bands hailing from different countries — Japan’s BAND-MAID and Mexico’s The Warning — got together to record a collaborative single called “SHOW THEM,” due Wednesday (Aug. 7). The members of the two groups hit it off after first meeting at a U.S. music festival where both bands performed in 2022.

In this rare chat with all the members of both bands — five from BAND-MAID and the three sisters from The Warning — in attendance, the women who continue to blast out hard rock for fans around the world spoke about their respect for each other’s music and the process of recording their new single together.

Your bands first met when you performed at the Aftershock Festival in California in 2022, right?

Miku Kobato (Guitar/Vocals): Yes. We performed on the same day, and the members of The Warning found us and said hi while we were doing an interview there. They said, “Let’s do something together” and we were like, “We’d love to!” We hit it off and had a great time.

Daniela Villarreal Vélez (Guitar/Vocals/Piano): I’d wanted to meet BAND-MAID all day that day.

Paulina Villarreal Vélez (Drums/Vocals/Piano): BAND-MAID are great musicians and I’ve loved them for a long time.

AKANE (Drums/Percussion): That makes me so happy!

Kobato: We also became really curious about The Warning after our bands joined the lineup at the Aftershock Festival, po. I thought it was so cool how three sisters are in a band together, po.

MISA (Bass/Vocals): There’s a groove that can only come from sisters, isn’t there?

KANAMI (Guitar/Vocals): They’re so synchronized, on the same wavelength. It’s something we can’t imitate. 

Daniela: We’re very close and share a sisterly bond.

Paulina: We try to be aware of clearly separating our time as sisters from our time as band members, so I think there’s a good balance there. But we did just have a fight this morning. [Laughs]

Alejandra Villarreal Vélez (Bass/Vocals/Piano): We often clash when we’re composing. We each come up with a lot of different ideas, so sometimes we get into big arguments. [Laughs] But we fundamentally have a good relationship and make up quickly.

What do the members of The Warning find compelling about BAND-MAID?

Daniela: Japanese rock and the rock you hear in the U.S. and Mexico are the same genre but they sound completely different. That’s the main reason why I was drawn to BAND-MAID’s music. I also like the fact that they put a very high level of technique into their music.

Paulina: AKANE and I have totally different playing styles, so there were some phrases that were hard for me but I really enjoyed practicing them. BAND-MAID helped us grow and I appreciated that.

AKANE: Wow… I want to return those exact same words to you! [Laughs]

Alejandra: MISA also has a different style from mine, and I think her performance is awesome. I find it really amazing how she can combine parts where she plays with a pick and parts where she slaps in a song, and it’s so fascinating. Tell me how you can play like that. [Laughs]

Daniela: And of course, I think SAIKI and Kobato’s voices are really great, too. It must be the difference in language, but Japanese is unique in that the melody changes one letter at a time, and it’s really amazing how they can sing that so well. I got a lot of inspiration from the vocal side as well.

By the way, do you know why Kobato ends her sentences with “po”? [Translator’s note: Kobato has a signature way of speaking in Japanese, ending sentences with “po,” an onomatopoeia expressing the call of a pigeon. The kanji for Kobato is “little pigeon.”]

SAIKI (Lead vocals): Tell them why you say “po.” Tell them who you really are.

Kobato: I’m Kobato, meaning I have a little bit of pigeon in me, po. That’s why I end sentences with “po,” which is the sound a pigeon makes, po. 

Daniela: So it’s pigeonese. [Everyone laughs] I caught that just now. “Narimashita, po.”

Kobato: [Laughs] It feels like we’ve become a little closer again, po.

Let’s talk about your collaborative single, “SHOW THEM.” How did the production process go?

Kobato: KANAMI first came up with the foundation of the song. We started off by having the members of The Warning listen to it.

KANAMI: We wanted to venture out and make a song that would bring out new aspects of each band for this single, and that’s how “SHOW THEM” came about. Everyone in The Warning made changes to the demo I made. Then we made new suggestions in response to that, and repeated the process over and over again until the song was finished.

Daniela: When we heard the demo that KANAMI made, we were very surprised because it was completely different from the direction of our usual music. But we soon began to enjoy figuring out how to mix our own colors into it.

The lyrics are credited to Miku Kobato and The Warning.

Kobato: Yes, po. Since this was a collaboration between two all-women bands, we first discussed making the song about rising to the top together by depicting a strong female figure who can fight in the world.

Paulina: While we started off by sharing that lyrical concept, there were times we interpreted things differently because of the cultural differences between our countries. But when we came to Japan and worked on the lyrics together, it felt like we were on the same page. The nuances that Kobato was looking for became clear.

Kobato: By talking face to face, we were able to understand each other down to the smallest details, po.

Did you record the music together in Japan?

KANAMI: Yes. But we didn’t have much time, so BAND-MAID recorded beforehand and The Warning recorded later. I basically directed the performances, and the three of them were really great. We were done in no time.

Paulina: We didn’t actually play until after we arrived in Japan, but did a lot of mental rehearsals on the plane.

Alejandra: Yeah. We listened to the song over and over.

AKANE: My passion towards performing has really intensified through our collaboration with The Warning. I feel so pumped now and don’t know how to handle it. [Laughs]

Paulina: It was a great experience for us, too, and gave us tremendous motivation.

How did the vocal recording go?

SAIKI: It was my first time recording with another person, so everything was inspiring. I also discovered a lot of things by singing while listening to someone pronounce English really well up close.

Daniela: The melody and prosody are different from our usual songs, so everything was a challenge. But it was really fun to try something new!

SAIKI: The key was really high, too. We both did well!

KANAMI: I really like vocals that make an effort in a higher key, so I might have given them both a hard time. [Laughs] But the result was really satisfying so I’m happy about that.

Your bands became closer through this collaboration, so it’d be great if you could do something together again.

Kobato: Since The Warning came to Japan this time, we’d love to go to Mexico and do a show together next time, po!

Alejandra: Maybe next time we can work together on a song that we wrote the base for.

Daniela: I’ll lower the key a little bit then. [Laughs]

—This interview by Hideyuki Mori first appeared on Billboard Japan