Music

On April 4, BAND-MAID released their new song, “Ready to Rock,” the opening theme for the TV anime Rock Is a Lady’s Modesty. The raging, breakneck instrumentals and emotional vocals that are the quintessence of the band resonate perfectly with the anime’s story and the feelings of its main characters. The collaboration is a match made in heaven. 
Billboard JAPAN talked to the five members of the band at length about everything from the process of creating the new song to the band’s nationwide tour, the second anniversary of the new chapter opened by band, which is now in its 12th year, and their aggressive pursuit of their own musical direction.

Your new song, “Ready to Rock,” is the opening theme for the TV anime Rock Is a Lady’s Modesty (referred to from here on as Rock Is…). It tells the story of an all-woman band, so it has a lot in common with BAND-MAID. What led to you work on the song?

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KANAMI (Guitar): We were approached about performing the opening theme, so we started out by all reading the original comic, and then I started writing the music. But there wasn’t much along the lines of “Make it like this,” was there?

SAIKI (Vocals): Not really. They extended the offer to us because they knew what we were like. They said “BAND-MAID is perfect for Rock Is…,” which was great to hear. So the final song ended up being very true to BAND-MAID.

KANAMI: When I read the original manga, my mental image was one of drums and guitars crashing against each other and climbing to new heights. I wanted our song to express that, so I started the song out with this frenzied drumming and guitar playing.

So in terms of the anime, that would be Lilisa Suzunomiya (Guitar) and Otoha Kurogane (Drums).

AKANE (Drums): Right. I was totally influenced by Otoha (laughs). She’s an unparalleled drummer, and I wasn’t about to let her beat me, so I drew on all my drumming technique. It was the technically hardest song we’ve ever done. I just can’t emphasize that enough.

SAIKI: Initially, the drums came in even earlier right?

KANAMI: Yeah. In the first demo, the vocals also started at the same time, but SAIKI and Kobato said that if we wanted to bring out the true qualities of Rock Is… we shouldn’t have vocals right out of the gate but instead should highlight the guitar and drums. So I cut the vocals.

MISA, what approach did you use given what was going on with the guitar and drums?

MISA (Bass): The guitar and drums go wild, so I realized that if the bass went wild, too, then the whole thing would just fall apart. Instead of doing a really intricate bass line, I chose to only have the bass come out in front once the guitar and drums had settled down a bit. 

Did you all talk together as a band about the relationship between BAND-MAID and the world of the anime?

SAIKI: Not at all. When I read the manga, I thought the drummer, Otoha, was a lot like AKANE, and the bassist, Tamaki, was a lot like MISA. But above all, the guitarist, Lilisa, was just like KANAMI (laughs). Partly because of that, I was really sucked into the manga. The gap between the way the characters looked and the way they acted was also like BAND-MAID. There were all these elements that resonated with me, so I think I naturally found myself drawn to it.

Miku Kobato (Guitar/Vocals): Having that gap is really important for us, too, so there were a lot of parts which matched up with us, and that’s how it all turned out, po.

SAIKI, what did you have in mind when you were writing the lyrics?

SAIKI: Reading the original manga, there were so many things that resonated with BAND-MAID, like the gap between how they looked and the music and they played, or the pressure that people around them placed because they were expected to be refined ladies. It reminded me of how we were when we started out. Back then, our costumes weren’t as distinctive as they they are now, and there were people who just couldn’t accept the gap between how we looked and the music we played. Sometimes, it was hard, so while I was reading the manga, I was thinking “Don’t let them get you down!” (laughs) When I wrote the lyrics, it was with this idea of “Don’t give up, just believe in yourself.”

Lilisa’s way of thinking also shares a lot in common with BAND-MAID’s direction. That passion burning inside, that hidden fighting spirit, is the same as ours, so it really resonated with me. The lyrics reflect how you might not show it on the outside, but you’re fired up inside.

Did BAND-MAID show that inner fighting spirit from the first time you performed on stage, or was there something that changed and brought it out of you?

SAIKI: Our songs themselves changed a lot, we decided on our direction, and we built up our musical repertoire. And through that process, we finally discovered our own style. That process was also similar, in many ways, to Rock Is….

Kobato: When we started, there were a lot of people who were like, “They’re a band of women dressed as maids, so their music’s not going to be very cool, right?” We wanted them to hear our music and go “Oh, wow!” I think we had that kind of fighting spirit from the very start, and we still do, po.

I’m sure watching Rock Is… while thinking about how it matches up with BAND-MAID would make the viewing experience an even more emotional one.

AKANE: There’s this scene where Otoha says, “Why would you play music for any other reason than your love for it?” That way of thinking about music is the same as how I felt about music when I started, long ago. Seeing that scene made me think again about what kind of drummer I want to be and what kind of music I want to make. One of my skills as a drummer is double kick drumming, so I used double kick pedals on the song. This song brought out my own distinctive style. I’m always taking on new challenges, and with this song, I knew exactly what I wanted to do, which felt great. The song really brims with drive and energy.

MISA: At some point, without me even realizing it, I’d solidified my own style and rules as a bassist—my position in the group, the position of the bass line within a song. The bassists I like don’t play bass lines with a lot of movement, and the music I listen to is really simple, but since joining BAND-MAID I’ve grown a lot with the band, and my bass lines have also grown.

SAIKI: The first song we wrote on our own that got a good reception, “alone” (released in 2016), gave us all confidence in our style. It showed that we were on the right track, and it defined the direction of our band. For the first two or three years, it was all very flexible and dynamic.

Kobato: It’s not like we started out wanting to copy some other artist. From the start, we wanted to establish our own style, and I think it took about two years for us to do that, po.

Your next tour will start with a show at Tokyo’s LINE CUBE SHIBUYA on May 10. What is the theme of the 2025 tour going to be?

SAIKI: Last year, BAND-MAID opened a new chapter in its history. This is the second year of that new chapter, and last September we released our first new album in three years, Epic Narratives, so I want to develop that album further through the tour. We keep talking about our new chapter, and we’re going to be playing across the country, so I want everyone to realize that this isn’t going to be like our past tours.

Do you have a message for your overseas Masters and Princesses?

Kobato: We’ve announced our tour schedule for May to August, which is going to overlap with the summer, so how about coming to Japan and traveling with BAND-MAID, po? (laughs)

KANAMI: We always have a lot of overseas fans in the audience, and I just want to express my deep thanks.

—This interview by Takayuki Okamoto first appeared on Billboard Japan